Our Blockchain Mission to Bogota — Part II
On February 16th 2017 we landed in Bogota — and got picked-up by the bank’s representative from the International airport. Before our arrival we’ve been working on the agenda along with the bank’s tech team — with planned goals and a detailed framework for our visit. Preparing our work visit was one heck of a challenge — as both parties didn’t knew what to expect, and how prepared we are for showing Banco Davivienda how by implementing Blockchain they could become first-movers in the South-American banking ecosystem.
On the first day, we arrived at the bank’s HQ located about 10 minutes drive from downtown, using Uber — which surprisingly works in Bogota even better than in the United-States. When we stepped in the Davivienda’s conference room we had a brief introduction session with Oscar, the bank’s head of innovation, and we went over the agenda together.
During the 1st day, Once again I remembered how warm and welcoming the Colombians are — and along with the bank’s management team we spent an awesome time in Andres D.C- probably one of the most famous restaurants and salsa venues in South-America. Than, in the morning after, we got to work.
We mapped 3 potential Blockchain use-cases for the bank:
- Using Blockchain for remittance — allowing Colombians abroad to send money back home to their families who are using Davivienda’s banking services.
- Using Blockchain for the bank’s rewards club — Daviviend’as rewards club is one of the largest in Colombia — and we presented a way for it to be developed on-top of a decentralized points-system — allowing all of the parties in the rewards club (airlines, retail mega-stores and consumer clubs to collaborate transparently).
- Using Blockchain for organizational payment solutions — allowing its employees to pay for their lunch on features point of sales using a digital currency accepted throughout a wide network.
If I could describe in one sentence the challenge in explaining Blockchain’s advantages is that for most of the people who would hear about it — they will not quite understand why Blockchain is a revolutionary technology.
- “Sending money? I can do it in one click using the DaviPlata p2p payment app, and I have someone to complain to!”
- “Paying for lunch with a virtual coin? Why?”
- “Using Blockchain for documentation, KYC and contracts? It seems slow, challenging and not so effective”
These are some of the comments we got throughout our visit — all are totally understandable, as existing technological solutions are faster, easier to use and are deeply implemented in our daily routine — so why should we change it?
In my humble opinion — startups and technology are all about solving problems or improve the existing reality, real problems. When we encounter solutions that are not quite comprehensible for us — we usually either don’t get the technological aspect of it, or just don’t get why the idea is necessary. Blockchain’s most famous use is the Bitcoin — but since Bitcoin is quite comprehensible for the average Joe, many other use-cases are just not justifying the use of Blockchain as their back-bone.
On the contrary — where the back-bone is valid for Blockchain — the opportunity is enormous.
Since almost a year has past since our visit in Colombia, cryptocurrencies has spread like wild-fire — and we’re witnessing a global, fascinating and mind-blowing movement that involves multiple parties — startups, consumers, investors and global organizations. It’s HUGE. Industries like Gaming, Insurance, Banking, Travel and more are more than ready for it.
And now what?
6 Months ago, and after 2 years of learning and professionalizing on Blockchain tech, we initiated BrainerZ, our newborn and soon-to-be presented venture, targeting the social-gaming industry.
Next blog will be all about the first steps of making that happen, cheers!
