135 Million Reasons To Believe In A Blockchain Miracle Posted on : Feb 09 - 2019

I believe in miracles. I was raised that way. From my earliest days, I was regaled with stories of saints and angels and water-to-wine happenings. Small wonder I now look for possibilities where others see problems.

But miracles always come with a dark polarity. While priests, nuns and great grandmas were whispering hopeful outcomes in my ear, those promises came with the threat of not believing. Heaven is for the faithful; hell is for the nonbelievers.

When I first read that by the end of this decade, “death will be optional,” I immediately wondered what happens to religion when the threat or promise of an afterlife no longer exists. Short answer: Motivations and behaviors are going to change.

Which brings us to the latest headlines about a cryptocurrency entrepreneur’s passing—taking with him the passcode to unlock C$180 million (about $135 million U.S.) in investor currency—which is now reportedly gone forever. Why? Because apparently, the promise of blockchain is true: It cannot be hacked. It is absolutely trustworthy.

Gerald Cotton, the CEO of a crypto company, reportedly passed away recently while building an orphanage in India. Unfortunately, he was the only person who knew the passcode to access the millions his investors had entrusted in him.

Now, it is possible that this is a scam. There are many who think Gerald Cotton is still alive and simply absconded with the money. While that would be awful, of course, it doesn’t change what we are talking about, which is this: What happens when you can trust a technology absolutely, and people like Mr. Cotton need not be involved?

Or, said differently: What happens when you can no longer leverage your key differentiator and your unique selling proposition—trust in this case? View More