Blockchain Technology
I have just joined the Udemy class on “The Basics of Blockchain Technology” for US$10.00
I am going through Lesson 2 now and I am excited about what I have learned already.
I would like as many of my friends to join this class with me for two main reasons:
Reason # 1: I can see the application of Blockchain Technology affecting our lives during our lifetime. In fact, as far as banking and economics go, the technology is here already. Take a look at the prices of crypto currencies “Bitcoin” (started in the year 2009) and “Ethereum” (started in 2015) and see how their prices rise.
Reason # 2: Blockchain technology is going to affect all business sectors, including the property, construction and real estate industries where I have primary interests in.
The teachers (instructors) are:
(1) Tom Serres (source: from the course materials)
Tom Serres is a seasoned entrepreneur, public speaker, and technology executive. He is Co-Founder of Animal Ventures, a venture studio and consultancy focused on building startups, educating executives, and designing comprehensive strategies to help large companies, governments, and SMEs take advantage some of the most advanced technology companies coming into the market. Animal Ventures focuses on tech companies operating in verticals such as Blockchain, Digital Media, Artificial and Augmented Intelligence and Internet of Things.
Tom is the host of a new tech show called Tech on Politics, a personal experiment to interview some of the greatest minds in technology, media, venture capital, and government about the convergence of technology, politics, and government.
Tom’s first company, Rally, was the largest political fundraising platform in the United States. He is considered one of the country’s leading thinkers on entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, technology, politics and online fundraising. In 2013, Tom was named one of America’s Most Promising CEO’s under 35 by Forbes Magazine for his work with Rally. Tom has helped millions of users connect with nonprofits, advocacy groups, political campaigns, and individual causes to raise awareness and money online. Over a few short years, Rally hosted 70,000 organizations and grew to nearly a billion dollars in fundraising volume.
In June 2012, Tom made history by raising Rally’s $7.9 million Series A venture capital round — the largest ever — entirely online. As one leading tech publication put it, Rally’s founder decided “to put his desired-money where his mouth was and raise the cash online.”Tom’s been recognized by Campaigns and Elections Magazine with their Innovator Award in 2012 and as a Rising Political Star. He has discussed online fundraising, the cause economy, and entrepreneurship on CNN, ABC News, CNBC, and Fox News.
Forbes Magazine also named Rally one of America’s Most Promising Companies of 2013. Rally raised venture capital from some of the first investors in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and PayPal.
(2) Bettina Warburg (source: from the course materials)
Bettina Warburg is Co-Founder of Animal Ventures, a venture studio and consultancy focused on building startups, educating executives, and designing comprehensive strategies to help large companies, governments, and SMEs take advantage some of the most advanced technology companies coming to market. Animal Ventures focuses on tech companies operating in verticals such as Blockchain, Digital Platforms, Artificial and Augmented Intelligence and the Internet of Things.
Bettina is a thought-leader in the emerging blockchain space and leads the blockchain practice at Animal Ventures, including research, development, and commercialization across the ecosystem of blockchain innovation. She partners her network with governments and members of the Fortune 500 to help drive the global commercialization and integration of blockchain technology. Bettina first became interested in blockchain technology’s ability to shift entire systems, disintermediating many traditional trusted parties through her research on cutting-edge governance practices.
Bettina is passionate about the convergence of technology and politics and the impact it will have on our future. She is the Executive Producer of a new tech show called Tech on Politics, interviewing some of the greatest minds in technology, media, venture capital, and government about the convergence of technology and politics. Prior to Animal Ventures, Bettina received her MSc from Oxford University and BS from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and developed a keen interest in global governance and cultural diplomacy. As a Public Foresight Strategist at the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley think-tank, Bettina brought a futures lens to a variety of strategic initiatives with top corporations, foundations, education institutions, and city governments. While at IFTF, she also developed its future of philanthropy and future of governance research practices, looking to reimagine society for an age of planetary challenges and human responsibility.
In 2016, Bettina was invited by TED to be one the first speakers ever to unpack the topic of blockchain to a global audience. She has given talks and curated conferences such as Skoll World Forum, Salzburg Global Seminar, City Innovate Summit, Personal Democracy Forum, and numerous universities around the world. Bettina’s work has been cited in publications such as The Atlantic, Center for Public Impact, ICMA.org, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
How does blockchain technology affect properties?
A search from Google provides the following key answers to this question.
Effect # 1: Disintermediation
The technology will eliminate intermediaries from property transactions.
At the present moment, intermediaries exist because they hold information that we cannot access or that we have no licenses that we do not need. Blockchain technology enables us to access public distributed database where anyone can record information, without it being censored, and without needing permission.
“Blockchain will enable every property, everywhere, to have a corresponding digital address that contains occupancy, finance, legal, building performance, and physical attributes that convey perpetually and maintains all historical transactions. Additionally, the data will be immediately available online and correlatable across all properties. The speed to transact will be shortened from days/weeks/months to minutes or seconds.– Jason Ray, Nov 2, 2015.” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-cre-its-all-speed-transact-jason-ray
Effect # 2: Fraud Prevention
“Real estate fraud is rampant. It’s perpetrated by petty thieves on $500 sub-leases up to the world’s largest banks and mortgage lenders doing hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions. Read the California Real Estate Fraud Report for a few examples: http://www.californiarealestatefraudreport.com/
“Fraud is accomplished by forging paper documents such as driver licenses, bank statements, and deeds. Photoshop isn’t just for making celebrities look thinner. How can Bitcoin prevent real estate fraud?
“By offering a 100 percent incorruptible resource, whereby the sender and recipient of funds were logged, and where “digital ownership certificates” for properties are saved, the blockchain would effectively make forged ownership documents and false listings a thing of the past. The unique “digital ownership certificates” would be almost impossible to replicate, and would be directly linked to one property in the system, making selling or advertising properties you don’t own almost impossible. – Don Oparah, February 6, 2016″ http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/06/3-ways-that-blockchain-will-change-the-real-estate-market/
Effect # 3: Money
“Bitcoin is a digital currency. Ethereum has its “Ether” token. Unlike the Dollar or Euro, blockchain currencies are not the paper that is later represented by software, but they are 100% software from birth. The power of software is its programmability. You can code it to play music. Without software, you’d need humans with guitars. The power of cryptocurrency is you can program it to escrow and distribute itself. With fiat (Non-crypto) money, you need humans and banks.
“When someone rents an apartment, the landlord takes a security deposit in case the tenant damages the property. By law, he’s supposed to keep the funds in a separate escrow account and not spend it. Once the lease ends, the tenant has to rely on the good faith of the landlord to return the deposit. But if you’ve ever attended small claims court you know how frequently this human/trust-based system fails.
“Bitcoin has a function called multi-signature. In bitcoin, you use your private key to approve the sending of the digital currency to another person. With “multisig,” you can create a transaction with three private keys, where at least two are required for spending.”
I am really excited that I am learning something so new. Why not come into the classroom with me?