Bitcoin Association for BSV recently hosted a VIP Reception event in Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. The event, which took place on 8 October 2022, was invite-only and included members of the Royal Family, C-level executives and select media members.
The event included an evening of talks and panels from project owners and key stakeholders in the region and from around the world. Attendees were also allowed to have one-on-one sessions to learn more about BSV blockchain and find out more about its business use cases.
One of the key presentations was given by Richard Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Canadian blockchain services company TAAL, with his talk focusing on the confluence of money and data with Bitcoin.
Baker opened his presentation by giving an overview of the internet and how this is slowly converging to Web3 and the inevitable endpoint of a metanet.
‘Web3 is heralded as the Internet of Value, and that journey can only happen because of blockchain technology. Web3 means a lot of different things to people around the world at the moment. It gets mixed up with the metaverse, digital ledger technologies and has been influenced to an extent by the journey of cryptocurrencies.’
He added that this convergence has also taken place alongside a change in how we see and interact with money. While money was once a physical item, it is set to become a utility token that can be instantly exchanged, redeemed and used with more control and rights, he said.
‘Post-Covid we have seen a 68% rise in the adoption of digital payments. Most of us have mobile phones with various digital wallets. But we are amidst the next big change in the convergence of owning and controlling personal data with the advent of a micropayment system that blockchain enables. I refer to this as the data-commerce convergence.’
Blockchain has reached an inflexion point
Baker said that blockchain has reached a significant inflexion point in the last two years as more institutional investors pour billions of dollars into the technology. This is because blockchain technology is seen to underpin the digitisation of data, assets, and commerce.
He added that the current investment trends are split across three categories, including:
- The Application layer;
- The Transaction layer;
- The Foundational layer.
Baker noted that TAAL is in the process of building intellectual property across all three of these layers.
‘We ultimately are taking advantage of the BSV blockchain. Within the protocol, it is a digital cash system which enables micropayments. It is really exciting to see how much of the world is wanting to monetise personal data and other experiences.’
‘Today we run the largest block node network. We process millions of transactions every 10 minutes, and it’s that transaction layer which is at the heart of the BSV network.’
TAAL’s change in business model
Baker noted that TAAL has also changed over the last 12 months as it moves away from purely being an infrastructure company to being a software business.
‘That software business is about trying to make the BSV blockchain more usable for everybody. We are trying to abstract away the complication of the protocol and technology layers, and build great user experiences that allow different industries to use it.’
This is most clearly being seen in the healthcare sectors and the logistics and supply chain sectors, he said. ‘For us, the journey ahead is to help enterprises and consumers adopt the BSV blockchain and build together and use this technology to digitise and transform their businesses.’
