GIN and Juiced — Blockstake chats with Emil Muthu, co-founder of the GIN Platform
The Masternode Spotlight / #1
When the boom is on, you can look for gold or you can sell pickaxes. But now it’s 2018 and you can also buy GIN.
We believe masternodes and the bonded validator model represent an important evolution in blockchain networks, especially as projects look for ways to thwart 51% attacks and promote a healthy, decentralized network (For more on this see: The Masternode Manifesto)
So what is GIN? In the simplest terms, the GIN platform is a turnkey, one-click masternode hosting solution that removes the technical hassle of not just setting up, but also maintaining your masternode.
As masternode projects evolve staying on top of them, updating wallets, restarting nodes, tracking block rewards etc. becomes a huge time sink. So even for the technically savy, GIN is still a huge value add.
Factor in their on-demand customer service (seriously — it makes us weep), and GIN has perfectly positioned itself to ride the wave of new investors entering the masternode space while appealing to those already here.
Full disclosure: we own it. This also an interview, not investment advice so please DYOR.
There’s a few other notable MN platform projects, like Gentarium and Mano, who also offer cold-wallet setup and hosting solutions, but to date, GIN continues to be the industry leader.
At the time of this article, the GIN platform is hosting ~4200 nodes, which means their daily active users are higher than the most widely used Ethereum dApps.
This fact, plus a market cap of $12.6M, a real use case, and a team of veteran tech entrepreneurs means this project has plenty of upside.
A few weeks ago we connected with GIN CEO, Emil Muthu, to pick his brain and have a friendly chat.
We’re always interested to know how people find their way into crypto so let’s start there.
I came to crypto through my friend and colleague, Dragos Badea. He had just discovered ETH, and explained to me all the potential that ETH and DAO could bring to the market. Soon after I decided to invest a small part of my high-risk fund into ETH.
So how did you and Dragos come to identify an opportunity for masternode hosting?
After getting on the bandwagon, I kept a close eye on new things happening in the market. In our tech community, made up of developers, project managers, and marketing people, crypto was already the word of the day… so it didn’t take a lot of time for us to hear about masternodes.
We noticed an interesting phenomenon: a lot of my colleagues were interested in setting running masternodes, but only a few had the technical knowledge to do it. Even if the process was not very complicated in itself, the simple friction generated by something new was limiting the early adoption of masternodes in a big way.
Bridging the gap between need / demand and creating a solution was simple from this point on.
The main idea behind was to democratize the masternode crypto technology– to provide access to any crypto enthusiast around the world with a trusted, reliable, and predictable solution to create, monitor, and make profits out of their masternodes.
Democratizing masternodes…is that why you made a decision not to sell GIN to large investors at a discount?
Correct. We had offers around $15 USD/GIN in the beginning and we didn’t take it. We’d rather sell equity in the company instead of selling GIN. The coin itself is the pillar of a great community formed around masternode investing and it grows on itself. Trust is being built by serious businesses like ours and we don’t want to jeopardize that.
It also goes without saying that selling at that price, given our roadmap, limited market cap, and the increased usage of our coin would be a mistake. Too much of an opportunity cost then and it still is.
We’re really impressed by the GIN community with non-paid members stepping into leadership roles and evangelizing the brand. How have you found getting to interact regularly with your community on a regular basis through channels like Discord?
It’s amazing. Also slightly addictive. I remember the early days of February when we were just starting. I was bringing my phone with me while I was playing with my kids and I was trying to respond to messages in between card game turns.
It wasn’t easy but was very rewarding for all of us. Although I’m not always connected 24/7, this type of close feedback did help us steer the product much closer to the real needs of GIN platform users.
It’s very different than a traditional business isn’t it?
Oh yeah.
What are some other things you’ve found that are different?
The biggest difference is that everything runs at about 10x the speed of normal businesses. This is not a thing that we expected.
But it’s a brave new world and we’re moving with it. That said, we’re try to keep promises and deadlines realistic.
One big announcement was your incorporation in the UK. What influenced that decision?
The UK provided for a clear and stable legal system, even in this nascent world of crypto finance and related services.
Many legislatures are somehow undecided in their vision for crypto. A regulator who understands the business needs and trends of this frontier is a must. FCA seems to do well in this area — they developed a sandbox program and seem to understand crypto better than other regulators.
Also, UK fintech bridges allow enhanced cooperation for the licensing and registration of branches in other jurisdictions like Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, etc.
Lastly, the UK makes it easier to do business and develop strategic partnerships in the areas of Finance, IT, and Legal. Many fintech companies are headquartered in London. As we’re here for the long run, synergies and community are enhanced thanks to London’s fertile land of ideas and new blockchain projects. We did this for the users and the community as a whole as well. The more reputable the jurisdiction where the activity is performed, the better protected the investment and the consumers of GIN IT services.
