CREDITS fundamentals are exactly what I was looking for.
We have spoken to Nitin Gaur, Director at IBM Blockchain Labs and a member of CREDITS Advisory Board on why he is supporting the project.
Can you please tell us how you found out about blockchain technology and how your interest grew over time?
Nitin: During my tenure as the CTO of mobile payments for IBM, I helped match over 60 different payment processors and ecosystem players around the globe, from payment networks to enterprises and other entities involved directly or indirectly with payment processing. Bitcoin and blockchain seemed to pop up in every conversation, so I went back to in-depth research on the topic. Bitcoin was in the third year of its evolution then, and we were beginning to see the seriousness of blockchain technology as well as its potential threat to enterprises. At that time, the Silk Road [the first online darknet market] and many other fraudulent elements were working in that space and posing a threat. So, we had to figure out the right way to address payments from the enterprise perspective. As you can imagine, enterprises often have a negative view of new technology at first, because they want certainty. These ideas were the entry point to blockchain for me.
How do you think blockchain is going to evolve? Which industries are going to be affected the most, and how will it happen?
Nitin: It’s interesting you ask that because I’ve actually just written a blog post on this. I draw an analogy between the internet and blockchain, which is meant to be a network of value in the moment of value creation. I think, of course, that there is a divide. The internet is used for information transfer and also for value transfer, which leads to the existing challenges of batch processes involved in moving the things of value.
Everything we do in blockchain starts and ends with some additional asset — whether it’s a digital asset or the manifestation of a physical asset that’s digitized or tokenized, or a dematerialized app. Whatever we do in blockchain has to create value. The future I envision has a distinct separation between blockchain and the internet because the latter was meant for information consumption. Blockchain, in turn, is meant for value consumption, a movement of value in a trusted way. I think financial services is among the most prospective industries for blockchain.
How do you personally choose the projects that you contribute to? What attracted you to CREDITS, for example?
Nitin: I go with fundamentals. Many Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) that I talk to don’t really have an understanding of what business problems they’re solving. They don’t have the history in that space, and you can’t address a business problem without understanding what it is. I’m interested in attacking the real business problems that exist today, and not simply applying blockchain to get attention and gain momentum. I look at the economics of the project, an ecosystem to join; I evaluate the business model around it and of course the technology fundamentals being applied.
My interest in CREDITS is based on scalability and economic viability to provide solutions to industrial problems at scale and with predictable costs. Today, many blockchain networks are neither scalable nor economically viable, which in turn implies they cannot be meaningfully used for transactions. I think CREDITS fundamentally solves these challenges. There’s the right mind-set and application of the technology to create the fundamental network. That is what attracted me.
How did you find out about CREDITS?
Nitin: I spend hours every morning updating myself on industry news and looking for meaningful innovation and work in the world. One day, somebody reached out to me and asked if I had looked into CREDITS. After doing some research, I was invited to be an advisor on this. I agreed, because CREDITS fundamentals were exactly what I was looking for.
Speaking of these game-changing projects that you come across over the course of your research, how many of them do you find interesting and worthwhile?
Nitin: Less than 1 percent. The really interesting projects are the business or technology models that have a prolonged potential. Some of the projects I come across might not have a fully outlined technology but do have a good business idea that will go very far. If you’re trying to apply blockchain, you need a sound understanding of how it contributes to the economy. Quite a lot of the projects I come across have sound technology and a sound business model; however, they are not in compliance with the regulatory frameworks.
What’s your life outside of blockchain like?
Nitin: I have a 14-year-old son, and he is into, believe it or not, cryptocurrencies. I’m an outdoors guy, and I spend a lot of time traveling for business. I’m fortunate to have that experience, and I try to make the best of my travels. I spend time absorbing the culture and local cuisines of every country that I visit.
