Our CEO’s Interview with ICOGenius
Our CEO- Mike Davie had an in-depth interview with Larry for ICO Genius.
We’ve certainly received plenty of regular media coverage of Quadrant Protocol over the last few months. And, now that we are in full swing in our public token sale, the attention has intensified. That makes it easy to miss some of the great material available online. So we periodically highlight a few of our favorite/educational interviews. A few days ago Mike sat down for an in-depth discussion with ICO Genius.
Here are a few of the highlights from the interview:
- What happened in 2017 that prompted our team to find a solution and inspired us to start Quadrant Protocol
- Why we will always need middlemen in the data industry and how Quadrant actually fosters innovation with the support of middlemen
- Why hedge funds need data and their main purchasing policy
- How vulnerable blockchain is to attacks and what limits scalability
- A short “debate” between centralization and decentralization in the crypto industry
Thanks to our supportive community we had a “volunteer” who has sent us the full-transcript of the interview. Please note that you might find some small grammatical or typo errors in the full transcript.
Larry
Everyone it’s Mr. Larry with ICO Genius and we are fortunate today to have Mike Davie from Quadrant Protocol on the channel. How are you doing today Mike?
Mike Davie
Doing well. Thanks a lot for having me.
Larry
Oh it’s absolutely a pleasure. So for the people who haven’t heard of you before you want to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Mike Davie
Yes I’m Mike Davie the founder of Quadrant Protocol. My background has been for the last decade in commercialization of new technology in mobile telecommunications. Prior to launching Quadrant Protocol I spent a decade in 3G and 4G telecommunications infrastructure previously with Samsung until 2014. And yeah that’s sort of brought me on my journey on how companies are using data when they try new data and new new avenues of data being created back in 2014. I launched a company in Singapore called DataStreamX as a gateway marketplace and transaction. And so what we noticed over the years transacting millions of records of data, between companies and seeing how companies actually use data and what data sets are looking for back in 2017. In the summer we had onboard clients actively seeking for more location data feeds from a handset Mobile apps. And what happened is that in one month four people came to us with the exact same data sets, the data feeds and this is terabytes of data. And when you see more companies would like for the same or almost like 90 percent exact same data you start to question where the data is coming from. And that brought us in the block chain and founded Quadrant Protocol.
Larry:
Now that makes sense because the data almost have such a unique footprint that they shouldn’t be that similar. There’s obviously something going on and you know with the advent of crypto and blockchain and just like you we have everything open it’s available it’s trusted. So how did you then move that into crypto and blockchain? Was it just like the ability to work on accountability for everything that’s going on that you moved into that?
Mike Davie:
Yes, so we were blockchain first before crypto and so you know, we like to separate the whole ICO world, with the crypto currency world and then blockchain. So we were tech first year. And so for us it was a blockchain it was a perfect fit. So how do you take away the murkiness of what we call the data economy from companies that track data. How do you basically make that a more transparent trusted ecosystem. And so for us blockchain made a purpose sense for the able to allow companies to get insight and accountability on where this data is coming. When you think a case of two companies transact data, buyer and seller-to user and consumer, and so on one side the producer wants to know where their data is going. They want to have a clear visibility on who is using that data and what part of that data has, on the other side, try and figure out -where data coming from. Is it actually this person did it start here and then now we see what’s going on in the world GDPR and regulation with the Cambridge Analytica,- that the supply chain is becoming very important to be more transparent. You have to inform the buyers, to know where that data comes from. Previously back in 2016- 2017 when you talked to companies and you asked where’s your data coming from. And that’s it. Unfortunately or fortunately I should say that that doesn’t pass anymore. Regulators aren’t allowing that. You need to have a clear understanding of where that data came from, how they have been collected and then where you’re going to use it.
Larry:
Exactly, exactly and that’s it as you said, before regulations coming in where you’re getting the data what information is in there and what are you going to do with that information is paramount to why blockchain is so critical to moving forward? So what is that Quadrant Protocol and how is that moving to that big vision that you have?
Mike Davie:
We’re basically mapping decentralized data the way that data is collected. There’s not just one source and then one buyer you use the aggregate across the entire ecosystem, there’s never one person who has everything. So if you think of like even like Apple and Google you’d say well Google is so huge they have everything you want. Well guess what… They don’t have Apple users. You know one person who has everything. And so it’s how companies map them. You know we always have a we’ve never want middlemen we always want buyer and the seller or the consumer producer. You also take away middlemen in the data space is that it’s not like that at all. You’ll always have middlemen. Examples like Procter and Gamble will never want to go and interview 1 billion people on how much toothpaste is just not cost effective. So you always have people aggregating data in regions and geographic territories, that you always have this aggregation and so Quadrant Protocol is how you map this altogether in a transparent way. How do you make it -so when you purchase data -that they know where it’s coming from. Because there’s always been multiple suppliers, giving multiple people, always in this chain and so Quadrant will mapping them.
