The barrier of blockchain application is undoubtedly a problem to be solved in the industry. On the evening of August 28, PANews invited Junya Yamamoto, CEO of Infinito to the PANews AMA Session to share their application solutions.
Topic：How to solve the big challenges for blockchain adoption？
Time: Wednesday，August 28，19：30-20：30
Guest profile：
Junya Yamamoto, CEO of Infinito, used to lead the entrepreneurial think tank of important listed companies in Japan. Since 2012,Junya Yamamoto has been actively creating IT venture funds cooperating with large companies. Infinity Blockchain Labs,which was jointly launched in 2015, is now the leading project in the Blockchain field in Vietnam. In 2016, he co-founded Infinito Solutions, a blockchain technology company based in Singapore.
Question list:
(1)
PANews：Hi Yamamoto, welcome to join us in PANews AMA Session, it’s a pleasure to have you here. We know you studied at Aoyama Gakuin University under the Department of International Politics and Economics, and served for startups, What makes you starting your business in blockchain sector? What inspired you to do so?
Yama：Hello PANews and AMA viewers again! It is my pleasure to be here for this live session. Yes, I studied mainly sociology and international communication at the university.
Blockchain is a very promising new sector that has the potential to disrupt many key industries as well as deeply impact our everyday lives.
It is also the industry with the largest community of tech-savvy startups, and these new businesses are some of the biggest drivers for innovation.
Some say blockchain is the innovation of the concept of design of the society. At the same time, other emerging technologies like machine learning, IoT and others are also rapidly changing how we as humans should act in society.
In this context, blockchain will be the key infrastructure and backbone for all those dynamics, shaping how society will be from a technological point of view and also philosophical point of view.
These are the major reasons why I decided to join the blockchain world, to nurture the successful mass adoption of this great technology.
(2)
PANews：Before you co-founded Infinito solutions, you had already co-founded the Infinity Blockchain Labs, which is the leading blockchain project in Vietnam. Why do you started Infinito solutions, what's the mission and vision?
Yama：Since we started blockchain research and development, mainly focusing on how to integrate its technology to practical services,
we realize that applications built top on blockchain technology are always filled with difficult technical terminologies and user interface.
Its technology opens up the world for us to do more, but its user experience is far from excellent, from both user and service provider point of view.
We started Infinito Solutions to solve the major challenges we identified as the main barriers to blockchain mass adoption: inaccessibility, poor user experience, underdeveloped revenue sharing models, and lack of incentives for usage.
The mission of Infinito is to make blockchain experience natural for users, businesses, and developers to enable our vision of blockchain mass adoption: blockchain application 2.0
(3)
PANews：What is stopping the blockchain mass adoption?
Yama：well, Infinito identifies the following as major challenges for blockchain mass adoption:
*No simple access to cryptos & apps due to fragmented blockchains*
- There are many blockchains out there, each with their own mechanisms and communities. It is difficult for users and especially developers to utilize them properly.
=> This is why we create a multi-blockchain wallet with built-in DApp store to ease user access, & plug-and-play development platform for developers to easily build DApps using turnkey modules.
*Poor payment experience & revenue sharing mechanism
- Despite being a new form of currency, payment using crypto is still quite complicated & unsatisfying compared to fiat. Blockchain services also do not have many efficient revenue sharing mechanisms. This discourage usage and business.
=> This is why we build the pioneering payment platform that facilitates and monetize all transactions in the DApp ecosystem for both consumers & merchants.
*Inadequate incentive for participation & no development influence
- Currently blockchain ecosystems do not have a good incentive model to attract people to start adopting/keep using decentralized assets & services.
Members of these ecosystems also do not have a say in the development direction of the networks/products.
=> This is why we develop INFT token to let its users vote for the cryptos, services, & features they want Infinito Ecosystem to offer next & get rewarded for active usage of products & services in the ecosystem.
(4)
PANews：So Infinito ecosystem has four parts：Infinito Wallet, Infinito App Square, Infinito Blockchain Platform and InfinitoPay, what are the functions of four parts? How do they solve the adoption challenges？
Yama：For safe and easy access to cryptocurrencies, we provide Infinito Wallet with support for over 2,000 cryptocurrencies on 14 top-tier blockchains and a wide range of security features such as on-the-go blockchain address AML checking, fingerprint protection, and more.
