From Speculation to Utility - A Blueprint for Mass Market

Decentralized apps (dApps) are supposed to bring about a revolution in how people transact and connect via blockchains. Yet, after waves of marketing hype followed by phases of software development, even the most popular dApps only have hundreds of daily active users.

Cardstack’s founding director Chris Tse will analyze the current barriers of user adoptions inherent in the current generation of blockchain protocols and introduce the missing components that will fill in the usability gaps in the Web3 software stack, making way for real-world usage that will fulfill the speculated growth of decentralized networks.

A version of this talk was given at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto, Canada on August 15 2018.

Transcript

1. CARDSTACK From Speculation to Utility A Blueprint for Mass Market Adoption V14 CHRIS TSE Founding Director Cardstack Project @christse
2. SPECULATIVE VALUE TIME Speculation vs Utility The 2 curves that define the crypto market today UTILITY VALUE TIME ETH-USD Rate (1y) from Coinmarketcap.com
3. ECOSYSTEM VALUE WE ARE HERE? TIME From Speculation to Utility Scenario 1: “User adoption is around the corner”
4. ECOSYSTEM VALUE TIME From Speculation to Utility Scenario 2: “This is going to take a long time.” THE ADOPTION GAP
5. The Adoption Gap INTERESTED IN DAPP USE THE DAPP Ideal new user flow
6. The Adoption Gap Reality of what new users must go through INTERESTED IN DAPP BUY ETHER WRITE DOWN RECOVERY PHRASE INSTALL DESKTOP APP TRADE FOR NEEDED TOKEN SEND FIRST TRANSACTION USE THE DAPP FUND WALLET FOR GAS GET METAMASK EXTENSION SIGN UP FOR BINANCE GO TO COINBASE WITHDRAW TOKEN TO WALLET
7. The Conversion Funnel Each step causes drop offs that kills user adoption 100+ MM USD WORTH OF INTEREST BUY ETHER WRITE DOWN RECOVERY PHRASE INSTALL DESKTOP APP TRADE FOR NEEDED TOKEN SEND FIRST TRANSACTION FUND WALLET FOR GAS SIGN UP FOR BINANCE GO TO COINBASE WITHDRAW TOKEN TO WALLET GET METAMASK EXTENSION 67 
 USERS
8. The Conversion Funnel This is the scariest number in crypto 100+ MM USD WORTH OF INTEREST 67 
 USERS -99.999%
9. Beautify the Cryptography DApp 1.0 Blockchain
10. Orchestrate the Complete User Flow DApp 2.0 Blockchains + Protocols Application Hosting Token Availability
11. 1: Token Availability Starting using DApps with zero friction. Exchange tokens and settle later. DAPP 1.0 Pay with Coins Pay with Card DAPP 2.0 vs.
12. s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 Built as Silos Integrate as Layers 2: Blockchains & Protocols Assemble the best parts into a cohesive experience s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 vs. DAPP 2.0 DAPP 1.0
13. Do It Yourself Do it for Me 3: Application Hosting Meet users where they are. Let them gradually take charge. DAPP 2.0 DAPP 1.0 PEER-TO-PEER OPEN WEB Cohesive User Experience (CUE) https://www. vs. Let user choose
14. s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 s1 Frictionless Payment Cohesive Experience Convenient Access Cohesive User Experience (CUE) https:// DApp 2.0 + +
15. Frictionless Payment Cohesive Experience Convenient Access CARDSTACK Open Source Framework for DApp 2.0 + + For Developers GAS-LESS TRANSACTIONS JUST-IN-TIME TOKEN PROXIES DIRECT USAGE PURCHASE WITH FIAT PAYMENT/ REWARD POOL LIQUIDITY VIA CEX & DEX CLOUD SERVICE REDEMPTION VIA SIDECHAIN CARDSTACK HUB FOR DATA FUSION INDEXING & QUERYING WITH AUTHORIZATION EVM SMART CONTRACT ABI MAPPING COMPOSABLE CARD UI TOOLKIT 30+ PLUG-INS OPEN-SOURCED ON GITHUB MULTI-CHAIN SUPPORT VIA DOCKER RUN YOUR OWN PERSONAL CLOUD P2P FULL NODE VIA ELECTRON & DOCKER WEBUSB SUPPORT FOR HARDWARE WALLETS PAY FOR SAAS VIA MULTI-TENANCY SAME CODE DEPLOYED TO CLOUD EMBEDDABLE MOBILE- OPTIMIZED CARD
