Xiaomin Wang is a Board Member as well as DECENT’s General Manager of China. She’s been around since the very early days of the foundation and has recently seen her role grow to include being our Head of Global Marketing. She was the first employee in China for DECENT and has single-handedly built our China office and all its efforts from scratch. This is her story.
Where are you originally from?
Xiaomin: Originally, I was born in the Northern part of China. But I did most of my schooling in the South of China, my educational background combined Law and Pharmaceutical Engineering.
That’s a very diverse education, from Pharma to Law and now you’re in blockchain… What kind of law did you practice?
Xiaomin: I did corporate law, for the most part, specifically with intellectual property protection. That’s what originally brought me to Shanghai. I left Guangzhou after school to come work here.
How did you wind up in the blockchain space?
Xiaomin: I actually first heard about it through a meetup (laughs). This was way back in 2014, and Matej (DECENT Founder and CEO) was one of the speakers at that meetup. I think with a background in intellectual property (IP) law, I’ve always had a deep interest in emerging technology and innovation, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do IP law. So naturally, when I first heard about blockchain as an emerging technology, it instantly caught my attention.
Was it like a lightning bolt moment that struck you?
Xiaomin: (Laughs) Yes and no. I remember specifically that the meetup was on a Friday night, and that I stayed up the entire night reading everything I could find on Bitcoin and blockchain. There weren’t a lot of published articles back then, this was 2014 after all. On top of that, most of the content was very technical and not so beginner-friendly. However, I practically spent the entire weekend reading up on Bitcoin and blockchain.
It sounds like you were very caught up in the moment, so why yes and no?
Xiaomin: Well, at the time I was still working as a full-time lawyer, so I was quite busy. More importantly, I couldn’t quite grasp all the technical stuff I was reading on blockchain. The part that drew me in, though, was the ideology behind it — this concept of decentralization. So over the next two years after that first meetup, I continued reading, learning, and attending blockchain events. All the while, I kept my full-time job and did this more as a hobby.
So it took some time for you to make the leap into blockchain. Why did you do so in the end?
Xiaomin: Two years felt like a really long time back then. I was still very interested in blockchain even after spending many tiresome evenings learning about it. My decision to go all-in was actually thanks to the people I met who were involved in this space, not just the technology itself. During that first meetup in 2014, I met some very smart people who I respected. So even though I didn’t understand every concept, I trusted them. Seeing them grow and being even more involved in blockchain two years later was the final push that made me jump into this space, and I haven’t looked back since!
Moving on to DECENT, how would you describe what it is that you do here?
Xiaomin: My job has changed a lot since the beginning. In 2016, I single-handedly set up our China office and I was the only employee there for the first 6 months. It was difficult and a little lonely, to be honest. Back then it was more straightforward tasks that needed to be done. On a top level: register company, find partnerships — then at the bottom level, I was doing translations, setting up social media accounts and all that stuff.
Now, I’m more focused on a strategic level, especially with global marketing. I also travel a lot for business development, marketing, and promotional work.
Over the next 6 to 12 months, can you tell us something about DECENT that you are particularly excited about?
Xiaomin: I’m excited for the upcoming launch of ALAX, a blockchain app store for gamers, built on DCore. Other than that, I can’t quite reveal the name of any new projects yet. You know I have a law background, so I understand the legalities that need to take place before an official announcement can go public.
However, I can say that at the end of the day, our specialties are focused on blockchain. We strive to build advantageous cooperations with experts from different industries in order to grow our ecosystem and improve the systems in place with the power of blockchain. One way we are making connections is through hackathons, which we have been organizing, hosting and sponsoring all over the world, with another one coming up this November in Moscow.
I’m also pretty enthusiastic about our incubation services offered to incentivize developers and entrepreneurs to get started on DCore and accelerate DCore adoption.
What is a term in the blockchain jargon that everyone should google right now?
Xiaomin: Internet of Value.
That’s a wrap! A big thanks to Xiaomin Wang for sharing her time with us, and we hope that we were able to share some of her experience with all of our readers.
Did you know DECENT is hiring? Here’s your chance to join Xiaomin Wang and the rest of the team in their mission accelerate blockchain adoption with the power of DCore! Check out our current job openings here. Of course, don’t forget to join our conversation on Telegram and follow us on social media for the most up-to-date news.
Originally published at decent.ch on October 12, 2018.
