HomeBlockchainInterviewEmurgo: exclusive interview with CEO Ken Kodama

Emurgo: exclusive interview with CEO Ken Kodama

The Cryptonomist had the great opportunity to interview Ken Kodama, CEO and founder of Emurgo, a company that aims at driving the adoption of the Cardano blockchain.

What is EMURGO’s relation to Cardano? 

EMURGO is a founding member of the Cardano protocol and is a global blockchain technology company providing solutions for developers, startups, enterprises and governments. EMURGO develops enterprise-grade applications, builds developer tools, invests in startups, and provides blockchain education. 

Cardano is the name of the joint project carried out by three entities: EMURGO, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), and the Cardano Foundation. EMURGO is the official commercial arm focused on driving global Cardano adoption through investment, education, advisory services, and by building projects & organizations that adopt Cardano’s decentralized blockchain ecosystem. 

IOHK is in charge of technical development, and the Cardano Foundation is in charge of maintaining Cardano rules & standards and community management. 

Each entity is separate and wholly independent of one another, but we believe that defining our respective roles allows us to work very closely with one another to build the Cardano ecosystem on all fronts. 

What kinds of blockchain solutions does EMURGO provide? 

EMURGO has its own technical R&D team that develops tailored blockchain solutions for enterprises & governments, and also the Cardano ecosystem. These solutions are aimed at adding value to business models through the increased efficiency of blockchain technology. 

To date, EMURGO has already developed and launched three products: Yoroi Wallet, Seiza Cardano Blockchain Explorer, & Tangata Manu. 

Yoroi Wallet is a light-client wallet for Cardano ADA users that is specifically designed to be simple, fast, and secure – a financial gateway to the future. Yoroi is fully functional and available for free download on iOS, Android, Chrome, & Firefox extension. To date, Yoroi Wallet has consistently enjoyed an excellent rating in all of its available app stores as it has delivered a spectacular user experience and also has a full engineering team developing updates and offering technical support on a full-time basis. It is fully compatible with Cardano’s Shelley and supports staking. 

Seiza Cardano Blockchain Explorer is a blockchain search engine tool that allows Cardano ADA users to track their ADA transactions and other vital information related to the Cardano blockchain including wallet histories, addresses, block size, and stake pools, among others. Seiza will also support Shelley and display real-time information related to staking. 

Tangata Manu is EMURGO’s latest product release and is a new fully open source codebase library for third party developers & enterprises to create their own secure light wallets and explorers for Cardano ADA on Internet browsers and mobile devices. Originally inspired by IOHK’s initial development of Icarus, Tangata Manu is an open source library compatible with Shelley. 

EMURGO has a solid presence in the Asian region with headquarters in Singapore, global operations staff in Japan, and offices in India & Indonesia. Are there developments in Europe to strengthen and expand the market? 

EMURGO joined Blockchain For Europe — a European blockchain association representing industry stakeholders at the EU level — as a founding member with the strategic objective to properly engage with EU members & institutions about the real use cases for blockchain technology and to foster pro-blockchain policy initiatives moving forward. 

EMURGO places high strategic importance on engaging with influential policymakers through leading blockchain associations such as Blockchain For Europe and U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce to be a part of discussions shaping the future of blockchain-oriented policies and provide useful education about blockchain solutions. As regulatory clarity is gradually formed through these discussions, awareness of EMURGO’s blockchain solutions & Cardano as the protocol of choice to address scalability, sustainability, and interoperability will inevitably increase among parties and drive the global adoption of Cardano. 

Since the launch of Blockchain For Europe, we’ve been able to engage with certain members of the EU and discuss the benefits of blockchain technology directly in meetings and have presented our materials to them. EU member states are certainly aware of the potential for blockchain and tokenization, and progress is steadily coming along. 

Blockchain is often discussed as a potential solution for product traceability as one example. Is this an area EMURGO is focused on? 

Blockchain has many potential benefits that can bring real utility to average citizens around the world. Especially in industries where data transparency and security are not up to global standards, blockchain technology can provide increased transparency, data reliability, and overall security resulting in lasting utility for companies and consumers. 

EMURGO fully leverages our expertise in blockchain R&D and our industry partners to apply practical blockchain solutions for real use cases. Implementing blockchain solutions for product traceability in supply chain is one area that we believe has strong potential in addition to other areas such as energy and sustainability, international trade and commodities, and the public sector. Our in-house developed blockchain solutions will continue to be released in the future so please stay tuned to our channels.

Amelia Tomasicchio
Amelia Tomasicchiohttps://cryptonomist.ch
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist, and also PR manager for the Italian market at Bitget. She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
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