As I was celebrating Christmas Eve in a completely new style for me, by going to the beach and just sitting on the sand, soaking myself in the Spanish winter sun (which is still warm enough to make you feel comfortable even if you wear just a teeshirt) I had a few "a-ha" moments. There is something about the sea energy, about that light and the sound of waves that is very conducive to that kind of thinking that eventually leads to deep, enlightening insights. It's like that context suddenly sheds light on some problem that you never really knew how to tackle,  or it simply makes stuff more easy to understand.
***
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***
Not all of these "a-ha" moments were related to blockchain. I still have a life and a ton of other stuff to try to solve - luckily - but some of them were.

So, it dawned upon me that a distributed ledger - another name for "blockchain" - is not something that everybody will want. The most common use case for a blockchain is now currency and it somehow makes sense for a lot of people to just have their wallet with them all the time. But a blockchain may - and will, for sure- carry a lot of other stuff, under the protection of cryptography and backed by decentralization. For instance, it may carry medical records. Or geolocation-rich information, like what points of interests are in a certain area. 

And this kind of information can be _delegated_. It is delegated now and there is little incentive for it to be moved to the blockchain (we will all see this clearly, once the hype fades out). 

Some types of data just needs a _custodian_. The mere role of the custodian was invented _specifically_ because people wanted to avoid the hassle and the risks associated with protecting something _all the time_. Instead of carrying something of value with you all the time, you just put it in a vault, assign a custodian to it, pay him for the job (to keep him incentivized) and then just go and carry on with your life.

We live in an era in which the custodian role is being redesigned. Some people will morph into their own custodians, taking care of their own assets and proclaim their financial freedom. Hard-core geeks, early adopters, hodlers. But some of them will lean towards a new type of custodian even more. These are people for which the technology, as a concept, is something difficult to grasp. These are natural followers (there's nothing wrong with being a follower, just as it's nothing wrong with being a leader). They don't need the hassle and don't take the risk associated with carrying something valuable with them all the time.

We are indeed living interesting times. Because those who are morphing into their own custodians will preserve their identity, and, more important, their freedom (and by "freedom" I do mean freedom of thinking, of speaking and of moving). 

The ones who are shifting away from this role will delegate their own identity, their own freedom, to a new type of custodian. 

Wether or not these new custodians (being them reshuffled banks, or new types of governments) will actually enter into an open conflict with "free roaming individuals", well, that I don't know. 

But better be prepared than sorry.
***
_I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at [Dragos Roua](http://dragosroua.com) where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua._
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