Blockcast.cc: Good morning everyone. My name is Jenny Zheng, Cofounder of Blockcast.cc. The world of blockchain has been through the good and bad times. Just a few months ago bitcoin fell to nearly $6,500. To be exact, its on November 24th, its lowest since May, before recovering to around $7,400 on the next day. Despite all the “bad” news on bitcoin. The market is still optimistic for this valuable coin and Bitcoin is set to outshine gold and stock by big margins. All these cannot be done without the good old blockchain technology. Today we have Yogesh Gaikwad in our Singapore office. He is a technology driver and is based in Singapore right now. Hi Yogesh, please introduce yourself.
Yogesh: Hi Jenny, good morning too. Let me introduce myself. I am Yogesh, CEO of YUVIDIGITAL CAPITAL PARTNERS; Former founder of Pillar Project which raised $33 million in 60 hours; Former Co Founder 2030 which listed its token on London Stock Exchange; Co Founder of WandX which raised another few million dollars. I have been in the Blockchain space since 5 years ago and have been part of incredible projects.
Blockcast.cc: You have done quite a bit. Can you tell me more about YUVIDIGITAL? It seems like you are brewing something big.
Yogesh: In a world that is moving towards a cashless economy, we aim to decentralise the global banking and trade systems. Unlike most startups and accelerators my company YUVIDIGITAL looks at the world differently. A unique combination of a Blockchain tech fund and an accelerator, YUVIDIGITAL uses technology like Blockchain to build innovation acclerators around the world, including in London and Singapore. YUVIDIGITAL is a holding company that creates new ventures in the Blockchain, AI and Deep tech innovation space. The innovation accelerators are designed to break even quickly with good portfolio companies under its group. They make money through consulting, advising, investing as well. There will also be training, consulting, and collaboration with larger firms.
Blockcast.cc: I understand that you have relocate to Singapore in 2019. What are your plans in Singapore?
Yogesh: In Singapore we aim to disrupt the legal, healthcare, security, and financial spaces. Decentralising sectors “We believe that decentralisation will be a powerful force reshaping organisations and society,” The idea behind YUVIDIGITAL is to create a network of innovation centres that reimagine and reinvent the way people work using decentralised technology. We aim to build a diverse portfolio of experiments, projects, and business units that empower people, organisations of all stripes, and society at large.
I would like to explain, “We want to build the infrastructure, tools, apps, and smart contracts that one billion people will use in the year 2025. We want to help millions of people understand and use these tools, to make them mainstream.” The Blockchain innovation accelerators are meant to help each other learn and invent new technologies, solve existing business problems by removing middlemen, find new market opportunities, and build solutions. Our team is made up of global entrepreneurs, growth hackers who are keen on expanding and hiring bootstrappers, and domain experts in fintech.
Blockcast.cc: Blockcast and group of companies see the same too. We are building our own ecosystem with our accelerator model for tech startup. Blockchain is certainly helping the innovation process right now.Â
Yogesh: I believe that with new innovation, there will be no need for banks and middlemen. Decentralisation of the global banking and trading systems will help people get easier access to markets, services and education.
Blockcast.cc: In the simplest manner, what is the biggest adoption for blockchain in your opinion?
Yogesh: I feel that personal data locker on blockchain, wallets, exchanges, crypto cards, central bank backed national digital currency will be a reality in future. However there are many loopholes in current infrastructure which needs to fill. There is still no mass adoption, regulation is very strict, technology around crypto is complicated for an older person or not so tech savvy person to understand.
Blockcast.cc: Yes the finance sector is the biggest adopter right now and it will remain the same based on our observations. The lack of infrastructure is not true, the finance network is already well equipped with the technology. Many of us believe that the mass adoption is placed on a slower mode due to conflict of interest. Enough of my view, what is the biggest concern for blockchain?
Yogesh: Well globally, one of the biggest concerns that the Blockchain technology gives rise to and scares banks, governments and regulators is that it follows a decentralised payment system, which operates independently of any government or central bank. One critical article in Wired said that since people can exchange on a peer-to-peer basis without passing any financial intermediary, the Bitcoin network doesn’t reside under any given regulation, and can also be constructed to be agnostic to any jurisdictional rules.
Well Sector-agnostic Simply put, the Blockchain works as a data structure that helps create a shared digital ledger of transactions. Now, with no central authority, there are fears that individuals can manipulate the ledger. The technology relies heavily on cryptographic components, making it difficult to change or manipulate. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are therefore possible because of its decentralised framework.
Regulatory frameworks, meanwhile, are still in a grey area where Blockchain is concerned. Many countries which aim to regulate virtual currencies by regulating the wallet providers according to the rules of money transmitters and financial operators. However, the flip-side is that these rules have made it difficult for startups to operate in the space. And if extended to other Blockchain applications, it could slow down innovation in the space. Blockchain no doubt leads to greater transparency and efficiency, and it also has the potential to bring down costs of regulatory compliance.
Blockchain technologies can also be regarded as a regulatory technology that helps enable laws to be enforced more efficiently.
Blockcast.cc: Thanks for sharing Yogesh. We had several round table discussions with industry leaders. Regulations do help but too much regulations can harm the industry badly too. Regulations and decentralisation do not work well together in today’s context. We can leave this topic to our next discussion when we meet again. Lastly, can you share with us some of your future plans?
Yogesh: Speaking on my personal future plans, I would add,
“We wish to build futuristic innovation accelerators across the globe, starting from 2020 we wish to establish ourselves stronger in London and Singapore, we plan to open up in SF, Zurich, Sydney and Dubai in 2020 – 2021.”
Blockcast.cc: Your vision will come true soon! We will see each other soon. Keep us updated with your plans! For more updates on blockchain matters and news, go to www.blockcast.cc. Once again, thank you for your time.
Original Source: https://blockcast.cc/interviews/blockcast-cc-exclusive-interview-with-yogesh-gaikwad-building-futuristic-innovation-accelerators-across-the-globe/
