Bitcoin, security, entrepreneur, coder, hacker, author, humanist, pacifist. Working on cryptocurrencies, author of Mastering Bitcoin & The Internet of Money, Andreas Antonopoulos is for me one of the most brilliant mind and public speaker on the Blockchain, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency space.
Consultant on several bitcoin-related startups and permanent host of the Let’s Talk Bitcoin podcast. He served as head of the Bitcoin Foundation's anti-poverty committee until 2014 then joined Blockchain.info as Chief Security Officer and after that, Advisor of the board.
On October 8, 2014, Antonopoulos spoke in front of the Banking, Trade and Commerce committee of the Senate of Canada to address the senators' questions on how to regulate bitcoin in Canada (read more on his Wikipedia)
I can tell that this guy gives the most compelling analysis on the power of Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies, can be very persuasive with strong arguments, deep-understanding of the issues and clear vision for the future.
If you don't know him just watch these few videos :
"Blockchain" or Bitcoin: Understanding the differences
In this talk, Andreas explores the rise of the term "blockchain" as a counterweight to bitcoin. The term blockchain does not provide a definition, as it has been diluted to be meaningless. Saying "blockchain" simply invites questions, such as "what is the consensus algorithm". Meanwhile, bitcoin continues to offer an alternative to the traditional financial system. Andreas looks at the value of private ledgers, which he sees as having a small impact on finance, versus open, global and accessible payment and currency systems such as bitcoin which he sees as fostering a global revolution in finance and access to financial tools.
The Future of Cryptocurrencies
In this talk, from Texas Bitcoin Conference in 2014, Andreas explores the rise of cryptocurrencies and share his vision for the future of cryptocurrency.
In this talk, Andreas answers a public question "What's your opinion on STEEM ?"
Bitcoin Q&A: Steemit, Yours Network, and future social platforms
Keywords/Phrases :
I get suspicious when I hear the sales pitch that I "will make thousands and thousands of dollars very quickly and easily." I don't like that it revolves around making money fast instead of focusing on the quality of content or building a community organically. There is a set of parameters combining social media, micropayments, behavioural incentives and disincentives, that would make for a very interesting platform. Using money not as a system of remuneration but of quality discovery backed by game-theoretical models at scale; wisdom of the crowd + micropayments + behavioural science = fewer trolls. This is an emergent area. Social media platforms require a very high critical density of adoption before they're effective, where you know enough people who have access to the underlying infrastructure and are willing to engage in it. Bootstrapping social media and digital currencies, where you have a very limited community, is going to be difficult for the next decade as it experiments, fails, and builds momentum.
I do believe the Steem blockchain is taking the good direction, but we must draw the necessary conclusions from the Beta, and the inflation debate, advertising/pay-for-attention strategy, marketing strategy & business development, to figure out what is the best way to bring new users/investors, work on user retention, to the mass adoption..
Now that Steem value is almost back to the start, A new history begins to be written.
Bonus : More interesting content from Andreas
Look at cryptocurrency is a language, a way of trading information. Kids traded marbles, plastic bracelets that became a form of currency.
Thanks for posting this. Here is my comment: https://steemit.com/steemit/@samupaha/antonopoulos-and-steem
This is a great article especially the video on STEEMIT. Thanks for sharing. Happy to upvote and share this on Twitter✔ for my followers to read/watch. Now following and looking forward to reading more of your posts. Cheers. Stephen
Andreas is a very smart man! The cryto community is very lucky to have him.
What I wrote here last week relates to his point about the population density that's needed to bootstrap social media. If steemit can find a way to help members recruit their friends, that might go a long way to reaching that critical density.
thank,
well I suggested a friend invitation script like everyone use (Facebook, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.)
guess we will have it soon
Really?
Yep fuzzy we're working on it, for the Busy.org project
will be done during Q1 2017 though ;)
Maybe Steemit is doing it too but i dont think so
Man one of those that could give people referral payments for bringing friends onboard...
Loved his opinion on Steemit - lets hope we can build momentum over the long term like Facebook did!
finally he speaks about steemit!
steemit is the reason I neglected the digi currency mooc :(
I thought his answer on steem was very week.
It is clear he has not thought about steem much. Which is very sad.
But he had a pretty good reason not to look too much on Steem. If the pitch is all about money, it makes people suspicious.
It's our responsibility to make a better pitch that makes him (and everybody else) truly interested in this platform.
No he as someone who understands what a blockchain is, should understand that new business processes are possible, and analyzed how this money was created.
He just made fun, of what could be a great solution and told some false information to a large audience. I have lost massive respect for him here.
I also think that he is the type of guy that hates money. He does not say he holds bitcoin and is really invested. Everytime he is asked about bitcoin from an investment perspective he has no answer and only talks about how not to invest. So i think he does not seem to be driven much by making money much. Instead he should have been approached by how steem creates better content and rewards content creators with a blockchain in a unique way.
Maybe he also just does not like bitshares. He never talks about that part of the ecosystem.
He has always been hard on bitshares and has tried several times to stump dan with difficult questions on ltb with little effect. Much of it comes imho from early days when bts community didnt want to pay for advertising during ltb hayday...and maybe some other stuff with dan and him. Regardless, andreas though a very nice guy really messes up by ignoring bts and this tech.
And lets facr it, if we are talking about his main argument that nothing out there has what bitcoin has today...is wrong. Steem backed dollars, with steem at ethereums marketcap and volume, would be be easily as good if not better for onboarding everyday, noncrypto people.
I cannot tell you how many people I have met here who were introduced to crypto by steem...
He should just say "I am sorry but I do not have deep enough understanding to be qualified to give anything but a my thoughts in general about blockchain-driven social media networks." Or simply "Im not qualified to answeryour question at this moment."
Yup, you could tell his thought process was just based on some idiots telling him he could make money on it. The idea that it will take 10 years for a blockchain social network to be successful is kind of stretching it in my opinion. I am betting on 3-5 years for one to be adopted massively. Hopefully Steemit is the one.
Yes. Be very wary about most staunch bitcoiners opinions on anything dan larimer touches. Dont know why but many people feel justified calling his projects scams when they are clearly among the most innovative in the space.
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Basically it sounds like he's saying it can go either way and it's up to the community on whether it succeeds or not.