Nolan Bauerle is a former researcher and writer for the Canadian Senate Banking Committee, for which he drafted a 2015 report on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. He i s the founder of tech strategy firm Borderless Blockchain.
In this op-ed, Bauerle frames the recent launch of decentralized organization The DAO as an evolution of stock exchange infrastructure, as well as within the progression of technology in the past two centuries. This story has to begin with the big news: the decentralized autonomous organization known The DAO has raised millions worth of ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, in just a few weeks.
If you’ve read The DAO’s whitepaper, you might have managed to understand what it is: blockchain code that emulates the behaviour of a crowdfunding business entity that can fund and earn a return from other blockchain-coded business proposals.
The DAO and its valuation will be an effective ether index of the proposals it accepts, much like the Dow is a stock market index. The difference is that The DAO is owned by market participants who choose what is funded, listed and potentially provides a return on those investments. First ‘listings’
One of the first proposals set to be voted on by The DAO following its creation phase – wherein voting tokens are created through the exchange of ether – will be submitted by Ethereum-based startup Slock.it.
Slock.it makes smart lock hardware that can be opened or closed through cryptographic keys used on the Ethereum blockchain, aiming to normalize the Nick Szabo ‘vending machine’ smart contracts that will be essential for the Internet of Things (IoT) to be useful and secure.
In its first proposal, Slock.it will offer the creation of what they call the Universal Sharing Network, an effort aimed at creating a technology backbone for Ethereum. […]
