Big Ideas That Might Change The World: “We can create an environment where people can earn a minimum standard of living just by choosing to exist in this blockchain ecosystem” with Rob Viglione of Horizen
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
I believe if we are successful and these blockchain ecosystems can scale to a point where people have a meaningful amount of their own generated data, that they are in control of and can choose to monetize, we can create an environment where people can earn this minimum standard of living just by choosing to exist in this ecosystem. The whole point behind blockchain is that the users own the ecosystem, they create the infrastructure by choosing to participate. If we are successful in this, and we can create an environment where people can earn, for example $100 per month, this is the difference between people starving or not in some parts of the world. Being able to make that difference is the highest marginal impact that we can achieve.
As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Rob Viglione. Rob is CEO and Co-Founder of Horizen, a blockchain technology platform providing community-driven solutions that protect a person’s data privacy, security and protection of users’ digital footprints. Viglione’s prolific career spans various disciplines that allow him to provide valuable direction for Horizen. Formally a trained physicist, mathematician, and military officer, his experience working on satellite radar, space launch vehicles, and combat support intelligence informed much of his understanding of how blockchain technology could change the trajectory of global societies. In addition to co-founding and serving as CEO of Horizen, Viglione contributed to several early crypto projects, including being a Zclassic core team member, supporting the Bitshares project, and running BlockPay’s U.S. and Canada Ambassador program. Viglione holds his Bachelor of Physics and Actuarial Mathematics from Binghamton University, an MBA in Finance & Marketing from Loyola Marymount University, and is a PhD candidate in finance at the University of South Carolina where he researches cryptocurrency and teaches a class on blockchain in finance. In addition to leading the Horizen team, Viglione is a passionate blockchain tech speaker and educator and resides with his family in Panama.
Thank you so much for joining us, Rob! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I grew up in Long Island, New York and spent much of my childhood engrossed in science and mathematics, spending my free time pouring through physics and chemistry books. In addition to these early passions, I became fascinated with the idea of becoming a soldier, a pairing that would dictate the trajectory of my professional journey.
I continued my studies for science and math in 2001 at Binghamton University where I majored in physics. Although I started my military career in the Army ROTC at Binghamton, I joined the Air Force as a data scientist, combining my passion of public service and physics in 2003.
I spent several years in the Air Force as an analyst, researcher, and project manager, during which time my experiences provided me with insight into both the useful aspects as well as darker sides of how personal data could be utilized. During my time in the military I was deployed to Afghanistan to assist multiple branches of the US armed forces in their intelligence efforts. These experiences would later motivate me to build privacy technologies as I entered into the blockchain tech space.
When I first encountered blockchain in 2014, I recognized a fascinating new tool with enormous potential to return privacy protections of personal data that the modern internet had stripped away. Big data had inserted algorithms and tracking mechanisms into every online interaction, so frustrated by this betrayal of the freedom the internet was supposed to offer, I decided to do something. In 2017, I founded Horizen with Rolf Versluis.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I first deployed to Afghanistan in 2013 as a data scientist for the U.S. Army. The experience forever changed my understanding of how war impacts a community and, particularly, how it impacts individuals. It was around this time that I discovered the world of cryptocurrency and, almost immediately, I became captivated by its ability to offer financial stability to those in the developing world. I believed then, and still believe now, that cryptocurrency holds extraordinary potential for individuals seeking refuge from the throes of rampant market volatility — so much so that I began teaching a “Bitcoin 101” class to Afghan citizens who lived around the military base. In my opinion, individuals shouldn’t be restricted from participating in the global, rules-based economy simply due to political turmoil that’s beyond their control. Using cryptocurrency, I believe we may finally be able to lower many of these barriers to entry, not only encouraging, but incentivizing, hard-working people to be active members of the local and global economies
Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?
One big idea is establishing a universal basic income through data ownership. For example, right now, Horizen’s ZEN Faucet is being flooded with excited new users from Bangladesh, Turkey, and Russia. The ZEN Faucet is an easy and risk-free way to join the Horizen ecosystem and receive micropayments in ZEN. The high participation shows how meaningful this system of payments can be throughout the world, and proves to me that we need to take a deeper look into digital economies.
Education is necessary for ideas to spread. Horizen Academy is a free educational platform for sharing our team’s knowledge and passion for blockchain technology and cryptocurrency with everyone. Creating a universal basic income system and coupling it with education will enact radical usability and widespread blockchain adoption. Eventually, this idea would develop an environment where people can contribute and build on the technology they’ve learned about, creating a funnel of innovation built around incentives and referrals. Providing people with a little bit of money goes a long way.
How do you think this will change the world?
I believe if we are successful and these blockchain ecosystems can scale to a point where people have a meaningful amount of their own generated data, that they are in control of and can choose to monetize, we can create an environment where people can earn this minimum standard of living just by choosing to exist in this ecosystem. The whole point behind blockchain is that the users own the ecosystem, they create the infrastructure by choosing to participate. If we are successful in this, and we can create an environment where people can earn, for example $100 per month, this is the difference between people starving or not in some parts of the world. Being able to make that difference is the highest marginal impact that we can achieve.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?
