Credit: Shutterstock photoBy Michael Scott
If you’re struggling to get your head around blockchain and wishing there were a “blockchain for dummies” guide, this could be it.
Sydney, Australia’s Tim Lea, author of the book Down The Rabbit Hole: Discover The Power of the Blockchain, (2016) was looking for just such a guide when he decided to write one himself.
Frustrated by a career in finance, working with big name companies such as GE Capital, HSBC and Lloyds Bank, Tim jumped ship in 1995 and plunged into the early world of the web and internet, establishing an internet cafe-bar/restaurant and web design studio. He sold it all in 2001 and decided to make Australia his home.
While embracing his passion for screenwriting, Lea had a lightbulb moment in early 2015 when he stumbled upon some ideas for addressing film piracy and theft by leveraging blockchain technology. This led him to set up a blockchain-enabled startup, Veredictum.io, focusing on a smart ownership and distribution platform to protect film and video producers from theft and piracy while enabling new distribution and productivity models in the industry.
Lea said that when he first went down the blockchain rabbit hole in 2015, he found himself struggling to get his arms around the complexities of the technology, at that time the sole domain of the uber geeks.
Lea recounted wading through technical video after technical video, podcast after podcast, while talking to people in the space — just trying to make sense of it all.
“The technology, once you understand it, is amazing and I thought, ‘I wish there had been an easier way of doing this,’” he said. “Having already written two books and seven film scripts I thought, ‘Let’s make this technology accessible for even non-technical people to understand what is going on.’”
Today, Lea’s book provides a plain English guide to understanding how this complex technology works, including its strengths and weaknesses and practical utility. The book looks at the value of harnessing the blockchain’s power through direct explanation, use cases and storytelling. It also adroitly examines the challenges faced by those attempting to develop commercial ideas as well as early adopters. And it ends with a glossary of terms and acronyms, what Lea calls the “Cryptogeek’s Almanac.”
Lea said that when he first discovered blockchains back in early 2015, after a brief flirtation with Bitcoin in 2011, he kept hearing people say it was a rabbit hole from which he would never return.
“It got me thinking about Alice in Wonderland and how she followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole, a new world stocked with riches and challenges that would change her life forever and made her look at her existing world in a completely different way,” Lea said. “It was the same with my discovery of the blockchain. Once I saw this hidden wonderland of opportunity deep down beneath the surface, the book title became very obvious.”
Lea pointed out that whatever one’s perception is of the blockchain, it is catching fire across the globe, with the media providing growing coverage of the technology.
“The challenge for them, and for all of us, is that the technology is very deep, very powerful and very complex,” he said. “Moreover, it’s not a technology that can easily be described in a few words — and that is a major problem”
As a filmmaker, Lea loves telling stories.
“I had fun writing the book and enjoy sharing my knowledge and understanding of how this phenomenal, groundbreaking technology has the power to change, well, everything,” he said.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
