Why Blockchain Technology is Transformative and Irritating - Monty Munford, Mob76

Transcript

[Music] hello and welcome to the blockchain and us we're pioneers and thought leaders talked about their journey in blockchain technology crypto assets and a token economy and I'm your host Manuel staggers this episode has support from my very own the blockchain and us a newsletter get an email from me every two weeks with a very short summary of new podcast episodes so you can immediately pick those interviews you'd like to listen to to stay up-to-date just visit www.nasa.gov/twan T Montfort Monte is an MC panelist moderator

interviewer and speaker in the blockchain space he writes for his own blog and several other media outlets for example The Telegraph TechCrunch The Economist BBC future or The Huffington Post and he also runs mob 76 a tech consultancy that works with clients to become invested and prepares them for exit and now to the conversation with Monty Montfort hi Monty and many thanks for taking time today Monty we were both at a blockchain conference in Malta last week at a Malta blockchain summit and what was your impression of that conference Mario and he asked me a few months ago if I was if

I'd like to come and host a couple of sessions as I do a lot of moderating and interviewing and some keynote speaking and so I presumed it was going to be a small event because he only had three months to start it from scratch so I was utterly surprised when I realized that this guy must be a genius because he managed will get 8,500 people into a hotel within the space three months and space in a smaller event I was expecting a blockchain focused event but got more like a crypto event if you know what I mean the slightly things I mean item obviously had some great opportunities I

spend a lot of time of john mcafee being introduced to him beautiful against age the following day as only sprite and then on a private yacht with all the stuff that you could imagine that they involved with variety and we briefly spoke about that when you escaped that party yeah it's just crazy stuff you know it was just a it was extraordinarily well organized event the only thing I would say is that you know it was almost impossible to get on the lift I was staying on the 11th floor mmm yes this is a bit of a first world problem ya know I have to say I was also positively surprised I mean first by there by the crowd that turned out but also had some really good conversations you know next

to next to the things that went on on stage I mean you you already mentioned you interviewed McAfee there but then I saw you you tweeted I interviewed John McAfee in Malta it's probably the end of my career yeah well I think there's a Woody Allen film cause ellic so for your audience Selig becomes the person he is talking to no like a chameleon I you know I figured if it's medically you can't just make it a boring conversation and I bringing the other guy into the conversation there were three of us on stage I offered the audience the chance to ask the other guy a question and then we'll put the hand up so I can turned on the audience in a

slightly fun way I got a question from the cameraman yeah that was great I saw that but I was thinking so far away so I couldn't ask any questions now absolutely my defense I saw him afterwards and said listen mate thanks I'll buy your beer thank you very much for for saving the session and he asked me is there anything we've been making an IC IC o---- movie last two years the ups and downs and would be great if we could get some time with John and I said well I'll see what I could do you know bearing in mind these things he probably was overwhelmed with suggestions but his wife got back to me pretty quickly I got in touch with them we went up to his presidential suite at court

five that evening his security asked me and I said I vouch for these guys etc its bodyguards with good people actually and then he spent 20 minutes with this film crew are sponsoring any question they liked so through that guy asking that question in the audience he looks like he's managed to attend he's finished his movie cool so that's Karma yeah definitely worth to stick one's neck out once in a while so but you know from hanging out with with McAfee also maybe was there anything that struck you as especially insightful well I think if you've seen the film a gringo or el gringo on Netflix it pays a

to block the crazy person yeah but I have to say that the people that I met at well the conversations I had with him were a high intellectual nature his wife is absolutely charming she kind of managed this his schedule I saw some evidence of you know some pretty hardcore whisky but none of the other stuff that you can imagine and you know I think when we said goodbye to each other he said to me thanks for the heroin so you know clearly I didn't to supply him with any heroin Buffy that's just the way he is I mean he's very good at using the media and you know it and cast himself as a mission mischievous person Styria of a highly intelligent person so I don't know I don't think

he's making a name for himself he's reinventing himself and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of his team and not least him Madden in science well I don't know I think he's a libertarian and doesn't trust many people which is fair enough and you know I supposed to crypto blockchain industry needs to start and it was like you may be that start hmm yeah for some people I think definitely definitely he is do you think that conference there was a pretty good picture of the current state of blockchain technology yeah I would say so I think I think I think they probably

will Milas had such a monster on the hands so I think there's that there's a famous Apple missive that you know we only have two minute meetings and one listens after that so I think they may have got that idea to have like 10 15 minutes slots and keep all the sponsors happy I suppose as well permit I was on stage with McAfee and Brendan from Sky quite the minutes and then everyone said you know we could have had that goal for another half an hour at least so so I'd say they would say there were a number of sessions that kind of laid out the state of play we were act but I thought really in-depth focused speeches and

