From the government-controlled economy to a decentralized peer-to-peer society
#whoami
Cryptoanarchist & voluntaryist focused on technology and society hacking
Certified IT security professional, founder of IT security hacking companies (Nethemba, Hacktrophy)
Co-founder of Bratislava's and Prague's hackerspaces (Progressbar & Paralelni Polis)
Organizer of the HCPP (the world's cryptoanarchist conference)
Member of Czech contemporary anti-government artistic group Ztohoven
Responsible for multiple libertarian & digital privacy projects
Sharing economy facts
All customers & service/product providers benefit from the sharing economy application - it decreases transaction costs
The governments "license" monopoly protects the "licensed businesses" (taxi drivers, hotels, ..) and legally blocks new kinds of mutually-voluntary businesses (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, ..)
Uber is prohibited in many cities (Bratislava, Budapest, Barcelona,...) or highly regulated (Berlin)
Airbnb is regulated or completely prohibited in many cities (Barcelona, Berlin, ..)
People lose a cheap and easy way of ride-sharing or shared accommodation as well as providing this service to other people
Uber is banned in many cities
Now, it is easy to ban Uber by the government or city municipalities
It has a centralized infrastructure and application
It uses government-issued business licenses
New technology as a radical game changer
Decentralization
Crypto-currencies
Reputation systems
Escrow services
Decentralized legal system
Imagine decentralized Uber
Based on a decentralized blockchain
No centralized infrastructure or database that can be easily shutdown by the government
A lot of attempts to implement decentralized ride sharing
Mostly based on the Ethereum blockchain
Still a very simple application used by only few people
We can expect more decentralized and more mature blockchain-based applications of sharing economy
It is only a question of time
But... Wait!
The government cannot shutdown the decentralized Uber, but they can force centralized payment providers (VISA, MasterCard) to stop accepting payments between the customers and providers!
It's time for cryptocurrencies!
All payments can be made using fully decentralized crypto-currencies that cannot be regulated or shutdown
Ideally using anonymous crypto-currencies (Monero, ZCash, ZCoin, ..) that cannot be tracked and seen by the governments
But... Wait!
The government can close the business license of Uber in the given country and legally stop doing their business!
Let's switch to DAOs!
New concept of fully decentralized autonomous organization where owner rules / agreements are stored in the blockchain
Not for production use yet, but it's only a question of time
But... Wait!
Without the government who will care about customer's safety, potential frauds, who will guarantee a minimal quality of the provided services / products towards customers?
Reputation systems
They work perfectly even now in Uber, Airbnb, Booking, ..
Do you prefer the restaurant which passed the "State food administration" controls or with Michelin star (the private reputation system)?
Escrow services
Used by all cryptomarkets
The transaction is done through trusted moderator
It can be easily implemented by multisig
Technology eliminates dishonesty
Decentralized legal system
"Wisdom of crowd" based on "Schelling Point"
You are rewarded when you decide in a similar way like a majority of anonymous judges
You are penalized when you have an opposite opinion
If you don't know people in the crowd, the best strategy is probably choose "the truth"
Kleros provides fast, secure and affordable arbitration for virtually everything.
But... Wait!
OK, maybe you can do all of this for Uber, but our society is much more complex with a lot of different services and products....
Uber for "everything"
Technically you can build an universal sharing application allowing anyone to offer any services or products to anyone in a trusted way, without 3rd party
Described as "Gamma system" by Paul Rosenberg
Fully decentralized application allowing anyone to offer anything to anyone using anonymous cryptocurrencies, reputation systems, escrow services, based on DAO is technically feasible?
This sounds like utopia!
Yes! It is possible.
We don't need the governments (especially for making trusted voluntary business) anymore
The future is a decentralized peer-to-peer society