Name: Rich Tella
Position: Producer
What makes you want to join the SWEkrona film project?
Ever since I became interested in cryptocurrency back in 2013, in the days of the Altcoin there was much chatter in the forums about how banks and governments would eventually adopt the cryptocurrency technology known as blockchain.
Now, six years later for me to see the technology being seriously looked in to by such institutions as the Riksbank here in Sweden, and those counties around the world both researching and some even implementing some of these technologies.
Being located just outside of Stockholm I could not help myself when I became aware of the Ekrona project, especially when I discovered a number of the startups that I had interviewed over the years we’re making proposals for how to implement an Ekrona for the people of Sweden.
What interests you the most about the project?
The potential impact of an Ekrona being introduced when considering the ‘programable money’ aspect excites me. It is fun to think what money could be when it has additional features and applications that are not necessarily fully understood yet.
And, the idea that central banks and governments are now discussing these technologies seriously gives a great opportunity to document history in the making, even if it is not implemented here in Sweden.
Do you think the Ekrona will be implemented by the Riksbank?
It’s difficult to tell at this stage, but I do think its a matter of time, and finding the right technology aas well as the support of the the people of Sweden of course.
The fact that Riksbanken have a team working on researching the potential of an Ekrona for Sweden, coupled with the many nations around the world also looking to what blockchain technology could do for their individual nations is fascinating enough at this stage, regardless if they implement the technology next year or in ten years.
What other documentary films have you worked on?
Having interviewed startups and prominent individuals in the crypto space for some years here in Sweden and across Europe, I was able to compile the interviews and create the documentary short titled – Founded in 2017; a short documentary following six Swedish startups as they built their crypto-businesses.
In late 2017 I published the documentary short – Svenska Kocken, inspired by a Swedish man that after living in LA and working as a chef in the studios, came to learn he was the inspiration for the famous muppets character – The Swedish Chef.
In early 2018 I premiered a documentary titled Guldmaskinen with my partner Joans Bergvall, we had a public screening of the film in the small town of Stallarholmen where the story was first discovered. The screening was a resounding success with all seats being filled, and much local press coverage.
What is your favourite documentary film?
This is an impossible questions for me to answer. I can share some of my favourites though. I really enjoyed The Imposter, I am FishHead, Paradise Lost, Koyaanisqatsi. There are also numerous others I shall not list here, both short and feature length, independent and block buster.
What are your thoughts on the future of digital currency and blockchain technology?
Ultimately the technology as it stands today cannot be turned off, perhaps it can be turned down but not off. That leaves governments and the authorities no choice but to address it. I think this will take some time and we will see the emergence of numerous proprietary blockchain solutions from these state regulated entities. In parallel developers across the world will continue to develop what the want to see int he world, not all of these solutions will be regulateable and due to their distributed nature; thats not to say there won’t be an effort to do so.
I am kind of old fashioned in that I have always wondered what it could look like with numerous currencies, how money might function when applied to just one geographic location or one idea or even a project. This has been the model and very likely will continue to be so as we enter the tokenisation of everything. I think the word currency may not fit this future though, it’s outdated and already has so many associations.
Tokens might be the word, but essentially I like to think about these tokens as a sort of fuel for these many distriibuted ecosystems that are being developed, what’s beginning to get clearer though is that regular people will be faced with much dilemma when choosing which ecosystems to support.
What is your favourite technical project/solution in the crypto-space?
Since a rather long time I have really liked MaidSafe, probably ideologically more than anything – I like what they are attempting to do with building a fully decentralise internet and I like the way the founders have built such a solid community of developers, thinkers and innovators in a decentralise manner. Its commendable even if the project has run for so many years with small but not insignificant traction.
Rich can be contacted at rich@bitjoin.us
More on the SWEkrona film at https://bitjoin.me/ekronaproject/