“Acknowledge the hurdles, then jump them anyway” with Nick Saponaro and Fotis Georgiadis
By: Fotis Georgiadis
Tags: Blockchain

What are the 5 things that worry you about blockchain and crypto? Why?

1. Bad actors. The space being in its infancy creates a lot of opportunities for people to act maliciously towards inexperienced users and entrepreneurs. The scams and hacks create a smokescreen that blocks the other truly incredible projects from view. This will change as the governments of the world, particularly the U.S., come to a consensus on the regulatory structure that will dictate how blockchain companies operate.

2. Media gatekeeping. The constant negative press is a detriment to the cryptocurrency industry. As with most news media in any sector, the majority of news is focused on shocking, appalling, or otherwise adversely correlated stories that will elicit some sort of reaction from the reader. Unfortunately, the effects of this type of journalism on a young industry are much greater than that of say, politics, for example. I would like to see journalists talking about the exciting possibilities blockchain and cryptocurrency provide, rather than which direction bitcoin is heading on a particular day.

3. Accessibility. As it stands today, most people have probably heard about (at the very least) bitcoin or cryptocurrency. But the buck stops there in most cases. I would wager that less than 1% of the people who have heard anything about bitcoin have any idea what it is, what it does, or why it’s important, nor do they care to learn. This is no fault of their own as it is up to us as an industry to provide viable product offerings with real-world use cases, that can actually be useful and accessible to everyone. Accessibility and usability are something my team and I work toward on a daily basis.

4. The “by devs for devs” mentality. As a developer, I most definitely see the necessity to provide robust toolchains that enable active and consistent development within the space. What I disagree with is the idea that everything needs to be for developers. At some point, these applications need actual users. For that to happen, we need to build intuitive, familiar user experiences that everyone can enjoy.

5. Unethical “thought leaders.” Similar to my first point, the amount of “advisors” and “influencers” with alternative, self-serving agendas bothers me. A few big names (DJ Khaled, John McAfee, and Floyd Mayweather, among others) have been fined by the SEC for not disclosing their endorsements of certain ICOs were actually paid advertisements. In an industry that’s inherently challenging to navigate — even for those creating it — it’s easy to trust the opinions of public figures whom you admire. This only becomes a problem when you don’t realize the opinion you’re trusting isn’t authentic, and is paid for.

While all of the aforementioned are concerns, I find solace in the fact that solutions to all of them are being aggressively researched and developed as we speak. Rather than consider these facts “worrisome,” I prefer to look at them as duly noted checkpoints for posterity during the current adoption cycle.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share a story?

I have two primary initiatives when it comes to this space. The first, to enable everyone (and I mean everyone) to access financial services that not only enable spending and storing digital assets but also empower them through financial growth and stability. The second, to implement blockchain technology into healthcare. There are dozens of pain points in the current healthcare industry, many of which can be solved by the use of blockchain, smart contracts, and distributed ledger technology. If I can play a small part in improving that industry, I will have fulfilled a great goal of mine.

As you know, there are not a lot of people of color in the tech sector. Can you share 3 things that you would you advise to other men and women of color in the tech space to thrive?

1. Learn to code. Roughly 5% of tech professionals are people of color. This disparity presents a massive opportunity for our community and I don’t understand why it’s not being taken advantage of more. Coding is a skill you can learn from virtually anywhere, and there are even some smartphone applications that can introduce you to some basic concepts. Programming is one of the most transcendent trade skills of the modern age and can grant you access to literally thousands of high-paying, highly rewarding opportunities. Not to mention you can do it in your pajamas.

2. Acknowledge the hurdles, then jump them anyway. The tech industry is run by highly educated, borderline-aristocratic, middle-aged white men who call themselves venture capitalists. The last thing they want to see is a young, black programmer who dropped out of a state college walk into their office asking for money for a startup in a disruptive, unregulated industry. These guys are generally already connected with each other from whichever Ivy League school at which their family was a legacy and have no interest in diversity, regardless of what their companies boilerplate mission statement might say. Screw ’em. I raised millions for Divi without giving a dime of equity to any VCs. Don’t be afraid to bootstrap your business and use that drive to build something they’re begging to throw money at.

3. Don’t be afraid of who you are. You’re going to be the only black person in most of the rooms you’ll be in. Try not to let this faze you. The color of your skin doesn’t have anything to do with your capabilities or talents — don’t forget this. You are just as qualified, if not moreso, than anyone else in the room regardless of race.

Can you advise what is needed to engage more men and women of color into the blockchain industry?

The unfortunate truth is that the media targets minorities differently than they target others. Especially young minorities. From a very young age, we are influenced to want certain things, strive towards certain goals, and ignore certain, very important, aspects of society. This is nothing new. This is systematic, and we all know it. Fortunately, more and more people of color are realizing that they have just as much, if not more, potential than any of their majority counterparts. So my advice to PoC reading this, (however cliche this may sound) would be to be a contrarian, dictate your own path forward, and believe that anything is within reach. My advice to industry leaders would be to provide more content and education for a more diverse demographic of people. There are geniuses who will move your company forward in the inner cities and on the countryside, just like there are at Stanford. Don’t be so short-sighted to believe otherwise.

What is your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that had relevance to your own life?

When I was about 15 years old, an older friend of mine, whom I only see but once every several years and who may not be with us for much longer, taught me a wise lesson as we stood atop Mt. San Jacinto in Palm Springs, California. As we stared out across the expanse, he said, “You have to imagine yourself from a helicopter’s view, seeing everything you do and say as if you didn’t know you were watching.” This was my first real introduction to the concept of self-awareness. It has stuck with me throughout my life and I still find myself striving toward active reflection. In my opinion, without self-awareness, one will find it hard to find success in any aspect of life.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Although I didn’t start it, I look at blockchain and cryptocurrency as a movement that can (and in many ways already is) positively influence an entire generation of humans. If you look at some of the less developed nations of the world and the economic injustices levied against them as a result of negligent or corrupt governments, you can see where and how cryptocurrency can empower and unify. That, to me, is a massive deal.

Yes, the developed nations will be slow to adopt cryptocurrency into their everyday life, if they ever do. But that is because they see the least benefit. In fact, ironically, those who will see the most benefit from this financial revolution are those with the least access to contemporary financial services. The beauty of this migration to a trustless, decentralized world is the fact that it opens up endless new opportunities, some of which will be developed by people that are probably crawling in diapers as I type this. To just be a small part of this movement is akin to starting it, in my opinion.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can find me on Twitter @NSapProductions or @DiviProject.

Thank you for all of these great insights!