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Tech giant Apple’s Co-Founder Steve Wozniak recently revealed his interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency during an interview at the ChainXchange blockchain convention.Wozniak speaks about how he first heard of Bitcoin [BTC] and was fascinated by the idea behind it. His curiosity further led him to explore the blockchain vertical. He stated:
“I like to keep up with things… Bitcoin caught my attention. It had so many unusual aspects for any technology I had ever heard of. Nobody is really known to be the creator. It doesn’t have any centralized [component]. It’s based on mathematics.”
The Co-Founder further explained how he believed Bitcoin was similar to mother nature, as it did not belong to anyone:
“There’s a certain number of Bitcoin that can ever exist… Mathematics to me is like nature. It’s much better than human beings… I trust those things of nature more than what man makes up. Man makes up currencies, controls them, issues new US dollars every year; Bitcoin was immune to that.”
Initially, he did not understand how blockchain works, he confesses. As the techie further dug up information about blockchain and its underlying technology, he explains that blockchain is not something that is understood in a day. He further added:
“You think about it, read more about it and how it works, and then you see how people actually start to use it, through the mining process and also the verification and, aha! It all adds up!”
Wozniak compares blockchain to the Internet and says it resembles the Internet when it was in its early stages. Moreover, Wozniak shows his amazement towards people who invent things that add value to life. He cites Uber as an example among many others. In his words:
“working on Bitcoin applications… and they all have value. Every single one you hear about, to me, has value…. A few people can see the value, which reminds me very much of the early internet days.”
Wozniak’s interest in the blockchain tech led him to partner with a blockchain startup named ‘Equi’. The idea behind Equi is not to bring in a new cryptocurrency or copy/forge, just to make it rise in value, says Wozniak. The blockchain will be more like a ‘share of stock’ in a company. He also revealed that the company will be investing with high profile investors in Dubai. He also reveals his intentions of starting off around the same time in Malta when it holds the Malta Blockchain Conference.Wozniak also put in a word about the Ethereum blockchain. In his opinion, the uses cases of Ethereum seem similar to that of Apple. He concluded by saying:
“Ethereum provides the tools for a blockchain application of your own… I see more people using Ethereum that way, but Bitcoin is still digital gold.”
Equi Capital was founded by Baroness Michelle Mone, and billionaire boyfriend Doug Barrowman, around whom a controversial past looms. In the year 2014, it was proven in Court that the company was involved in spying on employees with the aid of listening devices. The Court had ordered the parties to pay a fine of $17,000 as recovery for damages caused.Equi was initially reported to launch as an ICO [Initial Coin offering]. The company claimed that over $7 million had been raised through the sale of private tokens. But by the time it was ready for the public, the interests had gone down and targets were never met. However, The ICO was canceled and investors were paid back their investment.Many have questioned the Co-founder’s choice of cryptocurrency in context with the talks revolving around the company.According to reports, earlier this year Apple issued a statement which states its intention of banning Bitcoin mining on Apple devices. On its website Apple stated:
“Apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining,”
The new rule came into effect after it believed that ‘Bitcoin mining’ generates excessive heat, drains the device battery and the company intended to restrict the mining apps.The newfound interest of Co-Founder Steve Wozniak in Bitcoin has stirred the interest of many and it remains to see what Apple has in store for the cryptocurrency world.