conversations and panels I think that suffered a little bit mm-hmm I'm sure you also walked around at the exhibition and I mean many of these projects just looked so what's the good word just like there was very little behind them to be honest well I think the thing that struck me most of all was that I've been to conferences for 20 years and I mean I went to money 2020 would just been take between tech events in Amsterdam and April March or something and I went on a barge afterwards and there was a white owl and a bald eagle on the on the barge hmm and on top bottle of champagne etc that just

reminded me a little bit of the beginning of Mobile World Congress and all those type of places where there was so much money around and I think I saw I mean I saw a lot of people with a lot of money doing spending a lot of money you know what I mean yeah and the people breaking down doors to get in upping as a lot of people that couldn't get in to see McAfee anyway already I think there's been a bit of a dip in the colour crypto industry since to kind of fall a bit coin and ether and other currencies but I I'm definitely feeling as if like the good times are back I mean the amount of excess of display on that show is a pretty good yardstick for what goes all of my

some conferences sorry gold rush you know and as you said you know the vapor where you go try and work out the gold from the vapor mmm not easy right it's not easy when somebody is so new yeah lots of people big dreams great ideas even big funding mm-hmm okay cool you also have a technology advisory company next to your work as a writer right for several outlets but I'd like to speak a little bit about this advisory that you're doing for clients there so you're also working with companies in the blockchain space yeah it's not as based I mean I have a very very very strong network in my opinion of fine people that I've spent years

trying to to build up so when someone's trying to find some funding I'm pretty good at matching people so I match people let them kind of collide and then I pick up some spare change by that I'm calling it getting oh I think there's a phrase that I said a couple of years ago it's like when you're in your twenties you in the industry when you're new to the industry waiting in the 30s you're in the industry when you're in the forties you're an industry veteran and when you're in the fifties your industry legend okay okay I don't feel my age it's just ridiculous but you know you've built up a network there's a story

Casso he was painting near nice when he was the most famous man in the world before the Second World War Eric and saw him painting or sketching a picture at the Colin or a restaurant in the mountains over nice and thought oh my god you know this is like I'm gonna be able to get the bargain of all time and you know it goes up the guy finishes the sketch the guy comes down when he says you know amazing I'd love to buy your sketch that's possible and Picasso said sure no worries and he said how much expecting a low price because I said $50,000 well done what are you talking about you're mad it's only taking you 15 minutes you said you're not paying for the 15 minute

Japan for the 15 years they took me do this in 15 minutes yeah so that's how I provide that type concierge service now yeah I'm quite expensive but and it doesn't cost me to introduce me to two people but in in an environment where writing posts a little you'd have to be a bit better what you're doing so I mean these things have to be mutually exclusive obviously but yeah so there's there's this like you talk about identity politics aside what Huntington identity career where I pick a bit here and a bit there there's a bit of writing here and it's making song see their dance bits speaking here a bit of moderation there and a bit of

introduction there a bit did business there it's just pretty modern a lot of people I know live like that mmm-hmm I mean you said you work mostly with with clients in a tech space and obviously blockchain clients are a subset of that but is there a difference in your process when you work with a company in the blockchain space I think everything's hot so if you can help a company raise money you know it's gonna be easier maybe in the blockchain space but you also have to be responsible to what you're doing you know you can't just think are great there's quite a lot of money in that for me if I you know if I do that you've got to be a bit more

responsible and as you said before about the filter and the vapor and being able to go from one to the other and know what his gold of what is just kind of cold I think it's very very important that you do the same you know that you have to beat your clients as much as I do as much as they pick you yeah Bickham and fired him too sometimes how do you how do you go about making sure that clients are for real especially when they're in the crypt or blockchain space well you generally get how many sites you know she generally get a taste of the founder or the team the talent the products and the idea I mean it's no different so any other former business you know if you believe

in the people when you believe in the idea and you believe in the product then you know I'm happy to make those introductions cool do you also help those client it's tell their story tell their story what what they're doing well regional story about that if I I mean I write regularly for the BBC weekly for Forbes as a contributor and I've written for tecnique TechCrunch unmatchable and Newsweek of the tech review and most of these processes I send you know you know bullet points and I said in this then I've got access to the CEO blah blah blah if I pitch to the Economist that I can only get the sort of the the the pitch if I give them

the story in 35 words hmm and I think that's something that blockchain companies could spend some time on doing do that giving you've got six page turn sheets and summaries and with best effects you know let's just get it no mission statement more than that something that you know it defines what the story is what is your story you know thirty five words it's tough for anyone but what is your story in 50 or 60 words what are you trying to do you know it's it's it's it's tough but you that's what you should do mm-hmm what's a good example of that that you've seen recently [Music] it'll be immediate I mean you obviously

