Redecentralisation – Wandhofer and Nakib – BOOK REVIEW

Redecentralisation
Redecentralisation is not a word that rolls off the tongue. It sounds like a buzzword that has been mangled by business speak, but after reading Redecentralisation – Building The Digital Financial Ecosystemit will make sense to those who are disciplined enough to read through it.

Co-written by technologists Ruth Wandhöfer and Hazem Danny Nakib, the book is a detailed guide to how finance works, how it used to work and how it’s going to work in the future.

The authors explain that early humans were naturally decentralised in small groups until evolution took over and humans embraced centralisation to be safe.

The financial world we live in now is going back to a looser, more individual experience and systems will reflect this.

I enjoyed this immensely. I wasn’t aware of the term redecentralisation, but from the first paragraph I knew I was in the hands of two experts. It brings together past, present and future financial systems and explains how Web3, blockchain, crypto and AI are going to change everything.

While preaching to this reader as the converted, I learnt about how financial legacy systems work at the heart of global commerce and alien acronyms finally made sense. It made me think about how the metaverse will finally become part of our everyday lives and why crypto is not a fad and Bitcoin is a fascinating technology that defines blockchain and it’s verification of trust.

I also trusted the authors who have a deep understanding of how money works and why’s it’s now so important that people are ready for the disruption that the next force of technology change will bring.

I am now better prepared for the future; always a good sign from a business book, although that future may become extremely daunting for this who refuse to change their ideas. Recommended.

BOOK REVIEW – The Bitcoin Dilemma – Colin L. Read

dilemma

It’s disruptive to review The Bitcoin Dilemma when the author is called ‘READ’ because once that gets in your head then ‘read’ and ‘review’ merge into one portfolio word and all those old days of LSD come back with a swirly vengeance.

Even so, the aforesaid The Bitcoin Dilemma is not a book to be forgotten and while not an easy read, it’s very much worth the effort in doing so.

Instead of focusing on all the speculation and hyperbole about making profits and destroying Satoshi’s invention, this book delves into the maths of crypto.

Moreover, Colin L. Read really knows what he’s talking about. He has worn many hats, but his experience of being the mayor of a ‘crypto mining’ US city lays bare the real costs of bitcoin mining, not just for the local and global environment, but for the people who live where mining takes place.

Effectively they pay for the mining to take place and it takes a tough mayor to ensure that miners do not take the capacity, the piss, the biscuit.

In some places the book reads like a collection of essays and the gentle touch of a sub-editor to dispel the over-adjectives and the self-crusading would have been welcome, but those who know of maths and mining no less about reading and reviewing.

As somebody who is fairly well-versed in crypto, there was a lot in this book that was new and I learnt a lot. While proof-of-work protocols are clearly bad and proof-of-stake are much better for Planet Earth, those who don’t know the difference will know by the end of the book.

Apparently Ethereum’s recent ‘upgrade’ from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake took off a whopping 0.2% of the world’s total power supply and it is a move that bitcoin, alas, cannot replicate.

This book made me want to sell my bitcoin portfolio and move it a more sustainable currency. It made me think. I would suggest most readers will have a similar reaction.

That makes it a good book.

 

Blockchain Book Review: Chain Reaction

chain

Chain Reaction – How Blockchain Will Transform The Developing World is an important publication that strips away the focus on technology and puts the emphasis on culture and how blockchain will change the way emerging countries operate.

Written by Paul Domjan, Gavin Serkin, Brandon Thomas and John Toshack, the book is essentially a collection of essays that point out the benefits that blockchain technology can bring to countries that need a more equitable way of operating.

The disparity in some of the poorest places in the world is an insult to anybody who considers themselves human and the immutability of blockchain means that any corrupt organisation or politician cannot buck the ‘system’.

The book also points out the wider implications of blockchain in other parts of the world and for those who are not completely familiar with the subject, it is also an excellent guide to what blockchain is, not just a bunch of disconnected chain or two… and in these examples, nothing to do with Bitcoin speculation or all the nonsense narrative that surrounds this New World.