We’re starting to see numerous other MN Hosting platforms enter the picture. How will you keep GIN competitive and differentiated?
It’s a pretty simple answer:
Number one is having 100% alignment with the law and the compliance regulations. This is why, we have brought on the board of the company, our Chief Legal Officer. We aim to grow a business model that ensures that the GIN Platform reaches as many crypto enthusiasts as possible. Compliance with the laws relates to building trust with our users. Consumers are protected, when the business is legit. This goes for any business.
For the crypto veterans that might raise an eyebrow — but privacy is still an important aspect of our business. As a EU incorporated IT solution company, we respect EU rules on data and privacy. We do not collect data against their privacy rights and other interests and we were not requested to do so. At the end of the day, we provide the technology to build their own investments. The legislation here is clear, which again was an important factor for choosing the UK. Our legal model safeguards the way users deploy masternodes and how we operate in an area where one can see projects that go bust or where their value proposition is never attained.
The second reason is a little more nuanced. All the competitors comes at the market in their own way. We believe that our model — great service, full transparency, no hassle, 1-click masternodes — will continue to generate positive momentum and new business well into the future.
This is our credo. We delivered and will continue to do so as the team is made from strong, seasoned entrepreneurs and professionals, who believe in the new wave of blockchain tech and a new era for global finance.
Let’s talk about the overall market for a second. We haven’t seen a lot of institutional interest in masternode projects outside of Dash. Any conversations you’ve had or potential partnerships you’d like to mention?
It is a very good question and highly relevant. As mentioned our motto is first deliver than praise. Partnerships are paramount and will play a big role in the development of GIN and the masternode ecosystem.
As soon as things will become official around these plans, you and our community will be among the first to know.
That’s fair. Outside of GIN — are their any specific projects or themes you anticipate will lead the pack over the next 12–18 months?
I believe that the next wave of value unlocking on the crypto markets will be brought by oracles and other concepts that bring blockchain technology usage next to real-world applications, other than value transfer…But probably 18 months is not a big enough timeframe for this.
Projects that also use the masternode concept to deliver real services, other than locking away a part of the coin supply, have a bright future in my opinion.
I bet more than a few of those are going to come out of Eastern Europe. That seems to be a hotbed for crypto innovation. Why is that?
Eastern Europe has a lot of things that make it a perfect place to start a Crypto venture. I’ll try to be brief, but it’s nice when your homeland gets a shout out.
The talent pool is huge out here — The Central and Eastern Europe education model was based on science: mathematics, physics, cybernetics, and IT. This created a melting pot of tech knowledge to develop and mature during the last 20 years. As for the Romanians (my country), people used to say the second spoken language in Silicon Valley was Romanian.
Next I’d say is that our education system doesn’t actively promote entrepreneurship. Sounds backwards but this is an advantage because it means entrepreneurs from other countries are mostly playing by the book. Out here, we’re still writing it.
Romanians tend to be motivated problem solvers and always think in terms of borderless business. Add that we’re part of the EU, alongside other pioneers of token legislation — such as Estonia — and you have the “Molotov Cocktail” for crypto innovation.
Emil, thanks so much for taking time to chat. Any upcoming conferences or opportunities to meet the team?
We have just participated to a conference in London on September 18. Blockchain and token-related entrepreneurs, financiers and lawyers present there were very interested in the potential use of masternodes and GIN. We are still organizing our agenda for the next months, however, we plan to move in the direction of mass adoption and make GIN platform known to the world.
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So there you have it. Follow us on medium and @Blockstake on Twitter for more exclusive interviews. Let us know any projects you’d like us to consider next.
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Blockstake is a proof of stake mining company and masternode operator. For more information visit www.blockstake.io. For press or media inquiries please contact earl@blockstake.io
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation to sell shares or securities in Blockstake, GIN, or any related or associated company. Any such offer or solicitation for the Blockstake or GIN will be made only by means of their respective confidential Offering Memorandums and in accordance with the terms of all applicable securities and other laws. None of the information or analyses presented are intended to form the basis for any investment decision, and no specific recommendations are intended. Accordingly this release does not constitute investment advice or counsel or solicitation for investment in any security. This release does not constitute or form part of, and should not be construed as, any offer for sale or subscription of, or any invitation to offer to buy or subscribe for, any securities, nor should it or any part of it form the basis of, or be relied on in any connection with, any contract or commitment whatsoever. Blockstake and GIN expressly disclaim any and all responsibility for any direct or consequential loss or damage of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from: (i) reliance on any information contained in this, (ii) any error, omission or inaccuracy in any such information or (iii) any action resulting therefrom.
