Humans of Shyft: Q&A with Bruce Silcoff, CEO
By: Shyft Network
Tags: Marketing, Business, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Blockchain

As CEO of Shyft, Bruce leads the company’s ambitious vision to establish a new paradigm for sharing attested and verified data and streamlining KYC/AML protocols. Bruce has extensive experience in reshaping traditional industries by introducing disruptive technologies to solve business challenges and create competitive advantages, which he brings to his leadership role at Shyft.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I have a marketing background, but after two or three years at big companies I realized I wasn’t really a corporate guy. I wanted to be an entrepreneur, so in 1991 I started my own company — the first of many.

As an entrepreneur, I always used technology to keep ahead of the curve — it was how I stayed competitive while working from my apartment with a low overhead. I eventually built up a fort in the loyalty space, and we kept right on developing our own tech. One was a mobile wallet, another was a patent on enabling loyalty currency to be spent. It was game-changing.

Fast forward, and one of the challenges we’re now tackling at Shyft is moving money across borders from a banking perspective. It’s very difficult to move money in and out of Brazil, India, and China — three of the world’s biggest markets. And we need new technology in order to do that. That’s where Shyft comes in.

What is the main aspect of your role with Shyft?

As CEO, I work closely with our founder, Joseph Weinberg, to help drive the company’s vision. You have an idea, you put out a white paper, you raise money, you then have to execute. My job is to deliver on the potential this company holds. And it’s my job to ultimately build the team that will take us there.

What are the most challenging aspects of your work right now?

There is so much demand for Shyft’s technology, so we really have to pick and choose where our time is spent. This world hasn’t yet figured out how to deal with sensitive identity data like KYC; how to properly track and implement anti-money laundering processes; what to do about patient records, how to ensure the integrity of voting. There are so many questions still unanswered, and so many applications for what Shyft is doing. Everyone wants it yesterday.

Cryptocurrency is still a relatively new concept for many people — even those in the business world. What do you say to skeptics?

This technology is nine years old. It is still very new. And it can still be a bit like the wild west in some ways — because regulation follows innovations. In some ways, it’s reminding me of how the Internet was 20 years ago.

But when you look past the cowboys, there are some really powerful things poised to come out of the Blockchain crypto movement — just like with the dotcom boom. I’m old enough to say, yes I was there — I saw it. I saw the scams, but I also saw Google come out of it. I saw Amazon come out of it. I saw Facebook come out of it. We are going to do it faster with Blockchain. We’re going to do it bigger and better, too. The future is going to be decentralized.

The startup space can be a wild ride — a bit like the wild west, as you mentioned. Do you have any wisdom for those getting into the space?

The wisdom I’d like to share isn’t so much about startups as it is about life. Life is short and every moment of every day is valuable. You realize that if you are waking up every morning and doing what you love with people you love being around, you are lucky. People say it all the time, but it’s true: it’s really not about the money. If you’ve got your health, you’re impacting the world in a positive way, and you can go home to your family at the end of the day, you’ve got it made. I feel blessed.

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Shyft is building the world’s first modern, secure, multi-stakeholder Blockchain-based trust network that enables KYC/AML attested data transfers. Join our Telegram (https://t.me/shyftnetwork), follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/shyftnetwork), GitHub (https://github.com/ShyftNetwork) and other channels found onhttps://www.shyft.network