(upbeat tropical music) >> Announcer: Live from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It's The Cube, covering Blockchain Unbound, brought to you be Blockchain Industries. (upbeat tropical music) >> Hello, everyone. Welcome to this special Cube conversation. We are on the ground in Puerto Rico for Blockchain Unbound and Restart Week, a variety of blockchain, cryptocurrency, industry events, a lot of action here. All the thought leaders, the pioneers, a lot of the people making it happen, from entrepreneurs to the investors, and entrepreneurs who made it in bitcoin blockchain, as well as participants in the local community. Our next guest is Michael Angelo, the co-founder of EDU Block, Edublock.io, EDUblock.io. Interesting story here, he's got a school chain, I call it, going around. Michael, welcome to the conversation. >> It's great to be here. >> So talk about what you guys do. And I think it's super fascinating, you guys are creating a value chain with the university system. Obviously, you know, the first thing that jumps to mind is, hey, it's like the internet. Connect the internet with TCP/IP and next thing you know, the internet's born, the web is born. You're doing something really fascinating with your project, connecting the universities here in Puerto Rico. Take a minute to explain what you're working on. >> Okay, so, Edublock is an educational platform based in Puerto Rico. So what we're doing is, we're connecting every single university in the island to work on open-source projects, to make solutions for the private sector. >> And so you're enabling this actual connectedness, so you got the blockchain which can enable that, cryptocurrency in Puerto Rico is certainly hot. A lot of the ecosystem blending in, coming into the country, into the area; people are excited. What's going on in the front lines? As the young kids are looking at this revolution, this is a massive wave, they've got to be inspired. They've got to look at this as an opportunity. What's some of the things that you're seeing on the front-lines, there? >> Okay, well let me tell you. So, people are scared here. So, Edublock wants to create transparency in blockchain and make people trust us and trust the movement. So we see a bunch of people coming here, and we see a tremendous potential for the island. We could become an emerging market through blockchain technology. But people are scared. Most people come here and they talk about the how and the what, so Edublock wants to talk about the why. So, why is... We want to educate, we want to make this transparent. We want to change the lives of a bunch of people, teach them, so they can become the next world leaders. >> And really, enabling them with tools. So Brock Pierce gave the keynote here, to the kickoff of Blockchain Unbound, as part of a kind of a pitch competition with d10e. Great message, power of we, not me, is really what makes it happen. Paying it forward, cultural ethos. It's global, so this whole global economy's shaping. This is an opportunity for a digital nation to emerge. How do you guys talk about that? The young guys going in there, the developers. The trust needs to be there. What are some of the things people are working on? What kind of things do you imagine happening with Edublock? What are some of the things on your mind, there? >> Okay, so basically what we're doing is, anyone who's coming here in the island, we're just asking them, if you want outreach, you have an ICO, you have a big project, so we have this ecosystem that's running. We have software developers, and you want to teach people. So if you have your ICOs, you have a project, you give it to us, we just lay it down in the ecosystem and see how it works, trial and error. And it's a win-win, 'cause it's free. So you win, you win the expansion here in the island, and we win knowledge. >> So basically, you guys are opening up your arms, saying, hey, throw us what you got, we'll kick the tires, we'll give it a dry run, we'll give you feedback, there's some learnings that are shared. Is that kind of the thing you guys are thinking about? Is that what you're referring to? >> Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing as of now. So we have few projects, we're working with ListCoin, and we have a few ICOs of ourselves, that I cannot go into details right now. But some big projects, that I think some software developers in the island that have talent, could work on, and just develop. >> Michael, talk about who's working with you guys. Who's helping you out? Give some shout-outs, who's involved in the project, what kind of momentum do you have? And what are you guys looking for, for continued support? >> So, we're looking for people that come to the island and have big ICOs. We're looking to just speak with them, see if they could give us some feedback on what we have to do to move along this