CryptoSlate recently had the privilege of speaking with Ken Kodama, CEO of EMURGO, the commercial arm of Cardano. As EMURGO's chief executive, Kodama spearheads the overall mission to accelerate Cardano adoption by building, investing in, and advising projects that leverage Cardano's third-generation decentralized blockchain ecosystem. Below is our exclusive interview with Mr. Kodama.
Can you share the major milestones Cardano and EMURGO have achieved over the past two years? How does EMURGO drive Cardano adoption and create value for ADA holders?
Ken Kodama (KK): EMURGO, as the official commercial arm of Cardano alongside ecosystem partners IOHK and the Cardano Foundation, celebrated the second anniversary of Cardano's ADA first exchange listing in September 2017. Over the past two years, EMURGO has rapidly expanded its presence in Singapore, Japan, India, Indonesia, and New York.
From inception, EMURGO strategically implemented a multi-pronged approach to build a global Cardano ecosystem by pursuing dual objectives:
Throughout the past two years, EMURGO has worked diligently to achieve these dual objectives and accomplished numerous milestones in the process.
Through EMURGO's four established business units – enterprise systems development, education & training, investment & finance, and advisory services – EMURGO has developed in-house flagship products for the global Cardano community. These products include Yoroi Wallet (which recently celebrated its 1st Anniversary) – a secure and reliable method to send and receive Cardano ADA through iOS, Android, Chrome, and Firefox; Seiza Cardano Blockchain Explorer which enables Cardano ADA users to seamlessly track ADA transactions and relevant data on Cardano's public blockchain; and most recently, Tangata Manu – a comprehensive open-source codebase library for third-party developers and enterprises to build their own secure light wallets and explorers for Cardano ADA on web browsers and mobile devices.
Regarding investment milestones, EMURGO announced an exclusive investment into Y2X – a leading New York-based digital merchant and investment bank for the decentralized economy – that will provide a platform for entrepreneurs to raise capital through Security Token Offerings (STOs) and other means. Cardano will become the protocol of choice for Y2X and its portfolio companies.
EMURGO also launched a New York-based blockchain accelerator dLab/EMURGO in partnership with SOSV – a globally renowned deep-tech VC firm – to incubate and support quality blockchain projects with real use cases showing synergies with Cardano. These projects receive world-class mentoring from EMURGO's CTO Nicolas Arqueros and R&D Team Lead Sebastien Guillemot, among other in-house tech experts at EMURGO & SOSV.
EMURGO recognizes the critical importance of blockchain developer education to serve as the technical foundation for Cardano ecosystem growth. Consequently, EMURGO launched our education initiative in India through the establishment of EMURGO India earlier this year to offer various enterprise blockchain developer courses for university students, career professionals, enterprises, and the general public.
Particularly in India, there exists an insufficient supply of skilled blockchain developers to meet rising enterprise demand. According to a global blockchain developer report, out of a total global estimate of more than 22 million developers, there are only 107,000 blockchain developers worldwide, with only a fraction of those developers truly proficient in blockchain development.
Our other recently launched EMURGO initiative in Indonesia also focuses extensively on providing blockchain education workshops and courses by partnering with local universities to educate bright local students. Especially in markets like India and Southeast Asia, there is growing discussion about blockchain technology's potential to deliver significant social and economic benefits in local industries.
To enhance value for ADA holders, EMURGO has forged partnerships to build onramps for increased ADA liquidity and use cases. In 2018, EMURGO partnered with South Korean fintech giant Metaps Plus to offer an ADA Crypto Card accepted at over 30,000 offline retail merchants in South Korea, and also implemented ADA payments at retail merchants in Vietnam, Japan, and a famous Korean BBQ restaurant chain owned by a local TV celebrity.
Over the past two years, which included a challenging rebranding, EMURGO has consistently built a strong social media presence with substantial social media growth across all channels, more than 100,000 cumulative views on EMURGO's Monthly Cardano Progress Report videos, and over 130 comprehensive blog content articles freely available on our GitHub repository.
As mentioned, Cardano recently celebrated its second-year ADA listing anniversary. Cardano has evolved tremendously from an idea into a mature open-source product on the verge of our third era of development with the arrival of the Shelley era and full decentralization.
As our community would know, Cardano is on track for the Cardano Incentivized Testnet – one of the final preparations for the official launch of Shelley with real staking rewards. With a research-first driven approach, Cardano has amassed a substantial global community and is recognized as a top blockchain protocol. There is a team of brilliant engineers and academics across the entire Cardano ecosystem working on building a Cardano that is scalable, sustainable, and interoperable with other blockchains and legacy systems.
For more information on the Cardano roadmap, please visit cardanoroadmap.com
How large is the EMURGO team and where globally are team members located?
KK: The EMURGO team has grown into a robust and talented team spanning the globe with more than 40 employees. Our global headquarters is in Singapore and much of our global business development team is in Tokyo, Japan, where EMURGO was originally founded. EMURGO also has offices in India & Indonesia and operates the dLab/EMURGO accelerator in New York City. Many other EMURGO team members work remotely from other parts of Europe, Asia, & North/South America. Many of our team members speak multiple languages and have lived & worked in various countries, adding to EMURGO's international character.
What upcoming milestones is EMURGO and Cardano most excited about launching in the short, mid, and long term?
