CoinGeek Weekly Livestream Episode 19: Bringing applications to the new world of blockchain

On this CoinGeek Weekly Livestream episode, Kurt Wuckert Jr. talks to Ty Everett of Project Babbage about building applications on BSV, what Project Babbage is, and Bitcoin’s viral moment.

Everett’s recent call to action

Wuckert begins by thanking Everett for his recent video calling the BSV industry to action. He wonders what inspired him to make such a message.

Everett answers that he made it intending to inspire people to think about their customers and who they can best serve. He admits he doesn’t know who these people are, but he hopes they took inspiration from the video.

Wuckert agrees that the customer focus has been somewhat lost in the industry and points out that Jeff Bezos, one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time, is renowned for his customer obsession. Clearly, it’s a strategy that works.

Everett says businesses and the entrepreneurs who run them need to find their “why” and stick to it. For example, in the BSV economy, that might be challenging the existing financial system, data barons, or other entrenched interests. He points out that the people who agree with your values and need or want to use your solutions are your customers.

A viewer then asks a somewhat philosophical question: what is competition in business? Everett answers that it is attempting to persuade a customer that you can solve more of their problems than the other guy. He says this is good because it ensures problems are solved competently.

What is Project Babbage?

Wuckert asks Everett for his elevator pitch on what Project Babbage is and what it’s all about.

Everett says the mission is to make it 10x faster and easier for app developers to create experiences for customers that put them in control. Examples include eliminating passwords, controlling identity, using micropayments, etc. They’ll use the Metanet and BSV blockchain to build these apps, and Babbage wants to make the process easier, faster, and cheaper. Doing so will get us to the much-touted killer app faster, he says.

What is it about Charles Babbage that Everett respects so much that he’d name his company after him? He tells us that, before Babbage, computing was done by humans, and the idea that it could be mechanized was absurd. He respects Babbage’s audacity and views the vision for BSV as equally audacious. Computing started with Babbage, and BSV completed it.

The explosion in AI and the viral moment for Bitcoin

Looking at the recent explosion in AI, Everett reminds us that developing something like ChatGPT was a very slow, incremental process. He thinks Bitcoin might take off similarly, shocking many outsiders who think it’s something new because they weren’t in the weeds doing the work behind the scenes.

Wuckert asks Everett what he thinks the viral moment looks like for Bitcoin. He says we want to see many apps using it in many different ways, but if a company like Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) implemented it for search, YouTube, Gmail, or other apps, it would take off. Likewise, if AT&T decides that a robo caller would have to pay 1/10th of a cent to contact someone for the first time, that would do it. He doesn’t think it will be sudden with a single viral moment but will gradually be integrated into apps, realigning incentives in the process.

Wuckert agrees with this idea, noting that the best bet for mass adoption is to get existing companies like Google to buy BSV-powered solutions and integrate them into their services. This gives the technology an instant network effect reaching over a billion users.

BRC and open standards

One of the initiatives Everett is involved with is OpenStandards.cash. It’s designed to facilitate collaboration and standardization related to Bitcoin technology.

How does this fit into the perceived hierarchy in BSV? “It’s just a place where people can go to talk about things,” Everett says. Anyone can contribute as long as their ideas make sense. Each document will be assigned a BRC number and can be discussed from there. Some will be adopted, and some won’t, but all proposals will get consideration.