Larry:
And that makes sense it’s like a spider web an ecosystem of everything kind of traps together and how is everything flow in between. So it’s really interesting. So we’ve seen a lot of ICOS in 2018 focused on selling data. What separates you guys from the competition and more importantly where is your focus really like comparing other people?
Mike Davie:
So when you look at Lottie’s data Marketplace you are going to monetize your data, there are actually more suppliers with us. We’ve actually signed with a few of these other partners that will be releasing those as we go forward here. But when you look at some like cable “Monetize your data or color coming up there is none supplier that has X users and then we think of all of them together- you get started actually getting something meaningful. So when you look at all the data market, when we look at data on hydration these are suppliers -these are leading providers of knowledge- the network marketplaces to be both ways they can either be buyers and sellers. I think it’s very intertwined. And so, one day can be a buyer and seller at the same time. That’s actually mostly the case. Like I think the traditional companies like Bloomberg, do not create all the data but they buy it from all these people put into a nice package and then somebody buys that data from Bloomberg terminal, and then they use it in their application and resell it. So buyers and sellers in the data space, usually tend to work together. So there’s a lot of companies are looking to monetize- it’s great that the more people learn how to use consumer produce data into the better the world will be, because there will be more applications and more solutions that are data driven.
Larry:
I think that’s why it’s the most unique things about the blockchain concentric ideas. Not everyone has to be competition. Everyone can kind of work hand in hand and utilize different protocols or applications or just uses big data AI and whatever else people are using together to really make a foundation for everything as the ecosystem. Now can you tell us a little bit about your data authentication how it differs from other platforms?
Mike Davie:
Yeah so when you look at a delicate authentication ,that’s the foundation like Step 1. And because if you don’t authenticate while it comes in, how can you do it then, between each party in that. So for us it’s a foundational layer that enables all the other services that will be coming forward. So you know when we got into blockchain, we understand a lot of different up layers out there and what they’re doing some of the authentication companies are focused on like individual files- individual use cases, like your driver’s license authentication, for us we’re focused more on data streams ongoing to subscription high velocity data. And so that’ll work gearing our platform for the DataStreamX and transacting everything between your flat files to your databases to streaming data on when we really like to focus on those type of applications that are streaming high velocity high volume and those present a different set of issues. So it’s really if you want to hash one photo, it’s not as difficult to do, but how do you set up a system that’s producing megabytes per minute like under the megabytes per minute terabytes per day. It’s a different type of hashing that’s been done to set up our system. Those are the user cases that we’re focus on.
Larry:
It makes sense and then my next question you already talked about a lot about is downstream acts one of the next steps in the collaboration since it’s kind of was the corner stone which then became a Quadrant Protocol. Obviously its foundation is there.
Mike Davie:
Yeah, so when you look at DataStreamX is a marketplace and transaction platform. So it is a true data marketplace of buyers and sellers, Quadrant Protocol is not a marketplace. It’s a protocol that enables the transaction. So DataStreamX actually it’s the first user, others will start transitioning our client into it. I guess the whole reason we created Quadrant was our clients, and about one of the key things we were formulating Quadrant Protocol, why we separated from Data Stream X, is that Quadrant Protocol enables the transaction and you don’t need a marketplace. So depending on how companies want to use it, even they make many of Quadrant protocol aspects like sharing data, they might be using it- just to authenticate their own data. One widely use case we’re looking at is that even companies who just want to have snapshots of their own data publicly in a hash. Not really, when you put the hash onto our chain that you’re not actually giving the data which don’t agree, so we are not stealing or like that. And so you can actually use our system. You just wanted to actually just keep a public record of your own for security purposes. So Quadrant Protocol is a technology layer, while Data Stream X will continue as a data marketplace helping companies transact.
Larry:
Yeah it make sense. So now which partnerships would you say boost the adoption and development of Quadrant?
