In this week’s Crypto Forces segment, host Demetri Kofinas covers all things blockchain related with Andrew Keys of Ethereum’s Consensus Systems. Andrew’s role at consensus is to help cultivate an ecosystem of distributed application development – everything from payment processing, contract transfers, distributed computing, and even the future of the internet as we know it. Building on the innovation, adoption, and possibilities of Bitcoin, Andrew Keys has immersed himself over the last several years in what many people are calling Bitcoin 2.0 – otherwise known as Ethereum – and has become one of the world’s go-to business ambassadors for blockchain technology and the Ethereum protocol.
In today’s conversation, we explore the explosive growth of the cryptocurrency industry – where it’s been, what it looks like today and its potential to shape our collective future. "This is ultimately about the move away from a centralized system for organizing society towards a decentralized one that is more appropriate for the technological present," says Demetri Kofinas. Indeed, the question of centralization versus decentralization is central to the framework of blockchain technology. For all of recorded history, human beings have achieved scale through a bureaucracy. Empires, nation states, and corporations are all built upon layers of authority and thickets of bureaucracy. Blockchain manages to overcome this by shifting the burden of validation from the center to the periphery. In other words, no central authority is required in order to approve any transaction or mediate any dispute among users of the blockchain protocol. There is no need for third-party verification (TPV).
If you have been looking for a great resource for learning more about Ethereum or the blockchain, then you have come to the right place. One of Andrew Keys' main tasks as head of Global Business Development for Consensus Systems is to help educate potential users of this technology on how it all works. You won't be disappointed.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation at @hiddenforcespod
Andrew Keys drives ConsenSys’ newest financial services arm, ConsenSys Capital. ConsenSys Capital is a constellation of financial services companies for the infrastructure of tomorrow's global economy, employing blockchain based digital assets. ConsenSys Capital's companies include ConsenSys Ventures, Token Foundry, and ConsenSys Capital Asset Management.
Previously, Andrew was head of global business development for ConsenSys and co-founded ConsenSys Enterprise, to create Ethereum blockchain solutions for Fortune 500 companies and governments.
Andrew also co-created the first Ethereum Blockchain-as-a-Service offering with Microsoft and started the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), an open-source cross-industry initiative focused on permeating Ethereum technology through enterprise environments. EEA is now the largest open-source blockchain initiative on Earth.
Andrew comes to ConsenSys with capital markets, healthcare, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, Andrew worked for UBS in equities analysis. Later, he was responsible for creation and distribution of alternative asset insurance products to hedge funds. After, he co-founded a healthcare revenue cycle management company where he learned how bad payment processing systems were. This realization led Andrew down the Ethereum blockchain rabbit hole.
Andrew graduated from Loyola University in Maryland and University of Auckland with degrees in economics and international finance. He got an A- in his first intro to computer science class in high school, and it has been relatively downhill technically since then.