Ex-Google Employees Form Blockchain Alliance As Cryptocurrencies Catch Fire
Blockchain is sizzling amid escalating media hype about its vast potential applications in finance, supply-chain management, healthcare, and even the music business. Now, a trio of former Google executives have launched a new blockchain community whose goal is to develop and promote blockchain initiatives.
The xGoogler Blockchain Alliance (GBA) is comprised of blockchain project managers, investors, and advisors, including Andy Tian, Hitters Xu, and Daniel Wang, according to a press statement. The trio has impressive backgrounds in the space.
Andy Tian is the founder of Gifto, an Ethereum-based gifting platform that boasts more than 20 million users. Hitters Xu is the founder of Nebulas, a next-generation public blockchain. And Daniel Wang is the founder of Loopring, a decentralized token exchange protocol.
Platform Active In San Francisco and Beijing
The tech triad, who oversee a number of prominent blockchain projects in China, believe their experience at Google — the undisputed search-engine monopoly — can bolster mass awareness of the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies.
“Google has always been in the forefront of new technologies worldwide, from Android to AI,” Tian said. “As Googlers, we can bring our unique experiences to expand blockchain’s influence, to everyone, everywhere.”
The xGoogler Blockchain Alliance is already active in San Francisco, Beijing, and Shanghai, and expansion plans are in the works.
News of this latest initiative came shortly after Samsung revealed it may soon adopt a blockchain ledger system to track global shipments. The move is expected to reduce Samsung’s shipping costs by a whopping 20 percent.
Blockchain Revolution
Samsung isn’t the only corporate juggernaut to join the blockchain revolution. Ripple just invested $25 million of its XRP cryptocurrency into Blockchain Capital Parallel IV, a fund that will invest in blockchain initiatives.
Similarly, the Rockefeller family (estimated net worth: $1 trillion) said it will make long-term investments in blockchain startups through its venture-capital arm, Venrock.
The influx of Establishment Money into the budding cryptocurrency ecosystem sent an unmistakable signal that major players in finance believe blockchain and bitcoin are here to stay.
Bypassing Wall Street For Blockchain
In a tangential trend, students at elite business schools are turning down traditional jobs on Wall Street and in finance to join blockchain startups and cryptocurrency companies.
Blockchain is the second-fastest growing industry in today’s labor market, with 14 job openings for every one blockchain developer, according to TechCrunch.
“We’ve got a lot of people who came from traditional finance backgrounds that are forgoing the chance to go back into that world to get involved in blockchain,” Robbie Mitchnick, an MBA student at Stanford Business School, told CNBC.
Edith Shi, a Harvard Business School student who’s the president of its Blockchain, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Club, has witnessed a massive spike in interest in the nascent space. “We’ve seen a huge increase in interest in blockchain and bitcoin here at Harvard Business School,” said Shi. “Normally we get around 30 people signing up for information about the club. This year, we had nearly 800.”
As CCN previously reported, top business schools are responding to this soaring interest by expanding their course offerings to include more classes on bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain.
“We take our task to educate leaders who will make a difference in the world,” said Mitch Weiss, a professor at Harvard Business School. “And I think it is safe to say that blockchain leadership is going to be a big part of that.”