Interview with BLUE: building a security layer for crypto.
The Dutch crypto site www.cryptohelden.nl conducted an interview with Uni Banker, the CEO of BLUE. A new project that is building an impressive tool set to secure the crypto age.
This is a full transcript of the interview in English so that non-Dutch speaking people can also read about what Uni Banker has to say. Not only about what BLUE is trying to achieve, but also on how a young crypto project is run, how exchanges conduct business and the state of ICO’s.
“Every day thousands of people have their funds stolen or lost.”
You’re going to secure crypto by acting as a “scam token scanner” for wallets, correct?
“We prevent users from downloading scam tokens, as well as provide other security features such as detecting phishing addresses, bad addresses, and stopping the user inside the wallet. Later this year we’ll also be announcing a system that introduces decentralized 2-factor-authentication to Ethereum. So for the first time, users will not lose funds even if their private key is lost. This is not just for our wallet, but any wallet that uses our SDK (Software Development Kit)”
Why is such a solution needed?
“Every day thousands of people have their funds stolen or lost due to these attacks. Either a private key is lost, a phisher steals it, or a user simply buys in to a token that has infinite minting where the developer can simply dump the market on these unsuspecting consumers. By identifying these risks within the wallet, we’re able to very effectively stop much of this activity and help protect user’s funds.”
If someone wants to send me token X, what’s the worst thing that can happen to me?
“Someone sending you a token isn’t usually a threat. The threat is buying a bad token and then seeing it’s value disappear because of actions performed by the developer. For example some ICOs will raise funds for a token, and then simply not produce a working product.”
“Without security, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies will not thrive.”
The BLUE SDK can be integrated into any wallet. Obviously exchanges are a target group for your business. Anything else?
“We’re also interested in working with e-commerce sites. Helping them identify users, prevent fraud, and process complicated things such as refunds are critical to larger adoption in online sales.”
Do you see a make or break event coming up for BLUE? From a business and/or technology point of view.
“Probably the biggest make or break thing is just whether we get the adoption of our services. But look, if we fail to see adoption then we will modify our offerings and re-imagine our product until it *is* getting adoption. We are here to solve a problem, and until that problem is being solved for the majority of crypto users in the world, we won’t stop.”
In two years, BLUE will be…..
“In two years my vision is that BLUE will be the only decentralized solution to the problems we see in crypto today. Not only because it is the safest payment system, but it is the easiest payment system to use in the world, both for consumers using our wallet, and for developers integrating with our systems.”
What made you decide to start the BLUE project?
“I started on BLUE because without security, I don’t believe cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies can truly thrive. If there is a large risk of theft or loss of funds in this system, then we can’t expect the typical person to use it. This is about building a security layer because it is what we need in the industry right now.”
“Less than 100 people in the world are capable of building this solution.”
What’s the most challenging aspect of this project, technology wise?
“The most challenging aspect of this project is that there are so many attack vectors for hackers to take advantage of Ethereum wallets. Identifying all these vectors and building easy to use solutions for other wallet makers is no easy, especially since every wallet uses a different code base and works slightly differently. It’s quite easy to build an Ethereum wallet, but it’s extremely difficult to build a safe one.”
How many other people are able to do what BLUE is doing?
“There are many people who have either blockchain or financial security engineering experience in the world, but the problem is most teams do not have both. I have no real way of telling you an exact answer, but I imagine it’s less than 100 people in the world who are capable of building this solution.
This is part of why we don’t like most ICOs, they design and promise products that can only be built by a handful of people, and those people aren’t going to be available for the work. Raising money isn’t the best way to build a blockchain company; learning is.”
The team has not disclosed its identity as of yet. Main reason for this is that BLUE could stir up bad blood with a lot of other crypto projects by calling out scams and threats. Has that made it harder to convince people to invest in BLUE?
