In the investing world, the words “disruptor” and “innovation” get tossed around a lot, perhaps too much. Blockchain technology, though, truly is a disruptor and innovation in every sense of the words. It’s the type of technology that can set countless industries on their side, particularly banking and insurance. Not everyone knows about blockchain and even fewer actually understand it, but if you believe McKinsey & Company, you should start learning because the global consulting firm sees blockchain solutions reaching their full potential in the next five years at the current rate of evolution.
In the simplest sense, blockchain is a distributed database, a decentralized published ledger if you will, giving users a medium to securely store and move data in ordered records. Remember that everything moving through the internet is just data, it doesn’t matter if its money, a document and image or what have you. Through a checks and balance system of connected timestamps throughout the “chain,” every piece of data is authenticated, making hacking the chain nearly impossible, while allowing the information to be constantly updated in real time.
While most investors have at least heard of bitcoin or Ethereum, digital currencies run on blockchain technology, understand that these are just two household names representing one application of blockchain. In fact, McKinsey & Co. calls the period between 2009 and 2016 the “Dark Ages” where solutions were nearly exclusively bitcoin-based. New uses are continuously emerging and being embraced by companies and consumers.
Still, bitcoin has gained an eye-watering 800% in the last year, soaring above $6,500 for the first time on Wednesday. Bitcoin’s value is calculated by multiplying the price times the number of coins in circulation, meaning the total value of bitcoin were it a company is nearly $110 billion. All other altcoins today have a combined value of approximately $75 billion.
Filecoin, a blockchain project revolutionizing content, in August set a new record in crowdfunding, raising about $190 million in the first hour of public launch – while bogging down the host website, CoinList – and a total of $257 million during its token sale. Think of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) as similar to an IPO and a clear-cut demonstration of investor appetite for blockchain-based technology.
So, you don’t understand bitcoin or blockchain technology? Didn’t know about the Filecoin ICO? How about the difference between app tokens and protocol tokens or public and private blockchains? Don’t know where or how to even buy a bitcoin? Don’t worry, you’re not alone…and buying a bitcoin has its own set of challenges that may detour some people from even going that route.
Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. (TSX-Venture: BLOC)(OTC: BLKCF) was formed to execute a multi-prong business model to give investors the opportunity to get exposure to an array of technologies underpinned by blockchain. The company, whose leadership team is a veritable who’s who in blockchain and modern technology, intends to create its own cryptocurrencies and tokens, invest in best in breed cryptocurrencies and make equity investments in the industry.
In short, the experts at Global Blockchain Technologies are doing the heavy lifting for investors and de-risking investment by addressing multiple components of the industry.
The team, to name just a few members, includes Chairman Steven Nerayoff, Esq., a successful serial entrepreneur that served as a senior advisor to Ethereum since its earliest days and the architect of its crowd sale, and BLOC President Shidan Gouran, also a serial entrepreneur whose curriculum vitae includes founding such successes as wholesale VoIP service Nuovotel and Jinni, the developer of the world’s first Android-based Smart TV platform.
In a phone conversation, Gouran made it clear that leadership’s deep experience is not just valuable for developing new coins and up-and-coming token applications and vetting companies for investment, but in avoiding traps in the industry. To lend some color, most don’t know that bitcoin isn’t the same bitcoin as it was when the protocol was first written. The reality is that bitcoin is on its fourth iteration. An underlying problem is that networks can be forged. So, if a network can be duplicated, how does a user know which one is the right one floating around in cyberland?
Gouran says this hurdle is only overcome by a business having a strong and established social network. Now, that doesn’t mean “social network” in the sense of Facebook or Twitter following; it means a strong network of users, albeit whatever the industry. The reason is pretty simple: protocol can be forged, but social networks and users of that protocol can’t. There’s strength in numbers and the more users, the more secure and the more growth potential.
Gouran says that his company only intends to go after businesses that already have the strong social network established. While headquartered in Vancouver, Global Blockchain Technologies is leveraging experts in Toronto, a city that has developed a reputation as the Silicon Valley of Canada. Only brought public recently by rolling into a portfolio company and a name change, the company has yet to make its first investment or develop its first coin, but Gouran says that the intentions are to provide an update later this month to give investors better insight into the business model and future intentions.
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