Ethereum Developer Sees Crypto Impacting ‘Every Corner of Society’

When people hear the term "bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies," they immediately think of alternate ways of payment.

However, Lane Rettig, one of Ethereum’s former key developers, believes that cryptocurrency has the potential to transform everything, from how businesses are founded and operated to how tickets for sporting events and concerts are purchased and how wages are paid.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance, Rettig said, "It's the beginning of a new economy that provides value for people worldwide."

"Crypto will have a significant and long-term influence on our lives. So far, we've just seen the top of things. The societal ramifications are just getting started. It will have an influence on every corner of society and our everyday lives," he continued.

Despite the fact that bitcoin has become known for its head-spinning volatility, Retting believes the industry is still in its infancy — perhaps the first inning. He compared it to the year 1980, right before Apple released the Mac. "We're probably a year or two away from making it more user friendly," he added.

By making it significantly cheaper and simpler to establish a business, cryptocurrency has the potential to inspire a whole new generation of entrepreneurs and start-ups. If small companies are the backbone of the American economy, cryptocurrency might propel them to new heights, by boosting growth.

The promise of DAOs

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), according to Rettig, is the key to a future entrepreneurial boom. DAOs are blockchain-based organizations that are automated and decentralized, with smart contracts replacing traditional corporate structures.

The notion is that instead of a chief executive officer or board of directors, the business will be managed by those who buy and hold tokens in the firm.

To be sure, there has been some controversy in the industry. Last week, BadgerDAO was at the core of a Bitcoin (BTC-USD) robbery that caused cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network tens of millions of dollars.

DAOs, on the other hand, are the new limited liability business or joint stock corporation, according to Rettig, a social discovery from a few centuries ago that profoundly revolutionized the world. "I believe DAOs are the next stage in human organization growth, and I believe it is a generational transformation that will take decades to play out."

Rettig has launched a DAO for a project to support social investment in Africa, which includes more than 100 partners from Europe, Africa, and North America.

Given logistical and bureaucratic challenges, the investor believes it would not have had a chance to succeed as a firm. Rettig's company has a nine-principal governance structure, with five of them having to vote on things like moving cash around and voting on initiatives.

He told Yahoo Finance, "All of this took minutes to set up and cost less than $1." "This would never have happened if traditional firms had been involved." This is an example of the wide variety of tasks and applications that are now conceivable but were not before available."

The entrepreneur compared the area to cloud computing, which changed information technology and propelled Amazon and Microsoft to the top of the business. "DAOs have a number of difficulties, but I'm betting my professional reputation on DAOs taking over the world," Rettig remarked.

"I believe the analogy here is that a DAO is to a business what a cloud server is to a physical business." He went on to say, "You can spin them up and tear them down pretty cheaply."