Blockchain in War Zones

Speaker Profile & Career Transition

• Spent 10 years in the U.S. military, including three deployments to the Middle East, before leaving in 2017 to attend Stanford (MBA) and invest in blockchain/cryptocurrencies at a16z.
• Fifth generation in his family to serve in the military, following father (Green Beret), grandfather (Vietnam fighter pilot), and great-grandfather (WWI volunteer).
• Driven by a desire to address the root economic and institutional causes of the conflicts witnessed during the Global War on Terror.

Afghanistan Deployment: Land Tenure & Counterinsurgency

• Conducted counterinsurgency operations involving over 200 firefights, with seven soldiers wounded.
• Identified "hearts and minds" and economic development as key strategic terrain rather than combat alone.
• Launched a "crop diversification" program to subsidize farmers and reduce reliance on the Taliban.
• Encountered a critical failure in land ownership verification: no canonical land registry existed, leading to unverifiable claims and unresolvable disputes among village elders.
• Concluded that the lack of a trusted, immutable system for tracking property ownership hindered all economic development efforts.

Iraq Deployment: Corruption & Institutional Failure

• Deployed to Iraq in 2014 to counter ISIS, which had conquered northern Iraq including Mosul.
• Discovered that the 30,000-man Iraqi armored division defending Mosul was a "paper tiger" due to systemic corruption:
  • 50% of soldiers were "ghost soldiers" with commanders collecting their paychecks.
  • U.S.-supplied tanks lacked fuel, which had been sold on the black market.
  • Most U.S.-supplied weapons ended up with personal sectarian militias.
• Observed the devastation of the Yazidi people in Sinjar, where thousands were enslaved or killed after fleeing to refugee camps.
• Determined that the failure was not a lack of record-keeping systems, but that existing systems were hopelessly corrupt and untrustworthy.

Syria Deployment: Refugee Crisis & Financial Exclusion

• Trained Syrian rebels fighting a two-front war against ISIS and the Syrian regime.
• Documented the Syrian regime's use of sieges to starve civilians, citing an example from central Damascus.
• Narrated the story of "Dr. Hussein," a civilian whose bank account was frozen by the government after being labeled a rebel sympathizer.
• Forced Dr. Hussein to flee illegally to Turkey without passports, resulting in:
  • Total loss of access to assets and bank accounts.
  • Inability to obtain employment, enroll children in school, or apply for citizenship.
• Highlighted the scale of the crisis: 5.5 million Syrians displaced (one-third of the pre-war population).

Diagnosis of Conflict Root Causes

• Identified "lack of trusted institutions" as the primary driver of conflict, economic desperation, and radicalization.
• Categorized regional institutional failures:
  • Afghanistan: Complete absence of institutions.
  • Iraq: Institutions present but hopelessly corrupt.
  • Syria: Institutions turned against the population.
  • Venezuela: Hyperinflation (10 million percent) destroying purchasing power.
  • Haiti: Repeated failures of billions in aid due to lack of institutional integrity.
  • Zimbabwe: Lack of property records stifling economic growth despite natural resources.
  • Russia: State-oligarch corruption stymying post-Cold War growth.

Bitcoin as a Technological Solution

• Captivated by the Bitcoin white paper's definition of an "electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust."
• Immutability: Addresses the Afghan land registry problem by creating a permanent, unalterable record of property ownership.
• Auditability: Solves the Iraqi corruption issue by allowing the end-to-end tracing of aid and supply chains to prevent siphoning of funds.
• Liberty: Provides a mechanism for individuals like Dr. Hussein to retain access to assets and identity without reliance on hostile state institutions or third-party charity.

Future Outlook & Personal Mission

• Founded the Stanford Blockchain Club to study cryptography, economics, and computer science.
• Now invests in entrepreneurs building a future where technology can resolve institutional failures.
• Frames his son, Oren, as the potential sixth generation of the family to serve, with the hope that future conflicts driven by economic desperation and institutional failure will be obsolete.