Once the youngest credentialed lawyer in Italy, Alessandro now has a Ph.D. in Law & a Master’s in Global Regulation. Having founded a successful contract automation company & advised many tech startups, the former host of Legal Tech Radio brings his creative vision to Jur.
When did you first begin to work with decentralized systems?
I first became interested in decentralized systems when I realized that we could use the blockchain to create an ecosystem that helps users create smart legal agreement and offers dispute resolution, thus finally delivering something society has needed for a long time: agreements that you can really count on. The centralized systems that I have always worked with before have failed to do this effectively; they are too slow and too costly. Not only that, they are potentially corruptible.
What attracted you to decentralization? What are the main advantages of decentralized vs centralized systems?
My path is an unusual one. I wasn't initially fascinated by bitcoin and only followed Ethereum from afar. I think many blockchain enthusiasts’ interest was based on potential profits from speculation. (And there is nothing wrong with that! Society needs investors whether large and small to take calculated risks to help create new technologies, and the Jur team very much appreciates the effort potential investors make to allocate resources to projects that will be good for society.) Personally though, I was not attracted by the financial or speculative aspect, but rather by the sociological one.
I believe that the most interesting aspect of blockchain technology is that it offers the possibility of creating a different economic and social balance between groups of individuals. Jur would not be feasible without the decentralization provided by the blockchain. Jur shows decentralization can have a major positive impact on the economy. Trusting the guarantee and execution of an agreement will create an environment of inviolable trust and cooperation that can open the door for trillions of dollars of increased economic activity that is currently not possible due to lack of trust
For me, the central point is to understand that decentralization does not only mean cutting out middlemen, but creating direct trust between people, redesigning relational and economic models from scratch. This, in my opinion, is one of the central challenges for Internet 3.0 and Jur is rising to meet that challenge.
Can you tell us a little about your role in Jur and how you expect to contribute?
I am a co-founder and CEO. Jur is currently focused on the creation of a cohesive team and a strong community. I am directly involved in the community building that will soon be supported by the Jur Alliance.
What sort of businesses do you expect will be the first to use Jur?
We follow the needs of our community. Our plan is to serve the blockchain industry first by offering effective solutions for the blockchain and ICO world. In particular, many people are asking us for a guarantee model for OTC transactions. All our partners, friends and in general people with whom we talk tell us that they would like to use Jur today for agreements with their customers: I refer to companies that operate in the blockchain world offering various services. I think they will be the first to use Jur, if only to deposit a part of the fee as a guarantee: customers and suppliers always safe and happy, minimizing the risk of non-payment, on the one hand, and poor execution on the other.
What impact do you think Jur will have on global commerce and why?
I believe that in the medium term Jur can rewrite the method by which business agreements are carried out. I know it's hard to imagine today, but in 2019 we'll gradually release tools (the Jur Platform) that will allow any professional or business to create an agreement on the blockchain, pay, and unlock the advancement of milestones in a matter of minutes. If there is a problem, they will have access to a decentralized jury in 24h that resolves the disagreement.
I think that the digital services sector can certainly be revolutionised. Depending on how our community wants to evolve, then, I can imagine specific use cases for the offline world that many friends (mainly legal technologists) are anxiously waiting to create: for example, providing guarantee deposits in the real estate sector.
In countries where the legal system is inefficient, companies will create vertical smart legal agreements on Jur Apps. We are aware that Jur is offering unprecedented change. To discover the full utility of this project will require experimentation. We have structured ourselves to be able to grow year after year cultivating our community. I think that gradually, therefore, we will know exactly which sectors will be most receptive to the new concept brought by Jur. Although it may never completely replace centralized alternatives, eventually, we expect all sectors will find some use for Jur.
Looking at your resume, you’ve been pretty busy. Do you have any spare time? What do you do for fun?
Friends often criticise me for not taking holidays. I've been working all summer every year for the last 4 years, which may be usual in the USA but in Europe is not exactly normal. However, I do attach great importance to leisure time and am a sports enthusiast. I like rugby (I played it recently) and I had a wonderful time. I also love my dog. The goal “in the drawer,” as we say in Italy, is to be able to detach every weekend and travel to a different place. That would be wonderful.
What are some of the biggest innovations & impacts we can expect to see from decentralized technology in the next 5 years?
Apart from Jur, I believe that in the space of 5 years there will be some interesting solutions in terms of governance and supply chain management.
Were you into computers as a hacker or gamer when you were a kid?
I was passionate about computer science as a child. When I was ten I often dedicated myself to html and I was always on the IRC at the time. From high school on, however, I gradually became involved in associationism and politics and left the ‘net behind, embarking on more humanistic studies. I still had a passion for that and after becoming a lawyer, I was heavily involved in integrating technology into the legal field.
What are the largest barriers for widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and token based utilities?
I think it is high time for some very serious reflection on the current state of the blockchain industry. I believe that we may see, overall, a bit of a temporary setback due the excessively speculative character of some of the current offerings and an environment that is dominated by the hype of the moment rather than a focus on really solid projects.
This is the first limitation the blockchain sector faces. The technological issues around transaction processing time is probably the second major limitation, but I am not the most experienced in the technical details. Clearly a third limitation arises from lack of regulation, which feeds back into the first limitation. Without legal and fiscal clarity, adoption will always be very slow. And finally poor user experience holds back adoption of blockchain products by a broad audience.
Mindful of these four limitations, Jur has is developing a very real and very useful product and we won’t have our ICO until we have a minimum viable product, so investors can be confident they are supporting something real. We are doing our ICO in Switzerland because they have a good rigorous regulatory framework.
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