World’s First Company Incorporated in Bitcoin; Interview with Founder

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Company Incorporates in Bitcoin Blockchain

First Blockchain is the first company to be incorporated in the Bitcoin blockchain, bypassing the need for state regulation.

There’s a lot more to Bitcoin than most people think. Beyond being a digital currency that can be bought and sold, every Bitcoin transaction can be annotated with metadata and scripting. This allows for concepts like Proof of Existence, a kind of digital notary service which creates an irrefutable timestamp and digital signature. With this approach, you can submit a scan of a signed document to the Bitcoin blockchain and have proof that your document was signed at a certain point in time.

JB Allen used this same method to incorporate a company in Bitcoin. He authored and signed his articles of incorporation and then submitted them to the blockchain. He funded his company with 1 Bitcoin. Allen did not submit his articles to the Secretary of State or any governing body. He simply published them in Bitcoin.

Go to firstblockchain.com to read more about his company.

Interview with First Blockchain Founder

So, is it a valid company? We sat down with JB Allen to learn more.

On Bitcoin: Tell us how about the original inspiration for this idea. What pieces needed to come together to enable you to incorporate in the Blockchain?

JB Allen: As a nomadic laptop entrepreneur for more than 10 years, I have usually worked under my own name or using a simple “DBA” type set up in whatever location I happen to be in at the time. Very simple, but of course this approach does not provide the protections and benefits a corporate structure would – as I understand them. As I met more and more people like myself – folks who move from country to country with their own global online businesses – I always wondered why there wasn’t a corporate structure that would be easy to set up, took into account the borderless nature of these new types of businesses and actually took advantage of the same types of technology WE were using to innovate and create new businesses with to make the process of creating a company simple.

And then bitcoin comes along! Here’s a new innovation that provides a way for digital entrepreneurs to trade their product and services worldwide without going through different currencies or needing to deal with multiple centralized payment processors. A new type of money that matches the new type of people who needed it. Suddenly, we’re one step closer to the future – a technology that replaces an archaic form of a very useful tool.

As I began to use and study bitcoin, I would occasionally hear references to other possibilities with the protocol besides just the “money” feature. But it wasn’t until I spoke with Roger Ver at the Bitcoin Singapore 2013 conference that I began to understand just how many other possibilities there were.He introduced me to ProofOfExistence.com and also the “Colored Coins” project. During the same week of the conference, I was also looking into setting up a corporation in Singapore for a new business. I was stunned by the amount of time, paperwork and money it would take to set up. It was then it dawned on me I should at least explore the idea of incorporating using the blockchain as a future possibility.

When I returned home, another friend in an online bitcoin group gave me a personal introduction to Manuel Araoz, the creator of ProofOfExistence.com which uses the blockchain to validate and verify the creation and existence of documents. After sketching out my proof-of-concept idea for a bitcoin validated company called “First Blockchain Incorporated”, I quickly wrote up a brief set of articles of incorporation just using a generic online template and with Manuel’s help, used his service to permanently embed a digest validating and verifying the document into the blockchain. I then put up the site FirstBlockchain.com explaining my ideas behind this and began sharing it to start getting a conversation going.

On Bitcoin: Have you incorporated other companies before? If so, how do you compare the process you went through to incorporate in Bitcoin?

JB Allen: I began the process recently – but decided to hold off after seeing the amount of time and money it would take to start, and also the yearly requirements. Great for large multiple employee business models with physical products – but for solo-entrepreneurs and bootstrapping lean startups with digital products as services? There has to be a better way.

On Bitcoin: Many people will jump to critiques and concerns about government intervention, taxes, and so on. Putting those aside, what kind of companies do you think could be incorporated and operate in the Blockchain in the next few years?

JB Allen: If there can be a legal structure in place to “defend” the legitimacy of such corporate entities and give them the same benefits traditional nation or state corporations have, they would be extremely useful for tech startups, small teams of bootstrapping entrepreneurs and of course location-independent entrepreneurs who operate digital businesses. The internet IS our home, bitcoin IS the money of our future – we should be able to incorporate with the simplicity these new technologies provide.

I certainly don’t have a full grasp of all the legal ramifications of this though – which is another reason I put this out there. I figured with “First Blockchain Incorporated” I could at least show an experimental proof-of-concept, introduce people to other possibilities with the blockchain such as ProofOfExistence.com are making available, and maybe get some of the brighter folks working on a workable solution. If I can motivate others to make the world more like how I want it – great!

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