How Blockchain is going to impact sustainability

As given at the Institute for Development Studies on 4th July 2018.

Transcript

1. Blockchain & sustainability David Lockie Dcent.tech @dcentagency
2. • Examples of blockchain projects • On electricity use • Trends and predictions • Next steps for you • A disclaimer Slides on speakerdeck.com/dcent What will you get from this talk? Dcent.tech @dcentagency
3. Dcent.tech @dcentagency Examples So let’s pick a few examples of how cryptoeconomics will disrupt supply chains and logistics. What if you could trust: 1. Hyperledger 2. Supply chain visibility 3. Sustainable development 4. Collaboration platforms Zooming out, longer term • Pressure on brands and industries to be ready for transparency • An opportunity to program sustainability governance into the economy
4. Dcent.tech @dcentagency An open source project donated by IBM (and others) to the Hyperledger Foundation (part of the Linux foundation). A bundle of permissioned blockchains and related tools - high performance out of the box (~5k TPS). Planned for introduction by RSPO for tracking of sustainable palm oil prodution Hyperledger
5. Dcent.tech @dcentagency Provenance A blockchain platform to help prove the provenance of food and drinks supply chain. Case studies include the Coop Origin Trail A project to tackle trust within fragmented supply chain using decentralised graph databases and their own protocol, network and application layers to enable trusted data exchange. Supply chain visibility
6. Dcent.tech @dcentagency Rightmesh is a project to bring community-powered and owned mesh networking to the developing world. This is an example not only of supporting sustainability through access to the web but to empowering communities to plan and acquire their own infrastructure. Sustainable development
7. The Chicago Blockchain Project aims to leverage the hype behind blockchain and cryptocurrencies in order to build a community of people who want to accelerate the world’s journey towards sustainability. Dcent.tech @dcentagency Collaboration platforms
8. The oft-touted electricity usage ‘reports’ are often grossly overestimated and oversimplify the reality of electricity production and consumption. “Miners are securing access to highly competitive sources of electricity, often ones that would otherwise lie idle” Bendiksen, C. and Gibbons, S., 2018, The Bitcoin Mining Network - Trends, Marginal Creation Cost, Electricity Consumption & Sources, https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.coinshares.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/06140515/MiningWhitepaperFinal.pdf Electricity consumption Dcent.tech @dcentagency
9. McCook, H (2014), An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network, https://www.bitcoin.fr/public/divers/docs/Estimation_de_la_dura bilite_et_du_cout_du_reseau_Bitcoin.pdf True costs Dcent.tech @dcentagency
10. Restart Energy “This is our vision of a vibrant, sustainable world, where affordable energy is created and consumed by anyone, anywhere.” We Power ”WePower fuels renewable energy production by enabling developers to raise capital by selling their energy production upfront in the form of tradable Smart Energy Contracts.” PowerLedger “Power Ledger is the world leading peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable energy.” Energy projects Dcent.tech @dcentagency
11. Dcent.tech @dcentagency For businesses / organisations 1. The opportunity to program sustainability into their internal economy through smart contracts 2. New platforms for collaborations with multi-faceted stakeholders 3. The ability to be transparent with customers to help make brand trust as valuable as possible Cryptoeconomics For individuals 1. Ability to collaborate en-masse in meaningful economic ways with other individuals 2. Ability to assess supply chains against personal values 3. Increased loyalty and trust to brands that align with beliefs
12. “the fundamentals of the token model...allow communities to govern themselves, their economics, and rally a community...to flourish in a way that was previously impossible.” Fred Ehrsam (co-founder of Coinbase), Value of the Token Model “an infinity of subcultures...now blossoms on the Internet — vegans, body modifiers, CrossFitters, Wiccans, DIYers...Millions of people are finding their true peers in the cloud.” Balaji Srinivasan (founder of 21.co) Software is Reorganizing the World Combine these insights and we can imagine a world in which the granularity and transparency of blockchain data gives economic power to very specific communities. https://www.neverstopmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CMO-Primer-For-The-Blockchain-World-NSM.pdf Purpose Marketing Dcent.tech @dcentagency
13. Dcent.tech @dcentagency • Tech giants will adopt/release/buy e.g. Uber tokens (Rakuten already has) • Everything that can be Tokenized will be Tokenized • Shift towards purpose, authentic value creation, community curation and experience • Instantaneous migration between service providers • Browsers will help manage your online budget • The role of oracles (to provide data for smart contracts) will lead to the growth of importance of trusted authoritative data sources Trends - my take
14. Dcent.tech @dcentagency • Read more about these projects • Take the free HyperLedger course: https://www.edx.org/course/blockchain-business-introduction-linuxfoundationx-lfs171x • Put some time into reading and learning about blockchain, CCs and DLTs • Consider how use cases you’re interested in • Think about how a token economy could align with triple bottom line economics • Book a free briefing with me by emailing hello@dcent.tech What should you do now if you're interested in this talk?
15. Dcent.tech @dcentagency DISCLAIMER: Blockchain isn't the right fit for everything and you need to do your own research. This is not financial advice. This presentation includes content published from countries all over the world. Persons who access it, agree to do so in accordance with their local laws. All opinions expressed by this author or others are solely the opinion of that individual, and should not be viewed as an endorsement or investment advice. You should not treat any opinion expressed here as a specific inducement to make a particular investment, or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of that individual’s opinion. Statements and opinions are subject to change without notice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Dcent does not guarantee any specific outcome or profit. You should be aware of the real risk of loss in following any strategy or investment discussed. Strategies or investments discussed may fluctuate in price or value. Investors may get back less than invested. Investments or strategies mentioned may not be suitable for you. The material discussed here does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs, and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for you. You must make an independent decision regarding investments or strategies mentioned. Before acting on information on this presentation, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances, and strongly consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.
16. Thank you - Any questions? Dcent.tech @dcentagency Dcent is a Pragmatic brand