Sep 9, 2021
Meet MELD — Matej Bilić
Welcome to Meet MELD
This is a series to provide some insight and understanding to the faces behind the MELD team. We have a vast range of engineers, designers, economists, advisors, and researchers from all parts of the world including Norway, Sweden, Vietnam, Japan, Canada, and with more partnerships, new team members, and advisors joining the MELD team, this list just keeps on expanding and getting better!
Matej Bilić
Continue reading to find out more about Matej, his position at MELD, his thoughts on cryptocurrency, and more…
What’s your job position at MELD + what do you do for MELD?
I’m a Senior Graphics Designer, and I started working with MELD a month ago. The major focus right now is the MELDapp, where I’m spending time designing elements within the app such as styling, positioning, and location of certain widgets users will be interacting with.
I’m working closely with Robert, the Design Lead, and Ken, Co-Founder, who both have many years of experience working in the design field. A lot of my time is being spent on UI and more specifically, UX and illustration. UX can make or break a platform, and this is where the majority of my efforts are focused.
Additionally, after onboarding to MELD, I was able to take over the role of supporting the marketing team with graphics and various assets, which has allowed Robert to focus and spend even more time on the MELDapp. Some things I’ve recently done were the designs for Daruma (MELDapp v0.5) icons, as well a physical MELD coin for the upcoming Cardano Summit, and Crypto AM Summit!
What did you do before working with MELD?
I have always been interested in graphic designs. Before MELD, I was working for 8 years in different graphic design roles where I was mainly working in print and adaptation of print materials for end consumers.
Over the past 2 years, I have been transitioning my focus towards studying more UX/UI design-related concepts. The recent advances in technology, in regards to UX, have been increasing quite fast over the past few years. As tech expands, so do the designs. This gave me enough interest to change my area of focus from print towards more UI/UX-focused efforts.
When did you first get involved in crypto?
I was first introduced to crypto back in 2017, but solely as an investor. I wasn’t exploring that much of the story, the meaning, or the purpose of why crypto is a thing. I was solely focused on profit and using crypto as a way to make money. There’s so much emotion with investing, seeing prices go up and down. The thing with crypto is education. The more you understand how things work, the better you are with it.
I’m really excited to join MELD as the team has such a deep understanding of cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, blockchain technology, and I look forward to picking their brains and learning more about the industry. There is never an end to learning in crypto.
What do you like/dislike about crypto?
I really like the big potential for high returns. I don’t know of any other way someone is able to 10x or 100x their net worth overnight. In fact, this has happened to tons of people, especially early adopters.
I also really like the protection of payment fraud. The whole aspect of crypto not being governed by a central bank or monetary authority is very attractive to me. Crypto puts the power back into the user, rather than the middlemen.
There is a lot of work that still needs to be done to make it future-proof, to make it safer from hacks and bugs, also to inhibit black-market activity somehow. I think it will take many years for all the kinks to be ironed out…
Do you have any predictions on where blockchain technology and crypto will be 5 years from now?
It depends from country to country. Some will adapt very quickly, such as El Salvador with their integration of BTC as legal tender! That makes me thrilled! Just 12 years ago, cryptocurrency was only an idea, now it is a fully adopted legal tender for an entire country. The way we perceive value and the management of it will change drastically over time as more and more countries adopt cryptocurrency.
There's a long way in front of crypto to be seen as a classic sort of currency like fiats are. There will be tons of resistance from established 1st world countries who are concerned with the control of power distribution amongst the population.
I personally feel this is a 20 + years transition.
What do you like doing outside of crypto and MELD?
Video games! I started playing in College and slowly progresses to LAN events. FPS shooters are my go-to, such as PUBG. Hanging out with people, going outside, listening to music, and watching movies! Pretty standard human stuff 😉
Stay Tuned — MELD
We think it’s essential for everyone to gain control of their financial lives and have equal access to financial instruments used by professionals, not just centralized institutions, governments, or the 1%. We want to provide financial freedom and control to the masses, including the unbanked.
We have a long-term goal to enable the $15 trillion that is currently locked out of the global economy, including 2 billion individuals worldwide that are either underbanked or have no access to banking services whatsoever, access to these tools. These are the people that are paying the highest fees, getting the worst customer service, and they are the ones that are having the most problems.
Our vision is to create an ecosystem that empowers individuals to regain financial control by providing them with the tools and services they need to manage their money on their terms. Whether that be creating a collateralized debt position (CDP) with cryptocurrency, earning an interest return for lending fiat to borrowers, or even participating in reward incentive programs, we strive to provide our users with the functions they need to manage their own financial lives.
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