For seamless usage of decentralized services, we provide the in-wallet blockchain application store Infinito App Square that allows users to enjoy numerous DApps on 4 leading blockchains - ETH, EOS, BNB, ONT.
For developers to easily build and launch innovative blockchain applications, Infinito offers Infinito Blockchain Platform (IBP) with plug-and-play modules, API/SDKs, & solutions.
All purchases made within Infinito ecosystem is powered by InfinitoPAY, a robust payment platform that supports both fiat and crypto while enabling both buyers and merchants access to cutting-edge blockchain financial services such as scheduled, instant, escrow, and shared payments.
On top of all this, Infinito Ecosystem also facilitates a token economy using the official utility token INFT that effectively incentivizes active blockchain usage from both end users and developers via creation and consumption of blockchain- powered innovations.
Through this whole product ecosystem, Infinito:
- Enhances general blockchain user experience
- Improves payment using decentralized assets
- Incentivizes overall usage of blockchain
- Empowers individuals to influence their chosen platforms
(5)
PANews：How many users does the Infinito Wallet have now? We all know that it is the first wallet to support the Binance Dex token. Does this bring you a new batch of users?
Yama：So far, Infinito Wallet has amassed over 450,000 downloads globally & has an overall community of 70,000 monthly active users. Yes:) We have many users from Japan, Vietnam, China, and many others.
Especially Iran where we have yet to do any promotions. Overall, Infinito Wallet is currently safeguarding over 40 million USD worth of coins & tokens for our whole user base. Amongst the 14 different blockchains users can access through our wallet, the top 3 are: ETH - BTC - ETC.
The development to support Binance Chain, BinanceDEX, coin, and recently, BEP2 token protocol, has earned our universal wallet a huge influx of users, especially from China.
We are currently engaging with various BEP2 token partners to have more exciting reward programs for users.
Since Infinito Wallet also supports other Chinese-favourite blockchains such as NEO, Ontology, and soon, Cocos-BCX, we can expect to become bigger in China!
(6)
PANews：In your ecosystem, what is utilities of Infinito token – INFT ?
Yama：The key utilities of INFT are:
1.Payment - You can use INFT to pay for any DApps & services within the Ecosystem.it should be one of key essense of user experience!
and,
2.Voting - You can use INFT to vote on the development direction of the products in our ecosystem: which blockchain infrastructures/services/ features we support next.
3.Staking - You can stake INFT to receive discounts and offers on services/ purchases, get token rewards, and unlock access to advanced investment features by partners, etc.
4.Scoring - Members can provide ratings on the services, modules, & DApps in Infinito Ecosystem to improve the quality of our products which will enhance overall experience. Finally,
5.Reward - By being an active member of Infinito Ecosystem and frequently using our products & services as an end user or developer, you are rewarded for your contribution.
(7)
PANews：You are very familiar with the blockchain ecology in Vietnam. What is the development of the local industry? Are big companies willing to accept blockchain technology?
Yama：Vietnam is one of the key markets Infinito is focusing on. There are many reasons as to why the Vietnamese economy is rapidly growing. The government as well as the general public have a high level of understanding in fintech, a large number of crypto users, as well as a skilled blockchain developer community. Many of its big companies such as Viettel, HSBC, NAPAS, etc. are working with blockchain technology hoping to start adopting this technology on a large scale. For these reasons, Vietnam is being regarded as a high potential market for many blockchain companies.
Have you ever counted how many years since you first started your own business? Are there any differences between being a blockchain entrepreneur and other industries? Does blockchain brings in more challenges? Lastly, do you have any advice or would love to share any experience to those freshman startups?
Time flies!
Infinity Blockchain Labs has been around for nearly 4 years since its establishment in 2015, and Infinito Solutions for 3 years since 2016.
Regarding the differences & challenges working in blockchain compared to other industries, I would say that blockchain sector is quite technical and fast-moving so it requires great speed, knowledge, and adaptiveness.
Project hype comes fast but also goes away quickly.... so my advice for fresh startups is to identify the key problems that you aim to solve & focus not only on marketing but also on product development.
At the same time, projects should always be flexible & open to new possibilities by collaborating with other industry players to build great products.