have to think about that too right when you have 90 or first or you want to pitch it and you have to condense it how do you go about this and how should entrepreneurs go about this when they want to sharpen their story well it's like anything else you know it's you've got to have advice you need to have mentors mentors on board you have to have the incipient of a board you know you have to have the beginning of a board even though you want a young stage you got to have good people around you and you may be to 22 year old Gina you know that fantastic idea I've been working in the Box chain space of five years of Mason crypto investments etcetera you know that's all very well I

mean I will probably never know ever as much as they do you know we just do that on your own you need to surround yourself with good people it's like you know it's like in life as a person if you have a car at Plato's cave everyone believes it the same way as you and every time and so on wage their hand you see the same shadow it's not good for anyone you need to you need to know so many different types of people with young or old or they're a plumber or there are technologists or they're a builder or a lawyer or they're young or they're old or anything I mean that's what real diversity is right you know it's not just about race and color and gender or you know anything like that

the he is I suppose but it's it's like everything else you need of a wide variety of sources to hone your product and to to improve let's take a quick break for a message from our sponsors this episode has support from my very own the blockchain and us a newsletter get an email from me every two weeks with a very short summary of new podcast episodes so you can immediately pick those interviews you'd like to listen to to stay up-to-date just visit w-w-w dot the blockchain and us calm and sign up today to hone your products and to to improve mm-hmm yeah cool and for that obviously

you need to be in the right place and you're in London currently right that's always going to be London my it's awesome all right it's the best city in the world by far I know it very well from you know I used to be a motorcyclist dispatch arrival in London for probably 12 winters over a 15 year period so I know no little nooks and crannies and small places to go nowadays I know a little bit more about you know about what's happening next especially when it comes to technology and that terrible six letter word called brexit which is which is the longest suicide note in history I am seeing a lot a lot of money leaving

the UK at the moment and jobs going and you know we have a very good FinTech sector and I think the blockchain part of London's tech scene is still to mature but any you know FinTech company is you know bitcoin is proven that you can build a business in a different way hmm yeah are most of your clients have there been from London or are they still from NOLA what is what kind of differences do you see between you know countries like the UK or or America or Asia well depends on the sector well in the blockchain crypto yeah I mean I think Asia's ahead when it

comes to trading to mostly Japan and Korea a huge deactive I mean I'm looking at it in a very long-term way that this is you know crypto assets or crypto currencies are not something that you invest in as the speculative toward something that you use in your everyday life and I think people totally realize how easy it is to spend Bitcoin or when it comes to to stuff I suppose so you know we're living in a global connected world Asia's ahead America I think there weren't many Americans in Malta but there were some and I think

you know that anything else you can't think the I would say Europe is ahead when it comes to the blockchain space rather than North America but at the same time you know Americans are so quick to seize an opportunity well I can see them making a big push next year mm-hmm I've heard that too that somebody said America could just allow all of this and then it would be game over for everybody else I didn't there's enough to go around I mean because I'll write for so many different publications I generally get a kind of preview of what's going to happen next because of the releases and the information that I received and at the moment I have never seen anything any ecosystem appear and change so much

as I have done in the last year and a half absolutely amazing how quickly it's happening how people are converting their businesses and you talk about kind of digital transformation as much overused phrase when I don't think you just take the word digital out now transformation this transformation is out of this world I mean it's it's it's incredible the you know the the front page story is that you know bitcoins gone down 75% and all of the other things and it's terrorists then it's drug dealers and it's money laundering and basically tax and all this stuff but the reality and the meter the infrastructure is is almost like it's

almost like her what's that going what everyone used to play what what did everyone played before fortnight kids used to play the building blocks game Minecraft it's like a Minecraft ism of the whole thing just built building a building it's extreme yeah in 2018 what makes a tech company valuable people always talent always reality lack of well you know I mean you've been there before yeah but I think it's always down to ideas and talent and the creativity and with the rise of a I I think those are

qualities are going to be more important in the future you know and I'll be creative we can which ideas do you think I mean not only in the blockchain space also in in tech maybe more generally but which which ideas do you think fill the most urgent demand those would be one thing right that's what we'll that's what we should be using it for we've got polluted that one got polluted Internet in many respects a polluted planet with plastic everywhere I mean we should all be should all be doing that saving the planet and sometimes you know a great idea I mean Facebook is a great idea as is Google but I don't know I said doing

