The earthquake that shook the tech world this week was the bankruptcy of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange platform, and the fall of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”) whose fortune fell from 27 billion dollars to… zero. An incredible story that will have repercussions in many areas: no doubt a handful of other cascading bankruptcies, certain customers who will have “lost everything”, and therefore a justification for legislating in an area that remained a bit of a “Far West “legal.
Believers in the underlying and corollary technologies of blockchain and web3 may insist that they are different things, but the negative halo effect of such a debacle is hard to deny. I am one of those convinced: I was in January in Miami (where FTX is the very visible sponsor of the stadium) for a “web3” conference, and the participants did not care regarding the fluctuations of cryptocurrencies. We are much more aware of building the basic layers of a new web infrastructure, which is better suited to the transfer of value, of ownership, and which allows distributed architectures and governance (the famous “DAO”, Distributed Autonomous Organisations or distributed autonomous organizations).
I have always found it questionable that they are called “currencies”, since, if they allow exchange, they are above all seen as assets from which we hope for rapid growth.
If we can hear this call not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we must however note that these infrastructures are intimately linked to the world of cryptocurrencies (and tokens). I have always found it questionable that they are called “currencies”, since, if they do allow exchange, they are above all seen as assets whose rapid growth is hoped for, for the tens of millions of users who have opened an account in recent years. “To the moon” is a familiar cry from crypto buyers…
A whole sector in question
From this point of view, the fall of SBF has almost a mythological value comparable to Icarus: a hero who feels his wings growing, who only listens to himself, who believes he can reach the sun, without having sufficiently secured his ties. . Beyond the story of a person, it is a whole sector that is questioned: the largest venture capital funds (A16z, etc.) had invested 2 billion dollars in FTX, and undoubtedly insufficiently verified the soundness of internal processes. The “web3” will continue to develop, but the misadventure of FTX undoubtedly sounds the beginning of a crypto winter where many things will cool down for several months.
I attended the general assembly of the UWE on Wednesday at the Aula Magna in Louvain-la-Neuve. Throughout the speeches, testimonials from entrepreneurs, key messages emerge, which indicate that the company of tomorrow will be very different from that of 20 years ago… and that the transformation is underway.
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The most central imperative was “innovation”. Previously, it seemed confined to a few large companies with their own R&D labs. From now on, it seems to be understood that all companies are invited to innovate, even the smallest ones (this can be done through business model innovation, one of my hobbies since 2010, and the subject of my course at UNamur, in the footsteps of Yves Pigneur and his Business Model Canvas ).
Innovation, ecological transition and circular economy
Companies, such as Tilman, EyeD Pharma, Alpha Innovations, have testified to their innovation initiatives, often supported by aid such as that of the DGO6.
Breakthrough technological innovation is exemplified by Benoît Deper, founder of AeroSpaceLab : its project to launch a constellation of nano-satellites, inspired by its American experience at NASA in Silicon Valley, propelled it in less than two years (and with 11 million raised), as THE company in Europe capable of playing on this global challenge, at the crossroads of aerospace, data and artificial intelligence.
Just behind innovation comes the challenge of ecological transition and the circular economy. For too long, the environment was conspicuously absent from our economic calculations.
More present than ever, notably through the voice of President Jacques Crahay, he receives endorsement by the Minister-President and the support of actors such as the coalition So et The Shift and actions like Green Deal .
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Here too, this is a movement that can affect every company, every entrepreneur. Salvatore Ianello, the CEO of chocolate maker Galler, explained to me how they fundamentally redesigned this “classic” profession to orient it on such strong values, and eminently in tune with the times.
In the end, the conclusions of Managing Director Olivier de Wasseige unite and give direction. The UWE will continue to balance these three pillars: ecological concern, economic profitability, social balance.
With the ambition of “give a new face to Wallonia“, in the words of the Minister-President.
