Anndy Lian provides advisory across a variety of industries for local, international, publicly listed companies and governments. He is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur, book author, investor, board member and keynote speaker.
Currently, he is appointed as the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group where he looks after the governance and compliance aspects of the business. He is also the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization.
Anndy is also part of the Gyeongsangbuk-do Blockchain Special Committee, Government of Republic Korea, together with industry experts such as Brock Pierce (Chairman, Bitcoin Foundation) and Alexis Sirkia (Founder of Yellow.com), helping the province to grow using blockchain technologies.
He is the Chairman (Singapore) for Korea eSports Industry Association (KeIA) where he is actively promoting eSports to go mainstream and adopt cryptocurrencies.
When did you initially become interested in blockchain and cryptocurrency?
My interest was in cryptocurrency first and the interest grew tremendously after reading Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System back in 2010. We were only using bitcoin as a form of a credit to exchange items online. Maybe for music download, gaming accounts etc.
As for blockchain, it was 2016. As an investor in the health and medical industry, I was invited to a close door discussion with the medical professions and a pharmaceutical company. That was the first time I know how important blockchain is. It helps to fight fake medicines and health products. It can enhance the current search and tracking model if adopted well. My interest for both grew since that point of time.
You’ve spoken to many regulators, what are some of the biggest questions or concerns that they have with DeFi and cryptocurrency?
Their biggest concern for regulators is how to balance innovation and unregulated financial activities. I dare to say all regulators are into blockchain and agree that it can do wonders.
As for unregulated activities like ICOs for instance in 2017, they are concerned that token buyers are scammed and bought into financial products that they do not know much about. This has downstream issues and may lead to more bankruptcies and social unrest. When such issues occur, who will clean up the mess? Binance? Huobi? Gemini? Coinbase? The answer is no. Governments got to step in to help their citizens.
What are some of the biggest industry challenges that you see in DeFi?
Violations of KYC/ AML: Not knowing who is who and where the money is flowing from is one of the main problems for DeFi right now. When such trades occur between unknown parties and if these parties violate any of the regulations, the consequences can be very damaging. Nevertheless, it has improved a lot from the older days.
Liquidity issues: This is still a problem although we see PancakeSwap is doing very well with their volume. There is still clear competition between CEX and DEX. There is also competition between chains on pricing too. When you see the competitions, the liquidity flows is very obvious, some totally withdraw themselves from Chain 1 to Chain 2 because Chain 2 is new and they can get more out of it.
DeFi is very complex to use: The UI and UX have increased a lot. It is still an uphill task for many to follow. Do you know how to activate the expert mode? Why I cannot sell my coins away? Where are my coins? Slippage? Many who read this article will find these problems have happened to them before and newer problems appear day to day too.
What are some cryptocurrencies that currently have piqued your interest?
Bitcoin and the original main cryptocurrencies are still of my interest, although some of them are not doing much for the last 2 years. New cryptocurrencies with innovative tokenomics like Safemoon for example piqued my interest in the recent months. A few other NFT and MEME projects have also gain my attention too.
What’s the most important attribute that you consider when reviewing new cryptocurrencies?
Concept, Marketing, Community, Technology and Business.
These are the 5 things I look at when reviewing new cryptocurrencies. The project must have a good concept and has to solve some issues. With good marketing, it can draw in support from the community at large. Technology will help them with their use cases. Last but not least, it has to have be able to gain revenue.
“Always remember, all hype but no business = failed project.”
You’ve spoken a lot in the past about NFTs, what are your current views on the space?
The NFT space is getting exciting. Recently Twitter has also joined the bandwagon, giving away 140 Ethereum NFT on Rarible. I can see more artists, movie stars, sportsmen, luxury brands, politicians knowing more about crypto because of NFTs.
The flip side is there are not enough users to buy the overwhelming creation on many platforms. Many of the demands you see may not be the real demand. In the next year, we will see the creative folks dropping out and only the toughest can survive.
Nevertheless, this space will grow faster and has not reached its fullest potential yet.
You’re currently the Chairman (Singapore) for the Korea eSports Industry Association (KeIA) where you are actively promoting eSports to go mainstream and adopt cryptocurrencies. How has the gaming community in South Korea reacted to mixing eSports with crypto?
South Korea is both strong in cryptocurrency and esports gaming. I cannot speak for all gamers in South Korea. All I can say that they are the fastest-growing country when it comes to esports + crypto.
More semi-professionals became full-time professionals thanks to the COVID19 situation and also cryptocurrency. The gamers are rewarded with cryptocurrencies instantly after the game. This becomes a revenue stream for them to continue their lives despite lockdown. Win-win situation.
You believe that the blockchain industry needs to be “redecentralised”, could you elaborate on these views?
I started advising governments earlier than most of my peers. Most of my peers think in order for crypto to grow we need to go fully decentralised. No governments, no banks. Of course, they think I am crazy too.
My stand is if we want to grow we need to redefine the word decentralise. If we can “redecentralise” things properly, we can gain acceptance faster. This has aged well with times 🙂
Is there anything else that you would like to share regarding the industry or what’s currently on your mind?
I think all coins must co-exist.
This space must mature with time and not work on groundless price pumps, washed trading or out of this world FUDs.
Let’s work together in the right manner.
Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more about Anndy and his views should visit the Anndy Lian website.
Original Source: https://www.securities.io/anndy-lian-inter-government-blockchain-advisor-author-interview-series/
Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.
Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.
An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.
Anndy Lian spoke at a panel titled “The Future cannot be regulated” at the World Blockchain Summit Busan 2020. The event has brought international technology experts to Busan, South Korea, to discuss the future of blockchain.
