Joe Holles de Peyer: My ‘eureka’ moment about the value of blockchain

For Joe Holles de Peyer, co-founder and COO of Gate2Chain, his ‘eureka’ moment came, as so many of the best ideas do, from his experience of a real-world issue.

When he was living and working in Mallorca, the Port of Palma set up an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor infrastructure to measure the air quality of the island’s capital. Despite a regular influx of pollution-causing cruise ships the data that was presented claimed the air quality was perfect.

Joe says that as he knew this wasn’t the case and he lost trust in the data. With IoT, he says, “there are so many steps in the process, so many things that can go wrong, from not cleaning a filter to actually manipulating the data when you put it on your computer.”

As he tells Charles Miller on this week’s CoinGeek Conversations, this was when he and his team started experimenting with implementing blockchain with IoT devices and discovering the power of the technology to prove data integrity.

He found that using blockchain, he could program devices to behave in certain ways dependent on real-time information, while also certifying the accuracy of data through a signing mechanism.

The ‘eureka’ moment, he explains, is the realisation that “the blockchain allows us to send, to share, to store information and value on the same protocol. On the old internet we were just sharing information and now thanks to the blockchain we can also share value and attach value to information and share it on the same protocol.”

Joe originally chose the Ethereum blockchain to build on but switched over to the BSV blockchain when he realised the former wasn’t fit for purpose. Gate2Chain is now utilising the power of the BSV blockchain through two sets of products. The first is an easy-to-use developer suite which allows users to connect new or existing apps, websites, games, or any other system to the blockchain.

The second service, which is currently in development, is called Minta. “It’s a one-stop shop, it’s a wallet, a bank account, it’s integrated also with a conventional bank so you can actually have your euros, your dollars, your dirhams, it’s an NFT minter, it’s a marketplace, it has a messaging app in it, it’s a bit of everything.”

Joe explains how a service like this can provide real-world value, giving the example of a freelance photographer. Instead of using a third-party system to send photos and a separate payment platform to receive the money, this could all be handled in the Minta platform.

Photos would be uploaded in the form of NFTs and shared with a client with a value already programmed in. The money could then flow directly from one account to another, removing any need for trust for both parties.

Minta is being built to be user-friendly as Joe wants to ensure that Gate2Chain’s services are accessible for everyone, not just for those with technical knowhow. “It’s about making blockchain easy,” he says.

The easier the products are for people to use, the more appealing they will be to the everyday user and the wider adoption is likely to be. This will bring Joe one step closer to his goal of revolutionising the internet and creating a digital world better suited for the people using it.

Hear the whole of Joe Holles de Peyer’s interview in this week’s CoinGeek Conversations podcast or catch up with other recent episodes:

You can also watch the podcast video on YouTube.

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