Crypto Imagination Theater #2: How The Big 4 Might Help the Cryptosphere — More or Less Intentionally!

A few weeks ago we speculated a little on Facebook’s real intentions behind their impending cryptocurrency launch.

Our take is that Facebook’s business benefits from crypto are still a bit unclear, but they are getting some “crypto cred” PR points and helping to legitimize the space for more average folks than ever.

But what about the other three Big Tech companies, i.e. Apple, Amazon, and Google?

None of them have been making such “public” moves with blockchains / crypto as Facebook.

Which doesn’t say a lot — Facebook has been relatively secretive so far about their plans, with just a few snippets of information coming out here and there. Again, smart PR :)

We don’t blame them for taking it slow. It isn’t obvious how crypto could add to their bottom lines.

But it is also fun to speculate about how blockchains might get incorporated into their business models somehow.

Especially because whatever crypto-esque things the Big Tech companies ultimately get around to doing — and for whatever reason — it will help get more people interested in what is going on in the cryptosphere.

So here are a few crypto moves we imagine Apple, Amazon, and Google might make!

Apple is putting digital privacy in the spotlight. How about an Apple privacy coin?

Privacy has always been a pretty big deal for Apple. Remember when they wouldn’t turn over user data to the authorities a few years back?

But recently it has become an even bigger deal for them. At Apple’s WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, they announced some interesting data protection initiatives involving user sign on functions, additional security and options for location sharing and IOT devices, and the “CryptoKit” package of tools for developers who want to protect the data of their apps’ users.

The emphasis on data security has been a great unique value proposition for the company, especially when comparing with the privacy track record (or lack thereof) at the other Big Tech companies.

So why not take it a step further with, for example, a privacy coin?

Here’s why we think it might work:

The best reason people have to use a cryptocurrency (or any currency) is that they can do something unique with it.

There are some good reasons out there. For example, ETH has been traditionally popular for ICOs, the BNB is hard coded into the Binance crypto exchange, and Monero is for private transactions. And don’t forget BlockStamp, obviously :)

But in fact there aren’t so many obviously unique reasons to use a given cryptocurrency right now. In other words, most cryptocurrencies’ use cases are not so developed currently — at least not as developed as we believe they will be in 10 years.

Instead, the biggest reason many people use (not just invest in) a given cryptocurrency is because other likeminded people are using it as well.

And that’s where Apple comes in. The company has a loyal user base who are often proud to identify themselves as Mac users!

Yes, some of them use Apple products because they just work better. But there are just as many people who use them because they like how they look and doing so puts them into the Apple community.

So Apple might launch a cryptocurrency that would be popular in the Apple community because… it is from Apple!

This coin would — as a competitor to Monero perhaps — be focused on privacy — in line with Apple’s overall vision.

Google has made huge money piggybacking on other people’s content — maybe they will want to help protect this content’s integrity?

Google is in the process of putting traditional media, i.e. media based on the traditional advertising model, out of business.

Google isn’t against sharing revenue with publishers — as long as it is on Google’s terms. Traditional media hates that and is going down fighting, but they are still going down.

Ultimately, that means anyone — not just a big newspaper, for example — can be a publisher these days. And Google is happy about that.

Consider Youtube content creators. Google pays them a share of ad revenue — which can be a pretty big amount when someone has a lot of subscribers. But you know Youtube is making more off their work!

Anyway, it is becoming increasingly easy to rip off someone’s work on the internet. Deepfakes are already a thing and are going to become a huge thing soon.

On one hand, all traffic is good traffic for Youtube and all content is good content.

But on the other, it could potentially turn out that content creators are not so excited about creating anymore because someone else will rip it off and monetize it more.

Obviously Google will not want to incentivize that scenario. Therefore, the company might try to stick up for its creators by, for example, promising them something like:

“If you upload a video, we will automatically watermark it and give you a share of revenue that anyone else generates by adapting your content and using it elsewhere.”

Obviously there would be lots of AI and machine learning at work here. But when it comes to identifying who actually produced content first — especially when so much other content looks similar to it — the key technology will be blockchain timestamping.

So it could be that Google launches its own blockchain just for that purpose. Or relies on the capabilities of another blockchain with timestamping capabilities like BlockStamp :)

Amazon is building its own economy — is a native cryptocurrency a natural fit? How about a supply chain blockchain?

It seems like Amazon is getting into every industry these days. Pharmacies, logistics, space exploration… the list goes on and already has the company in hot water with anti-trust regulators.

But we don’t think they are going to slow down anytime soon. Imagine what it will be like in ten years!

It could be that Amazon launches its own cryptocurrency as a defensive move. It would be tougher for US regulators, for example, to argue that Amazon is breaking US anti-trust laws when the majority of the company’s revenue is in Amazon Coins instead of US dollars. Remember that Amazon has the best lawyers money — fiat or otherwise — can buy ;)

From another perspective, Amazon is competing with everyone else including NASA, so why not compete with the US Federal Reserve? By launching its own currency that no government can meddle with? Whose economy is it, anyway? :)

OK, we’re not sure Amazon has the political power to pull that off just yet. More realistically in the short term, we think you’ll hear about blockchains at Amazon as a way to support their supply chain.

Blockchains are a natural fit for supply chains — which involve information flowing from multiple parties who need to trust each other — and Amazon has one of the most efficient and powerful supply chains you’ll find anywhere.

We think it is just a matter of time before they start leveraging the technology for this purpose — if they aren’t already.

Anyway, some food for thought. Nobody knows where the cryptosphere is truly headed but we’re sure it will be exciting to be along for the ride!

About BlockStamp:

BlockStamp is a multipurpose Bitcoin blockchain fork developed by the BlockStamp Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. Designed to promote liberty, transparency, and sovereignty in areas of the digital economy where these fundamental values are most at risk, BlockStamp hosts a radically fair gambling platform, a digital tool for transparently sealing data, and a censorship-proof internet Domain Naming System.