The first cinematographic NFT project “The Future Is Now Film” shows what blockchain leaders think of future governance systems: will there be even tighter centralization, a symbiosis of traditional and new methods of control or do we need a totally new governance system to replace the old one?
Answers to these questions can be found in the two latest episodes, “Transforming The Future” and “Aligning The Future”, which were filmed at the AIBC Summit UAE 2021 in Dubai and Blockchance EU conference in Hamburg. Let’s dive deeper and see what futurists think.
Blockchain is getting closer to traditional institutions
A few years ago it was a surprise to find government officials attending a conference on blockchain technology. Government officials now attend honorable guests at the Blockchance EU conference and AIBC Summit in Dubai. The first was the magnitude of the changes that made it obvious they were coming. Secondly, some of the “decentralized futurists” have joined the ranks of centralized organizations in hopes of making a difference.
H.E. Justin Sun (the founder of TRON) was appointed Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Grenada. This is a Caribbean country. In his view, cryptocurrency projects today are “way more efficient than the financial infrastructure that we have today” and now he plans to pave the way for mass adoption.
According to Fabian Friedrich, the founder of Blockchance Group, one of the reasons for the Blockchance EU conference to exist is the need to bring together different market players especially the decision-makers who currently govern traditional systems “to take the fear away and show them how positive this movement is, how many chances are in the movement for a better future”.
Some of these people have made tangible progress towards establishing this dialogue. Fabian Vogelsteller, co-founder of ERC20 Protocol, shared that negotiations with regulators despite the “back and forth” nature of the process, have already brought positive results because “everybody sees the benefits of this technology” while of course the “old has always had the interest to survive”.
What Sayings Will the Governments Make?
Justin Sun stated that decentralized currencies have more technological and philosophical advantages than traditional currency systems. They also allow for the inclusion of smaller nations. That is why it will be only natural for countries to “start to diversify the countries’ reserves” also by building the central bank digital currencies but “the philosophy behind CBDC’s will determine their results”: they could either join a competitive system or “undermine the reputation and the influence in the market in the first place” if they are made to be an appealing asset to use next to cryptocurrencies, for example by simply functioning as a financial tracking tool.
Justin Sun thinks that everyone gains when financial barriers are removed. Brock Pierce from the Bitcoin Foundation is the 2020 US Presidential Candidat. He believes that there will be winners and losers. In his view, Dubai, for example, will be the beneficiary of change because it “is doing a good job recognizing the change and adapting to it” but those who resist the change will suffer:
“Look at Florida and Miami, they are doing a good job… They are the beneficiary of the change. You embrace the future. Participation is possible. It will not stop you. The future is coming”
Prominent venture capitalist Tim Draper whose Dad fought in the Korean War has shared a vision of what resistance to change could look like by giving a historical example of North and South Korea as a full government control system versus a “free and open society with democracy” 70 years later:
“Average South Korean now makes 430 times what the average North Korean makes in a year, and that is when you adjust for purchasing power. The average South Korean is four inches taller that the average North Korean. It is pretty clear to me which system works better”
Dubai is a safe harbor for innovation
One of the biggest gatherings in the blockchain community held by Eman Pulis & SIGMA Group AIBC Summit UAE 2021 has been held in Dubai a few months prior to Blockchance EU.
Dubai is among the first cities that are “taking a tangible stand into abundance and allowing decentralization to flourish” as it is stated by Miguel Francis-Santiago, the Founder of The Future is Now DAO and the mastermind behind #TheFutureisNowFilm, with initiatives like the UAE Crypto Map. Dubai is “on its way to becoming self-sustainable” by leveraging the power of innovative-based ecosystems. With a host of initiatives led by Dubai Blockchain Center, and Dr. Marwan Alzarouni as its CEO, the center has created a safe harbour for innovation.
This safe harbor already has some fruits. After a few years in Dubai, Matthias Mende launched Bonuz Market, an innovative celebrity marketplace. Now celebrities can interact with their fans via an NFT or Metaverse platform.
Sergej Kunz of 1inch Network combines crypto with traditional banking through his work with Sygnum Bank and other regulated institutions such as Sygnum Bank. 1inch Network was the first liquidity aggregator to enter the DeFi market. The platform has processed more than $120 billion of transactions since it’s inception. This is due to the elimination of the high barrier and entry points for cryptocurrencies.
Salim Ismail of OpenExO, former CEO of Singularity University, by creating pilots with such traditional businesses like Procter & Gamble, Gucci and KPMG, created a space where new transformational methods of running a company between exponential organization structure and traditional businesses can now pave the way for preserving synapses of the human brain.
The US Presidency: to the “Belly of the Beast”
According to Ilya Churakov of the decentralized ecosystem Global Digital Club, such bridges need to be built in the “right way” so big opportunities could scale fast and reach mass adoption.
But to learn the “right way” we need to study the old one, believes Brock Pierce, the 2020 US Presidential candidate from the Bitcoin Foundation. In order to better understand and plan for next steps in taking action, he devoted his energy to leading the US presidential campaign in the 2020 Year of COVID.
