Dr. Leemon Baird, Co-Founder, Hedera and Swirlds Labs joins me at the Open Source Summit in Seattle to discuss the potential of distributed ledgers to revolutionize the web3 space and decentralized applications. He emphasizes the importance of secure, decentralized, and fast ledgers to support the next generation of blockchain applications. He also discusses the importance of decentralized governance and collaboration in open source communities to ensure long-term sustainability, highlighting the need for no single entity to control the code base and the significance of collaboration to prevent malicious actions and ensure project success.

Distributed ledger technology, blockchain, and its applications in various industries, including AI and web3

• Baird discusses the company’s decentralized governance, fast and secure distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform.
• In today’s world, DLT is being used for real-world purposes, such as tokenizing assets and recording information.
• DLT is crucial for addressing the threats and promises of generative AI (GenAI), as it provides a secure and transparent way to track the provenance of AI models and data.

Open source and blockchain technology, including the importance of open source for Hedera and its governance structure

• Baird says that Hedera’s mechanism allows the network to process 10,000 transactions per second.
• He also adds that open source is crucial for Hedera’s ecosystem and community growth
• Baird expresses concern about companies pretending to be open source but secretly turning proprietary.
• He emphasizes the importance of governance in maintaining open source projects’ integrity.

Decentralized governance and web3 technologies

• Baird emphasizes the importance of decentralization in open source projects, citing the example of the Linux Foundation.
• He goes on to discuss the potential of web3 to solve real-life problems, while acknowledging the hype surrounding it.
• He also highlights real-world applications of web3 technology, such as carbon credit tracking and tokenized assets, which are changing the way people interact with the real world.
• Distributed ledgers and tokenization are being integrated into existing systems, such as banking software and game assets, to provide new functionality and ownership benefits.
• Baird highlights examples of companies leveraging Hedera, including Avery Dennison and Equity Lab, and discusses the potential for web3 applications.
• He also discusses upcoming features on Hedera, such as state proofs, and the importance of community involvement in the project’s growth.

Guest: Dr.  Leemon Baird (LinkedIn)
Company: Hedera (Twitter)
Show: Let’s Talk