project. So we're working with Link Puerto Rico, it's a software development company here in the island. So they're helping us with the curriculum. So we're working hands-on with ICOs, but we also want to teach. So we have to make a curriculum. So we teach people that have no idea. The other day, we had an event where we taught 50 people how to create a smart contract from scratch. Those are 50 people who are not the same anymore. So we're working with Brock Pierce, he's going to be one of the main speakers at our event. We're going to have an event the 17th. You can register at Edublock.eo, it's totally free. Why did this event come to be? So, we have Blockchain Unbound, right? So it's about $1,000. So most people want to be part of this event that can't be. Most humans, that's too of a hefty pay. >> John: Yeah, it's a lot of cash. >> It's a lot of cash. You know, $1,000 is food; $1,000 is gas, a whole semester is $1,000. So what we did was, we grabbed 14 main speakers from Blockchain Unbound, Enrique Martinez, Brock Pierce, ListCoin, ArtCoin, they're going to be talking about microgrids, about housing. So we got a university, we have the people. It's free, so anyone can come. All you have to do is register at Edublock.io. >> Great stuff, Michael, this is fantastic. I love what you're doing, and I'm really thankful you're doing it. And because, when you get people together, magic happens. And I think what's really exciting is that the market is accepting that now. And Brock talked about that on stage today, here at Blockchain Unbound, announcing his restart venture fund. 100% dedicated to entrepreneurs. And he's structuring it in a way, where... I mean, not a lot of preference here. So he gets a little bit carved out for the managers of the fund, and they got some lot of cash they're managing. But it's all about feeding the entrepreneurial ecosystem for venture development. >> And that's great, that's why Edublock has to be a thing. 'Cause we are the educational system in the island. And so, if this is a movement that's happening here, and this is going to become the epicenter of this multi-billion dollar market, we need to have people prepared for this. We have to create the transparency. So that's why Edublock is such an important thing, here in the island. >> I love what you're doing, the young people. I see it in Silicon Valley, all around the United States and around the world. Trust matters, reputation matters, who you work with matters. And I love your project. It reminds me of when I interviewed Vint Cerf many years ago, father of the internet. TCP/IP connected three universities, four universities, five universities, and then multiple universities. That became the backbone for the internet. I see what you're doing as something as game-changing. You can connect the universities and then the curriculum, and keep it decentralized, no central authority, you have the trust and you have the voices of the people and software and applications. That's super fantastic. >> By the way, I just want to say something right now. You don't have to be a software developer to be in Edublock. So, most people are scared that if they aren't a programmer, they don't have experience, the don't know solidity, they can't be part of Edublock. The thing is, we're teaching from scratch, as well. We're working with software, we're working with hardware, we're working with a team of daily traders. Miners, we're going to teach how to make GPU, how to make an A6 from scratch. So you're going to learn a lot of things, and it's free. >> Great point. That brings up the community question. Because the point is, you don't have to be a coder. You're in the community. So, I want to ask you, what is the community like right now? What's it look like? It sounds like it's robust, it's active. What do you and the guys hope to do with the development of the community? >> Okay so the community, I would say it's divided, as of now. So most people are scared, they don't know what's going on. Most people that come here start off with the what, the how, and people are scared. But the young people, are like, yo, this is happening. This is not a moment, this is a movement. This is a movement and they're just so happy to be part of it. >> Well, I got to tell ya, as an old guy like me, I've seen many waves. When the waves come, you jump on it. And I'm so excited that you're doing what you're doing. Appreciate what you're doing. Michael Angelo, co-founder of EDU block.io, Edublock.io. They have a big event on the 17th, if you want to check it out. We're going to try to do a swing by with The Cube, but congratulations. Bringing the content to the masses, that's our job at The Cube, that's what we do, that's our mission. And thanks for taking this time, appreciate it. >> Of course. >> I'm John Furrier, with The Cube. Thanks for watching. (upbeat electronic music)