KK: In the short term, everyone in the Cardano ecosystem is working towards a successful Cardano Incentivized Testnet, which serves as a preview before the full rollout of Shelley. Shelley represents the third era of development in the Cardano roadmap and marks the dawn of full decentralization in Cardano. The Incentivized Testnet before Shelley mainnet will allow ADA holders to earn actual ADA as rewards from stake delegation and operating stake pools. For more information on this, please watch our LISTING VIDEO and read IOHK's blog here.
In the mid and long term, the major milestones for Cardano can be found on the Cardano roadmap website. EMURGO will continue focusing on driving global Cardano adoption by bringing more stakeholders into the ecosystem and increasing liquidity for ADA holders.
Tell us about the products EMURGO is working on, specifically Yoroi Wallet, Seiza Cardano Explorer, and Tangata Manu open-source repository…
KK: All three products were developed by EMURGO to drive Cardano adoption and add value for ADA holders. Yoroi Wallet is a light-client wallet for Cardano ADA users specifically designed to be simple, fast, and secure – an ideal gateway to the future. Yoroi is fully functional and available for free download on iOS, Android, Chrome, & Firefox browsers. To date, Yoroi Wallet has consistently maintained excellent ratings in all available app stores, delivering an outstanding user experience with a full team developing updates and providing technical support on a full-time basis. Over the coming months, EMURGO will roll out new updates and features for Yoroi Wallet to enhance the user experience further.
Seiza Cardano Blockchain Explorer was announced in April 2019 and launched in May 2019. The name Seiza derives from the Japanese word for "constellation," reflecting EMURGO's Japanese heritage and vision for it to serve as a comprehensive full blockchain guidance tool for users. Seiza allows users to track their ADA transactions and vital information related to the Cardano blockchain, including wallet histories, addresses, block size, and stake pools, among others. Seiza will feature real-time information regarding staking and stake pools as Shelley approaches.
Tangata Manu is EMURGO's latest product release for the global Cardano community. It's a comprehensive open-source codebase library for third-party developers and enterprises to build their own secure light wallets and explorers for Cardano ADA on web browsers and mobile devices. Originally inspired by IOHK's initial development of Icarus, Tangata Manu is an open-source library also compatible with Shelley.
What are the significant barriers to adoption for Cardano and how will it overcome them?
KK: Blockchain remains a nascent industry overall with growing mainstream awareness and limited regulatory clarity. This is why EMURGO has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce & Blockchain For Asia, to engage in continuous dialogue with key stakeholders about blockchain-friendly initiatives. Additionally, we continue focusing heavily on our education units, partnering with local universities in markets like India & Indonesia to offer blockchain education courses that empower local citizens and bring more skilled blockchain talent into the workforce. Thus, we are working diligently to increase awareness and build a skilled supply of blockchain developers through education.
Although still early, in which specific areas or industries is Cardano development gaining the most traction?
While we cannot disclose information beyond what's publicly available, Cardano's third-generation blockchain solutions are designed to address scalability, sustainability, and interoperability. As such, they're well-positioned to meet the demands of governments, enterprises, institutions, and developers requiring a robust and reliable blockchain solution. Our social media channels showcase our latest developments with enterprises across the entire Cardano ecosystem.
KK: What can you tell us about the partnership with New Balance sneakers to track supply chain on the blockchain?
This exciting news came through our Cardano ecosystem partner IOHK. This represents a significant step forward in applying Cardano's third-generation blockchain to real use cases, including supply chain management with a trusted brand name. EMURGO and its Cardano ecosystem partners continue engaging with interested parties on implementing Cardano's blockchain-based solutions.
How crucial are strategic partnerships to demonstrate Cardano blockchain's true potential?
KK: Partnerships with enterprises are certainly vital as they validate Cardano's third-generation blockchain potential to address industry verticals. EMURGO focuses on building the Cardano ecosystem with a diverse set of stakeholders, so we've entered various partnerships across different industries to foster dialogue and explore potential synergies in adopting Cardano for their businesses. EMURGO has also invested and partnered with Y2X to advance the growth of regulated STOs moving forward.
How important is the price of ADA to Cardano adoption?
KK: We maintain our focus on building the Cardano ecosystem by addressing real use cases and driving adoption, which will generate organic price appreciation.
Are there any other exciting developments you can share happening in the Cardano ecosystem?
KK: The Cardano community can rest assured that EMURGO and its partners are constantly working on building the Cardano ecosystem on all fronts. Any news developments can be found directly on our EMURGO social media channels and website, as well as on our ecosystem partners' channels.
Significant focus remains on the incentivized testnet technically. Once Shelley is ready for launch, we expect to see more momentum with Cardano adoption and continued development of the Cardano roadmap.
EMURGO drives the adoption of the Cardano blockchain and increases the utility of the Cardano blockchain through investment, advisory services, and by building projects & organizations that utilize Cardano's decentralized blockchain ecosystem. EMURGO leverages its expertise gained from blockchain R&D as well as its global network of blockchain and business partners to provide organizational and personal education services globally.
EMURGO was founded in Japan in June 2017 and has since expanded to Singapore, Indonesia, India, and New York. EMURGO serves as the official commercial arm of the Cardano project, working closely with IOHK and The Cardano Foundation to grow Cardano's ecosystem globally and promote its adoption. Learn more about the project at https://emurgo.io
