From Bitcoin Skeptic to Blockchain Startup Co-Founder
Jerry Ning is one of the co-founders of CyberVein. He has worked with his team to help people and businesses use their data more efficiently, profitably, and compliantly. Can you believe that he was once pretty skeptical about cryptocurrencies, and worked for a travel company as an analyst?
Skeptical Mining and Data Privacy Concerns
Jerry graduated with a degree in economics and statistics from Oregon State University. It was around that time when he started to learn more about blockchain technology and began to mine bitcoin in university lecture rooms for the very first time with a few of his classmates.
“I remember being skeptical about the whole bitcoin thing, but I had the time and resources, so I gave it a try.” Jerry laughed while shaking his head. “In hindsight, I regret that I didn’t mine more and keeping those bitcoin!”
During that time, he explored his interest in blockchain technology, researched it and the blockchain industry, and gained substantial knowledge of the technology and the industry. After graduation, he chose a job as a data analyst, which was related to his major.
“I joined Expedia as a data analyst. Every day, I come into contact with a lot of data, they include consumer behavior data, preference data, and some others. I can’t help but to wonder about data privacy.”
Through his work, Jerry realized that this data was filtered and refined into a very typical report of consumer behavior habits, and it was sold on a multi-dimensional market at a considerable price while users were unaware.
“I personally take care of my data. No extra information will be given unless it’s mandatory.” Jerry’s tone was one of sincerity. “I don’t even enable location services on my phone.”
Jerry was uncomfortable with these data privacy issues, even though he understood that businesses require such data to optimize their performances.
Blockchain Café?
Shortly after, he left Expedia and opened a café in Los Angeles and went on to successfully open four more cafés in that area. However, the problem of data privacy and security was still in his mind. With the knowledge he had learned about blockchain technology, he tried to combine blockchain and his cafés’ supply chain.
“I knew what blockchain could do, and I’m a fan of data security, data integrity, and social responsibility. I wanted to try this technology and see the difference it could make.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t go well due to a lack of human resources. It was impossible for him to manage the resources and implement the technology by himself.
Old Friends and New Possibilities
After some time, Jerry had a conversation with his childhood friend, Ansel, who had graduated from the University of Reading and actively participated in the wave of China’s “smart city” construction. Ansel had realized that in city management, the ownership of data would become the key to urban governance. At the same time, research about the quantity, hybridity, and safety of big data in cities would become an important issue in urban development.
“We shared our experiences and talked [about] a lot of things regarding data. Ansel was clear on his point of view on the whole data privacy issue, and he wants to solve it.”
During their conversation, Ansel understood that Jerry had concerns about data and its usage, and he told Jerry about his idea: a decentralized platform for data security and a brand-new data carrier to achieve the idea of data value definition and management. This message was a trigger for Jerry and officially led him into the blockchain industry.
“When I heard about this idea, what I had in mind was a simple picture of the ability of obtaining or giving massive amount of needed data and without the worry of any privacy issues,” Jerry said enthusiastically with a bright look on his face. “I felt that it could really solve the existing problem in the data industry.”
Jerry was very much in approval of this idea that data could be efficiently utilized without compromising privacy. It resolved his conflict about needing a massive amount of sensitive data and ensuring data privacy and could also eliminate the data silos that exist in many industries, opening a channel for that data to be utilized for the benefit of the world.
“It is true that sensitive data such as medical records, identity-related information, or bank-savings data are well protected. However, it is also true that these sensitive data can be very helpful in certain areas. There just has to be a way to use them compliantly.”
He thought this idea could genuinely change the way businesses and individuals interact with data and could be applied in almost any scenario requiring data. Eventually, Jerry went back to China, and Ansel introduced Jerry to Arthur, Lynn, and Jack. Together, they began the project of CyberVein.
During his time, in the early stages of CyberVein, Jerry actively participated in business development, meeting different people and spreading the idea of CyberVein.
“It was great to be able to talk with different people, and their approval was the best news to me. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we are taking small but steady steps towards our goal.”
The world that Jerry envisions for the coming decade is one in which no one has to worry about data privacy, while businesses can obtain the massive amount of data they require to optimize their products, services, operations, and business models.
Data is the backbone of the information age. The flow of data drives advances and changes in the modern world. Jerry is a proud member of CyberVein, interconnecting the data that runs the world.
