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I am new to the world of blockchains. I worked briefly for a blockchain venture until they started working with banks. Not a judgement call, I am simply more drawn to crypto-currencies as a fuel for micro-economies rather than a tool to lower banks' operational costs. Today I visited Ripple's website, which seems to be the 3rd largest crypto-currency, and I saw it is very bank-oriented.

I wonder what makes blockchain ventures pivot to the banking industry? Is it only the fact that banks have a need for security which gives early stage ventures a clear financial path? Does the difficulty to ignite the masses' enthusiasm regarding decentralized asset systems play a role?

Regarding Ethereum, between serving the financial industry and bringing blockchain to the masses, does the Ethereum project have any stated desirable path or is it non opinionated?

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  • This seems too vague and subjective to usefully answer. – Nick Johnson May 13 '16 at 15:04
  • I can see what you mean, I had put an effort to try and form my curiosity as a question. I guess if there is a focused inquiry here it would be - where are the Ethereum founders currently positioned world-view wise? Or to put it differently - would people be surprised if they pivoted to the finance industry? – Guy May 13 '16 at 15:28

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does the Ethereum project have any stated desirable path or is it non opinionated?

Ethereum is non-opinionated because it is a platform for applications and computer programs. Its generality, in addition to the technologies, is one of the things that can make it difficult to explain: How would I explain Ethereum to a non-technical friend?

Cryptocurrency ventures pivot to banking because they are currencies. An insight of Ethereum is that blockchain technology can be made to a platform, so that instead of just having banking or currency applications, anyone can write any type of application that makes appropriate use of a global public database (the blockchain).

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