Blockchain Applications with Mike Goldin

Cryptocurrencies are not only a financial instrument–they are a new platform for building applications. The blockchain allows for new solutions to digital property management, micropayments, hedge fund incentives, and ad fraud.

The cryptocurrency platforms with the most traction are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin has no central leader and is going through some growing pains with governance issues. Ethereum is led by the charismatic Vitalik Buterin.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are not competing instruments. They fulfill different technical purposes. Under current conditions of algorithm development and network infrastructure, neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum can accomplish the dreams that will one day be realized, because of the problem of distributing transaction information across nodes in the system.

If we compared cryptocurrencies to the Internet, we would not even be in the days of dial-up yet.

ConsenSys is a venture production studio that is working on several projects within the blockchain space. Mike Goldin is a software developer with ConsenSys and joins the show to talk about blockchain applications in 2017–where we are and where we are going. It was a wide ranging conversation and I hope to have Mike back in the future so we can go deeper on some of the topics we glossed over.

Transcript

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