Conor Svensson

A Future Tale

So far I have discussed why blockchain is such a powerful force for change. In order to further solidify the ways in which it can affect everyday life, it’s helpful to look to the future and highlight ways in which it can become embedded in our lives behind the scenes, supporting everything from virtual reality to electric vehicle charging. In this chapter I unpack what parts of this future could look like.

A day in the life

It’s been just over ten years since the global Covid-19 pandemic, and you’ve woken up in your hotel room in Singapore. You reach for your phone to check for messages.

Once you reach the airport, you are notified of the digital tCO2e tokens have been purchased from this project, assigned to your digital wallet to offset the 4.66 tonnes of CO2 generated by the flight. You check into social media to get some commentary from the people that inspire you with no-BS advice and thoughts. You tip some of them with a micro-transaction as a thank-you for keeping you inspired. It used to be so expensive to do this back when you had to use credit cards – there was a minimum fee of 50 cents for the vendors – whereas now it’s nice to be able to send fractions of a cent as easily as you like a post on social media.

You’re now feeling all set for your flight; you’ve got a wardrobe your avatar is getting that you wish you could have.

The Author

Conor is the founder and CEO of Web3 Labs, a blockchain technology company. He is also the host of the Blockchain Innovators podcast.
Web3 Labs works with large organisations to deliver applications that improve trust and authenticity of data and assets. Its clients include Microsoft, J.P. Morgan and Vodafone. It also works with leading blockchain companies and protocols to develop their ecosystems and platforms. The organisations Web3 Labs has worked with include ConsenSys, R3, the Open Application Network, the Ethereum Foundation and ICON.

Web3 Labs was a finalist in Microsoft’s Partner of the Year 2020 Awards.
Conor is the former chair of the standards working group at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, responsible for publishing the world’s first Enterprise Ethereum standards. He is currently vice-chair of the InterWork Framework Working Group at the Global Blockchain Business Council, serves on the Baseline Protocol Technical Steering Committee and is involved in the Hyperledger Climate Accounting Special Interest Group.

He originally stumbled upon blockchain in 2016 when he started learning about Ethereum, first by building a mining rig, then by authoring the blockchain integration library Web3j, which provides the glue for business applications and Android phones to work with the Ethereum blockchain. The library is nearly five years old and approaching 1 million downloads, thanks to usage by companies like J.P. Morgan, Opera and Samsung.