Blockchain and Us

Blockchain and Us is a very good and informative documentary by Manuel Stagars. The goal of this film is to encourage the conversation about the economic and social impacts of blockchain technology.

Despite its mysterious beginnings, the blockchain may be the airplane of our time.

Economist and filmmaker Manuel Stagars portrays this exciting technology in interviews with software developers, cryptologists, researchers, entrepreneurs, consultants, VCs, authors, politicians, and futurists from the United States, Canada, Switzerland, the UK, and Australia.

The documentary is divided into 7 sections:

1. First Contact With The Blockchain
2. Blockchain Technology
3. Influence of the Blockchain
4. New Business Opportunities
5. The Blockchain and Banks
6. The Blockchain and Financial Inclusion
7. The Real Revolution
8. The Blockchain and Us

Blockchain and Us by Manuel Stagars

Notes on Blockchain and Us

Blockchain and Us - Illustration by Roger Wattenhofer

Roger Wattenhofer
Professor, Distributed Computing Group, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
Zurich, Switzerland

“For me, part of the fascination is that we don’t yet know exactly what this thing is, and yet there are still lots of people getting around it. I thought of it as it’s like a space rock that crashed on Earth. You have a bunch of people that gather around and all pointing to it, what this thing is? You don’t really know what it is but it is still very interesting.”
Taylor Gerring
Co-Founder, Ethereum
Zug, Switzerland

Blockchains are military grade cryptography.

“We are really seeing a new way of transacting value on the internet.”
Elizabeth Stark
Co-Founder & CEO, Lightning
San Francisco, USA

What matters to people is what they can do with the technology.

“I think within 20 years, financial services will be just software and the smart contract technology, in particular, is going to automate a lot of things that institutions and people handle today.”
Caitlin Long
Chairman of the Board & President at Symbiont.io
New York, USA

“”When they saw the whole opportunity, they are ready to change, hey I don’t understand everything but I understand there’s something behind, so we really need to go forward.”
Jan Seffinga
Partner, Deloitte Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland

What prosperity offers you, is independent.

“We are at the cross road here. We have the graviton now to create the technology that will actually help the entire human race. The question is, will we do it? But we can do it now.”
Rik Willard
Founder & Managing Director, Agentic Group
New York, USA