If this idea is massively successful, we would be disintermediating the way that business is done right now. It could disrupt various business models that in many ways still work: banking systems, capital markets, Facebook, Twitter. These businesses implemented endogenous growth mechanisms that captured enormous economic reward, but it was done by creating walled gardens and harvesting user data. If we were to disrupt these business models but not provide the same endogenous growth engine, we could potentially kill innovation. However, I believe this is far from reality, as new growth mechanisms and different approaches to innovation would surely stem from this user-driven universal income ecosystem.
With that said, another potential drawback could be the lack of adequate privacy measures or an environment that is too transparent. The more users, the more engagement, the more life is put onto a blockchain, a distributed ledger, the more privacy is needed. You wouldn’t want to trigger an unintended big brother consequence or expose vulnerabilities to hackers.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?
I first learned about Bitcoin early this decade and was fascinated from a philosophical perspective. The idea of separating money and state was a tremendously interesting concept. While deployed in Afghanistan, I saw the practical applications of cryptocurrencies and their ability to provide important financial services to people in less developed parts of the world. As part of this interest, I began teaching “Bitcoin 101” classes to Afghan citizens who worked around the U.S. military base.
What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?
For Horizen to lead this idea to widespread adoption, we need our sidechain technology, which launches on October 21, 2019, to mature.
Launching sidechains enables improvements to scalability, latency, throughput and safety on the existing Horizen blockchain system without actually changing the system itself. The basic idea is simple yet powerful: construct a parallel chain (sidechain) with whatever features are needed and provide a way to transfer value, or coins, between those chains.
Our tech has to be robust and attractive enough that application developers want to use it and build on it.
More developers means a better experience for users, who will then be able to create their own sidechain channels to safely monetize their personal information. With more time and feedback from users, once the technology launches, we will be able to work towards widespread adoption of this idea.
Many of today’s developers are self-taught, but for the next generation we need to see more code in the classroom to ensure widespread adoption. I currently teach university courses on blockchain, and again and again I’m struck by the enthusiasm, inventiveness, and curiosity of my students. I only wish that more schools offered courses. I have no doubt that in a few years they will.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. I wish someone would have told me that the crypto market was going to crash in 2018. Don’t we all?!
2. When I founded Horizen (formerly known as Zencash), back in May of 2017, I always had a sense of urgency. I felt it was imperative to get things done quickly. I wish I had slowed down a bit, as I now value quality over speed.
3. I wish I had dedicated more time to onboarding and employee development. Your staff is an extension of you, the people representing your brand and carrying out your mission. I’ve realized the enormous reward and value that comes from investing in your staff’s knowledge, development and growth over time. While I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by colleagues who are extremely intelligent, innovative and truly passionate about blockchain technology and its role in human welfare, I strive to expand on the resources and time dedicated to their growth every day.
4. I’m the CEO of Horizen, but that’s not my most important job. I’m also a husband and a father, and balancing the personal and the professional is a challenge, especially when our team is dispersed all across the globe, so you have to throw travel into the mix. The best approach I’ve taken, aligning both the personal and the professional: my wife and I bring our daughter — known as “Zen Baby” on Twitter — to all our overseas business trips. As do most staff with small children, some have even started teaching their kids how to set up Horizen nodes!
5. I wish someone had stressed the importance of thinking global. Most entrepreneurs start their businesses thinking local, but the blockchain industry is focused on solving global problems and therefore the world is our marketplace. We now have Horizen Ambassadors in more than a dozen countries around the world. I’ve been privileged to collaborate with idealists on six continents. Each market is unique, and therefore the case for Horizen varies from city to city and country to country.
The future of work is a common theme. What can one do to “future proof” their career?
People need to recognize their career is not a static thing, but is extremely dynamic. It’s important to adopt a mindset of continuous personal and professional growth. People should also be perpetually curious and constantly improving their skillset by identifying problems that they can figure out how to solve. With the internet, you have access to more knowledge than any generation in history. With the mobile revolution, all that knowledge is in your pocket. Take advantage: Devote fifteen minutes of every day to an affordable app like Blinkist and see what a difference it makes. You’ll hold new ideas, have new perspectives, and be better at cocktail parties.
Based on the future trends in your industry, if you had a million dollars, what would you invest in?
There is this mental barrier for a lot of people around blockchain technology. I believe that the best way to jump that hurdle is through education, specifically hands-on educational tools. I would invest in educating people about how blockchain works, so they can better understand the coming paradigm shift. Blockchain is truly something that is going to change the world. To that end, we’ve partnered with University of Salerno in Italy and Universidad De Monterrey in Mexico to offer hands-on education.
Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?
I truly believe in the golden rule: treat everyone with the same respect that you hope to receive.
Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?
The idea of grit is absolutely critical. Especially within the volatile crypto industry, we’ve all been through the wringer, and experienced many ups and downs. The most important success habit is having the mentality of never giving up, and constantly moving forward. On the micro level, regardless of any roadblocks or how beat down you’re feeling you just have to get up and make some progress every single day.
Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
I would share a three-point elevator pitch. One: Horizen is a high-quality platform, with one of the best Fundamental Crypto Asset Scores. Two: Our innovative sidechain tech is going to market this month and will help businesses around the world grow and scale. Three: We’re growing exponentially, with 5,000 new users a day. Some of those users are from as far afield as Russia and Bangladesh. We’re a global project for a global future.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can follow me on Twitter @robviglione. Follow Horizen on Twitter @horizenglobal and Instagram @horizenglobal, and learn more about Horizen here.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
