Are you curious to know what’s considered the latest and greatest financial trend in Atlanta with an estimated global worth of $20,000,000 by 2024? The answer is blockchain technology. This pioneer venture in the digital economy has inspired countless new start-ups, employment opportunities, and innovations across metro Atlanta. Here to discuss this very hot topic is Founder and CEO of 11-11 Ventures, Arul Murugan.
Arul will be the moderator on the Blockchain track at the upcoming TiECON Atlanta 2018 conference on September 28th.
TieCON Atlanta 2018 takes place Friday, September 28, 2018 at The Hotel at Avalon in Alpharetta. For more information and registration visit https://tieatlanta.org/
Use the promo code:Â ASBNÂ to save $20 on your registration.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Jim Fitzpatrick: Hello, everyone.  Welcome to the Atlanta Small Business Show Arul.
Arul Murugan: Glad to be here.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Yeah, sure. So, for people that are watching right now that say what is blockchain technology, talk to us about what it is.
Arul Murugan: In a simple term, I think you can look at blockchain technology as Internet of value. So we all know that internet is used for sharing information to everyone in a very simple and efficient manner.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Sure.
Arul Murugan: So, blockchain technology is a significant layer built on top of internet to share the value.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay.
Arul Murugan: The value could be money, or it could be at any asset or anything.
Jim Fitzpatrick: And why is it important for entrepreneurs and small business owners to have an understanding of this technology that’s out there? Because we hear a lot about it. But is it, I think there’s a lot of people that are watching right now and saying, “Is this something that I really need to know about or is this kind of one of those things that won’t affect me?”
Arul Murugan: I think it’s going to completely disrupt the way in which we do business. Similarly, I think when the blockchain comes in, it’s going to have a financial inclusion even an unbanked is going to have access through internet then they can have access to value or money.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Right.
Arul Murugan: And because of the decentralization a lot of small businesses will evolve new business model that they can all participate.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Are there any risks to using blockchain in your business? I mean, is this something that where the risks outweigh the rewards?
Arul Murugan: Is there risk? Absolutely, yes. Like any new emerging technologies, there is a lot more risk. The thing is blockchain is that we are in the very early stage.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Right.
Arul Murugan: We are basically in the installation and implementation phase of blockchain. We are building the foundation.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Right.
Arul Murugan: So a lot of people are talking about use cases and how I can use this technology and building application, we’re not yet there. So in the business looks that I would say that understand what’s the use case that I can generate, but we are not ready to deploy any applications at this point of time.
Jim Fitzpatrick: So, where will it be? If you look down the road five or 10 years from now, what role will blockchain play in the currency of small businesses?
Arul Murugan: So I will talk about 10 years and also I want to talk about 30 to 50 years.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay.
Arul Murugan: So in 10 years as per world blockchain forum, not actually world, Economic Forum.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay.
Arul Murugan: They said 10% of the economic activity of the GDP will be through blockchain.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Really?
Arul Murugan: So blockchain will enable 10%. 30 to 50 years, the way I look at is that every one of us would be in the blockchain. It’s going to be mainstream, we won’t even know that we’re using blockchain.
Jim Fitzpatrick: So talk to us about the panel that you’ll be on about blockchain at the upcoming TiECON.
Arul Murugan: So we are bringing in speakers all over the US. So the idea of the panel is to talk about the state of the blockchain in Southeast and also what’s happening globally.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay.
Arul Murugan: So two things we will talk about as a state of the blockchain, the way we’re talking about. How disruptive it is, what are the things that it can do. But we’re going to specifically go and talk about security token offering.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay.
Arul Murugan: So STO is more like IPO. When somebody wants to go and publicly raise fund, they go for an IPO.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Right.
Arul Murugan: That’s what for a late stage companies.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay.
Arul Murugan: We will talk about, how do you tokenise your equity.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Okay. Tokenise it.
Arul Murugan: Tokenise it. Real estate can be tokenised. This is not ICO, but people are trying to rise fund without giving anything yet. It’s a real equity, how can I tokenise them, and how do I fundraise through them? So we look at trillions and trillions of dollars will be tokenised. It could be real estate. It could be equities. It could be bonds, but our focus is going to be more on tokenising the equity of a company.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Atlanta’s TiECON 2018 is going to be right here in Alpharetta, in the hotel at Avalon which is a phenomenal venue and that’ll be later this month. Arul Murugan, thank you so much for joining us on the Atlanta Small Business Show. We very much appreciate you coming in and sharing a little bit of what you’ll be talking about later this month.
Arul Murugan: Wonderful.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Great. Thanks.
Arul Murugan: Great. Thank you.
