Video Of The Week: William Talking Blockchains At Google

AVC regular William Mougayar gave a talk about blockchains at Google a few weeks ago. It’s a good overview of where we’ve been and where we are going in the blockchain sector.

#blockchain

Comments (Archived):

  1. William Mougayar

    Thanks Fred. Background story is they contacted me in early May, after I wrote an article in TechCrunch “The Blockchain is the new Google” https://techcrunch.com/2016…. They were very gracious hosts & and I enjoyed contributing to the Talks at Google series that includes thousands of videos from a variety of interesting people.

    1. richard bookman

      Nice talk, William.Could you comment on military applications of blockchain technology?

      1. William Mougayar

        it’s classified :)Kidding aside, the military has been using strong encryption in messaging for a long time. With blockchain, in general:- more encryption at the source, from data to users and throughout apps – IoT most probably- making various devices smart and connected securelyThey would need to deploy their own blockchain and that will have implications on their overall technology infrastructure.

        1. richard bookman

          So this helps to make clear that there will be lots of blockchains….some private and some public. Clearly, military or intel versions will be private.Part of the blockchains benefit though was this idea of a single distributed ledger. Rather, it would seem that blockchains will have owners and that blockchains will compete for users…in any given application area. Agree?If so, then we have re-intermediated transactions…..albeit with more secure technology.

          1. William Mougayar

            That’s correct !

    2. Rohan

      That’s great William. I’m looking forward to watching it. 🙂

    3. LE

      I have only been able to watch the first few minutes so far but I am curious if you get into how you became interested in the blockchain and what was it that attracted you to it in the first place? What did you read, think or see that sparked your interest and involvement?

  2. Tom Labus

    Thanks, William. That was great an so informative.

  3. jason wright

    Is quantum computing a threat to blockchain tech?

    1. William Mougayar

      funny that’s a common question I get after speaking.Not at the moment, but if you extrapolate in the future, blockchain technology could also incorporate advances in quantum computing so the encryption security will continue to be strong within blockchains. The risk is not just about trying to break encryption (theoretically speaking).

      1. lightnovelist

        Hi William, I have two questions. A few years ago, most bitcoin supporters were focused on the monetary aspect of bitcoin, many thought that private blockchains would simply not work, and basically their vision was for cryptocurrencies to overtake government backed money.It seems that recently, the focus has shifted to more on finding other innovative uses for the blockchain, and it’s become the “blockchain”, rather than some coin (which implies money).So my question is, do you guys (I mean people at the forefront of this innovation) think that cryptocurrencies are no longer interesting as currencies? Or is it still interesting as a currency, but also interesting in all the other use cases?Also, in the future, do you see blockchains working mostly as some sort of a B2B thing that the average person would not know anything about or think about, or would average people actually use it somehow (like how, the average person today would use the internet, even if they don’t know all the details of how the internet works)?Thank you

        1. William Mougayar

          Good questions & I have covered these at length in the book (do get a copy).Is it still interesting as a currency, but also interesting in all the other use cases?- yes to both. You could think that currency was the first application of the blockchain because it was originally conceived as a peer to peer electronic cash system. The other use cases that follow will be digital asset exchanging, value exchanging and other applications. Finally since it’s a software technology too, it can enable just about anything almost.And yes, in the book I say that blockchains will become more successful when they are more invisible and their application appeals to regular end-users.

          1. lightnovelist

            Thank you so much, William. I will be sure to get a copy of your book.

  4. leapy

    Nice overview William. Like you, I was there when the first dot com bubble burst (which hurt, a lot) and agree that the innovation on the Blockchain does indeed seem steadier and more manageable with less visible pump’n’dump going on. I am sure that there’s some of that going on in the private markets but the mainstream public investor is not, currently, being caught out. Largely because, to be honest, it’s not such a simple sell as sticking a “.com” on the end of your business name.What is hard is recognising the real fundamental changes amongst the minor incremental benefits being developed amongst these 5000 developers. For example, just today I discovered the Coinbase wallet widget in metamask.io (a nice example of a web footprint for a crypto platform app). It’s a really nice bit of usability built into a great tool that allows regular web users to engage with the Ethereum app layer. It is only a window onto whatever is being built on Ethereum though.Where are the fundamental changes happening? There’s so much activity going on. I wonder how the customers in this bar keep a handle on it. Where do you go to keep on top of progress and how do you filter signal out of noise – especially when you’re holding down a day job?Appreciate any assistance.Leapy

    1. William Mougayar

      Yup, I know the Metamask founders. It used to be called Vapor (good change of name !).Where do you go to keep on top of progress and how do you filter signal out of noise – especially when you’re holding down a day job?- it is part of my job actually, and I’m lucky that a part of it comes to me directly, while I still seek to find out about the rest of it. You get better at filtering the noise after seeing a lot of activity, and that becomes an acquired competency based on having an instinct for what might or might not work. The rest is luck.(Feel free to contact me if you’d like wmougayar@gmail)

      1. leapy

        Thanks, William.

  5. aminTorres

    @wmoug:disqus, where can I email you regarding a network of ownership records of hard assets on the blockchain. I am particularly interested to know what you think about how one might go about validating the real world asset to a blockchain representation of it that can hold legitimacy the same way a physical title might.

    1. William Mougayar

      Sure. That’s synthetic assets, and there are early apps doing this on the blockchain for gold, diamonds for example. wmougayar@gmail

  6. awaldstein

    Nice and informative.

    1. William Mougayar

      Thanks Arnold.TLDR; 3 new paradigms the blockchain brings:1/ Technical: You can replace 2 databases synchronizing with each other by a single ledger.2/ Business: Every service is now peer-to-peer, with less intermediary friction. 3/ Legal: Transactions recorded on the blockchain are valid and recognized.If you believe in these 3 fundamental aspects as key enablers of change, then the rest will follow.

      1. awaldstein

        1 & 3 are what are oft repeated. #1 really interesting.Obvious though that whomever is going to be successful with either will require massive funding and a very long view.Pls give me the very best example of #2 and how that is a game changer? Specific example that intimates disrupting a sector.

        1. William Mougayar

          2/- OpenBazaar, p2p commerce (eBay without eBay, or more secure Craigslist)- Steem, p2p incentives from social engagement – La’Zooz, Uber without Uber with p2p currency generationMore will be forthcoming

          1. awaldstein

            Sound like plumbing stuff a bit honestly.Plumbing is a big business but your examples are not really showing a new way just a better way to brush off existent models. You said that blockchain is about innovation. As you describe this its rebuilding stuff on a better platform.

      2. kenberger

        That’s a very helpful TL;DR.Similarly, if you’re able to get a 3-10 minute video summary of you explaining the top bullets for laypeople, I’d bet you’d have a relatively easy time getting your message shared much farther and wider.Even if that wider audience isn’t who you’re trying to target, could be helpful in the grand scheme.

        1. William Mougayar

          Yes, that’s a good but idea, and I’ve been wanting to do that.

  7. WA

    Your sounding better in your expertise than a lot of the Coursera instructors from the top schools out there do in their expertise, William. Did you ever consider writing and teaching a Blockchain course – in your area – and pushing it out on the MOOCs? I’ll take the odds tha you would pull some serious numbers. And of course there’s the textbook sale.

  8. Jamie Lin

    Best summary of the blockchain ecosystem I’ve heard to date. Thanks for sharing, Fred.

  9. William Mougayar

    It wasn’t a single person, but several commentators both in public and private.

  10. LE

    Same here (that dude that introduced him is he human?)