Meet the Team- Announcing Avia Kraft: Research Extraordinaire
Please help us in welcoming to the Coral team the incredible Avia Kraft!
We are incredibly grateful for Avia joining us after connecting with her at Silicon Valley Blockchain Society and immediately following that at our second signature CoralConnects event.
She’s extremely passionate about blockchain (and what we’re building at Coral Protocol) and has dedicated her time to working on a variety of research projects- from assisting with sales development processes to drafting thought leadership pieces around regulation and compliance in the blockchain industry.
To describe Avia in a nutshell, she is quite the ambitious, brilliant woman firing on so many cylinders! There are so many fascinating things about her — from living all over the world to her popular Youtube show she started as a child on model ponies to her experience handling all the legal documentation for her parents’ divorce. She will never cease to surprise you with the experiences she’s had!
Here’s a Q + A I had with Avia:
Q: Where did you first hear about blockchain technology?
A: “I first heard about blockchain technology in late 2017 from a friend who (at the time) worked out of an accelerator called Capital Factory with me in Austin. After a few weeks of hearing about cryptocurrencies, I found myself getting more curious about the highly technical jargon that kept coming up. To decipher what my friends were saying when they talked about stablecoins and ICOs, I began reading white papers. Then, I joined my university’s student blockchain organization. I started to meet founders in the space, and spoke with technical experts who were genuinely interested in helping me learn more. This gave me an appreciation not only for blockchain, but for the collaborative nature of one’s startup ecosystem as a whole.”
Q: Why/ how did you start getting involved with startups?
A: “Working so closely with startups showed me how intoxicating and exciting the entrepreneurial ecosystem could be. More importantly, seeing my friends start their own companies made me realize that I wanted a greater purpose, a driving mission of some sort. I wanted to start from nothing and build something. I realized that learning about emerging technology was all of those things to me — a passion, a hobby, and a pursuit of knowledge that I loved. To really know, though, I would need to put myself at the center of the startup world. So, with nothing more than my suitcase and laptop, I sold everything I owned and moved to San Francisco to finish my last year of college and work in blockchain technology.”
Q: Why are you excited about blockchain technology?
A: “I’m excited about blockchain because I believe it will absolutely shift our most basic approach to transparency, building products, and creating an ecosystem of freedom. However, in order to enable that ecosystem to grow, we first need to address two major problems that stand in the way of mass adoption — confusion and fear.”
Q: Why work with Coral Protocol out of the thousands of blockchain companies out there?
A: “I’m excited to work at Coral because I think that we’re building the most critical, foundational components of this ecosystem. Without safety, there is no transparency. Without transparency, there is no wide-scale adoption of blockchain. Not to mention, adding security will improve the lives of many in both the short and long-term by capping the culture of scamming. Generally speaking, the “confusion” part of this problem can be alleviated with a great product. Most people are willing to try something that’s faster, better, and cheaper when given the opportunity. However, when you go to a conference and ask people why they aren’t investing in the space more, you always hear about how “sketchy” it can be, or how “scammers” are everywhere. But what do those scammers look like, and what does “sketchy” even really mean?”
In addition to our Q + A, Avia described to me a recent article she read about Neuralink- Elon Musk’s new company credited with pioneering a model for massive social change and companies of the future.
Avia feels Coral Protocol is one of those organizations which will actually fit holistically into this model because it exists to make blockchain safe.
Avia explains to me,
“I’m excited about Coral because I believe in our sustainable business model, which is all about providing security against phishing schemes that take place on the Blockchain. The innovation? Making security easy-to-use and integrating into pre-existing platforms and/ or projects in development. Once there’s no more concern on behalf of the customer about whether or not blockchain is a legitimate and secure technology to use, the industry will be able to grow that much more quickly and aggressively. For Coral, it means an added layer of security and safety to the ecosystem. By assigning trust scores to wallet addresses, we’ve been able to minimize questionable transfers and fraud. Additionally, this funnel tracks the flow of illegally obtained tokens or fraudulent activity. It’s the first step toward practical, direct implementation of safety on the blockchain that people can use on a regular basis.”
Q: Since you’ve been around the blockchain space for a few years now, have you experienced any sort of scams?
A: “As someone who frequently attends conferences, hackathons, and local blockchain events in Austin and San Francisco (two major hubs for crypto innovation in the US), I quickly encountered many “sketchy” blockchain companies that initially made me question my interest in the space. While the majority of people in blockchain are absolutely incredible entrepreneurs, engineers, and innovators, I’ve also heard my fair share of horror stories. The most memorable came from a friend of mine, who mentioned that she’d recently sent $150 in Bitcoin to Elon Musk. Confused, I remember asking her why Elon Musk would need the Bitcoin anyway — and on that note, why he’d be raising it from the public. She laughed off my concern and mentioned that she’d sent nearly all her crypto to “Elon” over the past two weeks, thinking that if she was able to send enough, he’d either double her money in return or give her the opportunity to win a Tesla. Needless to say, she never saw the money again, and never got a Tesla out of it, either.”
Q: What other issues you have seen in the space and what are some potential solutions?
A: “Phishing scams aren’t the only manifestation of this culture in the ecosystem. In this article by The Verge, a striking lack of insight into the realities of ICO investment is even more evident through an interview series with Laura Shin, creator of the popular podcast Unchained, regarding how some of the most prominent coin offerings in the space have failed to actually materialize following their ICO rounds. In one example of these scams, she noted an experience in which one founder had personally invested in Telegram’s token offering, ‘Gram’ because they claimed to be building “… a blockchain-based apps and services ecosystem to take on Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants.” When asked if he felt that the company was really worth $850 million, the founder casually noted, “I don’t know… I didn’t do due diligence.”
Apparently, no one is completely safe from scammers, and even if you’re not doing an ICO, someone can still attempt a phishing scam on your behalf. I recently ran into another friend from Austin who told me about how an acquaintance’s company, Sangus.org (which was completely legitimate) suffered from an ICO scheme that someone had published in their name. Investors thought they were investing in Sangus and their product, but in reality, the money was being phished by an anonymous person who later took off with the ICO funds.
Unfortunately, these stories are not unusual. They happen everywhere, all the time, all around the world. Accordingly, broad strokes and regulatory crackdown aren’t the answers to making this ecosystem more credible and accessible. Small, integrated platform solutions will become the most effective measure against phishing schemes. Once a culture of honesty and security permeates the crypto community, it will be hard to return to the days where any wallet owner could pose as a celebrity and solicit funds from the public, or when any founder can launch an ICO and raise millions in funding without oversight.”
“Coral Protocol stands at the pinnacle of crypto’s first wave of security innovation, and I couldn’t be happier to be helping the team do it. As a result of the efforts, I believe we’ll see a drastic increase in mass adoption and institutional implementation of blockchain technology.”
For additional reading, look forward to a detailed article Avia has drafted around FinCEN regulatory requirements and blockchain. It’s a teaser/ condensed piece of her paper that will ultimately be released in a larger brief released by Coral Protocol soon!
Welcome to the Reef Avia!
