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It is an incredible honour to have the head of marketing of the Fantom Foundation - Mr Simone Pomposi himself - to give a brand new and exclusive interview to Publish0x! For those who don't know, Fantom is the rising star of the smart contract platforms, known for its ultra low fees, near instantaneous transactions, and robust security, all thanks to its exceptional consensus algorithm - Lachesis (read more here). Fantom is one of those projects who have adopted the "do more, talk less" motto so this is extra special to have Simone here with us despite the team's hectic schedule. For those who are closely following Fantom and DeFi in general, Simone needs no introduction - a frequent guest of AMAs and a strong voice of the Fantom community, today we will talk about how Simone got involved with Fantom and what role he plays in the project, then we'll explore what exactly makes Fantom's tech stand out, followed by prices and rumours discussion. Finally, stick around till the end to hear Simone's message to the entire crypto-community!
Part 1: Simone Pomposi - the Voice of Fantom
Q: Let's first start with you, Simone. How did you join Fantom and the blockchain industry as a whole, and what made you decide to stay?
A: I joined Fantom in January 2020. However, I've seen it born, and I was among the first members of the Fantom community in 2018. In early 2019 I organized an event with Fantom, Holochain, and IOTA in NYC. Fantom sent Andre Cronje to make the presentation. It was a great evening! The first time I heard about Bitcoin was in 2013 but then forgot about it until early 2017. That's when I joined the space and never left since. The reason is simple. I believe that with blockchain and crypto, we're building something that will be of massive importance in the years to come. To succeed, it needs all the help it can get. So here I am, doing my small part in contributing to the bigger picture.
Q: What are you working on right now, and what are your colleagues working on?
A: That's a very broad question! I'm working on the marketing plan and execution and branding and UX/UI improvements of the website and the wallet. For the wallet, we're going to have a fully redesigned version out in Q3. It's progressing nicely, and we're adding some new cool features according to the user feedback we received this past year. The rest of the team is improving the consensus to make it even faster and easier to maintain. On the BD side, there are many talks both with DeFi projects and with real-world entities interested in our technology.
Q: What is your "dream," so to speak, in Fantom Foundation? What do you hope to achieve within your career?
A: To use blockchain as a tool to improve people's lives. Fantom, with its high performance, is ideal for real-world use cases as well as DeFi applications. I dream of a future where all the "crypto" stuff is abstracted, and people just use it and enjoy the benefits.
Part 2: Fantom - the Rise of a Tech Giant
Q: Okay, thank you! Now I'd like to move on to Fantom itself, a project I've been following closely since my entrance into crypto. One thing I've noticed is that Fantom has seemingly moved from working on Smart Cities to Decentralized Finance, so naturally, a question arises: why the change in emphasis?
A: One doesn't exclude the other, as Fantom's technology is suitable for different uses. However, smart cities are still quite far in the future, whereas DeFi is here. And Fantom for DeFi is a game-changer. It's important to note that Fantom is a blockchain platform, so anything can be built on it. The fact that now it's mostly DeFi doesn't mean that it can only do DeFi. Case in point, the pilots in Central Asia.
Q: In his recent video about Fantom, Guy from Coin Bureau claimed, and I'm paraphrasing, that Fantom is a finished project, in a sense that it has achieved most of its tech-related goals. Would you agree, or is there something bigger on the horizon (tech-wise)?
A: I agree. The tech is here, it's working, it's ready to use, and thousands of people use it daily. Now it's a matter of improving that tech, and that's a neverending task that will progressively lead to a technology that is improved, refined, and overall better than the previous iterations.
Q: What, in your opinion, does Fantom do better than anyone else? In other words, what niche does Fantom occupy that few other projects can?
A: Fantom is part of the new generation of blockchain platforms. It's fast (transactions are confirmed in 1 second), it's cheap (transactions fees cost less than a cent), it's EVM-compatible (developers can use Solidity, Vyper, and all the tools designed for Ethereum, including Metamask, plus anything that works on Ethereum works on Fantom) and it's a layer 1, so its security doesn't depend on other networks. Fantom performs best among all other networks; the data is out there and can be checked. On top of that, Fantom offers the best onboarding experience both for developers and users. Developers can use ftmscan.com, made by the Etherscan team, that looks and feels like Etherscan. No need for them to learn a new explorer. And for users, besides METAMASK support, it's just easy to bridge assets over to Fantom. A few bridges are now available on Fantom, including https://multichain.xyz/ and https://spookyswap.finance/bridge. The onboarding experience is as seamless as it can be. This is a big differentiator from other networks.
Q: Knowing how eager the foundation is to introduce blockchain tech to governments, are you aware of any CBDC talks that are underway right now (if any)?
A: Unfortunately, I can't answer this question.
Q: Finally, how many projects do you think have solved the infamous "Blockchain Trilemma" and is Fantom one of them?
A: The blockchain trilemma was theorized by Vitalik Buterin and says that blockchains are often forced to make trade-offs that prevent them from achieving all three aspects: scalability, decentralization, and security. As of today, a few projects solved it or are on the way to solving it, with different degrees of success for each part but still achieving a minimum limit. Off the top of my head Avalanche, Algorand (even though I'm not sure who's using it right now), Solana, Polygon (on the fence on this because its security depends on Ethereum), and of course Fantom.
Part 3: Price-Talk and Rumours
Q: Mr Simone, people as always discuss 2 things about crypto: the floating rumours and price predictions. So with your permission I'd like to ask you a couple questions to sate the appetite of our audience. For starters, what will it take to get the much awaited COINBASE listing for Fantom?
A: I can't comment.
Q: There is a rumour floating around that there'll be an integration of Andre's projects such as Yearn Finance and Fantom. Any truth to these rumours?
A: Yearn is an aggregator. It's a great product once there's enough TVL and protocols, but we're not there yet. Once the conditions are met, Yearn will be a great addition to the Fantom ecosystem and the overall user experience.
Q: Cryptocurrencies are criticized by many for their extreme volatility, which is true. Worse yet, many say that most prices in crypto are hype-driven which makes nasty crashes possible and deters investors. In DeFi projects like Fantom, is hype-driven volatility an inherently unsolvable problem?
A: Volatility is always present at early stages. Once cryptocurrencies become more mainstream, volatility will be reduced a lot, and I bet many will miss it, so enjoy it until it lasts!
Q: Finally, any closing remarks, Simone? Perhaps a message to the crypto-community?
A: If you're reading this, you're still early. The whole blockchain space is just starting, and it's going to be a great experience to see how it will evolve over the years. For Fantom, it began as an underdog, and now it's showing its real potential. Once again, things are just getting started. The future is bright.
*P.S. The interviewee's responses were not edited and were preserved in their entirety. The interviewer was not paid or otherwise financially incentivised to conduct the interview.
*P.P.S. It was a big honour, Mr Pomposi, thank you for taking the time! I have no doubt that the educational value of this interview will be rather valuable to the community! We genuinely appreciate it!
