Blockchain: the word of the year

There are farmers raising chickens, pigs and cows; or to produce milk or eggs that they then sell on the market. Néstor Di Bello, a systems graduate who has worked all his life in technology companies, decided two years ago to start his own farm in Buenos Aires, but a little less traditional product: Di Bello owns a crypto- monetary. 19659002] His project, funded by a US fund, envisioned the installation of dozens of computers in the Villa Ballester district to "exploit" different virtual currencies (the best known is bitcoin, but there is has hundreds that are expanding) and make a profit in this process.

The entrepreneur traveled through Iceland, Canada and other mechs in this region to develop their business. On the way, he studied in depth the potential of
blockchain The programming architecture that hides behind the most famous crypto-currencies and whose potential exceeds the financial world. Created just ten years ago, this trendy technology aims, for some experts, to revolutionize forever companies based on "trust" (scribes, lawyers, accountants, institutions in general), but also entertainment, political, financial system and international trade, among other areas. The more enthusiastic ensure that there was a technology with disruptive potential so high since the mass of the Internet 20 years ago.

Blockchain is a decentralized global network, similar to an open book , where all the bitcoin transactions in the world are settled. But the assets that can be certified in this software architecture go beyond this virtual currency: they can be goods, services, legal contracts and even identities of people (more than a tenth of the world's population). There is no formal document), which are "associated" with a block of code that is then linked to others (hence its name: "blockchain"). Each node (network point) can validate each transaction and the system is considered impossible to hack (in fact, the costs of doing so are astronomical and do not justify it).

It's one of the "exponential technologies", a very strong growth, which generates more enthusiasm, and its supporters are not intimidated by the spectacular fall that bitcoin has experienced in 2018, when he lost more than half of its maximum value in a few months

particular cryptorromance with this new technology. Buenos Aires is considered as
hub (center) the most powerful of Latin America in this type of business, the most successful investment rounds of the year have been for this sector via multimillion-dollar "ICOs" and Digital Gold, the journalist's bestseller
The New York Times Nathaniel Popper on the subject, has several Argentines mentioned, among them Wenceslao Casares, the creator of Patagon, who, at the maximum bitcoin trading point, of $ 20,000 per unit at the end In 2017, the value of Mercado Libre, the most expensive company in Argentina, became higher than that of Mercado Libre

In the literature on innovation, we often talk about the phenomenon of "survival creativity" that occurs in countries that have had growth processes from a very unfavorable starting point, such as Israel, South Korea or Estonia, among others. In the case of Argentina and crypto-technologies, the "hurdle inspiring" was the Guillermo Moreno exchange rate trap. On the contrary that in the rich and banked countries – where bitcoin happened at the time with libertarian ideals and
cyberpunks associated with high-risk investments, began to be heavily used locally to circumvent Kirchnerism's economic policy restrictions. For this reason, since its inception, the local cryptocurrencies community was down to earth and it was formed on a more functional basis and finding solutions for a real problem, tells LA NACION
magazine Sergio Lerner, a programmer who was hired by Gavin Andresen, chief scientist of the Bitcoin World Foundation, as an auditor of the cryptocurrency security code.

Blockchain has five basic engines today – explains Lerner-. The most effective digital payments, non-government currencies with scheduled issuance, smart contracts, eliminating barriers to entry for small business financing and the growth of mobile phones as electronic wallet. "

this field because he" discovered ", in a kind of cryptographic archaeological work, the original bitcoin units of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of cryptocurrency, which was also his first minor ten years ago can be obtained by transaction or mine (as Di Bello does on his farm) with computing power Nakamoto has about a million bitcoins, which have never been sold, its identity is a mystery that has never been revealed and there is no consensus among programmers about who this person really is.

A Political Technology

Although the # It is often emphasized that this new "trusted machine" has revolutionized the company by providing some sort of external validation between the parties (scribes, accountants, lawyers, professional associations, state offices, etc.), the truth is that the shock wave of this m téorite beyond the traditional players in the & # 39; economy: companies and on the crest of the wave of & # 39; innovation as AirBnB or Uber also appear threatened with their business model. With a trusted, decentralized provider, each of us could temporarily exchange a vehicle or service without having to pay a commission to a digital platform in the middle.

