Kelsey McGuire on Shardeum’s scalability and decentralization approach

0:01I'm Ashton Addison from Block West capital for investment pitch media and today on the crypto coin show we have Kelsey McGuire the chief growth officer of shardium Kelsey welcome to the show and thank you for taking the time thank you so much Ashton really great to be on you're very welcome I'm personally very excited to dive into more layer one Technologies the growth of blockchain

0:22some huge announcements from your team that just happened and we're going to dive into everything layer ones but before we start that I want to hear a little bit on your background what led you to get into blockchain and leading into the chief growth officer of shardium absolutely so my web 3 Journey began many years ago at this point it feels like 20 but I think it's been about five

0:47um at consensus the organization that I'm sure pretty much everyone has heard of at this point that's focused on ethereum I was previously working in doing a little Consulting and working actually in the fashion industry off and on and learned a little bit more about blockchain technology and was fortunate enough to cross paths with someone that told me about consensus after giving

1:08myself something of a crash course back then and exploring a little bit more about the technology I was able to join their team working with Community strategy eventually experiential marketing um from there I worked on Partner marketing and strategic Partnerships at cello before eventually joining web3 crypto investment firm coin fund as their CMO a few years a couple years ago at this

1:32point and I recently joined chardium and it's been fantastic so far amazing that's a great uh breadth of experience in in blockchain in a short amount of time but it feels like forever in blockchain because there's so much stuff happening oh yeah Whirlwind isn't it definitely and it's great to see you know that shardium is is standing strong and continuing to

1:55grow uh in all types of market conditions and I feel like they're gearing up for something big when the cryptocurrency market gets back I'm sure it will get even more attention in in the near months and years let's just talk from a high level on what exactly is the shardium network and then we'll dive into all those details sounds great so shortium is a highly

2:21scalable evm based layer one blockchain so we deployed Dynamic State charting to enable low gas fees while maintaining true decentralization and security I know that's kind of a mouthful um it means that things are transactions can happen quickly and we're focused on maintaining low fees forever we realize that most blockchains today promote High skin that promote high scalability are

2:44making sacrifices on their level of decentralization so at chardium we believe that there is a huge opportunity to build a solution that aligns scalability with decentralization at that layer one level So the faster the blockchain becomes the more decentralized it is that's that's great to hear because for for some it's I've heard of different blockchains that are able to increase

3:06decentralization um as it becomes more scalable but there's always been this uh this discussion around the blockchain trilemma of balancing decentralization security and scalability and from what we've seen in traditional models you know the the reason that some of the traditional payment providers you know for example visa and MasterCard are able to be so scalable and very fast is

3:30because they're the only ones doing it and when they had to spread out and become more decentralized it becomes slower so maybe you can touch a little bit more on that you know concept of decentralization and the misconceptions that people have kind of the first important thing to dig into a little bit more is that Dynamic State charting piece that I mentioned

3:53that means that consensus happens at the transaction level which allows shark game to lower the computational power needed for validator nodes that makes it possible for anyone to run a node and thus increases decentralization which is of course a really important part of all of this um I think that another really kind of big point about decentralization is that

4:14sometimes we only focus on the tech side of that and really ultimately web3 is built by people for people so unless we're really focused on a broad range of geographies and different socioeconomic standings of individuals I don't think we could ever really truly be decentralized so it's kind of the two-pronged piece that I think we need to really focus on both The Human Side

4:34of decentralization as well as the tech side definitely good to focus on the human side and how getting people to be able to get involved from the get-go I feel like is very important because as we've seen with the growth of blockchain networks like Bitcoin and ethereum it used to be back in the beginning that you know Bitcoin was so decentralized anybody could run a full node you know

4:59on a on a computer on a USB stick it was very easy now there's giant warehouses that are competing you know with multi billion dollar companies that have thousands of graphics cards and it's hard to compete or even get started and it's pretty a daunting task to be like yeah I'm going to start getting involved in this decentralized network so I'm glad to hear that you know chardium is a