“Why would I subject myself to such a thing [as a Presidential Campaign] if I was not committed to following all the way through… Let’s say it was an exploratory mission. To understand the mechanics of the system, you need to go inside the belly of the beast, to learn how to run a national campaign without any of the existing infrastructure… without any of the funding mechanisms that allow politicians to run for office, without a political platform… and to do it in the midst of COVID. My basic training is complete”
According to Crystal Rose Pierce of Sense.Chat, only by “creating the bridge” between traditional systems and the decentralized world can we explore how the interests of different people can be put together for mutually beneficial growth. The Pierces believe that it is not possible to replace what’s already there with something new. There must be dialogue.
El Salvador, a Dreamland for All Nations
El Salvador is a bridge that has never been built in this political system. It was also the first country to take the courageous step toward economic freedom. As a country, they seek to voice their opinion, and make their opinion visible despite the pandemic crisis that was happening in the world at the time and a very clear recommendation from the International Monetary Fund in November of 2021 – not to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. They are still moving forward with building the Bitcoin infrastructure for the country, as they seek economic freedom.
William Soriano, a congressman from El Salvador and a prominent Bitcoin advocate, explained how Bitcoin can help other countries by sharing how his homeland plans to “achieve the next level of prosperity”. First, it reduces unnecessary expenses.
“Civil war led to 3 million people leaving the country to the US. They send out 7000 million dollars each year in remittances. That makes them pay 400 million dollars in fees to companies such as… Moneygram… Ria etc. And this is just El Salvador, a small country…”
Financial inclusion is the second stage. Within three months, El Salvador’s financial inclusion had reached 80%. From 1.2million to 3.8million people with access to financial systems, this number has risen to 80% within just three months. Finally, the country set up a plan to use natural resources like volcanoes and geothermal energy with the use of “volcano bonds”, a decentralized financial UBI-type instrument.
According to an SDG advocate at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, Marc Buckley, all countries should follow the example to “stop recreating” a cycle of insanity that leads to financial bubbles following a downturn, on constant repeat – a model Marc believes the world has been viciously revolving around. Justin Sun, His Excellency, is certain that the Caribbean countries will follow El Salvador’s lead. However, it is difficult to expect all countries in the Caribbean region to adopt this model. What are other alternatives?
Dying animal vs. Autonomous Private Cities
Dr Wolfgang Pinegger, founder of GLBRAIN and CEO of GAMB, believes that “centralization is everywhere”: from social media to banking and governments, the only light at the end of the tunnel being cryptocurrencies which might be “the only way to escape the centralization step by step” with a proper use-case.
That is why GAMB Power To The Merchants has developed a solution that solves a major issue in the crypto space – high transaction fees for day-to-day operations. This coin has zero transaction fees and will be accepted in all countries that have 1 USD as a large amount to make a cryptocurrency transaction. This will bring cryptocurrency closer to widespread adoption and reduce centralization. In Wolfgang’s view the change might happen quite naturally with a mindshift that is already happening in the younger generation:
“But the young generation has already realized that they do not want to be part of this game… (ed. The young generation alone will alter it. Many people from the centralized world will not even realize until it has happened”
Veronika Kuett, who works on autonomous systems with Tripolis Corp., thinks that centralized money is “the most powerful tool” that the government would not wish to lose, since it allows them to “inflate” and “debase the money of everyone else”. The government might respond with tightening the centralization. They might be successful short-term. Of course, printing money helps governments pull resources together which means attracting people “to set up control structures”. But in the end, “this animal has cancer and therefore it will die”. That is why there is no need to waste energy on reforming central banking when “we need to rethink governance” to set up new systems instead:
“The strategy is to spend the least amount of energy focusing on old systems but rather build the future, educate people and make them join the new system”
One of the solutions according to Veronika is “to have many thousands of smaller entities where we have bonded communities, where we know each other, we trust each other” to “get rid of this anonymity that we have as residents in a very large nation”. The demand for autonomous private cities is already there with many innovative libertarian thinkers facing the limitations of “government’s ever-changing rules”.
Irina Litchfield of the Global Autonomous Network also shares an opinion that we need to “create new models of living through autonomous lands, agrotech and regenerative farming, blockchain, new space and beyond”. We should start rethinking governance if Mars colonization is a catalyst for change.
What’s Next?
How do we see the future? Which kind of future is possible to help mankind achieve its sustainable goals, and what are the best ways? Follow new episodes of #TheFutureisNowFilm and don’t miss the future through the thoughts and accomplishments of the most innovative minds in the industry. TFIN DAO team and the show’s creator Miguel Francis-Santiago are already working on new episodes filmed in Dubai surrounding the WoW Summit and a 2nd edition of AIBC Summit Dubai 2022 with the support of the NFT-vehicle that will allow for this roving crypto documentary to be featured on such platforms as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.
To see the retrospective of the blockchain world’s progress, watch the film series 5 year trailer that sums up the last 5 years with over 20 gatherings around the world that Miguel Francis-Santiago and the team have attended, over 19 episodes have been filmed so far and over 15 countries explored through the lens of The Future is Now Film.
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