In this week’s Exponential Chats, we have a special guest discussing with us some real-world applications of Blockchains outside of Cryptocurrencies and whether those applications are really using and benefitting from this technology. Come join us and participate by asking questions or giving your opinion in the live chat.

– Adriano Marques is the founder and CEO of Exponential Ventures.
– Nathan Martins is a Machine Learning/DevOps Engineer at Exponential Ventures, where he works on projects to democratize AI, as well as other cutting edge innovations.
– Hugo Seabra is our special guest. He is a Software Architect, Team Leader, and Fullstack Developer. Blockchain developer focused on Sustainable & Responsible Supply Chain Tracking.

Often confused with Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain is actually the technology that enables cryptocurrencies. Its main goal is to allow for a decentralized ledger that is tamper-resistant and that can operate in a zero-trust network.

When it comes to finance and cryptocurrencies, Blockchain has seen a lot of success over the years with the original cryptocurrency Bitcoin and the several alternatives that were inspired by it such as Ethereum, Monero, and Zcash.

Following the cryptocurrency fever of 2017, we witnessed the explosion of various different cryptocurrencies and businesses vowing to harness the power of blockchains outside of the cryptocurrency market to solve problems in almost every other industry. Name any industry, and you’ll find that there is almost certainly a failed attempt to create a solution for that industry’s problems using Blockchain.

Due to the fever, it was a lot easier to raise money for startups using blockchain technology in the years of 2017 and 2018 than raising for any other kind of startup, and entrepreneurs got the message. They wanted to surf the wave of excitement around it by creating solutions that didn’t necessarily need or benefit from blockchain technology.

There was this company called Long Island Iced Tea, which, you guessed it right, sold non-alcoholic beverages that changed their name to Long Blockchain and overnight its stock price jumped 289 percent! And they didn’t even try to adopt blockchain in anything they did. They simply changed their name and said that they were interested in investing and experimenting with Blockchain.

In 2019 reality finally hit investors and entrepreneurs: Blockchain is not a panacea. In fact, there are very few problems that can be solved only by Blockchains.

The purpose of this technology is to maintain a decentralized public ledger of transactions that is tamper-proof and does not require network members to be vetted or trusted in order for the whole system to work. In other words, it is a nice idea if you’re trying to get rid of banks, but is far from a solution that can be adopted in every other industry.

Our special guest today works for a company called Minespider out of Germany, and they’re developing a blockchain solution for the mining industry. And when I say mining, I’m not talking about cryptocurrency mining but the minerals mining industry.

Exponential Chats is a live event conducted by our parent company, Exponential Ventures. In this event, our team members and guests have an in-depth conversation about Exponential Technologies, Entrepreneurship, and some of the world’s most challenging outstanding problems.

This live episode aired on Thrusday, September 24th 2020 at 1:00 PM CST. Here is a link to the live event on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjNe8dtOPE8