Africa Is The Next China, And The Blockchain Is How

There is the dour debate (is it even a debate?) around immigration in DC, all the racist rhetoric flying around like bullets in a war zone, and then there is the excitement around the Blockchain. Africa is the next China, and the Blockchain is how.

There is going to be some bad news, some pain. When you make it easy for people to move around money, plenty of scammers are going to jump in. The Blockchain companies do have to try and do the very best job they can in terms of product architecture, policing (at their sites), and educating the general public. The scamming has to be minimized as much as possible. But it will not go down to zero despite the best efforts.

I have been reading up on one particular company these past few days, watching videos on YouTube, particularly of its Founder CEO who, I learned, after 11 failed startups lost his apartment and ended up homeless, but came back to found Paxful, which has seen much success over the past few years.

And today this tweet showed up in my stream. Paxful is celebrating its birthday. Happy birthday, Paxful. 

Simply follow Paxful’s official Twitter account (@paxful), tweet your Paxful Story, and include both hashtags #PaxfulStory and #PaxfulBdayGiveaway.

Read the official rules here: https://t.co/3uIIEY3HUg

— Paxful (@paxful) July 15, 2019

Paxful Turns Four!

30-30-30-10: A More Thoughtful And Egalitarian Formula For Equity Distribution In Tech Startups For The Age Of Abundance
The Blockchain: Fundamental Like The Internet
The Blockchain Rumble
The Character Called The Tech Entrepreneur

Paxful turns 4 today! Major sub quests achieved and experience points earned! So grateful to be with this team! https://t.co/7O27FZHpAp

— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) July 15, 2019

Blockchain PDFs

Blockchain: An Introduction (49 pages)

Bitcoin: A Peer To Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto (9 pages)

Bitcoin Technology Overview (59 pages)

Blockchain Economics (53 pages)

Conceptualizing Blockchains: Characteristics And Applications (9 pages)

Blockchain White Paper (20 pages)

What Is A Blockchain (4 pages)

The Impact Of Blockchain For Government (41 pages)

Blockchain And Suitability For Government Applications (41 pages)

Reinforcing The Links Of The Blockchain (19 pages)

Blockchain And Distributed Ledger Technology At Travelport (14 pages)

Application Of Blockchain Technology In The Manufacturing Industry (23 pages)

Blockchain And Economic Development: Hyper Vs. Reality (49 pages)

Blockchain Challenges And Opportunities: A Survey (25 pages)

An Overview of Blockchain Technology: Architecture, Consensus, and Future Trends

Blockchain For Fragile States: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (7 pages)

Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study (122 pages)

Blockchain: Distributed Ledger Technology And Designing The Future (115 pages)

Unlocking The Real Value Of Blockchain Through Its "Sweet Spot" (10 pages)

A Powerful Interview Of Ray Youssef, Paxful Founder CEO

This interview reminds me of the Joe Rogan interview with Elon Musk. And it is not just about the length. It is more about the relaxed pace.

This interview of @raypaxful https://t.co/JW4RYSjr05 reminds me of this interview of @elonmusk https://t.co/yNFfSlfZlf

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 11, 2019

@ChrisConeyInt A Powerful Interview Of Ray Youssef, Paxful Founder CEO https://t.co/1aBrOli1KK

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 11, 2019

The Blockchain Rumble

1999

Today the term Bitcoin is pretty much synonymous with the Blockchain. But the Bitcoin is just one application that sits on top of the Blockchain. The Blockchain is the underlying fundamental technology. Many cryptocurrencies sit on top of that Blockchain. The Bitcoin is not alone.

But perception is not irrelevant. It is like, around 2012, for a ton of people, Facebook and the Internet were the same things. Everything they experienced on the Internet they experienced through Facebook. Facebook was their gateway. Facebook was their browser, their operating system. So when they clicked on a link they saw on Facebook, to them it was still Facebook.

Bitcoin is that.

And right now is 1999 for the Blockchain. And by right now I don’t mean this very month or even this very year. I could have said this a year ago. I will say this a year from now. And I am not claiming we are precisely two years from some kind of course correction.

When cars first showed up, thousands of car companies popped up. Most of them failed. It is in the nature of new technology to spring forth tons of new ventures. It is not even unfair. Who is to say someone can not take the plunge? A lot of people decide to take the risk, to solve the big puzzle, make the big bucks. That risk-taking is essential to big innovation. That froth is necessary.

Froth is not fraudulence, but the industry does need to watch out for fraudulence.

B100

There are innovation issues and there are governance issues. Internet protocol is governance, and there even competing companies can come together to create common ground.

You just have to go watch what happened on Capitol Hill when the Google and Facebook CEOs showed up to testify. Some of the questions that were asked came across as so foreign. Ordinary netizens were perplexed by the gulf between them and their political leaders. It is perhaps not fair to expect the governments of the world to lead the governance of the Blockchain. And it would not make sense for individual companies to do the same.

I propose the creation of a B100, or Blockchain 100, along the lines of G20 for nations, a coming together of the top 100 Blockchain companies by market value that meet once a year and hold their discussions in a transparent fashion to decide on governance issues. This has to be a global grouping.

Your bank might fail, but your money to a certain extent is secure because your government guarantees that. The cryptocurrencies need that umbrella. The company through which you bought your Bitcoin might fail, but your Bitcoins are safe because they reside on the Blockchain. People need to know that. And it is not enough that your Bitcoins are safely sitting on the Blockchain. If you can’t access it, it is as good as lost.

The Blockchain people need to tackle ID issues as something even more fundamental than finance. In the hierarchy of things, ID is most fundamental. Access to finance might be the next step up the ladder. Then come things like electricity and access to the Internet. In a few years when thousands of satellites bring the Internet to every point on earth, land or ocean, we will be in a good position to solve the ID problem for everybody. Give people ID and finance and Latin America will feel no need to pour into the United States. Africa will feel no need to shift to Europe.

The Blockchain is supposed to be empowering. There is a reason the Blockchain is hottest in Africa, the most disempowered continent. Ordinary people instinctively see the promise.

The Blockchain Rumble https://t.co/N2OCC3Ol8n @paxful @raypaxful @skyzer4ever

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 11, 2019

The Blockchain Rumble https://t.co/387hLusxfl @paxful @raypaxful @ChrisConeyInt @skyzer4ever

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 12, 2019