In this video, we meet the remaining group of blockchain stakeholders. First, is the user; namely you and me. We care about security, privacy, and identity. Not just our own, but those of others. We care about human rights and the long-term viability of this technology. We want fair hearings and fair judgments. We want a forum for righting wrongs and for fighting criminals. So, we first need to coordinate and agree on the basics. Everyone seems divided on some basic taxonomy. Does blockchain refer to the bitcoin blockchain or the technology in general? Is it a currency, or security, or simply software? Is it all of these things or none of these things? Governments and regulators, the world over are likewise uncoordinated. Some are laissez faire, others dive right in with rules and regulations, like the BitLicense in New York, with unintended consequences that can stifle innovation. Some regimes are openly hostile. China has banned cryptocurrency exchanges outright, even though cryptocurrency mining is still widespread in China and blockchain innovation is frankly exploited. Likewise, the industry is split. There are those who support new rules and those who don't, and they fall into various factions. Even those who resist government intervention do concede any government enthusiasm can be a positive. Prolific venture capitalists, Adam Draper, said, "Government endorsements create institutional endorsements that has value." Central Banks, despite their different approaches to blockchain, are more welcoming of governance. Benjamin Lawsky, the former superintendent of financial services for the state of New York, said, "Strong regulations are the first step of growth." Now, there's a growing number of NGOs and civil society organizations focused specifically on transformation through blockchain technology. Groups like Jerry Brito's Coin Center and Perianne Boring's Chamber of Digital Commerce are gaining traction in the community. Perianne Boring is a former journalist, and now the founder of the Chamber, a trade-based advocacy group in Washington, DC. Within a year, Boring's chamber attracted a high-profile board, with big industry names like Blythe Masters and Don Tapscott, as well as James Newsome, former chair of the US Commodities Future Trading Commission, Jason Weinstein, former deputy assistant attorney general in the US Department of Justice, and George Gilder, co-founder of the Discovery Institute and speech writer to American politicians: Nelson Rockefeller, George Romney, and Richard Nixon. Boring said the movement needed boots on the ground in Washington to open a dialogue with governments. With her background in journalism, Boring focused on the message, positioning, and polish. She said her organization is open to anyone who is committed to growing this community. She's now a leading voice in policy, in advocacy, and expanding blockchain governance ecosystem. The clamor from leaders who advocate governance is as prophetic as it's urgent. When we talk about governing blockchain technology, we're not only talking about regulation. Regulations alone can't control an important global resource, nor should them. Joichi Ito said, "You can regulate networks, you can regulate operations, but you can't regulate software." So, regulations will be just one of several important pieces in the blockchain governance puzzle, a puzzle that is yet to be fully assembled. We've seen lots of parallels in origin and ideals between the Internet and blockchain technology. But blockchain is not entirely like the Internet because money is different from information.
