This interview is the long-form version of a conversation with Christian Decker, Core Tech Engineer at Blockstream. www.blockstream.com
Clips from the interview
Blockchain is here to stay
“Blockchain is probably here to stay. It rarely happened in history what we invented something and then disregarded it.”
ScalabilityCurrently, bitcoin is not scalable.”
From ‘toy’ to worldwide movement
“It started from a grassroots movement from us geeks.”
Jumping on the bandwagon
“Some initiatives are technically impossible, for others, blockchain is unnecessary.”
Sales pitch vs. education
“It’s an education effort, not a sales pitch. Banks may come back as a service provider on top of blockchain technology itself.”
Is this a revolution?
“Not from a technical point of view, but considering its impact, yes.”
Adoption of cryptocurrencies
“Adoption will be gradual.”
Bitcoin against the world
“There is no opponent in this game, everybody wants to make progress.”
Being part of a movement
“It’s rare for coders to have this kind of impact.”
Tools for change
“Criticizing the system only is not enough. You also have to build new tools.”
Challenges
“We need to know advantages and disadvantages. They must be usable for everybody, otherwise we better use what we currently have.”