Crank Up the BaaS: Bitcoin + SaaS is the New Gold Rush

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
― Confucius

Have you ever tried to explain Bitcoin to someone? It’s not easy — yet the core of cryptocurrency is pretty straight forward: cut out the middleman.

Still, the key tenants of crypto — what Michael Sayer calls “a masterpiece of monetary engineering” — are technology-driven and have created layers of complexity. Like any other “new” tech the early adopters are perfectly willing to run through any maze to get their coinage. While BTC and ETH are easy enough to garner try one of these explainers on someone you know:

• Try explaining gas fees to someone just entering crypto.
• Try convincing a lay user that a MetaMask Chrome plug-in is totally kosher and not risky.
• Try walking your mom through writing down a dozen wallet keyword phrases and keeping them somewhere safe.
• Try explaining the Rube Goldberg machine of dollars to BNB to BNB Smart Chain to Pancake Swap routine to buy a new coin on the BSC chain.
• Oh — and grab that coin address for a simple cut and paste.
• Did you find your secret hidden Trust Wallet browser yet?!

As I’ve noted before, any successful crypto venture will need an “Adopt-a-Boomer” program. After all — they own a GOOD portion of world wealth.

The good news is history is replete with examples of new industries popping up to tackle tech complexities:

• ERP players at turn of the century: Baan, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP
• Corporate website and content management: Vignette, Broadvision, Openmarket, Documentum
• Email management systems: Constant Contact, Mailchimp
• Customer management: Salesforce, Zoho, Netsuite

Each of these technology waves were met by a host of software and primarily SaaS solution to help ease the complexity — especially in the B2B space. My prediction: cryptocurrencies will spawn a new generation of SaaS or in this cases BaaS (Blockchain as a Service)

Consider that NFTs are one of the fastest growing sectors in entertainment. Are studio executives going to hire full crypto tech teams to manage a roll-out of some rap artists latest single? Nope. They’ll look for easy-to-use software to help them manage and deploy the entire arena. Will VeChain users rely strictly on the API offered to manage the flow across Theta and Thor or will they looks for a GUI to help them plug into their existing ERP systems.

This is virgin space and I strongly believe that the first major players willing to build turn-key access to strong crypto tech will find some serious momentum in the coming years.