7 Reasons You’re Not Too Late to the Blockchain Party

…and shouldn’t be afraid to crash it

I had a real Silicon Valley ‘wake up’ moment recently. I was in Portland, at an excellent conference for community managers, speaking about building blockchain communities. Normally as a nerd, this is a conversation I have on the technology stage, but this was Portland, and a bunch of super smart people who empower other humans for a living. I knew I needed to… be conscious of my audience. Thankfully, I spoke on the second day of the event, so I had 36 hours to get the pulse of where the rest of the online world is at with their understanding of this new technology.

Newsflash: folks outside of the Silicon Valley, and a few select major metropolitan areas have yet to hear of or, are understandably, somewhat afraid of Blockchain. I hope to dispel any FOMO, fear or indifference.

It has become clear to me that the crypto-crazed hype about Bitcoin pushed the average early-adopter of technology out of a dialogue they would have historically owned. The digital asset revolution is an exciting one, but it is not the core value blockchain technology will provide forever. Contrary to the media hype, the Bitcoin millionaires are few and far between, and the technological paradigm shift will take awhile to achieve mass-adoption. You’re not too late. It’s important that us enthusiasts make this clear early and often before we lose the interest of smart people who can drive future innovation forward. Innovation I believe catches fire faster in smaller, tighter-knit communities, like New Zealand. Take this New York Times list of smaller nations as examples.

The cryptocurrency community is currently the loudest in the blockchain dialogue, but they are not the most important. The most important voices to seek in this buzzword bingo are the developers, the computer scientists and cryptographers, the lawyers, the policy makers, the thought leaders and the community builders trying to create something tangible and sustainable from all of this hype.

We’ve moved beyond the lambo-driven crypto-craze of pump’n’dumpers seeking the moon. We’re now in the technical trough of realization where we’ll see how this technology will actually benefit us. Which means if you’re just learning about blockchain for the first time this year, or this month or today, you’re perfectly on-time.

To wet your whistle, here are seven nibbles to serve as food for thought:

• Crypto comes from cryptography. It’s the cryptographic ‘handshake’ between two blocks that allow for the secure transfer of information. It’s nerdy more than anything else and it will be a complicated paradigm shift. It is okay if you don’t understand exactly how smart contracts literally work, all you need to know is that they are fast and secure transfers of data.
• Blockchain will be felt more than it will be heard. Yes, us tech nerds are raving about it now, but blockchain will likely be the “intel inside” the systems of the future. It’s a platform that will power greater synergy that our current systems do, especially across borders. This will translate in the secure transmission of the data most important to you and your business.
• Bitcoin is the preface in what will be a long blockchain novel. Just because it has been in the media and a very small number of people made some big bucks, cryptocurrency is still an extremely high-risk asset in a volatile market.
• Impending regulation is a good thing. The crypto market and blockchain conversation have been so “wild-west” because very few rules exist. These ever-morphing global regulations stress the market now, but will calm the seas soon. The financial world alone is not representative of the capabilities of blockchain.
• Blockchain is about optimizing two things: security and transparency. It will reduce fraud, optimize systems, and hopefully make the boring parts of your business and life, more efficient. The best thing you can do is keep learning. The best book for this is Blockchain Revolution.
• Blockchain will impact healthcare, medical records, voting, the academic exchange of information, artificial intelligence, banking, robotics, agriculture, the distribution of goods, and commerce in ways we haven’t even thought of yet.
• The tipping point has yet to come. We don’t have a clear industry “leader.” Blockchain will have reached mass adoption when we stop calling it out. It’s a thrilling time to join the conversation.

Now what? Here are a few questions to get you thinking:

• What process is ridiculously slow in our organization?
• What do I wish was faster?
• What data am I missing real-time?
• Where are the inefficiencies in my life?
• What organizations in your life do you wish better communicated?

I hope this helped ease any fears you have about blockchain. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter if you want to continue the conversation or dive deeper.