The latest episode of “Hashing It Out with Becky Liggero” features Hakan Yuksel, CEO of nChain, a research and development firm focused on building enterprise solutions on the BSV blockchain. It is the largest public blockchain capable of limitless scaling, which then allows for bigger data blocks and higher instant transaction capacity at the lowest fees.
Yuksel, who was appointed chief executive of the R&D firm in October 2021, talks about transitioning from heading software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies that include SAP and Oracle to developing next-generation innovations using blockchain technology.
“My passion, SAP and Oracle—very large [global] enterprise software companies [that I] deeply care about… and they’ve learned a lot, and they had many, many transitions. They went all the way from being very, very on-premise to being cloud companies. And there is kind of a handover to blockchain technology, and there is a very natural handover. So, for me, it’s a very natural transition,” Yuksel said.
“This is my past. I’ve led countries and regions in software, and I think I can bring this kind of culture into nChain,” the CEO added.
Although admittedly not yet an expert on blockchain technology, Yuksel believes in diving into the blockchain space and absorbing all the information he can get firsthand. And this is why the nChain CEO attended LEAP 2022, a three-day tech event held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The conference was such a success that it has prompted HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to make it an annual event. This is a testament to the growing awareness about the benefits of blockchain adoption, which is also what the BSV Global Blockchain Convention is promoting.
“I think that you have to be here [in Saudi Arabia]. If I would have stayed in London, in Zurich. I would have gotten a summary. Someone would have filtered the information, but you would have never understood really the amplitude of the need, but also the local practices. There are specificities here and you have to come here and listen to that because sometimes you get it right or wrong by very little. And I want to have it right for nChain, by a lot,” Yuksel explained.
Switzerland-based nChain takes pride in ensuring data integrity by providing tamper-proof solutions on the BSV blockchain. This is important for enterprises, especially those that rely heavily on the data they generate, analyze and use.
nChain’s enterprise blockchain platform Kensei has recently been making waves in the gaming industry as something that allows gaming developers to harness the powerful abilities of the BSV blockchain without needing to be tech-savvy or having to build their own tech teams.
“nChain is here very much to code and deploy a global platform, an open platform. And that’s wonderful. And Kensei comes as a layer in an industry agnostic matter. So, what we provide is valid for the gambling industry, but it could be health care, it could be automotive, name it. So yeah, it’s valid for everyone,” Yuksel stated.
On top of making the Kensei platform available for companies all over the world, nChain is also investing heavily in developing payment solutions that would enable global enterprises to seamlessly process and record instant payments in a secure and immutable manner on the blockchain.
“When you think about the origin of Bitcoin, payment comes very much as a first topic. And payments are large in quantity…we will be putting a lot of effort, nChain will be putting double-digit millions into that industry,” Yuksel revealed.
“We should be a synonym of future technology. And I think that in order to get that in an orderly fashion, we have a lot of IP, a lot of patents on the go, and we will find ways of actually enabling the industry with the usage of blockchain,” Yuksel added.
Although blockchain technology has been steadily gaining ground when it comes to enterprise adoption, there is still much that the business world, as well as the general populace, do not understand about it. Corporate leaders are set in their ways and usually reject new technologies that will change the way they do things—especially when it comes to something that they think will cause a dent in their budget.
Although there will be some cost in building platforms on the blockchain, it is not as expensive as one might think. Certainly, it would be impractical to build on the BTC or ETH blockchains with current average fees amounting to $1.54 and $7.7, respectively. With BSV, it only costs infinitesimal fractions of a penny per transaction.
To overcome these information hurdles, education is key to opening up the world to the technology that will change the future. In the past, the Internet made it possible for the world to become online. Now, blockchain technology will create a fully on-chain world.
“Education is really the first step. Interestingly, there are many corporations like ours, which brings true education. We are in a world where YouTube brings you a wealth of information. Saying that, you have to filter a bit. So, I would say, educate yourself, educate your staff. Usually, large corporations have done large, large investment in some type of technologies, and you need to reskill so people must be brave and adapt to the new,” Yuksel advised corporate leaders.