Nov 1, 2018
Klaytn Meets Piction Network
Hi readers!
This is the second interview for our initial service partners series. As previously mentioned, Klaytn partners with leading enterprises in various industry domains including games, entertainment, healthcare, finance, etc., that already have a great number of active users on their services. As successful players in their own respective fields, Klaytn’s initial service partners altogether work towards creating a meaningful blockchain service, and also expanding Klaytn ecosystem. Knowing our partners, thus, is a very important task for us.
The second partner we’d like to introduce is Piction Network. As the next generation digital contents ecosystem that directly connects users with creators via blockchain, Piction Network will first be applied to the web comics platform Battle Comics. Serving over a million active users with a collection of a thousand of IP’s, the platform will play a vital role in expanding Klaytn’s user base.
Klaytn visited Piction Network located at Fast Five and sat down with Fred Bae, the CEO and Founder of Battle Entertainment.
Klaytn: Please tell us about yourself for our readers, Fred.
Fred Bae: Pleased to be here. Prior to Battle Entertainment, I’ve mostly worked in large game companies including Nexon and Smilegate. My specialty lies in business development, data analysis for live service operation, as well as leading cross-functional teams.
Klaytn: Can you tell us more about Battle Entertainment?
Fred Bae: Well, I’m proud to say that Battle Entertainment itself is an innovation. Our business didn’t originally begin with web comics. We first did e-sports and then ventured out to game comics only later on. Game comics as in something like League of Legends comics. We also established the firm in China first. Oh, and we were actually the first to even establish a game comics genre.
We didn’t work with professional artists as big companies like Naver, Kakao, or Lezhin did, but rather with amateur artists who were active in regular online communities. You see, we are all about helping amateur artists to be able to publish their works and make money. How we perceive the content industry, therefore is inevitably different from other big companies. And as mentioned above, I have previous work experiences in gaming industry, not comic book industry. And I also have worked in the States and China prior to returning to Korea. All that to say, I’d say I’m quite techy and open-minded, and hopefully all of this contributes to Battle Entertainment.
Klaytn: How did the collaboration with Klaytn first come about?
Fred Bae: I’d say Klaytn and Piction Network shared a fairly similar vision for blockchain technology. We both believe in the popularization of blockchain rather than merely doing blockchain just for the sake of doing blockchain. Especially in times like these, we need real use cases for the industry to grow out. When we talk about blockchain, we need to talk about decentralization for sure, but that’s not everything. What needs more attention is user experience. The key is providing a user-friendly blockchain environment.
Piction Network is a peer to peer digital contents platform, and it is almost impossible to decentralize all of our servers. We wouldn’t be able to operate the platform. If we were to advise our users to only use PIXEL — Piction Network’s token — under the pretext of pursuing decentralization, we wouldn’t be able to create a market to even begin with.
The critical issue here is that we need to provide an environment that market and users can accommodate to so that more practical use cases to be produced. That’s when the entire blockchain industry can start to expand. We saw that Klaytn shared this same philosophy. We are delighted and excited to be working together.
Klaytn: Yes, we also agree that Piction Network and Klaytn share the same perspective towards blockchain. We hope to create more real use cases by working with Piction Network.
Fred Bae: I understand that there are many other service providers besides us joining Klaytn with a goal to produce practical use cases. It’s amazing how fast partnerships are being made. What’s more amazing is that all service partners, including us are already successful business players with a considerable number of active users on their platforms. I very much look forward to witnessing plenty of user interaction and user acquisition among different services and protocols on Klaytn the mother platform, which will ultimately contribute to the growth of ecosystem that connects users, services, and platform altogether.
Klaytn: Can you tell us more about your project?
Fred Bae: Put simply, Piction Network is a blockchain-based peer to peer digital contents ecosystem. As many point out, the structure of content platforms in the current market is such that even if creators and users are producing great contents, no sufficient compensation is reimbursed. At the same time, the platforms are burdened with too much roles and responsibilities, which in return require too much human resources and costs. This altogether also puts a great burden on corporations that run platform businesses. We recognized this issue, or rather I’d call an irony, and decided to do something about it. That’s how Piction Network first came about. We seek to disperse the excessive roles and responsibilities that are currently put on platforms by using blockchain technology.
Klaytn: We are curious to know why and how you are utilizing blockchain technology.
Fred Bae: The current content industry is too money-centered. Monopolistic platforms like Netflix and YouTube are equipped with the most amount of capital and power. And in consequence, the creators and users are being naturally marginalized, conscious and unconscious. We as a small venture can’t change the entire scene, but we need to continue casting doubts and asking questions to constantly see if we are on the right path.
The core value of content industry is supposed to be fun, not money. Fun. Entertainment. Amusement, you see. We’d like to preserve this value by giving incentive to users who consume these fun contents. And we’ve built a token economy in order to realize this scheme.
Klaytn: Rewarding creators in Piction Network’s token economy seems pretty easy to analogize. How about rewarding users then? Do you just need to read or follow more contents?
Fred Bae: There are many ways for users to earn rewards. Simply reading or watching contents will not give rewards. You need to actively perform roles or complete tasks in regards to consuming contents. For example, you can donate or contribute to creators so that they can continue producing contents, and when a specific content that you ‘invested’ becomes popular, you can receive rewards accordingly. Here’s another possible option. Let’s say there’s a user named Alice who happens to be fluent in Chinese language. If she translates some Korean content into Chinese, she can receive incentive. Same goes for marketing too. If you share our web comics or web novels on other communities, you can receive rewards. What Piction Network is doing in essence is, we are assigning roles and activities to users, which were originally completed by platforms and creators.
Klaytn: What is Piction Network’s goal? Also, share with us some of greatest advantages of Piction Network as a blockchain-based service.
Fred Bae: First, our goal is to become the most globally used blockchain service with the most number of users within the first year of launch. In addition to Battle Comics, Piction Network also has various partnerships with places including Africa TV, Flitto, and SandBox Network, which together have about 45 million users. This user pool that we have will be very much resourceful considering the current market condition and economic system. Our project can produce the most practical use case better than any other project out there.
Klaytn: Can you share with us Piction Network’s roadmap?
Fred Bae: We are planning to launch our service next year. To be a bit more specific, we are launching the beta service in 1Q and the official service in 2Q with ICO early next year. These are all subject to change, but this is how we plan to carry the overall scheme as of now.
Klaytn: Any other last comment?
Fred Bae: New platforms are springing up everywhere. Everyone is talking about consensus algorithm, gas fee, and speed. But, in my opinion, enhancing user experience is the most important task. Kakao’s UI and UX are truly the world’s finest. And the same goes for Klaytn too. Klaytn’s focus on providing an advanced UX is what intrigues me the most. Can’t wait to work with Klaytn.