Mike Davie:
Yes so when you look at quadrant you have two sides and you’ve got the producers who would call the nursery’s creating a constellation. So this is the site who’s actually putting data into the ecosystem. And then on the other side you have what we call you elons. These are consumers and we’re really focused on these. These are data hungry companies did a hundred applications who are looking for data. What we’ve learned over the years is transacting data is that as you get more data available that is what really drives adoption is users who know what they’re doing and users know what problem they’re trying to solve. It’s much easier to say I have a problem. What dateable solved as opposed to somebody saying here’s my data. But the thing is like we see a lot of people coming into the data space and it’s sort of a little less we’re naive that sort of ambitious to think that people will just use it like if you build it -they will come. It’s not like that. So for us what will drive user adoption will be working with those data hungry application, AI companies people are trying to solve big issues and they realize that they need external data to solve this. We have a lot. One thing I like that we talk about how companies are evolved what their data journey and we’ve done a lot of consulting on this working with companies here in Singapore on where you are, and your journey on using data within the organization. And usually we see the first thing first the first ever. No one uses data they have no idea everything is just manual. They don’t even things get iterative and then some. And then somebody will say hey let’s be data driven. And so the manager will say okay yes. And they realize they don’t have any data to build the systems. We’ll invest all these data capturing type solutions and phase 3/phase 4 is now that all the data don’t know what to do and then they hire 10 data scientists or a data science team or they make an innovation lab that start looking at it. And then once they start seeing once they start processing the data takes that a year they realize that we don’t have all the data we need to solve issues they’ve collected a lot of things, but they actually don’t even know what the outside effect so give us a clear example just don’t make this up, but just to give an example: let’s say Starbucks. Starbucks have all these stores you can collect all the POS data, you have other thing what people see, other than coffee, and you realize our sales are climbing at 10 percent a month. This is great. What are we doing well in these a day to understand that there are growing at 10 percent, but what they don’t know is all the neighbors around them are growing at 40 percent, and so none of the data they have actually tells them what the market is like around them. And so, what have they realized that their own internal data is not enough to actually solve the issues or to spot trends. And that’s when we come in and the external data -some people realize that they need external data to solve these issues. And so to answer your question: what’s going to drive it? We’re seeing that trend- we’re seeing more companies evolving that they understand this. Every market in the world the industry is a little different. Some markets are more advanced. Some industries are more advanced. But in general we’re seeing the maturity becoming for a lot of these like analytic — data science teams.
Larry:
Right now it makes sense because when you answering questions you can see outside of your own bubble your ecosystem that’s when real data comes in and actually affects your thought process and where you are shifting your main focus and mindset. Let’s talk a little bit more about the use of your token.
Mike Davie:
So the three stages for the use of our token from day one: I’ll be the optimist improvidence so as companies come in and they want to start stamping their data use as gas fee. And then when they stamp off so people can read it, you’ll be able to proceed in the step 2. If you’re start consuming the data when you hash it, you’ll be able to read the information right for the bursting of the gas stamping. And secondly, when you release a data smart contract, are the two things one be or the execution of a contract between parties. So we’ll be working on a dual system because some organization will still think yeah. Then you just register the payments and then also people can use it as payment for the data itself. And then third which is the most interesting or the most that can be powering us powering the whole solution going forward not is the E-lans staging to get access to data. One of the hardest things with data is to understand and to be able to derive insight before you pay. And so what are we doing as a staging mechanism. So innovation centers, hedge funds, data scientists will be able to state the token to get access to certain fields. And so where this comes from is that when you transact data like with a major hedge fund, they don’t want to spend a million dollars on a data set, until they understand it . But on the other side vendors don’t want to be giving their data using. And so there’s always this clashing because salespeople want to sell the data. And then the buyers want to ensure that it actually is truthful and actually can solve an issue for them. Also we’ll be implementing this staging mechanism which will unlock certain data feeds depending on how much they say.
Larry:
It makes sense to and the more that you build that ecosystem then it’s tangible usability. Nowadays is good and then they’re going to be on the whole long to stake it to you know have more access to that data as a viable model. So then question What made you decide to make quality of the work on a centralized as well as a decentralized services?
Mike Davie:
Yes this is the most important thing for us to start was the the security and the use of the system. If you’re actually like the tech technologist you realize blockchain has its limitations. And that we’re an enterprise to be solution and company. So our clients require a certain amount of alignment. They don’t want to have to wait for transactions. So a lot of stuff that hinders a growth and adoption of a blockchain. We have to make sure that we do not have that on the left in the system. So that’s where we were looking more on the usability standpoint, than how our clients our users uses. That’s why combination decentralized and decentralized was our focus.
Larry:
Yeah. What do you see as the biggest obstacles for data sharing platform sensor yourselves?
