What’s next for blockchain and crypto adoption?
Web Summit has come and gone, and not only was Utrust there, we arranged a meetup for anyone and everyone interested in crypto and blockchain with some of the industry’s leaders. We believe that the only way we can do this job properly is through community, learning, and openness. This is why we decided to invite these thought leaders and innovators to speak to us and to you.
Our very own Sanja Kon (@SanjaKon) moderated the panel, which included Kristina Cornèr (@KristinaLCorner), the head of features at Cointelegraph, a leading digital media resource for news and analysis about blockchain, crypto and fintech trends, Justin Wu, COO and co-founder of BetProtocol, which allows users to create their own betting platforms using blockchain technology, Celso Martinho (@celso), the CEO of Bright Pixel, a collective of entrepreneurs and investors willing to redefine the standard approach to business, Pedro Vieira, the Ecosystems Lead for Europe & Africa at 500 Startups, an investment group dedicated to finding the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, and Paulo Trezentos (@PauloTrezentos), the CEO of Aptoide, an independent app store for Android.
With such a stellar cast of speakers, we wanted to make sure everyone could have access to what was discussed, so if you missed it, worry not. We got you. We recorded the whole thing, and you can find it on our YouTube channel.
In case you’d rather read about it, well, we’ve covered that too.
Adaptation. Where are we?
The first question our intrepid moderator Sanja put to the group was about the status quo. Where are we, in terms of adoption? Most importantly, how do we measure adoption? Is there a metric that can reliably indicate adoption rates?
Immediately, the different perspectives that the speakers provided were evident. Justin Wu kicked off the proceedings with his thoughts on the gaming industry. Justin believes it to be a good use case since blockchain is bringing transparency to an opaque industry, and this is providing a lot of volume in terms of adoption, especially in online gaming.
He also emphasizes another point that would be recurring throughout the panel:
“This is one of the key things that we need to focus on. Not just the technology. (…) If we want to get over the chasm between early adopters and early innovators, we need to build things that are fun to play and easy to onboard.”
This is when Celso Martinho, sitting right next to Justin, intervened, asking to be the “bad guy”. He doesn’t believe adoption is anywhere near to being a reality. He says now that the hype phase is past, crypto and blockchain are in what he considers to be the “death valley”.
Celso believes there to be scalability, usability and technological hurdles that need to be overcome before adoption can become a reality. He is, however, optimistic. He understands the “death valley” to be a good thing, since it will clean up the environment of bad actors and inexperienced entrepreneurs who aren’t ready. This will allow for the good ideas and good projects to come through in the end.
Pedro Vieira seems to agree. He sees a lot of cool projects, with interesting concepts, but the use cases are small. Before we can speak of adoption, he claims, there is a need for richer use cases, that think big and are big. Celso Martinho also addressed this issue when he mentioned blockchain and crypto need to prove they can handle “real world problems”.
At this point, we hear from Paulo Trezentos for the first time. He too agrees that the hype bubble has burst, and that this is a time where companies need to survive, and to prove that they can withstand rough markets. He is very positive, however, and he references other technological advancements of the past that went through similar processes, such as online shopping. Paulo believes companies need to see this is a marathon, not a sprint:
“I don’t know if it will be ten years, or seven years, like the 2000 bubble burst, but we have to be ready.”
Kristina Cornèr has a different point of view. She seems to believe that we are past the point of this being considered a hype industry. She felt a radical change in the last two years, and this is visible in how large companies are experimenting with blockchain, and how every single sector has its use cases. She doesn’t believe adoption has been reached, nevertheless. She agrees it’s a radical change, and only when people have integrated it completely, and it stops being seen as a new thing, will that have happened. Kristina says it has happened with smartphones, and will happen with crypto. She does believe that more engineers working on the technology are necessary to accelerate this process.
What needs to change?
After every speaker had the chance to intervene, Sanja takes over and asks the follow up question: what needs to change for adoption to occur? Where will true disruption be felt first?
Celso Martinho doesn’t hesitate: “We are all waiting”, he says. Celso believes that time is key for adoption, and patience is necessary. He does mention two things that he sees as requirements for successful adoption: Firstly, he sees a lack of regulation, or at least guidelines, to be a hindrance to the building of real products using the technology, and for businesses to be keen to adopt. Secondly, he wants companies to build the products without trying to solve all technological problems immediately. Companies shouldn’t be afraid to use off-chain technology when necessary.
Justin, who speaks after Celso, has a more sociological point of view. He feels the need for more education, and more social proof. For Justin, when people see with their own eyes that this technology is in fact safer and more efficient, adoption will happen. He compares the situation to that of the sharing economy, mentioning Uber, or Airbnb, that went from being seen as untrustworthy and strange to strongly disrupting very mature industries like the hotel industry or public transit. He sees blockchain and crypto having the same effect on similarly mature industries like gaming or payments. Justin believes that as long as value is built around the technology, people won’t care if it’s blockchain, they’ll care about the value it adds to their lives.
