Pretty soon, blockchain technology is going to touch just about everything you can imagine, including the food we eat. In this episode, Niamh O’Connell, BlockW Co-founder and Senior Business Development Manager at CasperLabs, joins the show to cover many questions around blockchain technology and how it’s creating smarter supply chains for the future. Niamh talks about her work at CasperLabs, going deep into how NFTs can impact the food and beverage industries and how we can reach more energy-effective blockchains. Tune in and discover more about NFTs and the new economies they’re helping shape!
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(02:52) - Niamh’s first introduction to blockchain technology in 2015 - “Given the fact that you can trust this technology, it has a massive opportunity to really replace all types of systems and build them from the ground up.”
(07:42) - Niamh explains blockchain, NFTs and her role at CaperLabs - “Now that you're able to prove the ownership, you're also able to think about how to use this in a fractionalized sense where more people can participate and own assets.”
(14:00) - Automation, verification and authentication: What is blockchain really replacing? - “The FDA is going to bring a new rule in November where anyone in the food industry has to be able to maintain records associated with any critical events and blockchain is a massive potential contender for that.”
(21:25) - How producers, suppliers and consumers can use blockchain technology - “You can even just pull up just very basic information where you can see the GPS coordinates along the supply chain, where it's come from, if it was in fact organically made, and you could click on the certificate that proves in fact that it is organic.”
(26:09) - Metacask Whisky - a CasperLabs use case - “What's important there is: with time, it will become more valuable. So if you're able to prove the history and the ownership and when that was made and crafted, that's important for you as a buyer.”
(27:49) - Blockchain-based career opportunities - “New types of economies are literally being formed, right? NFTs, content creators, even freelancers today. What they can do either on the developer side or brand ambassador side is pretty powerful.”
(31:38) - Smart contracts, scalability and blockchains’ carbon footprint - “Once the technology is at a place that has been regulated to a certain extent, there's more penetration of use cases across verticals and real life applications, and the technology itself in the form of mobile applications are in the hands of consumers, then we will start to see a massive change.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Niamh O’Connell on Linkedin and Twitter
Learn more about CasperLabs
Invest in Spirits Baked NFTs at Metacask
Watch Niamh on Robert Ventures Youtube Interview Series: CasperLabs: Building a Blockchain Purpose Built for Enterprise
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Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab. The Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood and all episodes are written by Jack Buehrer.
