What you are going to LEARN in this episode:
- How blockchains are breaking the old model of centralized, big-business.
- How the Free Market and the sharing economy build around government’s heavy taxation.
- Why the blockchain allows us to trust each other without needing to know each other.
- How digital token sales are much easier and cheaper to raise funds for your startup
Today’s guest is Christopher David, Founder of the decentralized ride-sharing app Arcade City. While living in New Hampshire at the Free State Project, Chris saw first hand what the government was doing to cripple Uber and the ride-sharing economy. At the time, he was driving for Uber.
After attending countless town hall meetings, Chris decided to take matters into his own hands and build an Uber competitor which was decentralized and much more difficult to shut down and regulate. He felt that he had much more control when building rather than when begging the government to hear his side of the story.
Crowdfunding and the Digital Token Sale
In order to build their app and continue development, Arcade City needs funding. Rather than going the standard route of Angel investment or VC funding, Chris decided to issue a digital token (similar to Bitcoin) instead of selling shares of the company. These tokens have various uses and we are seeing these “ICOs” (initial coin offerings) starting to be used more frequently (Ethereum, Augur, Airbitz, etc).
The ability to create a scarce, digital asset to manage and sell directly to the people who will fund your business is a great tool for digital entrepreneurs and their startups. Unfortunately, I expect the heavy hand of the SEC to come down on these ICO’s in short order.
So that’s it! As many expected, blockchains are being used in so many different areas of life, even after only 8 years in existence. The full capability of this new, cutting-edge technology will only continue to grow as does the usefulness and utility of the Internet.
Welcome to the age of digital, programmable money!
Contact Info:
Website: https://arcade.city/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArcadeCityHall
Email: chris@arcade.city
Slack Channel: slack.arcade.city
Podcast Resources:
Book mention: Swarmwise – https://www.amazon.com/Swarmwise-Tactical-Manual-Changing-World/dp/1463533152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478236019&sr=8-1&keywords=Swarmwise
Referenced Podcast: LE54: How the Free Market Feeds the Hungry – Unsung.org
http://libertyentrepreneurs.com/2016/10/le54-free-market-feeds-hungry-unsung-org/
