81: Markets for Trust - why blockchains matter with Horace Dediu and Anders Brownworth

Something a bit different this week. Horace and Oliver host Anders Brownworth, co-host of the Critical Path, to talk about crypto, blockchains and markets for trust. Anders’ background working in telecom, finance and then crypto (developing USDC and now working at the Federal Reserve) give him a unique perspective. As Horace, Oliver and he break down what programmable trust can mean for markets, government and society. This came out of a discussion following a Micromobility podcast recording talking about Apple was functioning as an arbiter of trust with all its new key and payment building blocks, and how ‘trust’ carries a market premium, which gave way to a wider conversation about how trust can be priced. For those of you who aren’t that familar with the workings of Bitcoin/blockchain, Anders Brownworth has done a 101 video here (with more than 1 million views!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_160oMzblY8 Specifically, they dig into: - The history of money, and why trust-minimised stores of value are so valuable. - Markets for trust and how companies like Google or Uber are potentially threatened by distributed marketplaces/clearinghouses. - How the overall valuation of Bitcoin is the NPV of all future trust that will be accumulated to the protocol. - Why having immutable records is so important for the functioning of democracies. - What areas of blockchains both Anders and Oliver are most excited about. Finally, as mentioned in the news - here is the excellent NYT article on the reallocation of streetspace in New York, “I’ve seen a future without cars and it’s amazing” - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/sunday/ban-cars-manhattan-cities.html