Blockchains, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and the Energy of Movements

Senator Elizabeth Warren (with whom I can’t say I agree too often) makes a poignant-even if obvious-observation about the state of the American economy in this somewhat chilling article from the Atlantic entitled, America’s Monoploy Problem.

“Warren’s main argument was that allowing companies to grow without fear of interference from the Justice Department has stilled the waters of American dynamism. “Left unchecked, concentration will destroy innovation,” she said, before listing other casualties: start-ups, small companies, the economic security of the middle class. “Left unchecked,” she concluded, “concentration will pervert our democracy into one more rigged game.””

Warren may not typically find a ton of friends among the Libertarian-motivated (or anarchist) members that make up a nice chunk of the Bitcoin (and blockchain/decentralized) community.

However, in this case, she might.

The agreement that concentration is a bad thing.

It destroys innovation…and in a digital-first world, it potentially destroys privacy as well as security (vulnerability to hacks), too.

The people at the beginning of this “revolution” or “push,” if you prefer both see the immense possibilities in terms of the efficiencies and opportunities that running applications on a distributed layer brings…however, there’s also a religious-like drive.

The belief that we’re on the cusp of a Schumpeter-like creative destruction that’s about to foster an entirely new wave of innovation and freedoms.

Frankly, I think that’s a good thing.

Urban legend has it that a rocket uses something like 80%+ of its fuel to just clear the launch tower (a preliminary search didn’t help), but the concept makes sense.

Getting a car to 100 km/h takes more than keeping it there.

So, too, with movements…you need a ton of energy.

It can’t be just people motivated by a paycheck to change the direction of history. They need to be motivated by a cause.

You see that with the front-end of the adoption curve for Bitcoin, blockchain, etc. That’s critically important now…and adapting that mindset to more mainstream customers will be critically important later.

But, for now….the fuel of the passionistas is going to either get this off the ground or it won’t.

And, at least in some people’s minds, the future of privacy and entrepreneurship and security, depends on it. That’s pretty big motivation.