We ask the builders in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors for their thoughts on the industry … and we throw in a few random zingers to keep them busy!

This week our 6 questions go to Anton Bukov, co-founder of 1inch Network, a distributed network of decentralized protocols.

Anton has been writing code for over 20 years (since he was 12), mostly C ++, C #, Objective-C, Swift and SQL. He has been working on blockchain solutions, especially smart contracts, since 2017. Anton has worked on several crypto projects including MultiToken, Near Protocol – where he was involved in the Ethereum-Near Rainbow Bridge – and the Synthetix Derivatives Liquidity Protocol, which worked on the gas optimization of the smart contracts.

Anton co-hosted the YouTube show “CryptoManiacs” with Sergej Kunz, who later co-founded 1inch Network. Over the course of 36 hours, at a hackathon in New York City in May 2019, they developed a prototype crypto exchange aggregator that became the basis of 1inch.

1 – From smart contracts to DApps, NFTs and DeFi, we’ve seen so many of the next “killer apps” for crypto, but none have really caught on. What will stick

I see some projects that are already underway. This growth is exponential but is currently still limited by blockchain capacity. Everyone expects a Layer 2 solution that DeFi will eventually scale to large numbers of users and trigger explosive growth.

2 – What’s the most innovative blockchain use case you’ve ever seen? It may not be the recipe for success!

Real innovation occurs when a project sees blockchain as an actor following strict, programmable rules, rather than a passive database. This is happening for the first time in human history – we have an ultimately honest (consensus protected) executor. In addition, following instructions is unstoppable. The most exciting applications for me are currently automated market maker (AMMs) and money markets (aka Loan logs).

3 – Are you signing the idea of ​​Bitcoin as a means of payment, a store of value, both … or neither?

I respect Bitcoin – I mean the engineers behind it – for being the first blockchain, but from my point of view, blockchains with smart contracts make a lot more sense at this point. Bitcoin can still be used as a. work Store of value, but as a means of payment – sorry, I no longer believe in it. The Lightning Network and IOU technology can’t work for a small subset of the population because they require quite a deep and consistent immersion into the community. Most people prefer to use less volatile currencies for payments, such as stablecoins.

4 – Who makes sense to you and who makes no sense at all?

Innovators, inventors, and smart people make sense, and this category doesn’t usually overlap with popular people. Advice from popular people doesn’t necessarily make sense to everyone, but few understand it.

5 – Where do you feel about extraterrestrial intelligence and the existence of life elsewhere in the universe?

I firmly believe – the probability is very high. Overall, I’m curious about non-protein life forms. And I’m curious about the lack of physical determinism. This could be the only reason for the possibility of life.

6 – Which book influenced you the most? Why?

I like science fiction books from the 1980s. Maybe Frost and fire by Ray Bradbury was someone who made me think a lot about life and time.

A wish to the blockchain community:

Take part in hackathons and get involved in building the decentralized future – it’s a huge space with huge possibilities. All of these crypto prices are only helping to draw more attention to this industry. But the real gem are innovations and projects!