David A. Johnston, co-founder of BitAngelsand serial entrepreneur, has a list of professional accomplishments toonumerous to list here.
His current work with decentralized applications andblockchain technologies includes serving on the board of the MastercoinFoundation and managing the BitAngels DApps Fund I, and he also co-wrotethe primary white paper on decentralized applications.
We recently reached out to Johnston to learn more about hiswork.
Cointelegraph: How did you get started in working with, andhelping develop the general theory of, decentralized apps?
David A. Johnston: I began focusing seriously ondecentralized applications after August 2013, when I led the due diligence onthe Master Protocol (one of the first decentralized applications to hold acrowdsale). I had been thinking and writing about the idea of decentralizedapplications and ended up publishing my white paper on the topic later in 2013.
CT: Can you speculate a bit as to what you think thepotential for decentralized applications could be?
DAJ: I believe the decentralized applications model is goingto disrupt existing centralized services in the areas of data storage,computation, and internet service provision.
CT: What such applications do you think we will see emergein the next few years?
DAJ: Decentralized versions of Dropbox, Amazon Web Services,and Comcast-type services will emerge.
CT: What industries might be upended as a result?
DAJ: Those companies taking large margins to act asmiddlemen in a transaction will be disrupted by much more efficient systemsthat don't require a third party to act as a middleman.
CT: What motivates you, as Managing Director of theBitAngels Fund I, to encourage and fund this disruptive technology?
DAJ: I'm excited by large fundamental infrastructureplatforms that will impact and improve the lives of billions of people over thenext decade.