Rivet coin: tell us about yourself.
Tom Marchesello: I am an operating manager and investor relations with media tech and consumer companies. My involvement in blockchain and cryptocurrency extends until 2013 with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In 2018, I joined WaterChain as a co-founder and strategist.
Rivet of coins: what are some of the key industries that the blockchain is destined to interrupt?
TM: Video games are easily one of the best industries that will use blockchain technology more effectively in a very intuitive way.
Banking infrastructure is one of the largest industries that can take advantage of technology to simplify the issuance of revenue stream bonds to public investors on the blockchain.
"The original crypto purists are really a wild group and had many utopian ideals that they wanted to happen, but reality crushed their skulls with the regulation"
Rivet money: how did the blockchain space in 2018, key trends and challenges, progress made, etc.?
TM: 2018 was a difficult year for many blockchain technology groups as the developer communities stopped working because they could not extract easy payouts as prices fluctuated.
Furthermore, the core Maximalists in the Bitcoin network and the related Bitcoin forks have generally failed to produce any new and worthwhile blockchain meaning technology. They assured that now they are the dinosaurs of blockchain technology.
Bitcoin will be seen as the Blackberry phone two years after the iPhone ate its lunch. Since the great experiment of uncontrolled open developers has failed, the greatest progress has instead occurred in large companies. Big companies like IBM, Google, Microsoft have developed a big and solid blockchain technology and are going to bend the muscles. Thus, 2018 was the year when great technology created a new blockchain for companies and kept silence.
Rivet of coins: how do you respond to those who label blockchain all hype and no substance?
TM: Criticism is nonsense. Blockchain is a very interesting technology in the early stages of development. Companies needed time to understand it and apply it to useful scenarios. I have actively witnessed multi-billion dollar opportunities and related development efforts in areas such as finance, gaming and logistics.
"Because the great experiment of uncontrolled open developers has failed, the biggest advances have taken place in large companies: big companies like IBM, Google and Microsoft have developed a big and solid blockchain technology and are going to bend their muscles"
Coin Rivet: The UK Treasury Committee recently labeled Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the "Wild West Industry" and required regulations to protect investors. What is your opinion about regulation in cryptographic space?
TM: Yes, the original crypto purists are indeed a wild group and had many utopian ideals that they would have liked to happen. But reality has crushed their skulls with regulation. Especially because bad actors abuse the system and deserve to get a big kick in the bag for their cowboy behavior. Regulation is a good thing and we all welcome these measures.
But the number one thing that holds the regulation in the crypt is not the lack of desire or the need for normative measures. The number one problem is that the most clever in the cryptic world are mainly part of the Wild West community and few of these intelligent individuals work on the side of the government.
Therefore, governments are in a terrible position to force regulation on something that they do not understand very well and have bad advice. If governments want to do a good job with regulatory goals, they must engage with leading companies and smart guys like me to help them understand the crypto-landscape and business of quality companies. Just put an end to the advertising campaign and focus on creating clarity.