“We’re not trying to get people to invest in BLUE, we just want our community to grow and for people to use our products. If we are producing useful working solutions that people are willing to pay for, then we are doing our job. If someone doesn’t want to use our software because some of us are anonymous, I can respect that. There are so many scams out there that I can’t blame anyone for being skeptical. What I will say though is that it’s in the spirit of crypto to be anonymous, even Satoshi is anonymous, and it makes Bitcoin stronger.”
Due to this secrecy, a lot of rumors have been going around about yourself. Can you comment on them:
- You have worked for VISA
- You have integrated Apple Pay with VISA
- You have worked closely with Steve Jobs on conceptualizing iCloud
- You are on the AI board of Microsoft
“I’ve worked with VISA, but was not directly involved in Apple Pay. I worked with the team producing banking software for their customers, which involves things such as authenticating users with 2FA, using fingerprint/facial recognition scanners, and leading the team responsible for build and deploying these systems.
I did not work closely with Steve Jobs.
I am on the AI board of Microsoft and work with a small team of folks to help guide the product vision for machine learning systems there.”
“Building things from the ground up is what I love to do, and it’s what I’m good at.”
Is BLUE your first project / start-up that you’ve founded?
“No, I’ve founded several businesses. Almost a decade ago I built my first software company who produced software used by millions of people. We had a team of around 30 at one point working on a variety of products. I’ve been involved in a number of startups, several with very real successes, through white label offerings, mass adoption, and sales of the businesses.”
What are the risks involved personally for you to leave your “office job” and do this?
“There is always the financial risk of failure, but I’ve always been a risk taker. I’ve worked a few full-time jobs and never enjoyed working for someone else’s company. So I don’t see this as a significantly different risk than I’ve been taking most of my career. Building things from the ground up is what I love to do, and it’s what I’m good at.”
What does the day to day look like for a young crypto project such as BLUE?
“We are probably a little different from most young crypto projects because we have so much industry experience. Our day looks very similar to any software company. We have our stand-up meetings where we discuss the goals of everyone on the team together, identify any issues that would prevent us from completing those goals, and then separate in to groups to work through those issues. Every week we have a longer meeting where we review the higher level objectives, and communicate any news that may impact our development schedules. This is all pretty systematic, and allows us to move very fast.”
“ Remote working not only contributes to our overall efficiency, it improves the quality of life and happiness of the team.”
The team consists of 10 people, correct? How do you pay them?
“We currently do not pay anyone in USD, we are largely self funded. Our team members are very successful in their careers already and don’t have a strong need to be paid on a regular basis. We do have some people who help us out with odd jobs from time to time who are paid in their preferred format, but most of the team simply works together knowing that we are growing a profit-generating business.”
The team works remote. Do you feel that’s an efficient way of working?
“I think remote work is the most efficient approach. We have people in different time zones, some who like to work nights, some who work sporadically throughout the day, and being able to work from wherever they want and whenever they want not only contributes to our overall efficiency, but it improves the quality of life and happiness of the team. This can’t be understated enough, if people are happy with their working situation, they will produce better work, no contest.”
What technology do you guys use (hardware, server, software)?
“We use a combination of technologies, our backend largely driven by micro-services, with our front-end and components of our SDK are built in a modular fashions with custom NPM modules. Our blockchain analysis is based on a modified version of Geth, the Go Ethereum implementation. As we continue to open source our work this will all be much more transparent.
As far as hardware goes, because our solution is decentralized we don’t have much of a need for hardware. We do have a backend that does some caching and analysis that makes our SDK faster, those are simple cloud machines. If those didn’t exist, our software would still function, just a bit slower. We believe it’s important to always allow for a fallback to kick in if some central server isn’t available, this is a big motivator of our software design philosophy.”
Is the blockchain technology needed for what Blue is building?
“The blockchain technology is inherently required, yes. If we weren’t to use blockchain tech or cryptocurrency, we would simply not be able to evaluate smart contracts on-chain. We wouldn’t be able to decentralize the 2FA offerings. Quite simply this is a blockchain solution and it can’t be built without the blockchain. If we tried, I imagine we would look something like a credit card processor for fiat.”
