Uber has been taken out by an unexpected competitor – the crowd. It’s ironic really, because Uber was the first company to leverage assets it didn’t own and didn’t control, yet created an eco-system that provided a platform for viral growth; a truly exponential organization.

Now it’s been ubered by a crowd-sourced, crowd-funded and crowd-managed system for ride-sharing and joint car ownership. Called Arcade City, it’s an Uber-like app-based platform for riders and drivers – but it’s owned by the community, not Silicon Valley nerds. It uses blockchain technologies for trusted transactions, and for distributing any profits back to the car owners.

Each car and driver in Arcade City is a mini-business. When these cars become fully autonomous, self-driving and connected, they will have their own bank accounts; well, wallets really, but they will operate as independent financial entities for their multiple owners. Connected autonomous cars will respond to riders’ calls, pay for recharging and maintenance, and earn income for their investors – a blockchain business on wheels.

Airbnb, iTunes and Netflix all face similar disruption, as blockchain technologies enable the valueweb, an internet of true value exchange with anyone at any time, decentralised and distributed. Why buy or rent songs, movies, rooms or anything else from a big corporation, when you can do it with complete transparency from the network itself, where even the customers can be shareholders?

As so eloquently predicted by Chris David, Arcade City’s CEO, “The reign of the unicorns is ending; now is the time for swarms!”