5
SlockIt
Co-founder of SlockIt, Christoph Jenztsch, joined Amanda for a discussion on his Ethereum-based project which is developing smart property and "Internet of Things" devices that lock and unlock using cryptocurrency and smart contracts and aims to function as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
SlockIt aims to facilitate the growth of the sharing economy by enabling people to rent out their property in new ways. The broader vision for the project, however, is to be positioned well within the "Internet of Things" movement by enabling machine-to-machine communications and payments.
For example, SlockIt is working with German energy company RWE to develop blockchain-enabled electric car charging stations that will allow blockchain-enabled electric cars to pay for their own energy automatically. This sort of blockchain-enabled smart property is currently possible only on the Ethereum blockchain because it is currently the only blockchain that is turing complete.
Ethereum is also unique in that it enables its decentralized applications (dapps) to function as DAOs. For example, those looking to participate in the SlockIt DAO can do so by buying tokens representing the right to participate. The DAO receives a 1% fee from every transaction that takes place on the SlockIt dapp. The DAO then can vote on how to allocate the funds.
As more dapps are built on top of Ethereum, concerns about the size of the Ethereum blockchain and incentives for nodes to host it are growing. Jenztsch, however, assures us that SlockIt will not contribute much to the size of the Ethereum blockchain because its locks will function primarily through peer-to-peer signed messages and will only need to embed data on the blockchain when the Slock is rented and again when it is returned.
The Age of Altcoins is Upon Us
One of the strongest selling points for Bitcoin since its inception has been that its network has no single point of failure. Within the greater cryptocurrency ecosystem, however, Bitcoin itself is emerging as a potential single point of failure due to its developers having failed to keep its transaction processing capacity in line with the demand for Bitcoin transactions and the fact that Bitcoin is the primary gateway between fiat currencies and the altcoins that comprise the rest of the ecosystem. Also to note is that very few goods and services are currently available for purchase with any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin.
If we as cryptocurrency users and advocates are tired of waiting for Bitcoin development to turn things around and want to take the health of the entire ecosystem into our own hands, it is imperative that we begin building out the infrastructure for which early Bitcoiners so fiercely fought. Aside from building out the services and infrastructure needed to bring fiat currency directly into altcoins, we must speak with the people with whom we trade and do business and seek to increase the number of people and businesses accepting altcoins as payment for goods and services.