What do Steve Aoki, Rob Gronkowski and a former White House advisor have in common?
They’re all betting on an unhackable blockchain project led by Stanford dropout, and the first entrepreneur to become a millionaire at 16, Jonathan Manzi. The engineering wiz’s Beyond Protocol initiative has been operating in stealth mode over the past three years but will unveil in the coming months with a token generating event and several high-profile partnerships with celebrities, athletes and policymakers. Notable advisors to the project include Bad Robot president Brian Weinstein and former Clinton White House senior advisor Moe Vela.
“So many in Silicon Valley refer to blockchain technology as the new frontier, without providing a roadmap for how we go from theory to practical execution,” Manzi tells Worth. “What are the use cases? Where is the adoption? We’ve developed Beyond Protocol with real-world demonstrations in mind, and how they can set the standard for several industries and create new ones in the process.”
Although encryption is considered the baseline for cybersecurity, there is a glaring problem with the tool: Hackers can pretend to be users to gain sensitive data. Beyond Protocol solves this by having a hardware signature work in tandem with blockchain technology (much like how physical ledger wallets allow users to send cryptocurrency on blockchain by entering passcodes on devices). Microchips in a user’s device vouch for a user, a signature which is then reinforced with validating nodes recording each of the user’s activities.
“What does Beyond Protocol look like architecturally? You can think of it like an octopus,” continues Manzi. “At the center, there’s a core consensus mechanism that allows for messages to come from different device classes, and it validates them. It’s like a router, and routes them from class-to-class.”
Having highly sensitive information travel across blockchain sounds like risky business. But Manzi bet big on this vision earlier this month with his “Connected Athlete” livestream event in Tampa Bay, wherein Rob Gronkowski and other NFL players had food and nutritional supplements delivered post-game based on their prior day intake values and biometric data—information stored and sent through Beyond Protocol. DJ Steve Aoki spun tracks afterwards.
“For athletes, something like Beyond Protocol is a gamechanger,” Gronkowski tells Worth. “Many health providers still use antiquated technology to keep users’ confidential health data secure, which are prime for hackers. Jonathan’s company solves these security issues, while allowing for a seamless integration with other services players depend on.”
The Tampa event was really a use case at the convergence point of three sectors: sports, health care and tech. These kinds of industry intersections are what Manzi is interested in exploring, and Beyond Protocol can be adapted to seemingly infinite combinations. In addition to its collaboration with star athletes, Beyond Protocol will showcase its technology alongside a European Union e-bike initiative.
“These events are fun, informative and show the public firsthand how blockchain is posed to impact all facets of their lives for the better,” says Manzi. “And we plan on having a lot of them.”
