Multiversum: A State of the Foundation Address by the President
As Digital Leader of the World Economic Forum, I am interested in blockchain from an institutional and governance point of view. This is a position I hold together with others in various think-tanks, international institutions, non-profit organizations, NGOs and social businesses since deciding to sell my companies and devoting myself to pro-bono activities useful to the society in which we live. I am a critic of modern capitalism, which I prefer to study and modify from within — seen as a friend, rather than fighting from the outside. Some general information about my activities can be found on my LinkedIn profile and Facebook, while specific blockchain activity can be gleaned from my most recent interview on Cointelegraph, one of the industry’s leading publication platform.
In January of this year, I discovered — with great interest — a project envisioned by Andrea Taini called Multiversum. I had known Taini for some time as a resident in Budapest due to his proximity to some of the offices of the various institutions I collaborated with.
Multiversum has proposed itself from the beginning as a very ambitious and revolutionary project, exactly what blockchain technology is sorely in need of. In addition, it went towards the solution of the main environmental concerns (such as the excessive use of energy, as well as the waste and pollution in the continuous race to replace hardware with increasingly powerful machines and servers), topics very close to my social commitment. Following a review of the whitepaper and an initial evaluation of the feasibility with the help of other colleagues at the WEF, I enthusiastically accepted the role of advisor in the project.
Undoubtibly, Multiversum had a lot of positive attributes. But it wasn’t without its limitations, the most worrisome being the speed at which the whole apparatus for the ICO put together, slapped together from an excessively heterogenous team for speed rather than quality and compatibility. This wasn’t a problem until the first part of the event had been successfully conducted. Then, the great gulf in experience, objectives, skills and competencies reared its ugly head, leading to general confusion, a lack of coordination, and stagnancy as they either couldn’t agree on what and how to operate, or went rogue with their own ideals. Without orderly management, Multiversum suffered, hanging in development limbo.
Seeing the situation grind to a standstill, I thought to help the whole group, inviting everyone to take a step back, trying to help everyone to agree on the steps to be taken, which for both the hectic activities during the ICO and subsequently protracted misunderstandings, had not been developed.
With clamours of duplicity by stakeholders and having a lot of heart in the project that can definitely lead to a significant advancement of blockchain technology, while boasting the environmental impact of the technology, I agreed to do the only thing capable of calming this troubled water — lend append my name to its future. Lending your name to something in troubled times is never an easy choice to make. There is always a lurking risk of reputation that may undo all you’ve spent building. However, Multiversum’s latent potential was too great to let die in some needless squabble and attendant confusion.
Moving from an external advisor to an actor on the front line, the first commitment was to simplify the structure both from an organizational and a cost standpoint (considering the collapse of ETH that cut the value of the collection to a quarter), and placing the foundation in Budapest (simple and cheap, at a cost that is a fraction of what would be spent in Malta). The physical location of the foundation was after a series of deliberations and review of the estimates.
Despite various legal, notary and management costs already sunk into locating the foundation in Malta, I advised the team to can it and start from scratch spending less and holding the office close to at least one of the founders. As the Andrea Taini explained to me, Belarus was chosen as the first European country to adopt legislation (and not simple indications and/or directives) concerning ICOs and cryptocurrencies, which would have guaranteed legal and operational peace of mind. Unfortunately, the special legislation was limited to the companies residing in the HTP (Hi-Tech Park). Other locations have to wait till the end of 2018, a timeframe that simply wasn’t feasible with Multiversum development plan. My suggestion was simple; acquire an already existing and easy to manage company at low cost, ideally close to the foundation.
Regarding this development, the foundation (Multiversum BC Foundation, Multiversum BC Alapitvány in Hungarian), was finally established on October 6, 2018, and now awaiting registration by the court, I gladly accepted the role to be the president of the board and bring my wealth of experiences to bear on the project’s future. The foundation, at my suggestion, opened its primary bank account at the Magnet Bank, the Hungarian bank which is part of the ethical banking movement.
This is the beginning of a series of late, but finally in process steps, necessary to give structure, order and organization to this ambitious, expansive, and revolutionary initiative in blockchain technology.
The Foundation’s configuration is as follows:
Founders: Andrea Taini, Elio Riba.
Foundation Board President: Michele Orzan.
Board: Andrea Taini, Elio Riba, Michele Orzan, Alberto Manassero, Luigi Gallareto.
In the meantime, I am also working on creating synergetic partnerships and collaborations to tap into the utility and values of the project, some of which are at an advanced stage of negotiation. Most of these proposals are confidential at the moment and cannot be divulged. However, suffice to say that they bring a higher level of real-world application to the project than initially planned.
