The third episode is here. In this article, we will tackle the main points of our conversation with Mike Costache about how blockchain unifies our society through decentralization. 

‍What will the world look like due to these huge topics?

What's the most obvious proof of how blockchain has been changing the world in the past 10 years? 

What a day in the future of capital investment will look like?

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The world of crypto

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In the world, there are close to 20k cryptocurrencies which all have their own purpose. Most of their creators created these crypto assets to raise capital to then build their idea. 

There's a big confusion in the world out there between security tokens and utility tokens. And obviously, governments have stepped in to try to regulate this over the last decade.

The most important thing, however, was the capital rising part of it. 

In 2017 the TaaS Fund became the first to create membership tokens. During that time (and to this day) Mike was an Advisory Team Member. 

These tokens would act like a smart contract. 

To better understand it, think about the fact that every other transaction that you carry out today is pinned by contracts and agreements. Let’s say employer contract or mortgage. Anything that must be agreed upon by both parties before you have a signed deal. 

Similarly, smart contracts appeared in the blockchain world to avoid third-party interventions. They work automatically when both parties agree to transact in the blockchain world. 

They work as a set of rules that must be followed by the one who gives the tokens and the one who takes them while the transaction takes place. This makes the entire process more transparent so that any third-party intervention is not needed. 

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Blockchain vs Cryptocurrency

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It is important to note that blockchain is a technology, while crypto is just a utility - you use it to achieve something. 

It's like the internet [...] you have different applications with different websites that allow you to purchase or do certain things such as a calendar invite service, it's a utility of the internet.

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How do you monitor money?

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Capital is everywhere. 

But how do you take $5 from this guy, half a million from this person, and $30 from this person, and you put it all into one pile? For the purpose of what the team told you they would do with their money? 

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For this reason, the TaaS team created:

Crypto graphic audit technology - a tool that anybody could use to show transparency while investing money

However, nobody embraced this tool. Nobody wanted this transparency. 

The biggest challenge with blockchain technology is to find the bridge between transparency and regulations for the ones that have been trusted to do something. 

 Too much transparency sometimes can backfire and be used against the founding team.

The hardest part is to have all the regulations under smart contracts through blockchain. 

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So, what exactly are these tokens?

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Picture this. 

You have an idea for a product, that hasn’t been built yet. You go and tell someone “Please invest in my idea to be able to create this product”. That’s a security token, as you want to use their money as an investment vehicle.

But what if you already have the product? You tell someone “Buy my token”. This is a utility token that you use to buy even bigger things that will help your product achieve more. To get a better idea skip to 12:31 to hear what Mike Costache’s example is. 

If you have a community and decide to give all the tokens away to them, that is a membership token. You manage the community, but you don’t own any tokens. 

Current challenges 

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Reputation would be the main challenge when talking about blockchain. 

​​A lot of the early teams were people with no biographies. I mean, you didn't know who they were, but they were just smarter at understanding that technology.

They knew how to manage a community to raise enough money. If you look at experts who tried to raise money in a traditional way, the investors were skeptical.

Some other challenges are:

• Regulations
• Gaining the trust of the shareholders 
• Making sure the ones managing the investments are doing it correctly.

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If you want to find out what has gotten Mike into what he’s doing today skip the episode to 31:36.

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In the end, what life should really be about?

Everybody should make their own decisions.

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Don’t listen to anybody who tells you what you should do. You have to trust yourself. 

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Nobody knows everything. And if somebody tells you they know everything you should run away from that person.

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You have to be able to make your own decisions. You need to explore the world externally and yourself internally. 

Life is not about people telling you what life should be about. It’s up to you.

Curious to know how Mike met Snapchat’s founder before the app was an actual product? Skip to 42:01.

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What a day in the future of capital investment will look like?

Everything changes every day when it comes to capital raising. There are new ways of raising money. You need to be on top of it. 

The biggest challenge that I see is both investors, angel investors, fund managers, and the idea creation, the entrepreneurs have to be constantly in the know of where the money's going, and awareness.

Normally, you get the best ideas by going to conferences and hearing what people have to say. Then you arrange 1:1 meetings with them. 

Keeping up with everything that is happening at the same time will be the biggest challenge. And if you don’t have peace of mind, it will be extremely overwhelming. 

There are too many variables to be able to say how a day in the future will look like in this case. Capital investment will definitely be more complex, and challenging. 

Don’t lose your soul in this process would be the most important thing. 

Stop being greedy. Don’t forget to be human.

Embrace technology, but be on the cautious side of its negative aspects of it. Everything we do, from the time we're born to, we feel this body suit doesn't exist anymore. It was a breathing entity, trying to figure out the good and the bad in everything. In everything.

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Be more aware and learn more so that you can have access to more people. 

Always ask yourself what is the right thing to do.

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About the author

Mike Costache is an avid supporter of the world’s transition toward a blockchain-based society. Mike became involved in the blockchain space in early  2016 when the crypto market capitalization was just $8 billion among the 621 cryptocurrencies of that time.

Over the past 25 years, Mike has been featured in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, CCTV, Business Week, Top Gear, and numerous other media outlets.

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