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Janina Lowisz: Well, Bitnation [a group promoting decentralized governance] launched the BlockchainID pilot project last year in October. It's a private passport service that can validate people's existence using freely available tools that we have today. You can look up the exact steps to make one in the YouTube video, but basically it proves concretely that someone existed at a certain time and place, as verified by another certain group of people.
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I feel very honored by it. And also I feel like now it's my responsibility to promote the blockchain and everything else you can do with it.
Well, I think the creators wanted someone who wasn't already involved in the area before, to show that a person without any technical background can become a blockchain citizen—that it can be done everywhere and by anyone. And also, of course, my background is libertarian, so I grasped the philosophical basis of everything even without special knowledge of the technology.So what exactly can you use the passport for today?
At the moment, the ID is more of an addition that you can use for things like online verification. But it can be used by stateless people—that's important—and there's a plan to develop the process in the future and make it more simple for them to get one. Or if people want to declare themselves as a world citizen and not just whatever nationality they happened to be born as, this is a good way to express that view.Also, as it's a pilot scheme for a private passport service, it shows private solutions are capable of lots of the same functions as centralized government. There are so many things that government currently does that can actually be done in a voluntary and decentralized way; there's really no need for central governance services—people can just pay for whatever services they want.
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It would be great! Even now there are libertarian groups emerging everywhere—you can increasingly see that nation-states are a model of the past. They all have high debts, and even those that are seen as working well have huge debt, it's just low in comparison to all of the others. Everyone is struggling! I really can't think of a good government anywhere. So, over time, people are becoming more and more aware of that and starting to look for other voluntary solutions.You mean the blockchain is taking us toward the death of the nation-state?Maybe not just yet, but the technology allows for a lot of new possibilities for replacing what the state provides—like, one option would be to offer government services in packages so people can pay for whatever services they're going to use. That's how government should work: Instead of paying taxes that get wasted on things you don't even want, this way you can have a free choice and see exactly where your money is going.
Yes, that was the first pilot project that Bitnation did. It means there's a smart contract: Unlike traditional marriage, you're not bound for life, but can choose how long—five years, ten years, 15 years—and then you have to renew it or it automatically ends.
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Well, personally I would only marry on the blockchain. Traditional marriage is a big risk—it can destroy people's lives.So are we all going to be using this technology a lot more from now on?
I think it will take a long time for people to use things like blockchain marriage as long as traditional options have other benefits, like tax breaks, for example. But as a libertarian, I don't think one should make important life decisions based on what the state has to say about it.Anything else to add?
Sure, if you're interested you should look up the BlockchainID on Github and see all the Bitnation projects, like land registry, marriages, and many other things that will be possible in the future.Follow Corin Faife on Twitter.