As distributed autonomous organizations in a trustless environment come online, hypocrisy becomes a huge temptation. We all want to control our destiny and the transparent distributed organization threatens that control. The code is open source. The governance is embodied in the smart contract. A hierarchy of leadership or status is obviated. And where is the money?
Founders of Ethereum and the other platforms enabling an open block chain have done a great service for us; just as Satoshi did when he built the original. But now that there is a "there" there and there is money and status in the equation, we see the emergence of consortia like R3 and we see the enterprise software vendors coming on the scene to maintain control over transactions. It makes sense that folks begin to introduce gatekeeping activities and entities. Many business models depend upon control of transactions. How many of you who have talked with VC or angel funders have been stymied by their need for a current income stream and an exit strategy? It is not the elegance of an idea or the benefit to a community or the planet that drives them... it is the money.
Money and a trustless environment are perhaps in a permanent conflict. The "haves" have to find ways to band together to continue to control - to retain their oligopolies or monopolies. When they band together, they call it a "consortium" or they pretend it is a body to set standards that requires boards of directors who are then first in line for priviledged information to provide them with an economic edge. It would be naive to think that this human tendency will atrophy. Our hope is that we can manage this tendency through immutable smart contracts that have equity, fairness, opportunity, and sustainability built into them. Perhaps if we have a consortium, it should be a consortium of distributed volunteer auditors who examine the tools and contracts and business models that are coming online and post scores and rankings of the potential benefit to all of us.... all of us. Open blockchains with open smart contracts offer us a foundation for a genuine transformation of how human effort is directed. The coin of the realm should be a validation of maximal benefit to a sustainable world open to anyone and everyone.
