Blockchain, Crypto, NFTs, oh my! There has been an increasing buzz happening around these topics in both the underground and the mainstream media outlets. Some of us have zoomed into the cryptocurrencies and either traded for wins and losses or used them to hold our savings. Others have dived deep into the world of NFTs and are trying to sift through the bad projects to find the good ones. (Veefriends --- you are welcome). I have dabbled in both, but I am mostly with the crowd that has tried our best to understand the long-term business applications behind blockchain technology.
One of my jobs has given me the unique experience of getting an inside look at the technology projects happening within some of the largest financial services companies in the world. A company I work with partnered with the technical leaders and engineers of these corporations such as Santander Bank, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Visa, Capital One, and many more.

I learned about the many internal projects that have been underway focused around building privatized blockchains, integrating cryptocurrency services, and researching NFT development.
This is what made me realize that this new blockchain technology was gaining mass adoption, and the effects it would have on our world would be similar, if not greater, to the rise of the Internet. This could mean that we, the common people, would have another opportunity to “get in” now and be just as effective as the “big guys”. So, what is a blockchain?

By now, you might have watched a YouTube video explaining the blocks, and hashes, and chains. In its simplest form, the blockchain is a digital ledger. You see a ledger every time you check your bank statement and quickly look at what is going out and what is coming in. It is a series of records. Sean O’Brehm, Founder of Crowdpoint Technologies, explains it as such: “These records are continually expanding and changing. Every record is referred to as a block. Imagine a Rubix Cube, and each little color represents different contractual obligations or other details. Each one of these blocks contains a unique digital timestamp”. The purpose is to maintain a permanent and tamper-proof record of a digital transaction. And so, the blockchain acts as this massive decentralized database.
This technology is creating a level playing field for small business owners.

In our world where things are controlled by the few, corporate America has monopolized profitable business in this economy. I believe if we become literate in this technology and the applications it presents, we can fight surveillance capitalism, and create new opportunities for each other.
We are going to define the blockchain, understand the technology, and learn why it is so disruptive.

We will ask questions like “How does that impact the banking industry”? “What are examples of public and private blockchains”? “What innovations are happening within financial services”? “What are the blockchain uses each of us can leverage”? “What is the role of blockchain technology in future capital markets, and Exchange Trading Funds”?

“The blockchain is going to be bigger than the dot COM boom of the 90s, however, like the dot COM boom, there will be a bubble burst. But it is more likely to be around crypto technologies. So, we are going to spend time separating the value of the blockchain from cryptocurrency, which has been the focus today” – as said on the Pete De La Torre Show by Sean O’Brien-Brehm.