S2 Industry Revisit - Wine, Crowdfunding, Black Markets, and more

On this week’s episode, Matt and Blake run through highlights of different industries that are going to be affected by cryptocurrencies. Bear markets are the best time to educate yourself on the latest trends and projects in the space. Things move fast and you want to be well prepared for when the market turns back around. This episode provides a great overview on the status of some of the best projects of 2018. Let’s dive into the episodes that were covered: Future of Blockchain Jared Tate of DigiByte is one of the foremost experts in the blockchain space. He understands the technology on a deep level, and when governments want to know about blockchain, this is the guy they call. Despite his bullishness, he only sees a few use cases for blockchain, mainly related to security, identity, and supply chain logistics. He thinks projects like “One Belt One Road” are important to watch because they could unleash the power of blockchain on a global scale.      Crowdfunding The ICO boom and bust stunted the growth of this revolutionary form of fundraising. As regulators stepped in, innovation has slowed down and led to feelings of trepidation amongst both entrepreneurs and investors. While it’s still the Wild Wild West, keep in mind that this is the first time that the fundraising process has been democratized. Giving the average person the opportunity to invest in the next Facebook or Uber.   Healthcare Taking down the incumbents in an industry like healthcare is going to be a challenge. These companies are deep pocketed, bureaucratic, and built on complex systems that have been around for decades. Ideas like peer-to-peer healthcare are interesting, but still very far away from being practical. To disrupt this space, one would need to completely rebuild the industry from the ground up, as opposed to simply making a few minor tweaks and adjustments. It raises the question, does this really need a blockchain?   Wine Futures Vinsent is a project that allows consumers to pay vineyard directly for a case of wine that will be delivered to their door once it has been properly aged and bottled. They recently received an investment from Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, who is scheduled to appear on the show in the coming weeks. Tokenizing wine will create a market for fine wines, allowing wine connoisseurs to buy and sell tokens of their favorite vineyards and blends. Black Markets 70% of all commerce in the world runs through the black market. While most think the black market is made up of things like fire arms and bootleg DVDs, it’s easy to forget that any business that doesnt pay taxes technically falls into this underground “shadow economy”. These companies are heavily reliant on cash, and they could really anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero or Z-Cash to begin making more secure transactions both online and in-person. This space is even more intriguing given the fact that countries like Russia and Iran have been removed from the international banking system, and may need to turn to cryptocurrencies to maneuver around regulations.   Prediction Markets Prediction markets are decentralized betting networks where anyone can create a market for a future event that they’re interested in wagering on. You can create markets for basic things such as “Will the Yankees win the World Series?”, to the more outlandish ones like “Will Donald Trump be bald next year?”. Anything goes, and they have even proven to be better than meteorologists in predicting things like orange grove output in Florida. “The Wisdom of the Crowds” theory may be right after all. This is definitely one of the more futuristic and exciting innovations in the cryptocurrency realm, and we look forward to speaking with Veil to hear about their project in a few weeks. If there’s a topic that sticks out, we encourage you to do some research and see where it leads you. Start with a simple Google search on any of the topics mentioned, and go from there. This is the best way to educate yourself on how the future might play out. We’ll be back in a few weeks with the second half of Season 2 industries. If you have any questions about the content feel free to reach out and we’d be happy to help.   For more on us, follow at and subscribe at bitcoin.com/podcast