For data and scientific data technologist Marcelo Rinesi, "
blockchain is not essentially a financial technology, as it is believed. It's a political technology and its scope is that of developing countries like Argentina, "says the professor of the Baikal Institute, which explains that" the main problem that is attacking
blockchain is trust in a third party. Today, millions of people around the world can not rely not only on the financial system, but also on the most basic functions of the state. Trust takes decades to build, and its scarcity tends to be perpetuated in contexts of imperfect incentives. "

In this context,
blockchain could mean a "frog jump" in terms of development for nations with little or no trust in institutions. In his book
Down The Rabbit Hole the entrepreneur and the evangelist of
blockchain Tim Lea believes that this technology can help drastically reduce corruption between countries. "In theory, he can do it: his layers are transparent and verifiable, the biggest challenge is in its implementation because there are many intermediaries who live this opacity."

A concrete example? The UN is already sending aid to ethereum (the second most famous cryptocurrency) in refugee camps in Africa: thanks to smart contracts, they ensure that money reaches those who in need (whose identity is recognized by iris) which in turn can only spend it for food, education and remedies. Ban Ki-Moon, former UN secretary general, estimated at the time that 30% of humanitarian aid is lost on the way to final recipients for financial intermediation fees , administrative, corruption, etc.

It calculates that some 1100 million people have no validated identification in the world, which excludes them from any financial transaction and perpetuates the cycle of poverty. "The current systems of personal identification – birth certificates, documents, passports – are based on physical processes, which have inherent limitations," says Pina Mancini, a political technology specialist and co-founder of Democracy Earth, a foundation that uses
blockchain to "restore the sovereignty of the citizen in political decisions."

Two years ago, Mancini and her husband, Santiago Siri, registered their daughter Roma, a newborn, in
blockchain . He was the first human to add his data to this network, according to David Yermack, NYU professor. If this method becomes massive, the court would be balanced, for example, for the 2 billion people who do not have access to the financial system in the world because, among other things, they did not have any money. validated identity. "To have a voice in this world depends on how lucky we were born, and that's unacceptable," says Mancini

In Argentina, at the government level, at the end of this edition, the first "encryption table" was being formed. the orbit of Casa Rosada. The idea is to position the country as "the"
regional hub on this topic, and take advantage of the $ 10 billion of international capital that – they estimate in the sector – today are ready to invest in this type of initiative. Among the alternatives that are being considered are the use as a platform of "Argentina, a friendly country with
blockchain "at the G-20 meeting

Carambolas with several bands

" The most interesting thing is not
blockchain alone, but what begins to happen when it is combined with other exponential technologies, "says Pablo De Gregorio, who of Earnst & Young is working on several initiatives that involve the network behind bitcoin with companies

For example, the massification of sensors connected to the Internet ("internet of things") will make it possible to carry out many intermediaries through intelligent contracts with clauses that are self-executing because they are digitally certified. De Gregorio is working on this system for cellars (consumers can have different information on each bottle, with perfect traceability, which increases the intangible value of brands.) With the same logic, an Argentinian consortium has already exported soy to Malaysia Toyota is experimenting with vehicles whose software does not allow ignition if the buyer does not pay a down payment. given preacor credit, via cryptocurrencies. This sounds like an unfriendly practice for a brand, but eliminates a cost of intermediation that results in benefits for the factory and for the buyer.

For foreign trade, the transport of a load from one country to another requires an average of 30 operations, this technology is anticipated as revolutionary as the overcrowding of steel containers in the years 60 and 70. According to a report of this year's World Economic Forum,
blockchain has the potential to add a trillion dollars (a
billion in English) to international trade

In the entertainment sector,
Blockchain is the new technological frontier. Max Cavazzani, the creator of Questadas and today owner of Etermax, candidate for the next Argentine unicorn (a company that exceeds the $ 1,000 million listing), said in a LA NACION event in Malba that entertainment is usually the spearhead of technological breakthrough, because you can experiment with less risk than in finance (where there is money involved) or health (where there are lives engaged). "If you want to know where the technology wave comes from, there's nothing better than watching the defense industry, video games and adult entertainment," recommends Manuel Beaudroit. , one of the founders of Bitex. These three areas are often pioneers in the adoption of new technologies, and all three test different business models put to use in cryptoalternatives.

