I left the BSV public space two weeks ago, but I changed my mind. This is why.

Just days after entering the BSV community, nonsense on Twitter started affecting my real business IRL, and I felt: “Scr*w this, I’m out. I don’t need this. If BSV makes it big, I’m already well invested.” And I left.

But I changed my mind. The task at hand is bigger than that. This is not about me. This is about being of use, about delivering value, about legacy.

First I sorted out the issues caused, and funnily, I now have more trust than before this even happened. Showing your less successful moments and how you dealt with it, can have that effect.

All true achievement is a long line of failures, followed by one freak success, or as my colorful friend would put it: “Success is like being pregnant, everybody congratulates you, but nobody knows how many times you were f**ked.”

There is work to be done. This journey will take 5–10 years.

I won’t be contributing to the repo. I started coding 35 years ago in 1984 and have continued ever since, but I’m not needed. I have complete and utter confidence in what I see. The scaling upgrade and all the working apps released the past few months is the proof of the pudding. There is real innovation, real progress happening. That’s why I’m here.

But I believe I *am* needed in two other areas, where I could potentially provide assistance, and that’s why I came back.

1. Real Enterprise Use

The blockchain as such is on track, but what we don’t have, is use. Either we take this to a world standard used by millions of companies and billions of people, or Bitcoin will fail. There is nothing in-between.

Craig is so right when he says we need to start with enterprise.

I don’t want to demotivate anyone, but trying to compete with Alipay, WeChat, Facebook (who will copy WeChat) etc in consumer reach, as the first application is — as my Japanese friends would politely put it — “very difficult”.

We just won’t find the first 1 billion consumer users by publishing a great app on a website and hoping people will come. Those days are 10+ years gone. Another distribution channel is needed. (I have an idea for a solution to this also, but timing is not now.)

Where we should start is enterprise, real use, in volume. Then we just need to convince a handful of people, a board of directors. That is possible.

Together with a business associate, we took action this summer and approached the first big enterprise, a company that can make impact. I’m not talking about a small startup here, but a world class company, with well known customers and world class investors on the board.

They agreed there is a valid opportunity, but decided to wait. Reason: They judged brand risk was too high. That is good news, because those perceived risks will decline over time.

So the first one didn’t work — but maybe the next one will. Eventually, one such company will say Yes. Then the 2nd will say Yes, and then everyone else will jump over each other to get on the boat. That’s how movements are made, even in the corporate world.

Anonymous guys with cartoon characters on Twitter won’t be convincing the board of a major global company to risk their brand, business and future on something as crazy as BSV. But I’ve done it many times for other crazy technologies in telecom. Maybe I can do it again. I can at least try.

2. Our Culture

Remember the movie Life of Brian? Seconds after people started following him, believing he is Messiah, the group splits into the Those Who Follow the Shoe and Those Who Follow The Gourd. Then the shoe followers split again, arguing over whether it’s a shoe or sandal.

Guys. Blockchain has succeeded at nothing yet, beyond being an instrument for market speculation. Bitcoin — any of the fractions — is nowhere. There are some tens of millions of people who has ever used it for anything. If you plot Bitcoin users (all the fractions) in the same graph as mobile phones, you can’t see it. It’s a tiny invisible dot. We’re still a bunch of barking puppies.

Craig is right when he said that the best Bitcoin version has 10% chance of making it — which is huge in tech, as he also pointed out.

So, friends, let’s look up from our bags and our little wars. To have ANY chance, we are going to need to — at one point — join these 3 tiny Bitcoin skeleton armies, to go fight the real competition.

In my previous industry, I was one of few people who could cooperate with all the different fractions and bring them together to a bigger purpose — even direct competitors. Maybe I can do that again. I can at least try.

Imagine someone coming came into my office as a telecom CTO and say they want to build 3 incompatible mobile networks for 2G+3G+4G+5G, because they can’t agree on whether a constant in the code should be 1, 8, or 2048…

I know here is different, permissionless and decentralized, but no. Just no.

This can’t be fixed now. Everyone is too arrogant at this point of time, too sure that their own path is right. But there will come a time when everyone is humbled — by the market, by the real competition, but the monumental task at hand. Then they might listen.

Secondly, if we are to work with enterprise, it is time to leave the basement. Ditch the anonymous character and stand up. If something happens, you aren’t anonymous anyway. Connect on LinkedIn. We need real people.

So for now, dear friends, with great respect, let me offer you these advice,

for your consideration:

There might come a day when you will work alongside the “enemies”. Burn fewer bridges, so that you can cross them in the future. Win people over instead of trying to kill them.

Forget the groovy handles. Put your name behind your words. Connect on LinkedIn, to me and others.

Cheers // Larsson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anders-larsson/

Twitter (BSV): @larsbsv