By: Roger Adhikari, CFO, XcelTrip
No one knows whether the sole purpose of creating blockchain technology for, so called, Satoshi Nakamoto, a mysterious man, woman or group of people, whose identity is yet to be known, was only to create a digital platform for currency transactions in a peer to peer cryptic decentralized ledger, or not, its impact will be felt far beyond digital currencies and for generations to come
Although, the idea Satoshi created relies on technology, particularly blockchain, which is nothing but connecting (Chaining) hundreds of thousands of computers (blocks) owned by individuals (peers) placed in thousands of geographic locations through language protocol, for the purpose of sharing, validating and recording transactions within the network of their blocks, the philosophy behind his technology; free and self-regulated society managed by self-governing system rather than whim of few people, is going to change the global paradigm from finance to government forever.
The Blockchain technology was first conceived in 2008, not too long after the US real Estate market meltdown, and BITCOIN was introduced in 2009, shortly after that. In less than a decade, BITCOIN has risen from dime (ten cents) value to over $17,000 and market capitalization exceeding 220 billion, far surpassing both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
While, the identity and nationality of Satoshi is anyone’s guess for now, timing of the technology and the fundamental value behind blockchain idea points origin of the idea towards US, particularly someone with the libertarian value. Libertarians have long complained against the government overreach and supported the idea of limiting its power. Blockchain offers just technology towards such mission.
Many people believe, the genius may have used pseudo name, Satoshi Nakamoto, to disguise his real identity, probably, out of fear for his life from secret and powerful entities of the world that are threatened by his revolutionary idea. He may not be overreacting for being feared, considering what he has done through his creation; he has set the motion of change that is going to transfer the world from corporate capitalism to distributed capitalism model, resulting in possible end of corporate oligopoly power and power of their government proxies.
No wonder, most resistance against crypto currencies, especially Bitcoin, is coming from Mega banks and powerful countries like China and US, who fear losing control of their unfettered power.
JP Morgan Chase Chairman, Jamie Dimon’s angry comment “I will fire anyone Who trades with Bitcoin” is a symptom of a bigger frustration among the banking executives who see the Banking paradigm is changing right under their nose, yet they are helpless to do anything about it.
Like, Neil Armstrong, the famous Apollo 11 Astronaut, who made a simple but powerful statement upon first moon landing “One small step for a man and giant leap for mankind”, Bitcoin is also only the first Blockchain based innovated product but giant leap towards the future of monetary system.
Since, merely seven years of its birth, almost one hundred other coins and equal number of tokens, which behave very much like coin, have emerged in the global market, challenging fiat currencies and forcing central banks of the world to compete in the digital currency battle.
As significant the emergence of Crypto currencies is, impact of blockchain technology will soon going to be felt far beyond and more profoundly than the monetary system. The technology has already begun to inspire new generations of business ventures based on decentralized ecosystem, shaking the foundation of entire business paradigm.
Many new business ventures have already started off this technology and existing ones are transitioning into it, offering two clear paths to Blockchain based driven business models, permission-less and permissioned.
Both models run on blockchain technology platform and has similar character, however, Permissioned model is controlled by business entity, in which company executives decide who can participate in the blockchain operation. On the other hand, permission-less is open for anyone interested and has right tools to participate.
As much as the early movement is focused on permissioned, also known as closed Block, it’s the permission-less environment that is going to reshape the world. The model creates an ecosystem that is totally decentralized and run on the logic of the irreversible protocols managed (not controlled) by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world, as oppose to the alternative, permissioned model, controlled by company leaders.
Ultimately, Blockchain train has already left the station, therefore, the existing businesses do not have much choice but either to lead follow or become irrelevant