Blockdaemon in Asia Pacific & Proof of Stake with Andrew Vranjes

Blockdaemon in Asia Pacific & Proof of Stake with Andrew Vranjes
Andrew Vranjes from Blockdaemon discuss the business footprint of the company in Asia Pacific and breaks down all things staking.

Fresh out of the studio, Andrew Vranjes, VP of sales & general manager of Blockdaemon Asia Pacific, joined us in a conversation to discuss the business footprint of the company and break down everything on proof of stake. Andrew started from his background and discuss how he invests into web3 companies as an angel. Next, he discuss the importance of nodes and how Blockdaemon is able to ensure an institutional grade infrastructure for blockchain protocols and provide staking for different stakeholders within the web3 ecosystem. Last but not least, he discuss his thoughts on the Ethereum merge and what it means for the greater ecosystem.


"Without nodes, there's no blockchain. Without blockchain, there's no cryptocurrencies. Without cryptocurrencies, there's no web3. So nodes are the key core fundamental architecture and infrastructure for this ecosystem.  Whether you are a persona just trading around the tokens, you need nodes to be performing. So that when you do a trade, read-write transactions happen, you verify how many tokens are in your wallet." - Andrew Vranjes


Introduction

  • Andrew Vranjes, VP of Sales & General Manager, APAC, Blockdaemon (LinkedIn, @andrewvranjes)
  • As it is your first time on the podcast, we want to dive into your origin story. How did you start your career?
  • Given that you have been a prolific angel investor and involved in the XA network, what are the key traits that you index for in founders before investing in them?
  • Which areas of interest in web3 are you investing in?
  • What is your mental model in thinking about valuations in the web3 space? Do you prefer tokens, equity or a mixture of both?
  • In your career journey, what are the interesting lessons you can share with my audience.

Blockdaemon in Asia Pacific & Proof of Stake

  • To start the conversation before we dive deep into Blockdaemon and its footprint in Asia Pacific, let’s establish a baseline. Can you explain what proof of stake and liquid staking mean?
  • Moving from the proof of stake consensus, how do blockchains provide staking through deployment of nodes?
  • How important are nodes as part of the key infrastructure behind blockchain protocols?
  • Given that we have explained how nodes work, what is the value proposition of Blockdaemon?
  • Can you provide an overview of Blockdaemon and what is its vision and mission as a company?
  • What are the key highlights of the company and can you share some key milestones for the company till now?
  • What is your role and coverage in Blockdaemon?
  • Who are the customers of Blockdaemon? How do they leverage the institutional grade blockchain structure to allow blockchains to stake, scale and deploy their nodes?
  • What are the blockchain networks which Blockdaemon are currently supporting?
  • What are the key products which Blockdaemon provides for the customer (for example, public validators, white label validators, custodians and liquid staking)?
  • Does Blockdaemon work with startups and developers? How do they tap into the institutional grade infrastructure to build their web3 applications?
  • Can you talk about some interesting case studies about your customers, for example, Solana, where Blockdaemon has contributed to the deployment of their nodes?
  • Given that Blockdaemon has set up in Asia Pacific starting from Singapore, what is the focus of the team in this part of the world?
  • By the time when this interview happens, ETH2 merge will probably happen, what are your thoughts on the event and how will the industry move forward from here?
  • What does great look like for you Blockdaemon in Asia Pacific in the next few years?

Closing

  • Any recommendations that have inspired you recently?
  • Andrew's recommendations: Lego, inspiration from builders across Asia Pacific, Metal Shop Masters (Netflix)
  • How can my audience find you?

Podcast Information:The show is hosted and produced by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) and Carol Yin (@CarolYujiaYin, LinkedIn). Sound credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited by Geoffrey Thomas Craig (LinkedIn).

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