NEM with Penn, Jian, Tamer & Dem | Team Spotlight
EP 24: Interview with the NEM Australia Leads
Welcome to the first article in the Team Spotlight series, as mentioned in our introductory post. We collaborated with The CryptoClass guys to bring you these interviews to offer some insight into who we are, what we do and discussions on NEM and the market space. So have a read and join the conversation.
~Regards | Penn
Q1. Tell us about yourselves and what brought you to Blockchain?
Jian: I want to be part of the paradigm shifting of technology and innovation. That came throughout not dissimilar to how the internet was to human society and I wanted to be part of that. [sigh] That’s just a joke, I actually got in just because I wanted to make money [laughs], like everybody did. But I did a lot of research, technical analysis, checking out whitepaper and every proposal I can get my hands on and then I realised there’s a big difference with the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Once I determine that, I looked at blockchain in a whole new light and thought that this technology is here to stay for sure.
Penn: I’ve always had interest in technology especially new emerging technology, which is exactly what blockchain is. It fascinates me, in a sense that, it could be a major player in the whole world growth. And now is the time to jump in, embrace it all and grow with it.
Q2. Explain to us your role with NEM and how that came about?
Jian: Penn and I are both in Business Development. So I like to think of us as signpost, intermediaries. Right now we’re doing more business development education, trying to get the word out, explaining the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrency, like I struggle with when I was starting out. We’re helping businesses build on NEM, so there’s going to be a lot of business adoptions and enterprise adoptions. So we’re the guys in the middle, pointing them into the right direction and connecting with the right people, who can help them out. I have a background in Marketing, Penn has knowledge on business development. That’s our role in right now and as well as education, so we visit Deakin University, right now we’re working closely with Deakin and RMIT in order to you know, start up blockchain communities, so we’re gonna give talks, do NEM 101s once and essentially just educate the public of what blockchain is.
Q3. Why did you choose to join the NEM team?
Penn: Why I chose to join the NEM team is because I believe in the technology, I believe in the vision and I believe in their egalitarian approach to the blockchain industry. Since we’re a foundation, we’re all about promoting and educating the general public on what blockhain is, what it can achieve, and what you can currently do with it. I joined NEM because I believe in this vision and I believe that if we grow as a community, we can prove to the rest of the world that this is a legitimate path and the technology is going to be a huge part of the future.
Q4. Where do you see the market heading in 2018, in particular for NEM?
Jian: Right now, there’s a huge increase when it comes to adoption. There have been so many businesses wanting to build on the NEM blockchain. When it comes to cryptocurrency, hard to say with all the regulations happening and where it will end up. But all things being equal, there’s been recent correction, a huge crash and now it’s slowly correcting itself. All things being equal, I don’t see that changing, unless a huge regulatory body is kicking as well, but that’s the same for everything else. I mean the technology is there and its sound, as long as there is a mistrust in central authority, I think blockchain is here to stay. As long as there is a demand, there’s no reason why the market won’t increase in value.
Penn: Just to jump on that point, I believe in 2018, there’ll be a huge increase in acceptance of cryptocurrency and the blockchain platform. The Australian government is looking to budget $700k to focus on Australian Fintech industry especially blockchain. It means that government is recognising what blockchain can achieve. That’s a major push forward for the industry.
Q5. What are your plans for 2018 with NEM?
Jian: Organisation wise, we’re looking at mass adoption within the space. Businesses to build on NEM, to see how good it is. From a business point of view, NEM is really good considering that it is API based. I feel that NEM is like a catalyst to the blockchain technology. As a business, you will do ROI analysis, risk analysis in terms of whether blockchain can add value to the company. It’s hard if you have to learn a whole different [coding] language, needing to pay specific developers, a lot of hurdles along the way. But with NEM, since this is API based, everyone can pick it up, you can code any language, you just have to hook it up in your system, our app, your website and you’re done. Plug and play.
Penn: We will be focusing our attention on the global expansion. But particularly the focus for 2018 is the Catapult release — the adoption, the education and the promotion of Catapult. So that more enterprises and start-ups can jump on the platform because there’s a lot more substantial features then the current NEM platform.
For more information about the NEM Foundation and its mission, you can follow us on Twitter, at Inside NEM, our Facebook page, NEM Australia Telegram or visit our website.
