June 8, 2021

Blockchain uncapitalism on desktop PCs

Blockchain uncapitalism on desktop PCs

Tomer Afek, Co-founder of Spacemesh, the web-scale smart contract system that lets anyone run blockchain computation from home on their desktop PC, interviewed by Trond Arne Undheim, futurist and author. 
In this conversation, we talk about how current m...

Tomer Afek, Co-founder of Spacemesh, the web-scale smart contract system that lets anyone run blockchain computation from home on their desktop PC, interviewed by Trond Arne Undheim, futurist and author. 

In this conversation, we talk about how current methods for coin distribution, such as ICOs, airdrops, participation in mining pools and IEOs all have serious deficiencies and that the problem of providing extremely low barrier-to-entry remains as yet unsolved.

Instead the promise of blockchain is to create a cryptocurrency that is highly usable as means of payment between any two people in the world without any possibility of censorship.  Spacemesh utilizes unused disk space on ordinary desktop PCs to run the network. Evening out the chances of the disadvantaged is what gives Tomer hope and purpose.

After listening to the episode, find out more about Spacemesh and check out Tomer Afek's social media profile.

Trond's takeaway: "Cryptocurrency could be an answer to banking the unbankable, but that social stratification cannot typically be undone just by technology alone. As blockchain goes from free experimentation among the cyber libertarians and rapidly will become a business-to-business enabled platform, too, we need to keep a watchful eye on how those with few means can gain entry into the financial system. Web scale smart contracts and access to cryptocurrencies that don't require expensive computing resources or excessive computer talent, would seem to be a necessary ingredient."

Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, subscribe at Futurized.org, on YouTube, or in your preferred podcast player, and rate us with five stars.

If you like this topic, you may enjoy other episodes of Futurized, such as episode 42, The Future of Cryptocurrency, episode 66, The Serendipity of Social Innovation, or episode 59, The Tokenization of Securities.

Futurized conversations.

 

Tomer Afek Profile Photo

Tomer Afek

Co-founder, Spacemesh

Tomer has spent over three decades on both sides of the startup table. He helped to found Showbox.com, and was the co-founder/CEO of ConvertMedia, a Big Data startup (acquired by Taboola). Prior to that, he spent seven years as an investor at Evergreen VC, among one of Israel’s oldest and largest VCs, where he was in charge of Internet & New-Media investments. Tomer was also on the founding team of Sanctum Inc., a leader in web application security. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Computer Science (cum laude) from Tel Aviv University.