WCT January 10th Meeting Recap

This week, the meeting’s presentation focused on Blockstack while the article covered Don Tapscott’s predictions of cryptocurrency trends for 2018.

Presentation — BlockStack

(Rama Somayajula and Karan Kwatra)

What is Blockstack?

• Blockstack is a new internet for decentralized apps, all of which let you own your data and maintain your privacy, security and freedom.

Key Takeaways

• Blockstack aims to solve the problems with centralized data such as breeches or attacks on data centers by creating a decentralized internet, where users control their own data and no passwords are needed
• The project was started by two PhD students from Princeton in 2013 who raised $24 million via ICO and $6 million through VC funding
• Apps on the platform are serverless, and Blockstack handles identity authentication and data storage, making development easier
• Each user has a single id that is linked to their Bitcoin wallet address
• Apps currently include Guild, a Medium-like blogging platform, and OpenBazaar, a decentralized marketplace.
• Blockstack’s token, Stack, is expected to go live between Aug 2018 and Jan 2019 and will introduce decentralized governance and incentive mechanisms

Discussion — Don Tapscott’s 2018 Crypto Predictions

(Andy Reed and Briana Feng)

Who is Don Tapscott?

• Co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute and Senior Advisor to the World Economic Forum
• Co-author of Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Underlying Bitcoin is Changing Business, Money and the World

Key Discussion Points

• 2018 could very well be the year of the Decentralized Application (DApp), which platforms like Ethereum need in order to take off
• ICOs will be huge in 2018, featuring a shift towards utility and equity tokens
• The Big 5 tech companies (Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple) will publicly get involved with blockchain/crypto in what might become an arms race

Check back next week to find out more about what WCT is talking about!