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Rolfe Swinton is known as the blockchain expert. He joins Sima Vasa in this episode to talk about the potential and applications of this fundamental technology that can change the workings of the market industry.
Rolfe Swinton – Promoting Blockchain Insights
Rolfe has recently joined GfK where he’s taken on a new role as Director of Data Assets. GfK is currently on a mission to reinvent its business and to refocus for the future of the insights industry.
He is also the co-founder of IIeX’s Accelerator, a new program that is helping bring new capital resources to help very early stage companies targeting the insights industry. Rolfe also co-founded a forum in an effort to promote the understanding and application of blockchain in business models.
Blockchain: What’s in a Word?
In order to better understand blockchain, it must first be separated from cryptocurrencies. It’s a very specific use and application of blockchain, but it is by no means the be all end all.
“When we talk about blockchain, we want to think about not just things that have caught people’s imagination now but direct consumer applications.” – Rolfe Swinton
The blockchain is a fundamental technology, but there’s very few people who have dug deep enough into it to fully grasp its significant applications and actual use.
BitCoin, Granddaddy of Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset that is unique and transferrable, BitCoin being the most famous example. BitCoin is an innovation that has gotten a lot of people excited and at the same time scared. Springing from an idea on paper, BitCoin became a global phenomenon a few years after somebody set up the first block in its blockchain.
With a starting price at one-sixteenth of a cent, BitCoin blew up by the fact that it satisfies the many attributes of money to extremes. It’s hyper-portable, with an infinite value per unit of weight, and infinitely divisible. However, its built-in settlement layer, a function that does not exist in currencies today makes it all the more interesting.
“Because of this, some people would refer to blockchain as essentially, the trust protocol.” – Rolfe Swinton
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