By Diego G. Zaldívar
Intermediation has been key to the building of the global society we live in today. Human based trust has enabled the construction of the global economy and has also allowed democracies to continue thriving, as we know them today.
With that said, intermediation has also failed us when middlemen decide to betray the trust placed upon them. On top of that, intermediaries are also costly, which lead to the creation of a global society that excludes half of a population.
Decentralization based on crypto-economies and consensus networks are underway during an important point in history. A moment where the excluded population will also have access to the internet, as well as Smart Phones.
This allows billions of people to have access to many important tools that build reputation based identities, to perhaps get access to basic financial services and to finally achieve a connection with the rest of the population. This creates a tangible solution to stop poverty through integration. This is something no other technology has been able to provide for the masses, as of today.
Based on my experience evangelizing about the Web back in the nineties, I found out that trying to explain how technology works is very ineffective, as opposed to showing people how technology is able to improve people’s day-to-day life. So, I think that the best approach would be to promote the creation of proof of concepts using current technology until we are able to find the one that provides the most value. In my vision, basic financial services and basic security is key for people to understand, but we must show them.
I think this technology still has to evolve from separate platforms providing specific services (settlement networks, smart contracts, payment networks) into a full stack of disintermediated transfer of services which would allow the Internet to form it’s value.
Once that the technology is multi-layered, neutral and interoperable ecosystem are in place and the value for different industries is clear, mainstream adoption will be triggered swiftly.
So, interoperability and cultural adoption will be the main challenges.
