Retired middle school gym teacher.

He shoveled snow until his hands bled, gave a firm handshake and didn’t waste a thing. In his day everyone did what they were supposed to do, Dammit.

Grandpa sourpuss is going to love blockchain because it reintroduces old fashioned values with the fury of the pointer stick you will eventually pry from his cold, dead hands.

Blockchain eliminates the flashy bullshit.

A deal’s a deal, said Grandpa. Smart contracts on the blockchain ensure that goods and services go where they are intended, that money is deposited before goods are delivered, that terms of service don’t change. The dude with the suit and the hair and the college ring “sheparding your engagement” isn’t going to charm anyone out of what they deserve.

Corporate marketing campaigns won’t have as much work to do hiding the facts with slick images and upbeat music. Business terms, philanthropic contributions and other company metrics will be transparent on the blockchain’s distributed ledger. Think fewer hard working emojis and exclamation points from Fortune 500 companies — a blessing.

The blockchain-based economy will have its own risks and rewards— there are no free rides in this world— but the smooth operators who focus on brand and flash rather than substance will be taken down a notch for sure.

We miss you, Grandpa Tata!

It’s all a conspiracy!

Grandpa wishes he were a fly on the wall when the big power players get together to decide how they are going to screw us. Whether or not there is collusion among the power elites like the gathering of the heads of the five families in The Godfather, blockchain takes the power away from behemoths, wherever they may be.

In the tech space, for example, Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon control a distressing amount of our online presence and economic activity. They scoop up the profits, monetize our data, and create walls to keep us in the ecosystems they control and profit from.

Blockchain networks aren’t controlled by anyone. Cryptography and advanced economics have created what some call the God Protocol — trust established by code rather than powerful entities like banks, corporate owned social networks or computer platforms. You no longer need to pay the Godfather for protection.

In a blockchain version of Uber the drivers keep the money and set the rates by consensus rather than corporate directive. In a blockchain version of Google, the users keep their own data and share it only when they are compensated.

No one believes a blockchain version of Google is around the corner, but you see where this is headed. More ownership by more people creating less likelihood that friends of John Galt can set the term sheet for the next decade of your life on the back of a juice bar napkin.

Damn you, Obama!

Grandpa didn’t like George W. Bush either. He thinks they are all the same — always meddling, taxing too much, talking rather than doing.

The invention of blockchain was born from libertarian political thought as much as it was from computer science.

Blockchains aren’t controlled by any country. They are nearly impossible to shut down because they live on millions of computers spread throughout the world. So this is the most free system Grandpa will likely ever see. But I differ from Grandpa and the hard core libertarians if they think no government involvement in blockchains is a possible outcome.

For many reasons, including the information cited in this piece, I believe blockchains will create prosperity benefiting a much wider group of people than those who usually reap the rewards of large scale disruption. I’d rather that those of us involved with this industry work with potential regulators to craft smart solutions that protect consumers in some basic ways, thereby avoiding the nuclear option — a herd of crazed bureaucrats with hammers seeing every problem as a nail.

It is naive to think that governments will stay out of blockchain entirely — and in some cases, they are already moving in. I see this as a sign that we are legit — and a reminder that vigilance and advocacy is needed to avoid bad laws and short sighted outcomes.

And now it’s time to put grandpa in his recliner and flip on Family Feud. When he starts complaining that people aren’t as smart as they used to be — tell him blockchain can’t help with that and it’s time for his nap.

I hope I look this good in 60 years.

Appendix: Basic Blockchain Background and Context:

Blockchain is the technology behind Ethereum, Bitcoin and several smaller platforms that have attracted a flood of new developers and more than $1B in venture investment over the past two years.

Cryptocurrency is the compensation that “miners” receive for using their computers to run peer to peer blockchain networks in lieu of centrally controlled servers. Ether, Bitcoin and other currencies are bought and sold on digital asset exchanges like Coinbase in the same way that stocks are traded on NASDAQ or the NYSE.

The Decentralized Web allows for a wider distribution of value and ownership on the Internet and was the original goal of the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee and his compatriots. It is finally being made possible by breakthroughs in cryptography and advanced economics — the two essential elements of blockchain.

If you liked this story, I’d appreciate it if you would hit the heart button and also consider sharing it through your networks. Thank you.