to save the planet yeah not much probably and in the blockchain space what what do you think there is interesting at the moment I think clearly financial transactions were always going to be the first kind of beneficiary of blockchain by think I mean shipping is one thing that I think is highly interesting if you can manage different processes different you know supply chains different ports different languages shipping will be one of the first places where bureaucracy and complication is made easier by blockchain hmm okay cool what was there something that in your

work you know with with your advisory was there something in the blockchain space that surprised you that somebody did I think as well suppose you know the phrase blockchain washing do you know that well it's just when you have an existing products then you just put blockchain on the front of it right like the blocked in eighth t you think yeah everybody cool so I mean exactly that's that's the person you know it's a slightly overused story mmm one that's correct yeah so you know it's like if it's I think there's also a you know there is gonna be at the moment I mean I was the victim of the clifftop crypto theft about a month four or five weeks ago Oh hard to hear yeah still trying to get it back via hmm some various agencies but

as you know you know a blockchain transaction cannot be reversed but there doesn't seem to be a system in place where you know these guys or girls or whatever had taken my money and they've taken it to a completely no account and it been there for 13 days you know we're told to what it you know you know we were late I was put an alert on it that was all we could do he couldn't put a flag on it said do not touch this and then when it was taken to an exchange there's this torturous process of that you have to report it to the police I don't think this police officer in my country would understand you know you

mentioned that they're also McAfee I think had a hacker how did it how did it happen I mean whoa do you know where the kind of weak link was this is what my my private key I don't know how I could have done that you know I may be naive I had it I had it on my computer kind of in a file that I had deep I had encrypted but maybe there's sophisticated kind of malware the city that way I've no idea I mean of the idea of you know putting your your cryptocurrency in a crypto safe I know I put it in a wallet purely because I didn't want to I didn't want to put it in an exchange there's been

hacked off and you know they in this respect when I'm writing up a piece of water about it at the moment the very mutability of blockchain was a use absolutely no use to me there's no relationship between the wallets there's no relation and that and the exchanges you know I got I mean I had a lot of people working on it for me just because of the industry and people that I know but this is in finance example but you have to fill in a ticket you know you need to block the transaction within seventy-two seconds then you get an email from from violence saying that you know we will get this done few in 72 hours I

think that there are elements of the blockchain that are going to be irritating think that it is not a panacea for everything it doesn't mean we have infected Internet and it might be internet big-10 that's completely true in Michael will exist on smart contracts in the future but you know I think there will be a backlash and I'm not sure it got changed the answer that's all you know this what you just mentioned there with the immutability is this the main thing you think should change in in the blockchain space absolutely I suppose the violent CFO table you know we should be making these things easier it's a well yet telling me man

you know what I mean it should there should be you know this is clearly fraud you know you've got to take my word for it I'm not a lawyer but the Darracq of responsibles if we block every transaction no one's won but no one's gonna win you'd want to use our exchange hmm you know this isn't every transaction I've got I think it'd be kind of seminary 10 look at this here's a trail you know this did happen and I am telling you the truth yeah crating lock this transaction now you know I've got no I've got nowhere to go after that if not well no you guys fill in this ticket I take 72 hours I mean there should be a bun on there on

the page when you make a complaint before saying this is fraudulent you send that to the police there should be a bottle afterwards that they give you a police number as soon as you press that button and then that button should be immediately transferred to finance none of that's in place the rest of the infrastructure is great on TV I think we're almost 30 minutes here so I want to let you off the hook but what's that what's next for you as well as I like completely 30 minutes I don't know I'm going to Namibia with my family free weights of December we get lost and having a bench in the desert miles away from blockchain and then our do a lot of reading and try and work out

what's next but I am part of a team opening the London Stock Exchange on Thursday Oh what as a anarchist that's pretty much really bad that I'm initiating London capitalism on earth on Thursday I am the in the evening I'm at Buckingham Palace for bits so what a big day I might just give it up after that Monroe can't get any higher Monty where can people find you yeah I have a kind of blog called mob 76s mo B and then the numerals 7/6 outlook.com mo b76 outlet mob 76 out of alum on all social

networks monte de Montford is pretty much you know I've written so much over the years you can't miss me you know mm-hmm exactly cool good well that was really fun thanks a lot Darrell Ward for taking time for this and I really appreciate it many thanks right it's good to meet you more so face to face and this is a pleasure mate thanks so much for joining us today more info on our guest and our sponsors it's in the show notes of this episode and on the podcast web site the blockchain and ask.com to help people find this podcast it's important that you download subscribe and give it a top rating and review on iTunes or on the podcast platform of your choice I'm Manuel staggers and I

thank you very much for listening you [Music]