So, I've been spending a great deal of time reading and thinking about various blockchain applications. Of particular interest has been the Ethereum/DAO hard fork that created Ethereum Classic. Blockchain, in and of itself, is a way of creating wealth or currency out of nothing. Think about it. You create a cryptocurrency with a set of strict rules providing some "never before seen purpose." The maximum number of tokens is 10000000. You keep 7500000, leaving 2500000 for mining. Mining your token becomes and the service becomes even the least bit successful. Let's say each token is now worth $1USD. You now are holding $7.5 million USD. That is a very, very simplistic description. If it was that easy, more people would be doing it. However, this is the basic idea.
Now, bring in Ethereum and the DAO. The DAO created great wealth on top of the Ethereum blockchain. Someone hacked the DAO and was able to drain millions. The hard fork in Ethereum then created two realities; one in which the hack never took place and another where the hack did take place. In an instant, the lost money from DAO was restored. However, the second reality was now also true and a new cryptocurrency was born, Etherium Classic. So, in a sense, the thief made off with the money without anything actually being stolen from the victims.
This is now a whole new way of creating wealth. Setting aside the market and exchange rates, new wealth was created simply by creating the hard fork and convincing just enough miners that they should go along with the plan. Now, nearly everyone would have value on both blockchains. All except the hacker who only had value on the Ethereum Classic chain.
Money out of the ether...
Would love to hear what you think!