Blockchain can also revolutionize cultural consumption by multiplying micropayments, which in many cases were not economic because the transaction cost imposed by banks to acquire a song or journalistic note is greater at the purchase price.

In a film production, a smart contract could establish a payment a priori for all parties involved and launch automatically once the film is out and generate revenue. A band of music with a few – but very loyal – followers could ignore the labyrinth of lawyers, record companies and copyright regulations and sell directly to their fans 2,000 or 3,000 unacceptable copies of a song.

blockchain also allows the digital world to reach a fundamental characteristic of the capitalist model: scarcity. This is why it is a technology that amplifies the bridges between digital terrain and real terrain.

Put it
Blockchain to all

As it happens with artificial intelligence, business fever by
blockchain is so high that it is often labeled with these names to simple software. "For most of the problems that need to be solved with
blockchain suffices with a conventional database, "says Maule Aristarán, a data scientist who lives in Bahía Blanca and has studied for years at MIT, Aristarán criticizes what he sees as a trend exaggerated, and coincides with the Belarusian techno-skeptic Eugeni Morozov in which this scheme is very similar to "a solution in search of a problem".

In fact, the massification of
blockchain comes so much slower than expected. For starters, it is a technology that must be constantly rewritten millions of times in order not to lose consistency, making it very intensive in the use of energy . In the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, more electricity is used for the exploitation of cryptocourses than for the consumption of the population. Goldman Sachs believes that this year, the global cryptocurrency business will consume more electricity than what Argentina consumes in the year.

"Despite its conceptual complexity, it is a technology with few barriers to entry: business models and asking the right questions – Pablo Moreno, expert in transformation of E & Y – is why it is an ideal technology for Argentina, the problem is that it alters the balance of forces, that is why it is difficult to start and change the way of thinking. "Beaudoin agrees:" It touches a nerve center of power, among other things the financial systems have been installed for 500 years, it is natural that there is noise because there are very powerful actors who are threatened. "

Argentina, Ripio, raised in a $ 37 million ICO, the largest operation of its kind for a local company. Its CEO, Sebastián Serrano, believes that we are just in a first step, in a sort of "Far West" of new technology, in which it costs to change the mental models. Something similar to what happened 18 years ago with the
puntocom when the companies that now dominate the world are born, but there were also thunderous failures. "I have no doubt that in a few years the ecosystem of
blockchain will be worth billions of dollars, which is impossible, it is to determine who will be the Amazon, Google or Apple of this new era, "explains Serrano

.
Fiesta the American writer Ernest Hemingway describes a character who went bankrupt "first gradually, then suddenly". For Martin Hagelstrom, an Argentinian who runs the center of initiatives on
blockchain in IBM's San Pablo for the whole of Latin America, "the beginning is slow because players who often compete and hate each other, with opposing interests, should sit at the same table, as Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft, said: "We tend to overestimate the change at two years and underestimate it in ten years." Do not be rocked through inaction "

CRYPTTOGLOSSAIRE

• BLOCKCHAIN. A large digital book in which transactions made in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are recorded chronologically and publicly. Other goods, services, contracts and identities of people can also be "registered" there.
• Bitcoin. A decentralized digital currency unit that can be exchanged for goods and services. Bitcoin also works as a reserve currency for the ecosystem of
• CRIPTOMONEDA altcoin. A digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the production of currency units and verify the transfer of funds, which operate independently of a central bank.
• INITIAL OFFER OF PARTS Cryptocurrencies). Occurs when someone offers investors units of new crypto-currency or new cryptocurrency in exchange for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum.
• NODE. It is essentially a computer connected to the cryptocurrency network. A node supports the network by validating and retransmitting transactions while receiving a copy of the entire block chain.
• ETHER (Ether). This is the native token of the ethereum block chain, the second most popular after bitcoin, which serves to pay for transaction fees, miners' rewards and other services in the network.