Paulo Trezentos seems to agree. He thinks it is a question of incentive alignments. As soon as people see it as advantageous, it will happen.
Kristina sees several avenues that could allow for a quicker adoption than what has happened in the past. She sees communication as key. She sees legacy industries as closed off to communication, and mentions that it’s inconvenient and difficult to get messages through to the leaders and decision makers. “In our industry, it’s quick.” She sees a bottleneck, however, and it’s a lack of specialized professionals. She wants more people who have their minds focused on blockchain.
Pedro Vieira, however, has a slightly different perspective. He is concerned that “blockchain is getting in the way of blockchain”.
“We get so bogged down explaining how it works, and why it’s safe, and why it’s good. What we should be doing is working on a product that works seamlessly. The final consumer doesn’t know and doesn’t care if it’s blockchain powered or not.”
Pedro thinks that final consumers are completely unconcerned with the technological aspect, and want a product that just works. He doesn’t think companies should be working on blockchain, he thinks they should be working on usable solutions for blockchain.
Celso chimes in at this point, to say that the Internet was exactly the same in the ‘90s.
Why are more companies failing?
At this point, Sanja brings us into the business aspect of crypto and blockchain, and asks our speakers directly about struggling companies in the field.
None of the speakers seem particularly concerned about this. Pedro sees it as part of the process, and mentions that all tech goes through this. Celso goes back to what he said earlier. He believes it to be a good thing, and a cleaning of the ecosystem. It is but natural selection.
Kristina adds that these failures don’t worry her, for the same reasons others mentioned. What worried her, in the beginning, were the scammers and con artists that latched onto the blockchain hype. She claims those were the ones that could have hurt the field, not start-ups that fail, and she’s very glad that most of those menaces were wiped out.
Celso also points out that the traditional media tends to exaggerate these mishaps, and that if you are in the community, and speak to the entrepreneurs and innovators, you will see that there is a lot of value and a lot of substance coming through.
Paulo is the last one to speak before Sanja ends the first part of the talk and hands the microphone over to the audience for a Q&A. He ends on a hopeful note. It is depressing to see failure, of course it is, but when success comes, it will seem obvious it would.
Q&A
As would always be the case with such an active and engaged community, the questions were challenging and interesting. One that interested all speakers brought us back to what had to change in order to push through adoption.
We got some very specific answers:
Paulo Trezentos says that all ingredients are present. He thinks the key is to be resilient, to work hard and let time do its job. There will be no eureka moments, no epiphanies.
Justin wants more cooperation and less tribalism. Competition is good, but there’s a lot to learn from legacy industries when it comes to putting aside differences and working for the greater good.
Kristina agrees, she also wants more communication, and she brings to the fore a particularly poignant issue: communication with regulators. She senses they are terribly frustrated, and the industry needs to learn how to bring them to the fold. Celso had repeatedly mentioned that they are a necessary part of the process, and that guidance and regulations that are clear and easy to understand are essential for the growth of this technology.
Another question that is directly related to this had to do with government issued digital currencies.
Justin is hopeful about them, as he sees them as a way of maybe escaping situations of massive inflation. He references Argentina. He is, however, cautious, as he understands that any good that can come from this depends on how these currencies are implemented and what is attached to them. He is worried that government controlled blockchain could be used as a digital ledger of all the wrong things we have done in our lives, and he feels rights such as the right to be forgotten would have to be respected.
Celso is of the opinion that government issued digital currency will happen inevitably. He agrees that how this is implemented is a great concern, but he also worries about the timing. He says that the moment when this happens, and the political motivations of the period will be essential to shape what these currencies will become.
The conversation then shifts to another question, about projects that the speakers like, and areas in which blockchain can be effective. Gaming, healthcare and medical databases, green tech or luxury are all mentioned, but we quickly go back to one of the main themes: understanding that blockchain isn’t a magical solution to all problems.
Celso mentions that a lot of his conversations about blockchain in a business setting are about talking companies out of using the technology in the wrong context. All speakers seem to agree that using it when it is not necessary, or most efficient, is hurtful to its reputation. They want a shift from a situation where adopters do it not to be seen as pioneers, but because they actually see the advantages.
Trust is seen as essential, and speakers talk about Facebook’s Libra as an example of a project where trust just wasn’t present. Justin states that it is hard to build trust in a Facebook space, due to its history. He remarks, however, that even though in this specific case the dangers outweighed the gains, that the kind of press generated by having a huge company like Facebook involved in this market could be a net positive, since to “shine a light” into an area that people aren’t even considering is the only way to get people to start learning about it.
A couple more questions were asked and answered, but as all good things need to come to an end, so too did our meetup. Sanja would save one of the best pieces of news for last, nevertheless, as she announced that in the very near future Utrust would unveil to the world our own digital wallet. It is yet another of the steps we have taken and will continue to take to provide you with the absolute best.
We hope you enjoyed our recap (we also have a recap video) of this truly excellent conversation. If there’s anything you want to say or ask about all these fascinating issues, make sure to drop us a comment below.
We will be back with more news and great content, so make sure to return!
See you soon.
