The Blockchain Economy

BitClave
BitClave
Aug 23, 2017 · 3 min read
photo credit: TED.com

Blockchain researcher Bettina Warburg (@BWarburg) delivered a TED Talk in June of 2016 on blockchain technology and how it will change the global economy. Warburg’s talk approached blockhain from a formal economic perspective, highlighting how the trustless peer-to-peer network is the foundation for more advanced tracking of human exchanges. Blockchains lets societies to accurately place value where it could not be before, allowing for the exchange of all kinds of value.

In summary, Warburg says, “Blockchains give us the technological capability of creating a record of human exchange, of exchange of currency, of all kinds of digital and physical assets, even of our own personal attributes.” The first significant revolutions using blockchain technology came in the form of stores of wealth and currency exchange, and with the advent of smart contracts came more complex use cases. Warburg’s last point, the exchange of personal attributes, represents a significant milestone for the development of distributed ledger technology.

Civic Minded

Exchanging personal data, whether it be biographical, credit cards, location-based, or something else, requires a high degree of trust. Many users won’t even make a purchase from a website that doesn’t use https to make sure the transaction is protected. Even with that added layer of security, centralized databases of internet service providers, financial institutions, and other massive stores of online accounts are highly vulnerable to attack and penetration from malicious sources. This is problematic because personal information is necessary for many interactions and transaction types in the modern digital-driven world.

A direct result of this need for trust was the rise of middlemen institutions facilitating all kinds of transactions on behalf of the parties involved. This made those third parties the gatekeepers of the information, putting individuals and organizations at their mercy. Blockchain technology alleviates the need for trust with a publicly viewable, independently verifiable ledger. Thanks to the decentralized nature of blockchain-based protocols, the users who hold their own private keys remain in control of their data, taking it away from the third party facilitators. Companies like Civic recognize this, and are working on solutions for helping individuals more efficiently share the necessary private data, such as medical records or government identification, in a safe and secure way.

User Control is a Good Thing

BitClave was founded on the idea that an individual’s personal data is important and valuable, and the user should be compensated for its use, not an external organization whose motives for sharing private data are unknown. With a significant economic shift to user-controlled data and further adoption of decentralized platforms, businesses will have to find new solutions where third party networks are no longer utilized by consumers.

The only ones who win are the ones in the middle

BitClave is building a platform, the BitClave Active Search Engine, where businesses can interact and connect with consumers in the new decentralized global economy. As more users take back control over their data, industries like retail and eCommerce and service industries like legal or real estate services will need to adapt to reach the individuals who will best benefit from what they have to offer. This more direct style of connecting businesses and consumers means organizations can spend less of their budgets on ineffective advertising and focus more on delivering high quality products and services.

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The future of search is here! World's First Decentralized Search Ecosytem. 🔎 Blockchain based. 🔗 Check Desearch.com 🚀

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