On November 17th, we held an AMA during which our CMO Jon MacDonald shared his views on the crypto space. Thanks to everyone who attended. It was an absolute pleasure.
You can find the entire recording of our session here.
Below we’ve picked a few of the most critical points and put them in writing for those who didn’t have a chance to join. And anyone who simply prefers to read.
What’s your background, and how long have you been involved with crypto?
Jon: I was involved in discussions back in the 80s in something called The WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link); the conversations were about using algorithms to fix specific problems that society had.
So some of us from the 70’s had started coding in B, then C, and from there, we began building programs. Then in the 90s, it turned into a conversation on how capitalism could be addressed using algorithms.
That turned into Bit Gold and B-money. These papers were just discussed by around 120 of us, and everyone else thought we were mad.
We were idealists.
Bitcoin fixed the double-spending, but the truth is that there was far more interest in the well-being that can come from decentralization. However, unfortunately now the focus seems to have moved entirely to crypto-currencies.
So it’s been a long journey. And I’m very honored to be on this call with you all, as many might not be aware of all the things that happened before all of this. When you look at all these blockchains, you might think that that’s something modern. But it’s far from what we meant to do.
We saw centralization as a massive issue 10 years before it became one, and now we’re here with it showing its face, with basically everything ‘Web’ running on a handful of big platforms.
Any advice for someone entirely new to crypto and blockchain?
Jon: The starting point is DYOR. It means more than looking at candle charts and checking if they have many followers, looking behind what they try to achieve, ideally to Whitepaper level.
On a fundamental level: understand if it’s a native protocol, a fork of something, or just a token, like ERC-20.
I think the words truly, completely, totally, and decentralized have been abused, and it’s hard for people to research and look past those claims.
If someone says they have the most nodes, check how the rate is distributed; if someone says the network is fully mobile, figure out how much effort that really is, and if it’s really you doing the computations.
We’re very transparent about the fact that we’re still in testnet. Everyone is helping make this the most secure and decentralized network. And it’s fantastic that we already have over 7000 nodes on the network.
How will you make sure that blocks are validated after the incentive program is over?
Jon: A Minima Node is completely validating, constructing. The key point is that Minima is currently building it with you. At mainnet, we will step back, and then the network is in the hands of the community.
The ability to run a node is undoubtedly required because that’s how the network is made up. All networks are made up of nodes, and the more nodes there are, the more secure.
More is better.
We don’t believe that the blockchain trilemma is unsolvable. If you centralize any component, your decentralization is gone. There’s no being just “slightly” decentralized.
Once we get to mainnet with a network that features censorship resistance, runs on mobile devices without any overhead, the potential of blockchain will become more apparent.
Could you share more on your competition?
Jon: You have to look at blockchains that can run entirely on a mobile device without requiring any external validations. So far, you might have this in parts. You might have the ability to run a verifier, but that’s not who we see as competition. Perhaps we could look at the ‘mobile’ blockchains such as Pi, Mina, and Celo, or Horizen could also qualify, in some contexts, when it comes to node count. However, when doing competitor analysis, you have to compare like with like. Let’s look at things like node count and the percentage of centralized to decentralized elements. If you have more than 0% centralized parts, you’re not decentralized.
That’s why we build a blockchain that fits in its entirety on a mobile device, a device that most can afford. Our ideal outcome would be that every connected device can run a Minima node.
Will there be a pre-sale?
Jon: That’s a question we get every week; it’s probably right up with when mainnet and when Lambo :) However, due to regulatory requirements, a new (non-security) offering can’t sell anything before mainnet. Therefore we decided to wait until the mainnet launch. Saying that, before our public sale, anyone can earn Minima tokens by running a node through the Incentive Cash Programme.
Are you going to release an official version of the application on Google Play?
Jon: Maybe, or maybe not. One has to ask, what would the intent be? Maybe it would be awareness, so more people could find it? And you’d need to ask what the cost-benefit of it is. That’s not just financial cost but other conditions.
If we can get to one million nodes, and we’re currently growing exponentially, it might well be that we don’t need to get on the play store. As everyone is connected on average to 120 people digitally, so couldn’t that be enough and maybe even a bigger network than the network of that sector of the play store?
All options are open, but unsurprisingly I am duty-bound to do everything in my power to not rely on the centralized platforms that things currently run on.
How do you feel about the true and total Freedom that we may be enabling for the world?
Jon: I think that freedom comes with responsibility and that comes with the need for awareness of what’s possible. We need education and illumination to ensure that people can grasp the freedom without running the risks associated.
You can find the recording of the entire AMA here. Note that at the beginning the echo is quite noticeable. We’re still working on ever-improving how we deliver our AMAs. Thanks for your understanding.