Episode 42 | Online Offsets | Swytch.io





I've been wanting to cover a guest who has a unique energy data technology for a while. A few weeks ago I was approached by Jennifer Hansen at 43PR in California about an Austin-based client using blockchain technology.

Swytch.io is a technology company or "project," run by the non-profit Token Commons Foundation. Though they have an app ready to launch at the end of October '18, Swytch CEO Evan Caron says the company's real product is a blockchain backbone by which other developers can create their own applications. In Swytch's case, the are attempting to build a network for reporting carbon dioxide emissions and reduction efforts in an effort to create a worldwide trading scheme between the two.

Swytch's technologies marries two of the more complicated concepts out there, carbon trading and blockchain technology.

We discussed carbon trading last time in Episode 8. Though there are many schemes across the world attempting to price carbon and ultimately reduce emissions, there is no global regulatory body governing all carbon-emitting activity. Personally, I doubt such an entity will ever exist, and politically, it would be a libertarian's worst nightmare!

However, Swytch eschews the command-style politics by employing blockchain technology, which is ironically many libertarians' favorite technologies.

Any blockchain technology—whether Swytch or the popular crypto-currency Bitcoin—exists online, as a file shared by all its users, and all transactions in the history of the blockchain are stored on this file. Theoretically, if billions of users have this file, it would be nearly impossible to corrupt because a hacker would have to hack everyone.

Swytch says their program would essentially begin as a database, with users reporting energy, and carbon, savings. For reducing carbon, users would receive a Swytch Token, similar to a Bitcoin, which would ultimately be redeemed for monetary value.

I like the idea that consumers, and even large utilities, could be rewarded under this scheme. And I also like the voluntary, non-compulsive nature of the program. If the world really wants to do something about CO2, a system like this is probably the best chance for a global, unified marketplace.

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