Blockchain Breakfast Summer Series, Part 1: Weird Use Cases
July 12, 2019 | By Lacey Shrum
This Tuesday, Vela Wood hosted the first of its three-part “Blockchain Breakfast” series. James Johnson joined us to “get weird with blockchain.” James is the co-founder and CMO of Oaken Innovations, a blockchain software company focused on automotive mobility applications. He is also the product development leader of the first blockchain powered international money remittance application (MoneyGram & Ripple) and the co-founder of the Trusted IoT Alliance and Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI).
Below is a recap of our croissant filled conversation.
Autonomous Cars
One of James’ bold predictions is the idea of an on-demand self-driving car service. No longer will we own cars, he predicts, but rather we will order the car to arrive and drop us off. This car will be self-driving and blockchain technology will allow us to connect to the car directly (you cannot have a blockchain application without the word disintermediation). Payment can be instantaneously transferred with digital assets, eliminating a majority of the current payment processors.
Interesting fact: on average, traditional consumers only get about 7% of the total usage out of their cars.
Business Models
Most startups using blockchain technology are made up of numerous other technology tools, blockchain being just one of them. In fact, in pitching their solutions to clients, the word “blockchain” is hardly used.
Parking Lots as Banks
Europeans use their tolltag to pay for things like drive-thru meals and dry cleaning. Currently, this process involves multiple parties and payment processes. Blockchain can minimize the parties and time-delay involved in processing payments. As such, private, otherwise non-banking-related businesses in Europe are obtaining their banking licenses in order to facilitate seamless real-time payment processing.
Here are James’s quick takes on popular blockchain topics.
- Digital Assets: No surprise, here to stay.
- Libra: Will get shelved. Too much regulatory burden.
- Best Blockchain Use Case: programmable storage and transfer of value
- Worst Blockchain Use Case: dating app (and it somehow had an ICO…)
- 10-Year Prediction: Level 5 autonomous cars. By the time babies born this year reach the existing driving age, they will not need to get a driver’s license nor learn how to drive.
Other notable mentions? Lacey’s top is by Sea New York by way of Rent the Runway 🦄 and James wore Bitcoin socks 🧦.
This year’s “Blockchain Breakfast” is an interview style format where Lacey interviews fellow blockchain personalities. The next event, Who Runs the Cash? Communities, Governments & Private Enterprise! is on Tuesday, July 23rd from 8:30am-9:30am.
Join Fred Constantinesco, Bitcoin enthusiast, and Lacey Shrum for a lively discussion about the topic of money, and who is in charge of it. They will discuss traditional fiat currency, blockchain enabled decentralized currency, and the upcoming privately issued Facebook currency, Libra. And for our fellow attorneys out there, this event is CLE accredited! Hope to see you there!
About the Author(s)
Lacey Shrum
Lacey is an attorney at Vela Wood where she serves businesses that use blockchain technology and digital assets. She serves as a subject matter expert and expert witness to attorneys and advisors as they encounter digital assets in their traditional legal practice.
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