Mike Davie:
Yes although the first thing is always user adoption in terms of how people be educated and how they’ll be able to use these data feeds. So it depends on the type of data we see coming in and that we are you know there’s a a certain market segments that we started like location analytics understanding how societies move, how people move together, and the implications of that for businesses governments say that when the obstacle is up a lot it will start putting data in and make sure that the buy side or the consuming site is mature enough. And that’s it, that’s always the obstacle to ensure that there’s a balance between what’s available and what people need.
Larry:
Great, great! Now on your roadmap assessment in 2020 you’ll be doing the distribution of Guardian notes. Now is this system going to operate and holding without that kind of protection.
Mike Davie:
Yes. So step one is we will be running the nodes ourselves. So when you think of layer 1 layer is block creation. And so for us, as a matter of ensuring that that these blocks are created and that’s created with manipulation, for our clients what they’re really concerned is like the stamping and hashing to verifying on the chain. So for Step one, we’ll be the ones who are running the nodes on a partner like we are seeing more done with other corporations who may distribute it. But that’s a real concern of our clients. The users are not concerned on how the block is created. They are concerned about the visibility of the blockchain and so that’s why we sort of didn’t rushing -we didn’t want to rush creating a new distributed system, and those like the node creation been the focal point of the company because that’s not a problem that’s chased by our users right. Or I know I’m a true believer that we’re you know we’re only like stores based to what we’re seeing recently. So we’re still you know I really love reading the newspaper hyperbole but they’re not in the right direction. We still see that it’s not as mature as it needs to be right now. So I think that we see maturity coming in block creation in the open the next like 2018 2019. That’s why we weren’t in a rush to jump on being distributed and so forth into that are the new tax our system our chains like chain. It enables us to do what we need to for our clients and that’s the number one importance right now.
Larry:
No that makes sense to and if we look how quickly we’ve gone from what we had at the beginning of decline block chain technology know how quickly were aggressively moving forward to what’s going on with the block producers from EOS. It’s exciting to see but it’s happening very quick and it has to find its own footing in its own way and that kind of moves into that. Next question is how much of the population do you see using decentralized data services in like 5 years. And also will it be a highly more adopted or will you also be skeptical about block chain this new weird currency technology that people really don’t know how to separate yet?
Mike Davie:
Yeah, I would say that you’re going to start seeing its blend you’re looking real -what blockchain and what’s not. And this year just you see it everywhere without even seeing it. So I’d say now that you know it’s a Stuckey’s out we can we can live with some of the nuances and of the learning hurdles that’s going on right now. Yesterday, was our head of tackier and it’s like trying to program that there’s a lot of things that aren’t mature yet another language to work with. And so as users of general adoption it’s a start. It’s when you start seeing technology blend that no one even knows it’s there, that’s when you’re going to start seeing seeing a lot more of it. So you are sort of seeing when you start seeing the numbers coming up or using it. And that’s what you’ll see with launch in as well as be built in the back and then you know you won’t have to have all these. That is very typical light wallet creation or like the way that we smart contract whether it be a nice user interface. Oh I think at that point that’s when we’ll start seeing that it’s going to be everywhere. You just won’t even know, it it’s in the background powering the services that you’re using now.
Larry:
I completely agree. We think about the advent of how quickly we had 3G 4G and even like your computer can connect cellphone connect to different Wi-Fi. Ten years ago there wasn’t a problem in the availability. Now no one even thinks twice about it and I think that we see the more adoption of people’s parents and grandparents adopting crypto that someone is going to be you know very well be a blended solution. Like you said. So are there any other points or questions we like to talk much to tokens and the project that you guys have going on?
Mike Davie:
Yeah keep looking out for us like one of the big initiatives they’ll be doing as we go forward here and into all not is starting to actually working with the industry . And so there’s great partnerships that we’re working with including with Bluzelle and we’re really focused on now going forward is how do we actually bring adoption or add into the enterprise into the corporates. So yeah there’s projects out there that are interested in deploying real solutions and working with clients. We’ll be happy to discuss work with you on both sides to try to produce that he tries to look in your company. Please reach out and look at our partnerships there and drive the real adoption of these technologies
Larry:
And create the best way to contact you is via your telegram group or not.
Mike Davie:
Yeah so you know moving first to a Quadrantprotocol.com and you’ll see all our media online and telegram groups there and get a full length film of Quadrant.
Larry:
Fantastic well everyone thanks for tuning in today Get part of the discussion and Thanks Mike. We appreciate it.
Mike Davie:
Thanks a lot for having me.
Larry:
Thanks.
As our ICO nears the end, we want to thank everyone that has participated so far. There is still time to get your eQUAD tokens. Join the decentralized data evolution today!
