Simon Cocking: “Not Everything Can or Should be Tokenized”
7Seconds’ advisor Simon Cocking explains what makes an ICO special and what possible challenges lie in the way of executing blockchain solutions.
Q: Could you briefly talk about your background?
A: I’m Chief Editor at Irish Tech News, CryptoCoinNews and InvestInIT — with over 1.5 million combined unique monthly views and growing. I am also the top ranked member of the “People of Blockchain” and a business mentor and advisor, working with over 130 successful ICOs to date. In the last twelve months, I’ve done a lot of public speaking at events including TEDx, Web Summit, as well as overseas in Amsterdam, Dubai, Kiev, Singapore, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Tbilisi, Riga, Porto, Dublin and Helsinki. I’ve been based in Ireland for over 22 years and I have cofounded or founded seven successful companies.
Q: When and how did you get interested in blockchain and crypto?
A: Around four years ago, and then especially after reading and interviewing Don and Alex Tapscott about their book Blockchain Revolution, which explained in a high level way the exciting potential of blockchain.
Q: What aspects of crypto/blockchain do you find most exciting?
A: Those areas where there is a real need and value being offered. These are the only areas where it will succeed, where it actually provides something useful, that people will want to use, buy the tokens, and exchange them for relevant services. Not everything can or should be tokenized.
Q: What does it take for an ICO to get traction these days?
A: As I said, it should offer a real, useful service, and have a good, logical application of blockchain technology and tokenomics. Without this, it is just another copy cat get-rich play for the token’s founders. Then, once you are actually offering something of value, you then need to communicate clearly and effectively what it is you are offering and why it offers value.
Q: What areas of the fintech segment are most promising for adoption of blockchain-based solutions?
A: Blockchain works for measuring micro transfers of value, so payments were and still are a natural starting point. After that, we are already seeing many other applications, such as currency, insurtech, wealthtech, regtech, and much, much more. If you can measure it, then you can probably put it on the blockchain, and possibly also tokenize it, too.
Q: Could you talk a little about 7Seconds’ blockchain solution? What are its main benefits?
A: 7Seconds’ blockchain solution has the potential to become a game-change in the global POS lending industry as it will facilitate transparency and efficiency. With an immutable blockchain data base of loan applicants’ credit records, banks will no longer have to request information from credit bureaus and other providers. In addition, a lender will only pay for information on the borrower, to whom it actually issues a loan, rather than for information on all potential borrowers who submit applications to multiple lenders, as it is the case now. Banks’ reduced spending on credit record information will lead to reducing interest rates they charge on loans, which will benefit buyers, the retail industry and thus the entire global economy.
Q: Do you see any challenges in development/application of 7Seconds’ solution? If so, what are they?
A: There could be some challenges on the technology side, as blockchain is still new and some issues are still unresolved. Plus, there could be resistance from the credit bureau industry, as 7Seconds’ solution may eventually make credit records bureaus obsolete. But those doesn’t look like insurmountable challenges.
