Does your bank have a branch office on Mars? Will it ever?
When I think about Elon Musk, I can’t help but think that he’s a guy who’s never liked the phrase, “That’s the way it’s always been done.”
Since I was a kid I’ve felt the same way.
I’m not saying that humans don’t have some tried and true principles and techniques that have worked well for a long time. However, it’s no excuse to think that things can’t always be improved. They can and they will.
I have felt this way about banking for a long time.
Exactly how useful are banks to most of us? Sure, we need a place to store our money that isn’t under our mattress or in brown paper bags. And it’s nice to be able to move money around and even to borrow money when you need it. But stop and think a minute. Are we getting a high quality product for the prices we pay? Can it be done better?
This got me asking, “What Would Elon Do?”
I think it’s safe to say he would look to disrupt and innovate. He’s done it with the automotive and transportation industry. He’s doing it with the energy sector and space travel. So why not do it with the financial industry?
Banks are some of the largest corporations in the world, and they’re basically moving companies - giant businesses that simply store and transport financial assets.
In the digital age this seems pretty simple right?
So why are four US banks in the top 15 companies in the world according to the Forbes Global 200 index in 2016?
Banks will tell you it’s because what they do is complex and difficult. “You just couldn’t understand it, so it’s best left to us experts.”
Well, I’m pretty sure that’s what Elon has been hearing every time he moves to disrupt an industry. Except we all know it’s not true, and he eventually proves it.
At VIVA, we plan to follow Elon’s proven method by applying it to financial transactions and economics. We happen to think that if he does make it to Mars, he’d probably prefer a blockchain based distributed economic model (i.e. smart money with minimal fees) that returns value to the users, versus antiquated banks that rob us all blind.
For more information download our Executive Summary here: https://vivaco.in/viva-executive-summary/
Or come say hello at https://chat.vivaco.in/channel/general