Leading Information Democratization w/ Anthony Di Iorio
Anthony Di Iorio, is co-founder of Ethereum, an award-winning entrepreneur, and CEO of Decentral. He was named one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most Influential People in 2018.
He is an advisor to 15 different companies and was the Chief Digital Officer for the TMX Group, the parent company of the TSX, the 12th largest stock exchange in the world.
Anthony shares the story of how he found out about Bitcoin. It all started with a podcast called Free Talk Live that talked a lot about freedom and liberty and the Free State Project. He called it “an important time in his life”, that time when he was absorbing all that knowledge and looking at new ways of thinking on freedom and liberty and individuality.
“With a number of other things that are emerging, it’s progressing based on what Bitcoin brought, and it’s having applications now in in many, many different sectors, with Bitcoin — the money aspect, finance side, with Ethereum and smart contracts, you now open the doors to decentralized democratized venture capital. And you open the doors to the smart contracts, having a way to impact law, finance, insurance, pretty much every industry that the internet didn’t disrupt, with information democratization, postal services, things like that, that were disrupted via information democratization are now going to be impacted by the ability for people to be connected without needing a lot of third parties and intermediaries.”
Anthony isn’t a binary thinker he a unifier. From his personal philosophy to his company Decentral and its products Jaxx Classic and Jaxx Liberty, he’s believes in bringing people and ideas and projects together and he’s creating the tools that do just that.
“We’re here to unite the ecosystem. We’re here to bring people together, to create wins for everybody, to build bridges between projects. So again, it gets back to the binary thinking that’s very prevalent in our space. It’s the us versus them mentality. And, when you’re dealing with money and people’s money that are vested in a project, it can be a verytough battle between these two sides.”
After talking with Anthony, I think his ability to take life as it comes, which at first may seem like spontaneity, really stems from his ability to keep an open mind and look at things from all sides. He explains how understanding different viewpoints and types of people has helped in his leadership role in finding a way to bring all parties to the same table.
He talks to lawyers, developers, government regulators, bankers, insurance brokers and helps each of these different groups, coming at the technology and opportunities from different angles, to help them all understand the importance and the possibilities.
“I can bring across the message of what’s coming, what’s happening here, how will it impact us… There are major changes happening here. How are we getting people to prepare for this? How can we as Canadians, what can we do to distinguish ourselves in this ever-growing global economy? And, we have major opportunities to do that.”
Big change happens through the kinds of people who can break through traditional boundaries but tied to that change and breaking new ground is the need to take more personal responsibility.
He uses the example of making a mistake with a digital wallet.
“When you take more responsibility on, and you become freer, with that there are more things you have to consider as well. Security has to be considered more. If you make a mistake with doing something with one of your wallets, there’s no going back. There are no do overs so there are other risks that have to be considered with new technology. There’s always a double-edged sword is what I’ve learned. Everything has its benefits, and everything has its drawbacks. So, with more freedom comes less freedom I’ve found as well.”
We also talk about money, meaning and impact.
“I’m a problem solver. I love to solve problems. And, that’s the main thing. And, I love to say, well, that that problem can be solved. That’s the way it’s always been? No, let’s, let’s, let’s challenge the thinking on that. Let’s try to see how we can use technology, use knowledge, to solve the world’s problems.”
Decentral
