IBS Journal October 2015


‘If you get half a million dollars in angel funding and you announce that in a press release, then… congratulations, you got a loan,


but you haven’t done anything yet.’ Peter Shiau, Blockstack.io


Simply read


Once people understand the technology and know how to use it, they need to think about how they can use it. Shiau says Blockstack.io simplifies this process. ‘We often call ourselves the Red Hat for


blockchain technology and we provide the infrastructure. ‘So we take care of the blockchain plat-


form, and the financial institution can focus on building applications that take advan- tage of the technology platform.’ Blockstack.io has a private isolated blockchain that is disconnected from any- thing like bitcoin. But while it is running in isolation it is still based on the Bitcoin Core software to ensure compatibility. Shiau calls bitcoin the ‘best blockchain


platform in existence’ and says it is proven to work. The company can also take advantage of the open source development commu- nity. As things get built with bitcoin, it takes those items and puts them on its platform. In terms of what tools are needed by financial institutions, Blockstack.io has asset issuance components that allows a person to issue gold tokens or FTSE100 tokens – so it is something to represent assets. It has a transaction management system, because these transactions can be complicated – such as bilateral or multilateral. Shiau says it has a security framework to make sure there is no ‘double spending’.


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The company also has an additional security requirement, ‘especially for financial institu- tions’, using multi-signature transactions.


Faith in the future


With the workings of the technology are clear, future plans have to be considered. Shiau is aware of the challenges, espe-


cially for a start-up. ‘Of course Blockstack.io has great ambitions and expectations, but you’ve got to make money for more people.’ So as a company that seems to shun


press releases and some elements of publici- ty, some people may ask how will it grow? The answer lies in another interesting


analogy. ‘We see this as a long game and this


is one step in a long journey. And I look at precedents. Email is a good example. ‘Those of us old enough to remember


the start of email, will recall it was used in a corporate context and when people didn’t have personal email addresses. ‘You had your work email address –


just for emailing other people inside your company. Then it developed over time. People using corporate email systems real- ised wouldn’t it be great if I had email to connect with just my personal friends? And I think that looks likely to happen with blockchain technology.’ Shiau believes people need to see it in


a corporate context first. © IBS Intelligence 2015 www.ibsintelligence.com ‘Bitcoin is hard and a little scary if


you’re not familiar with it. If you’re thrown into the deep end – it’s not natural. ‘But if you’re going to use it at work, such as just using it to spend money my boss told me to use. And then you get used to it and you start to realise, well this would really be convenient if I could use this with my friends and family.’ He thinks that ten years down the line


this is how bitcoin will grow. People will use it at work and then use it personally. In terms of trying out blockchain, Shiau


believes it is a straightforward process. Blockstack.io has a hosted version of its


services and a software engineer (who does not have to be bitcoin engineer) can start build- ing up applications on top of their platform. Shiau, as you would expect, is keen to


encourage people to experiment. But has good reasons for stating this. ‘When I was at Standard Chartered’s


innovation lab we had this philosophy that the best kind of thinking is doing. ‘You have to experiment and try it,


keep working on it, and then you can dis- cern a path forward. ‘Blockstack.io is a low risk investment.


An individual has a way to use blockchain technology in a safe context without put- ting their company at any risk.’ If the company can convince enough


people to use blockchain, Blockstack.io is something we will be hearing a lot more about in the future.


focus: blockchain


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