A16z crypto Partner: 12 key issues in the field of cryptocurrency

Author: Ali Yahya, investment institutions a16z crypto block chain partner

Translator: Zhan Wei

Source: Chain smell

In the field of cryptocurrency, which questions are crucial and there is no definitive answer yet? What issues have the most significant impact on the final form of the cryptocurrency pattern and the prospects of the best company? I want to try to point out one by one! The following 12 questions were asked in 12 tweets.

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Ali Yahya, Partner of blockchain investment agency a16z crypto

1/ Decentralization problem

Just like all the good things in life and engineering, decentralization is not free. When and where is decentralization most important? Which parts of the newly formed encryption technology stack should be decentralized and which parts are not needed?

2/ Pluralism vs. Maximization

What is the trade-off space for cryptocurrencies? Will a single network (such as Ethereum) dominate one or most of the use cases one day? Or is it that many networks will be winners, and each network has its own unique advantages in its own encryption field?

3/ Modular problem

Will a system built from the bottom up from a modular, unbiased, combinable building block (Unix philosophy) beat a vertically integrated, full-featured, monolithic system (Apple philosophy), or vice versa?

4/ Value acquisition issues

Where is the main value acquisition point in the stack? Is it at the protocol layer (fat protocol topic), at the application layer (aggregation theory), or at the periphery (exchange, hosting, etc.)? What is the dominant business model?

5/ Defense issues

In a world where almost everything is open source, what are the main drivers of defense? Does it depend on the trust of the user, the management of the active community, the assets held in the chain, or the integration of the agreement with the outside world?

6/ scalability issues

The performance of blockchains, namely throughput, latency, and cost, comes primarily from horizontal scaling (such as fragmentation and blockchain communication) or from vertical scaling (such as better consensus algorithms and Layer 2 solutions)?

7/ Security issues

Is the security of the mainstream blockchain and the anti-witch attack coming from work proofs, proof of equity, semi-licensed federal consensus, or something new? How robust are they in resisting centralization? The Four Horsemen of Centralization

8/ Governance issues

What will drive the development of decentralized networks? Who decides what changes need to be made? Most decisions are made through formal chain voting or through informal community-level governance (in the traditional open source model)?

9/ Funding issues

What mechanisms can best fund innovation at every level of the technology stack and at every stage of development? What are the roles of venture capital, the long tail of retail investors, and new encrypted native entities like DAO?

10/ Regulatory issues

How do cryptocurrency companies, the agreements they establish, and the crypto assets that enable them to connect with national governments? How will this relationship evolve? How fast will it evolve? How will the relationship be tense?

11/ Timing problem

At what stage of the technology life cycle are we at? How fast will this cycle be? Because this is mainly a software revolution, not a hardware revolution, is it faster than other technology waves in history? Or is it slower because of regulatory reasons?

12/ killer application problem

What is the first breakthrough application to reach one billion users?

13/ Welcome to ask your question 🙂

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