A blockchain company is a promise, enforced

Unlike prior generations of internet services, blockchain companies' promises are irrevocable

April 17, 2015
Jonathan Libov

You can build a marketplace that promises sellers a lower take rate than the incumbents'.

You can launch a SAAS product that promises developers lower fees than the incumbents'.

You can launch a social/identity platform that promises developers more open API's than the incumbents'.

But when you build an app or service on top of a Blockchain protocol, that promise is enforced. Not only are those zero take rates and zero fees, and that zero fuckery with personal data ownership and API access, baked into the protocol, but the public and decentralized nature of the blockchain means that, even if you tried to renege on a promise, you've already given all your partners and users the keys to go elsewhere with all of their data intact. Your competition would be lying in wait, ready to fulfill all of those original promises, and there's not an ounce of lock-in to stop it.

That's the difference with blockchain companies: they're making a promise that is impossible not to keep.

Thanks to Joel Monegro for review a draft of this post