Presentation given in Singapore on the notion of "Bazaar services".

1. Bazaar Services
Decentralising trade

2. Computing
Isolated (no network)
Mainframe
Server/client
Peer-to-peer

3. Software Development
Individual coders
Strict hierarchy “cathedral”
Open-source hackers “bazaar”
Clones and forks (Github-style)

4. (Rough) Progression of Governance
Anarchy
Monarchy/Empire/Fiefdoms
Plutocracy/Aristocracy
Bureaucracy/“Democracy”

5. Communication
Word-of-Mouth (close to zero)
Press/Radio/Television
Internet
Mobile Mesh?

6. Distance sales
Back-of-magazine (close to zero)
Amazon
One Matchmaker, One Merchant
eBay/Amazon Marketplace
One Matchmaker, Many Merchants
…
No Matchmakers, Many Merchants

7. General Theme
Nothing
...strong individual imposes order; progress to...
Centralisation
...order enables cooperation; progress towords...
Decentralisation
Efficient
Resilient
Scalable
...or natural order?

8. “Uberisation”
Trade will suffer the
same fate

9. eBay was a trailblazer
eBay: Decentralised marketplace
Amazon Marketplace: same
Uber: Decentralised taxi
TaskRabbit: Decentralised labour
AirBnB: Decentralised hostelry

10. Matchmaker or Merchant?
Merchants is decentralised
...but…
Matchmaking still centralised.

11. Why?
In a word,
Trust

12. Ethereum
Trust as a commodity
Provides a strong uncorruptible link between real-world and digital
Programmable value
“smart contracts”, guaranteed semantics, ...
Interoperability
ICAP/KYC/AML/decentralised reputation/…

13. Enables...
“Uber” without Uber, Inc
“eBay” without eBay, Inc
“AirBnB” without AirBnB, Inc

14. “Inclusive, globalised, village bazaar”
Bazaar Services

15. Bazaar Services
Decentralising trade
Questions