At 110 pages, it’s a short book but covers eight subjects in detail such as comparing blockchain to the railroads of yesteryear, explaining who ‘really controls blockchain’ and what blockchain actually solves.

I am familiar with the subject of the emerging world and the opportunity blockchain offers after speaking at many conferences in Africa in places such as Lagos, Accra and Johannesburg about how it can bring about positive change.

Whether it’s preventing blood diamonds, child labour or work conditions, some companies are already harnessing its power and they are mentioned in this excellent book.

This is essential reading for those who are new to blockchain and those who are experts in its implementation as well as reinforcing ideas that people such as me already have. I hope it reaches a wide audience. Long live blockchain!

Upscale by James Silver: BOOK REVIEW

upscaleUpscale by James Silver must have taken a long time to research and write, but that makes it one of the better reads when it comes to the ecosystem of startups and investors.

As somebody who has written widely on technology and knows the effort it takes to write an article, let alone a book on the subject, this is a seriously impressive piece of work.

The Upscale accelerator ‘powered by’ the UK’s Tech Nation wants to increase the success of startups companies and, er, upscale, the chances of investors in receiving serious returns on their capital.

There have been numerous success stories, not least FinTech company The Accountancy Cloud that has scaled considerably due to the programme, but others further down the line such as Monzo and Ometria.

However, this is a book review and not an accelerator review, but it’s difficult not to refer to the great companies that have resulted from this initiative. Silver has been granted exclusive access to the programme and he speaks to many of the UK’s successful entrepreneurs.

These include Saul Klein, Brent Hoberman, Wendy Tan White, Suranga Chandratillake and many others. If these names mean nothing to you, then this probably isn’t the book for you. However, if they do, you will love their words and inspiration.

Written by founders for founders, Upscale is the type of book everybody can learn from whether that is investing, scaling, marketing or making the right decision when that market turns in another direction.

There are few platitudes in this book, just smart advice from smart people who have been through the mill, have been shredded by the mill but have come out spotless and cleansed.

I’m not a fan of business books, especially when allied with a commercial venture, but I’ll make an exception in this case. Well-researched, very well-written and extremely topical. Buy it.

BOOK REVIEW – Chasing Black Unicorns by Marek Zmysłowski

Marek Zmysłowski is an amazing entrepreneur who has written a real-life thriller based on his career in Poland and, most intriguingly, Africa.

Zmysłowski

I have met Marek Zmysłowski twice in Africa and, more recently, in London. The nights we had in Johannesburg and Lagos were legendary, but a gentleman never tells.

He is a Polish firebrand and whirlwind, driven by entrepreneurial zeal and loves life almost as much as I loved his book, Chasing Black Unicorns.

They say that there is a book inside every journalist… and that’s where it should stay. I would also say that there’s a book inside every entrepreneur and that’s where it should be buried, but not in this case.

This story is more like a Robert Ludlum African-based thriller and it rolls and rolls like an exciting rollercoaster.

It begins slowly with a young Zmysłowsk dreaming of big things in a small Polish town. His ambition knows no bounds as he chases the zloty and dollar by working in finance and, memorably, in the funeral business. He spends what he earns and he loves spending as his internet pioneering makes him a Polish player.

Then an opportunity arises with Rocket Internet to set up the ‘African equivalent of Expedia’ in Nigeria. Zmysłowsk takes up the challenge and heads to Lagos and in the next couple of years does the almost-impossible in doing exactly that.

Then the problems begin. Agent provocateurs, dissembling investors, strategies-from-above and all of the above magnified by the chaos of Nigeria mean trouble for Zmysłowsk. Not only is he ousted from the business he built up, but his new venture is seen as a threat.

Before he knows it, he is on Interpol’s most wanted list and endures prison after being arrested at Warsaw airport expecting to be extradited to Nigeria.

I won’t spoil the ending because there is much to read and admire here. His writing is crisp and he never loses faith even when the Gods seem out to screw him over. His book is a hell of a ride, I recommend you join him. A really excellent story.