I’m not sure I am completely convinced by the premise that EA need to be first in blockchain to be positioned to affect positive change in the blockchain or crypto spaces. If you look at technological innovation from a historical lens, often the first mover fails, and from their ashes rises another company/entity that picks up the concept and runs with it. While not the thesis of The Innovators Delimma by Clayton Christiansen, it’s certainly a recognized pattern throughout the book. For us I think that means that both the crytocurruencies and actual blockchain system as it stands will likely fail, but we’ll see someone else build an improved version of blockchain technology that can actually be mainstreamed, and most of what we know today will be as relevant as the companies of the first dotcom bust. That’s not a fact, but the empiricial evidence makes it probable.
It’s true that the first mover often fails, but I also think it’s clear that there seems to be a window of opportunity early on which gets harder to get through over time. For example, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon were all around before the dotcom bust. And while Facebook wasn’t the first social network, it seems to have gotten to such strong network effects that it’s likely to crush any challenger (as it’s currently successfully doing to Snapchat). Surely most of the current blockchains will fail (I mean there’s over 1000 of them), but it’s very possible someone has already built an improved version that can be mainstreamed.
I’m not sure I am completely convinced by the premise that EA need to be first in blockchain to be positioned to affect positive change in the blockchain or crypto spaces. If you look at technological innovation from a historical lens, often the first mover fails, and from their ashes rises another company/entity that picks up the concept and runs with it. While not the thesis of The Innovators Delimma by Clayton Christiansen, it’s certainly a recognized pattern throughout the book. For us I think that means that both the crytocurruencies and actual blockchain system as it stands will likely fail, but we’ll see someone else build an improved version of blockchain technology that can actually be mainstreamed, and most of what we know today will be as relevant as the companies of the first dotcom bust. That’s not a fact, but the empiricial evidence makes it probable.
It’s true that the first mover often fails, but I also think it’s clear that there seems to be a window of opportunity early on which gets harder to get through over time. For example, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon were all around before the dotcom bust. And while Facebook wasn’t the first social network, it seems to have gotten to such strong network effects that it’s likely to crush any challenger (as it’s currently successfully doing to Snapchat). Surely most of the current blockchains will fail (I mean there’s over 1000 of them), but it’s very possible someone has already built an improved version that can be mainstreamed.