This week, our tech writer Pedro Herrera talked with Ingmar Frey, a managing partner and co-founder of Avocado Blockchain, an agency that helps their clients execute their projects by providing them with experienced, motivated and trustworthy blockchain developers. A developer, investor and researcher himself, Ingmar focuses on the business potential for blockchain technologies and we were curious to know his opinions on the state of the industry.
You can read more about Avocado Blockchain on their website. For our interview with Ingmar, scroll down and continue reading.
1. What was your first experience with cryptocurrencies?
The story is kind of sad actually. I read the Bitcoin whitepaper along my Computer Science PhD colleagues one day after it was published. The sad part is that we didn’t understood nothing about Finance. We couldn’t see future on the project. After a couple of years of seeing how the project evolved, and getting more grasp into Finance, everything made sense.
2. What is the story behind Avocado blockchain?
In 2015, I started to engage with crypto. Actually, I bought some Bitcoin then. By the end of the year, due to professional reasons, I needed to buy some computer equipment. Long story short, the retailer accepted Bitcoin, I got some discounts and I purchased a $300 USD laptop with Bitcoin, so you can imagine it is the most expensive equipment I have ever bought.
Since 2016 I kept myself involved in the industry. At that time, I was only familiar with BTC, but I started discovering the other cryptocurrencies as Ethereum, and a full new ecosystem where interesting projects could be developed. That's when I fell in love with the industry. In 2018, after the crypto crash, I assisted a couple of blockchain events with my now partner. At the time everybody was a bit disappointed from the price collapse, but we met serious-minded people, with good knowledge of the industry, with good expectations of the future. We loved that mindset, so we founded Avocado Blockchain.
Initially, we started training developers at an international level and we were working as an outsourcing company for them. However, after some time, we learned that the effort was high, so we only focused in the local market (Mexico) and right now we’re mainly focused on developing business platforms along NFT applications.
3. What do you consider to be the best blockchain project (other than your own:) and why?
Ethereum obviously is there. Avalanche, we work with them, it is cheap and quick. Polkadot is quite interesting, but is too complex. Cardano is good, but at the time we worked with them, documentation was not good enough. Tezos seems like a very interesting protocol, their smart contracts can be used in many ways, but we need to work more with them.
4. What would you like to see implemented in blockchain? Either in your own project, in your favorite blockchain or in blockchain in general.
On a personal note, I’m a big fan of privacy, and it is a big hole that blockchain still needs to fill. Monero is a project aiming for having good privacy, but they are not there yet. There are also good Layer 2 solutions that are going in the right way I think. For instance, we’re getting lot of requests, especially from financial institutions that are interested in blockchain, but they are not comfortable with the current privacy capabilities. In a nutshell, I’d love to see more privacy-oriented projects.
5. Where do you think that blockchain or crypto could be best utilized?
Cryptocurrencies, as we know, is basically programmable money. Analogous money, as happened with many tech devices, is going to be obsolete in a few years. I even think it is going to be something for collectors. Solutions like the Lightning network that enable another level in cryptos are going to be ubiquitous. Even algorithmic coins like Titan that have failed lately are going to be used in financial institutions.
But more importantly is the blockchain potential. Blockchain can be used in many aspects of life and the impact in few years is going to be very intense. NFTs for example, tokenization of sports. An example that we’re currently working on is . We’re carrying out a project with constructors, electricians and plumbers in Mexico. The idea is that a crowdfund will be created to train and buy the working material for them, and through an app like Uber, you will be able to request a service and pay in crypto. Investors will receive fees through smart contracts until the debt is paid. This is an excellent use case in emerging economies. In one of my tips to India I was very surprised that people on the streets sometimes don’t even have a broom to sweep the floor, they don't have the right tools for the job. Blockchain is going to definitely change the live for some may people that don’t even have the idea of what Bitcoin or Ethereum is.
6. What’s your perspective on NFTs in general?
Actually, we have given a complete turnaround in Avocado, we’re focusing on NFTs more than ever. We believe in NFTs as art, certifications or even business model. We’re currently building a marketplace for those types of use cases.
7. What is your favorite NFT use case
There are a ton of use cases. In tickets for example, you kill black markets and piracy. We’re also thinking about tokenizing IDs, certificates, professional credentials. Even digital autographs. I see Shakira in a few years giving a digital autograph in form of an NFT.
8. What’s your opinion on businesses adopting blockchain?
Layer 2 solutions will heat up competition across protocols. The public blockchain industry moves so fast , you look away two weeks and a project has changed completely. However, it depends on the type and size of business. If you’re a small business, it’s better to build around a Layer 2 private solution, but sooner rather than later, adoption will arrive.
9. What is a question you most often ask in relation to crypto currencies and blockchain?
Is it worth investing and developing in anything other than Bitcoin?
10. What is the most common problem you have, and how would you solve this problem?
User adoption. While the technology is fantastic, onboarding takes a lot of effort. While we try to make interfaces easy, we also spend a lot of time teaching, getting involved in academic communities, it's people-intensive work.
11. What would you change about the industry?
Probably the arrogance that early developers and whales have. For the community, it is not good to hear things like “have fun by going bankrupt”. Some of us have lost patience, especially the experienced ones. The fight is not with governments or anybody. I think we should focus on getting better by collaborating with our peers. I really enjoy working for this industry.
We thank Ingmar for his time and wish him good luck in his future endeavours. Don't forget to check out Avocado Blockchain, especially if you are interested in hiring blockchain devs for your own project.
Do you know of an interesting blockchain project that would be interested in having an interview with us? Feel free to send us an email, we’d love to hear your thoughts and publish them on our blog.
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