*This post originally ran in The Generalist newsletter by Mario Gabriele under the headline “Blockspace: An Introduction with Chris Dixon” on May 15, 2022. *

Just a few months ago, Chris Dixon, general partner at a16z crypto, said, “I think blockspace is the best product to be selling in the 2020s.” I remember hearing those words on the Bankless podcast and being unsure whether I grasped the magnitude of what he meant. So, I asked him.

Indeed, I asked him just about every question I could think of on the subject. Today’s piece is the result of that pestering and Chris’s patience. It is also, thanks to him, one of the clearest and most comprehensive discussions of blockspace and why it matters. With that, let’s jump in.

M‍ario Gabriele: OK, Chris, maybe we can start with the basics. What is blockspace?

Chris Dixon: Blockspace is space on a blockchain where you can run code and store data. Blockspace is different from traditional compute-space in that, until the advent of blockchains, software was always subordinate to hardware – and then, ultimately, to the owner of that hardware. If you write software for traditional computers, it’s the hardware owners who are in control. If Facebook writes some code and says any developer can come along and have access to a certain API, Facebook management can just change its mind and revoke access later. Because Facebook controls the hardware that the software runs on, it ultimately controls the software.

Blockchains are different in the way they’re architected: the software is in charge of the hardware. If you write software for blockchains, you can write code that makes strong commitments; you can assure users and developers that the software will continue to run as designed. Specifically, blockchains use what’s called a consensus mechanism to make these commitments. The various hardware operators that run the network come together every so often and vote on the state of the blockchain virtual computer. There’s game theory around it that guarantees – that makes assurances under most conditions – that the software will continue to run as designed and that the integrity of the data will be maintained.

What we’re seeing now is a wave of entrepreneurs and developers who are building new classes of applications that take advantage of this new computing property: that you can write code that makes strong commitments about how it’s going to behave in the future.

*This post originally ran in The Generalist newsletter by Mario Gabriele under the headline “Blockspace: An Introduction with Chris Dixon” on May 15, 2022. *

Just a few months ago, Chris Dixon, general partner at a16z crypto, said, “I think blockspace is the best product to be selling in the 2020s.” I remember hearing those words on the Bankless podcast and being unsure whether I grasped the magnitude of what he meant. So, I asked him.

Indeed, I asked him just about every question I could think of on the subject. Today’s piece is the result of that pestering and Chris’s patience. It is also, thanks to him, one of the clearest and most comprehensive discussions of blockspace and why it matters. With that, let’s jump in.

M‍ario Gabriele: OK, Chris, maybe we can start with the basics. What is blockspace?

Chris Dixon: Blockspace is space on a blockchain where you can run code and store data. Blockspace is different from traditional compute-space in that, until the advent of blockchains, software was always subordinate to hardware – and then, ultimately, to the owner of that hardware. If you write software for traditional computers, it’s the hardware owners who are in control. If Facebook writes some code and says any developer can come along and have access to a certain API, Facebook management can just change its mind and revoke access later. Because Facebook controls the hardware that the software runs on, it ultimately controls the software.

Blockchains are different in the way they’re architected: the software is in charge of the hardware. If you write software for blockchains, you can write code that makes strong commitments; you can assure users and developers that the software will continue to run as designed. Specifically, blockchains use what’s called a consensus mechanism to make these commitments. The various hardware operators that run the network come together every so often and vote on the state of the blockchain virtual computer. There’s game theory around it that guarantees – that makes assurances under most conditions – that the software will continue to run as designed and that the integrity of the data will be maintained.

What we’re seeing now is a wave of entrepreneurs and developers who are building new classes of applications that take advantage of this new computing property: that you can write code that makes strong commitments about how it’s going to behave in the future.