A Few Cool Crypto Cats: Startup Update

*** This post is written in a personal capacity and reflects my views only ***

Hi everyone - in prior posts I've highlighted a few crypto startups that I had been advising on strategy, with companies ranging from financial services to medicine and artificial intelligence.

I am excited to share a few more tidbits from two new entrants that I find interesting -- Reel and Bubbled -- as well as an update from SelfKey on their wallet. For full transparency, I am helping these projects. But I am doing so, because I think they make a difference and are pushing the edge of what's possible.

(1) Reel Cash

Blockchain is coming to the film industry. I've seen a number of projects trying to solve the space, and the core elements are (1) removing layers of funding intermediation by third parties and various gatekeepers (e.g., Tatatu), (2) figuring out something to do with human attention (e.g., Brave) and (3) layering on various digital collectibles attached to the intellectual property (e.g., Gazecoin). And while helping virtual reality production studio Lightshed in the past, I have come across the issue of fantastic niche content trying to find a home with the right users. Which is why I am excited to be helping out the Reel platform with its strategic approach to the problem.

Reel has figured out something quite clever, something the other film-related token attempts have not. And that is that the key asset connecting niche audiences to independent movies and entertainment is data, data which today feeds the production machine at Netflix, letting them discover consumer tastes before those tastes even form. By knowing exactly how and when its users watch content, Netflix generates user profiles, which (with the help of machine learning) allows the company to predict demand for content they are going to fund. Reel's secret sauce is that the data from which Netflix bakes this pie is actually just human watching behavior, something that happens on a local machine as much as it happens to a Netflix film.

That means all the content you watch -- from Youtube to Netflix and otherwise -- can be aggregated from your local machine into extremely valuable demand information for film production companies. There is a bit of Tokenomic design in there too; REELs are to be paid to viewers for their actual viewing behavior, films can be funded via REELs, and various other ideas are being built in. But this core relationship between attention, intent and content is very interesting to me. Of course, a million things can go wrong. People might not want to install extensions that pay them crypto currency. Volatility may prevent film-makers from adopting crypto solutions. There might be too little data. But if it works, the potential is to make film making more efficient and more local to user taste.

(2) Bubbled

This under-the-radar project is very intellectually interesting, and is calling attention to a big problem from our near future. You might not know you have this problem yet -- but maybe you already do! Remember when Pokemon GO became massively popular overnight, and throngs of teenagers would show up in public locations to capture a variety of augmented reality (AR) critters? A private company, Niantic, randomly generated collectible Pokemon of various rarity across the global landscape, incentivizing people to aggregate in physical places. What if that physical place was in front of your house, or in your back yard, or was also a spawn point for another 100 different augmented reality games?

Bubbled has built out a decentralized augmented reality land registry, where holders of their token can purchase permissioned land rights across an augmented reality layer. So in principle, if I did not want companies to summon anything around my residence in a 100 meter radius, I could buy out the AR properties around me. Or alternately, speculators can buy popular locations and then lease our rights to others for AR content. This system also avoids congestion between providers -- think Google, Snap, Magic Lead and others -- and allows for governance between various providers.

The project has created an open framework for AR collaboration, as well as its first crypto game demonstrating that the software can work. The game reminds me of the Million Dollar Homepage, with memes lining a satellite version of Google maps, burned into it through a blockchain. Of course, many things can go wrong. For one, augmented reality is still in early stages, and its oligopolistic nature means that over-crowding won't happen if it stays only controlled by large firms. But in turn, smaller developers could use Bubbled's solution to be good citizens between themselves. Also, such developers have to adopt the solution and use a proprietary token, which is straightforward once you've jumped into crypto land, but is still tough for most users. Regardless, it's an exciting idea and I hope we live in a world where it's needed!

(3) SelfKey

SelfKey has released their beta of the desktop wallet, and I've taken a look at the sofware. I think it's a great first step to helping regular people secure their identity across the web. Traditional KYC approaches inevitably lead to sensitive private data scattered all over the receiving party's devices -- just think about uploading an unencrypted picture of your passport to some bank database. SelfKey's solution puts that data into a wallet, stored on a local device controlled by data's owner, and uses the public blockchain to jumpstart an ecosystem of next-generation, secure financial services. 

Downloading and installing the wallet was straightforward, as was the creation of a dedicated address on the Ethereum blockchain. The design of the application is intuitive, as far as crypto goes, and comes with both identity and token management functionality. Future planned features include a marketplace of vendors that rely on SelfKey, and a browser extension that allows for easy authentication via the device itself. Unlike authentication through a Facebook or Google, no data flows out to be packaged into advertising product.

This is an ambitious and difficult project and the team has to get several things right. Usability has to be as easy as Metamask. The adoption of the KYC solution itself by other parties needs to be high, so that the marketplace of services is compelling. As functionality is added, the design needs to remain clean. And others solutions, like Civic, are also being built in the space with reasonable progress. But so far, so good and I am looking forward to seeing more from the project.

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The opinion presented here is (1) only that of the author’s and not any company with which he is or has been affiliated, (2) not tailored to any individual or company needs, (3) intended to be disinterested commentary and analysis, and (4) not intended to invite or induce the reader to engage in any investment activities. The author is advising the projects described in this commentary on strategy, and is sharing information about its progress, not doing reliable diligence across all of its aspects . Early stage technology projects are highly speculative and risky investments which may lead to full loss of the principal, and this commentary is not investment advice about them.