16. CARDSTACK’S TECHNICAL ROADMAP CONSENSUS ORCHESTRATION USER EXPERIENCE SMART CONTRACTS INTEGRATIONS Since shipping the MVP in time for the Cardstack Token Generation Event (TGE), our engineering team and open-source contributors have continued onto the following phases of research and development for each of the layers of the Cardstack architecture. CLOUD OR DESKTOP RUNTIME FOR DATA FUSION AND ROUTING ON-RAMP FOR END USERS TO ACCESS CARDSTACK CATALOG PLUG-INS FOR CONNECTING TO BLOCKCHAIN AND CLOUD SERVICES TOKEN MECHANISMS FOR PAYMENT, REWARDS, AND GOVERNANCE CONSENSUS PROTOCOLS UNDERLYING THE ECOSYSTEM CARDSTACK < 2017 2018 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2019 Q1 Q2 PHASE 1 PHASE 2 Cardstack Environment with “Four Edges”: Administrative Tools Cardstack Token Generation Event (TGE): Dashboard PHASE 3 Card Space: Community Contribution Management Features PHASE 4 Card Flow: Conversational Workflow Automation Features PHASE 5 Industry-Specific DApps Built on Cardstack: E.g. Media Registry, Crypto Accounting, Shipping PHASE 1 PHASE 2 Cardstack Hub: Core Components (NodeJS & Docker) Cardstack Hub: Security & Deployment (AWS) PHASE 3 Cardstack Hub: Index & Query (Postgres) PHASE 4 Cardstack Hub: Free-to-Use Peer-to-Peer Deployment (Electron) PHASE 1 PHASE 2 Local or Cloud Plug-ins:
 Git, SQL, Elasticsearch, 3rd Party APIs Blockchain Plug-ins:
 Ethereum (Geth), CARD ABI PHASE 3 Blockchain Plug-ins: More EVM Smart Contracts, Oracles PHASE 4 Blockchain and Protocol Plug-ins: L1 or L2 Protocols (PoS, DEX, State Channels) PHASE 5 Enterprise System Plug-ins: Line-of-Business Applications PHASE 2 Cardstack Token (CARD): Modular Contract Architecture (ERC20 & ENS) PHASE 5 Cardstack Hub: Payment through CARD Token for Decentralized Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) PHASE 1 Hyperledger Sawtooth: Transaction Family POC PHASE 3 Cardstack Token (CARD) with Software & Services Coupon (SSC): Universal “Gas” Mechanism for Blockchain- and Cloud-Based Utilities Current work in progress PHASE 4 Cardstack Token (CARD) with CLUTCH*: Compliance Mechanism for Direct Fiat Purchase * Conditionally Locked Until Token is Contractually Handed Over PHASE 1 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM): Consensus Provided by On-Chain Smart Contract Governed by Proof-of-Work (PoW) PHASE 2 EVM for CARD + Sidechain for SSC: More Scalable On-Chain Metering and Billing PHASE 3 EVM + Sidechain + Tally Protocol: Decentralized Analytic Network Minimum Viable Product (MVP) TGE
17. NETWORKS QUEUES ENVIRONMENTS LIBRARIES CONFIGURATIONS PURCHASE ORDER ARBITRATION SERVICE PRIVATE MESSAGE SALES REPORT CARDSTACK Mix & match cards from many dApps or protocols For End Users
18. NETWORKS CARD QUEUES ENVIRONMENTS LIBRARIES CONFIGURATIONS PURCHASE ORDER ARBITRATION SERVICE PRIVATE MESSAGE SALES REPORT AGREEMENT VERIFIED IDENTITY OWNERSHIP TITLE PREDICTION FRAUD ALERT FILE FOLDER VIP LIST PAYMENT METHOD MEMBERSHIP SETTLEMENT RECEIPT REQUEST FOR QUOTE CHANGE REQUEST RECEIVE CARD MODIFY CARD SAVE CARD PUBLISH CARD Cards moves between people in decentralized networks CARDSTACK
19. LIBRARIES ENVIRONMENTS QUEUES NETWORKS CONFIGURATIONS VERIFY IDENTITY TO AMEND OWNERSHIP TITLE Users can chain cards together to form their workflows CARDSTACK
20. CARDSTACK So the next million makers the next billion users can build the tools for
21. CARDSTACK t.me/cardstack @cardstack cardstack.com CHRIS TSE Founding Director Cardstack Project @christse