How to explain blockchain to your customers. Short answer: don’t. Here’s why.

By Guillermo Jimenez

Just dropping the word blockchain in your pitch might have worked wonders during the race for fast cash in the ICO boom of 2017. But times have changed.

Crypto companies are struggling to attract customers—real, living, breathing humans to use the thing they raised millions to build. So what’s the problem?

Well, in business, much like in politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing:

“The battle should be fought and won by looking at what the advantages are of the product for consumers, instead of any fancy words about the democratization of finance or enabling a trustless society,” says Cesare Fracassi, associate professor of Finance at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the school’s Blockchain Initiative.

Link to full article on Decrypt Media

‘Deathmatch’ panel on private versus public blockchain heats up at South by Southwest: Arguments over what it means to be truly decentralized

By Omar Gallaga

A panel over the future of walled-garden blockchain nodes versus so-called “permissionless” blockchain stopped short of getting personal, but was still more contentiously vocal than most talks at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.

The featured SXSW panel “Blockchain Deathmatch: Permission-ed vs -less” Thursday afternoon was part of a “Blockchain & Cryptocurrency” track at the conference and festival. It included IBM OpenTech’s Christopher Ferris, a computer scientist and author of the company’s Blockchain Pulse blog; St. Mary’s University School of Law professor Angela Walch, who is also a research fellow at the Centre for Blockchain Technologies at University College London; and Jimmy Song, a venture partner for Blockchain Capital, Bitcoin Core developer, and author.

It was moderated by University of Texas at Austin associate professor of finance Cesare Fracassi.

No sooner had introductions for the panel concluded than arguments over what it means to be truly decentralized began in earnest.

Link to full article on ModernConsensus.com