WaterChain’s Tom Marchesello: Blockchain criticism is nonsense

Coin Rivet: Tell us about yourself.  

Tom Marchesello: I’m an operations and investor relations executive with media tech and consumer companies. My involvement in blockchain and cryptocurrency spans back to 2013 with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In 2018, I joined WaterChain as Co-Founder and Strategist.

Coin Rivet: What are some of the key industries blockchain is set to disrupt?      

TM: Video gaming is easily one of the top industries that will most effectively utilise blockchain technology in a very intuitive manner.

Infrastructure banking is one of the largest industries that can take advantage of the tech to streamline the issuance of revenue stream bonds to public investors on the blockchain.

“The original crypto purists are indeed a wild bunch and had many utopian ideals they wished could happen. But reality crushed their skulls with regulation”

Coin Rivet: How did the blockchain space fare in 2018, key trends and challenges, progress made etc?

TM: 2018 was a difficult year for many blockchain tech groups as communities of developers stopped working because they could not extract easy pay while the altcoins fell in price.

Also, the core Maximalists in the Bitcoin network and the related forks of Bitcoin generally failed to produce any new and worthwhile blockchain technology of significance. They ensured they are now the dinosaurs of blockchain tech.

Bitcoin will be seen as the Blackberry phone two years after the iPhone ate its lunch. Because the grand experiment of open uncontrolled developers failed, the major progress has instead happened at major corporations. Mega companies like IBM, Google, Microsoft all developed big, robust blockchain tech and are about to flex their muscles. So, 2018 was the year of big tech building a new blockchain for business and keeping it silent.

Coin Rivet: How do you respond to those who label blockchain all hype and no substance?

TM: The criticism is nonsense. Blockchain is a very interesting technology in the early stages of development. Companies needed time to understand it and apply it to useful scenarios. I have been actively seeing major multi-billion dollar opportunities and related development efforts in industries like finance, gaming and logistics.

“Because the grand experiment of open uncontrolled developers failed, the major progress has instead happened at major corporations. Mega companies like IBM, Google and Microsoft all developed big, robust blockchain tech and are about to flex their muscles”

Coin Rivet: The UK Treasury Committee recently labelled Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a “Wild West industry” and called for regulations in order to protect investors. What’s your take on regulation in the crypto space? 

TM: Yes, the original crypto purists are indeed a wild bunch and had many utopian ideals they wished could happen. But reality crushed their skulls with regulation. Mostly because bad actors abused the system and deserved to get a big kick in the sack for their cowboy behaviours. Regulation is a very good thing and we all welcome those measures.

But the number one thing holding back regulation in crypto is not the lack of desire or need for regulatory measures. The number one issue is that the smartest guys in the crypto world are mainly part of the Wild West community and few of these smart people work on the government side.

Thus, governments are in a terrible position to force regulation on something they do not understand very well and have bad advisory guidance about. If governments want to do a great job with regulatory goals, then they need to engage with leading companies and smart guys like me to help them understand the crypto landscape and the activity of quality companies. Just end the hype and focus on creating clarity.