DAV Foundation’s New Communications Chief: The Key Is Transparency
By Bradley Berman — Lead Editor
Blockchain technologies are lauded for various attributes, including community participation, the elimination of middlemen, and speed. But above all else, the trait that makes any blockchain system both valuable and sustainable is transparency.
At the DAV Foundation — where we are building an open-source blockchain platform for autonomous transportation services — we put transparency at the top of our list of key values. That’s why we’re especially excited to have John Frazer as our Chief Communications Officer.
Frazer has more than two decades of experience in communications at high-tech companies ranging from Internet service providers to online games. Most recently, he served as the External Relations Lead at the Ethereum Foundation, where he worked directly with Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain-based cryptocurrency.
“The education that I received at the Ethereum Foundation was superlative, albeit hard earned,” said Frazer. “Helping Vitalik navigate the media and the intense scrutiny to which he was subjected on a daily basis was a challenging but fulfilling task.” Perhaps Frazer is referring to Buterin’s history of brutal honesty about using a cryptocurrency to “achieve something meaningful for society,” as Buterin put it, rather than the creation of “billions of dollars of digital wealth” in coins.
Frazer shares Buterin’s commitment to ethics in the cryptocurrency world, something that both drew him to and will serve him well at the DAV Foundation. “No one else is doing quite what DAV is doing in this space,” said Frazer. “The fact that it is a non-profit open-source technology foundation speaks volumes about the values that guide this organization.”
When a company or industry adds blockchain to its process, transactions that were previously hidden and therefore hackable become fully disclosed and indelible. This ethic of transparency extends beyond the technical structures to every aspect of a cryptocurrency, especially how its executive team communicates to stakeholders and the media about its activities. At Ethereum, Frazer ensured that the media had ready access to its leadership, no matter how busy their schedule was.
Everybody at The DAV Foundation is also incredibly busy. But they’re not too busy to stop for a few minutes every day to record and publish a YouTube update, what we call our “Daily DAV.” This is yet another example of how we are building DAV as arguably the most open and transparent cryptocurrency organization in the world. Besides, it allows anyone to get to know our team members and their latest accomplishments.
Transparency is especially critical when a cryptocurrency is planning a Token Generating Event, commonly called an ICO (Initial Coin Offering). For The DAV Foundation’s ICO, which is planned for March 14, 2018, Frazer partnered with Blonde 2.0, a public relations firm focusing on the crypto space. The firm has a solid track record of managing a complex, multifaceted launch.
But Frazer is the one who will ensure that communications about the launch are based on The DAV Foundation’s philosophy and ethics. He’s well aware that some cryptocurrency firms have rushed to an ICO without doing the hard work of creating a technology with genuine lasting value.
The media latches on to news about some of the bad actors, and in the process casts a questionable light on all ICOs. That’s yet another reason that transparency and community participation should be the hallmark of any blockchain company. Frazer and the DAV team got the memo — so we remain heads-down and focused on our concrete and attainable goals for the next wave of transportation.
“I joined DAV primarily because of its vision,” said Frazer. “Producers of autonomous vehicles, whether they’re drones, cars, trucks, buses, marine vehicles, or even space vehicles, are all welcome to join the DAV network and become integrated to the massive tokenized transport economy that is coming.”