You are the founder of Blue and perhaps the most knowledgeable one in your field. That’s a big risk for investors. What if something were to happens with you…?
“I have an incredible team who all have a ton of knowledge in their respective fields and in the blockchain space in general. If something were to happen to me, I don’t think we would miss a beat. As a matter of fact, I would say half of our team have more experience in blockchain tech than I do, and because of our communication style, everyone is on top of every initiative we have. Without me, the project would continue, after perhaps only a brief delay driven by resource needs.”
“I am a strong believer in building working solutions over ICO’s.”
You’ve decided to do an Airdrop instead of an ICO. You could’ve easily raised $10 million. Why didn’t you go for that route?
“There are many reasons for this, but the biggest one is that I am a strong believer in building working solutions, and prioritizing this over fundraising. If what we are doing is valuable, then we are a profitable company, and have no need for a massive injection of funds.
I think in the future more projects will start as an airdrop, because this creates the right incentives for the team and for the community to help build and grow together, as opposed to simply collecting all these financial gains from the very beginning. Imagine if on the first day of college, you were given your diploma, how hard would you work on your coursework? This is what I mean when I talk about incentives.”
Lot’s of crypto enthusiasts are fanning over numerous Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) coming to the market. Is it really a lot better/secure than a centralized exchange than Binance or Coinbase?
“The problem with centralized exchanges is the single point of failure. This has happened with many large exchanges. Recently CoinCheck lost nearly $800M because of a flaw in their website.
The difference with a DEX is that they don’t store your coins as a custodian of those funds, so even if the DEX is somehow hacked, the user will still have their tokens.
The idea with any cryptocurrency is to remove the bankers in the middle, but here we are seeing exchanges acting a lot like bankers. Many centralized exchanges for example charge up to one million dollars simply to list a token or coin.
This should never be happening, and helps demonstrate the problem. Centralization takes away the freedom that decentralized currency is designed to create.”
Communities are important for crypto project. Has this dynamic changed the way you work?
“It has, we spend a lot more time working with our community leaders and communicating our message, values, and mission. Normally this is something we spend more time on internally, and let it manifest in our products. With crypto it’s important to regularly chat with everyone involved, and keep stirring the excitement over time so the community will grow.”
Do you feel an obligation to people that have invested in BLUE?
“We did not take on any investment, but I feel we are obligated to anyone who helps us in the community. We always think about how their efforts are going to contribute to this thing we build together, and we never want to fail them.”
No need to disclose your own crypto investments, but do you use certain criteria to judge a project with?
“I evaluate crypto projects on just two things. First, are they solving a problem? Second, is the team capable of producing a solution?
If the problem is well-defined and I agree it needs to be solved, then my due diligence largely comes from reading their code, reading their white paper, and trying to glean what I can about the programming talent and the general capacity of the team.
Many of the projects I’ve invested in I actually don’t know who the team is, but I can read their code and determine for myself if they have what it takes.”
Uni’s Personal Favorites:
- Programming language
“Go, then maybe Swift. I wish I got to use them both more often.” - App
“Maybe Twitter? I don’t use many apps 😊” - Book
“1Q84 by Murakami, but I have terrible taste in books because I usually just read non-fiction” - Movie
“Goodfellas.” - TV show
“The Office, I’ve re-watched that so many times.” - Music
“I’m a big music lover and it’s impossible to pick any single group or genre, I will just say I am a fan of creative music more than I am of popular music, although I can enjoy both.” - Sport
“Is Overwatch a sport?” - City
“Austin of course 😊” - Food
“Love a good po-boy.”
— — —
On the 12th of April, BLUE will publish their revised white paper and give a roadmap update.
Make sure to use the beta version of the BLUE wallet to secure your tokens. https://mywallet.blue/
For more info on BLUE: visit their site and follow the team on Twitter.
The BLUE token is currently being traded on CoinExhange, IDEX, EtherDelta and YoBit.