PCM vol. 3 issue 5

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Thought Leaders Corner Revolutionizing Global Commerce and Payments by Combining Cutting Edge Technologies by Brian Hoffman There is something both terrifying and beautiful about the concept of a truly digital culture. I mean, of all the incredible changes technology has brought to our lives over the last 30 years expanding our connections our productivity and our knowledge, did you predict the cultural importance of things like multi-billion dollar companies run by early 20-somethings or using the computers that we keep in our pockets to take “selfies?” As a father of two young boys I often think about what life will be like in 20 years and it is always simultaneously exciting and uncomfortable. Technology is a lot like art in this way, the truly great movements are not marked by creators who stayed in their comfort zones. A recent arrival on this exciting, uncomfortable digital landscape is a dark horse. Chartering the revolutionary technology of blockchain, built by an anonymous individual (or individuals) and backed by a passionate community of developers, the promise of financial and electronic freedom this has motivated a movement of people who have built something completely new. This computing technology also happens to produce a token of value that relates to payments and transactions. It’s called Bitcoin. Now that it has arrived, participants often seem to fall into an oversimplified argument of what is good and what is evil about it and how it relates to the incumbent currencies and payment structures. Bitcoiners will describe bankers as “banksters” and point out their exploitation of consumers through sub-prime loans, collection of exorbitant fees or just bad business practice. Banking elites will finger the Bitcoin enthusiasts as drug dealers, child pornographers or havocreekers focused on destroying the sanity of the financial industry. Who is right? Who will come out on top? Miguel Ruiz once said “People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies.” I argue that this is not a fight of good vs. evil at all, just continued movement into a world we weren’t previously capable of building. We just have a new truth available to us, now. I am the CEO of my company, OB1, who is leading the development of an ambitious project called OpenBazaar. Our goal is to revolutionize commerce and trade across the globe leveraging freedom-supporting and privacy-enabling technologies like Bitcoin, Tor and IPFS. How are we doing that? By building a marketplace that uses the leading cryptocurrency, whose code is open-source and whose data is decentralized to live among its users--not a centralized, company-owned server. Unlike marketplace giants like Alibaba, Amazon, or eBay, this new model of online commerce isn’t controlled by any company or organization. Yes, my company is heading up the development but since it is open-source, other developers are able to access, read and contribute to the source code. Opensource development is very collaborative and has the benefits of being transparent while also able to benefit from a wider community of thoughtful contributors who would like to be a part of bringing an idea to life. 7
Page 1 and 2: Vol 3. Issue 5 | May 2017 YOUR GATE
Page 3 and 4: Contents STORIES Amir Abdin Founder
Page 5: Thought Leaders Corner The difficul
Page 10 and 11: Innovating the Music Industry with
Page 12 and 13: Thought Leaders Corner Bringing Blo
Page 15 and 16: expert interview Expert Commentary:
Page 17 and 18: expert interview more computers and
Page 19 and 20: startup Spotlight “OUR GOAL IS TO
Page 21 and 22: startup Spotlight Snapshot of the W
Page 24 and 25: SPECIAL FEATURE photo by Nick Webb
Page 26 and 27: Hot jobs Hot Jobs PRODUCT MANAGER P
Page 28 and 29: events 16 London, UK This annual me
Page 30 and 31: Payments & Cards Network Driving In

PCM vol. 3 issue 5

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