5:22little bit easier I'm curious if you have more information on you know how that decentralized nature just allows people to get involved very easily in helping support the network and getting involved absolutely a really really big part of that are proof of community events that happen around the world we recently even spun some up in Vietnam um they happen all across India we've

5:46kick some off here in the United States we'll be at HCC next week we're also really engaging with the community because what we've found is those sort of really human-driven interactions and education moments that can kind of sort of spark that level of Engagement and decentralization that we're looking for to really get people involved and making sure that on the technical side folks

6:09can use the you know the equipment that they already have to to spin up a node to engage with the technology and don't need to invest or be a part of a a group that has a giant Warehouse or you know spending thousands and thousands of dollars to you know be a part of the web 3 community in like a deeper way that shouldn't be the barrier to entry in our

6:29minds definitely and I like to remind myself when we look at these huge companies that companies are really just a group of people and and blockchains uh with decentralized networks are also just you know groups of people that are helping for a common cause so I feel like that the people factor is very important and when there's so much you know technical stuff on the on the back

6:53side of blockchains it can get you can get lost in that that you know this is really just people coming together for a common cause exactly I completely agree and I think we're seeing that a lot across the world at these different community events is that individuals do want to come together and they're excited to engage it's just really providing some clarity

7:14and structure and that welcoming atmosphere around how to just start their web 3 Journey really um because it can be daunting at times um it can be difficult to sort of break into some of the online communities it can be difficult to navigate your way around a giant conference so having us as a web3 community just be aware and welcoming I think will will be a really

7:36big kind of Boon to that greater web free adoption well said Kelsey and now looking at the the greater blockchain ecosystem you know there's there's still a lot of room for growth of course and you know despite the market conditions we're seeing the ecosystems continue to grow out you know with the growth of smart Contracting platforms uh with ethereum shardium all of these other

8:01layer twos and different layer ones that are growing out and no one really knows exactly you know how it's going to go how it's going to end up in the future you know will there be one chain to rule them all will all of the chains work synonymously and connect together or will there be a select few um I'm curious if you have any perspective looking you know at the

8:22greater blockchain ecosystem moving forward on that or anything else yeah absolutely so I I always kind of laugh or smile when I hear the one chain to roll them all because I love a good Lord of the Rings reference to but I do think that we'll be probably a few different chains that are serving a variety of specific purposes for audiences and those would be composed of

8:47all the best features of sort of the l1s that are currently involved in this what I see almost as like a massive L1 race so each one has unique and interesting things about it but I do think it will be this sort of almost conglomerate of the existing ones that ends up serving the best purpose down the line um so I I definitely see a lot more of that in the future for us and in web3

9:12but I also see a lot of more of a shift towards focus on usability um the overall experience of interacting with web3 technology and I've seen a lot of progress in that I think we still have a ways to go across the board um with especially your average consumer um trying to engage with the technology it can be a little intimidating but I've seen a lot of progress especially I feel

9:34like in the gaming space where games are now geared towards fun and experience in web 3 as opposed to just a transaction um I think this shift from play to earn to play and earn is really key and is indicative of a much larger positive trend in web 3. yeah no that's a great point and I love that you are focused on usability it goes back to the the human

9:59perspective you know it's great to have a blockchain and layer one that's super scalable but if there's no apps that are usable or if there's no games to play on the network then you know what good is a scalable blockchain that has no apps running on it or apps that are so technical that you know your everyday person isn't able to to find out how to

10:20actually use them you know I'm curious on the approach of your network and is shardium lowering the barriers to entry for app development and user engagement to actually get people using and transacting on the network yeah absolutely absolutely so a lot of it you'll hear a common theme here which is community so those community events are places where we are actively

10:46educating onboarding making people sure people have the really key support system so that even as we're improving usability over the months and quarters we're able to still retain folks and have them engaging in the meantime without sort of feeling that kind of level of frustration and sort of falling off so that's been a really really key part for us as well as we have a great

11:12team over here and we're always working with the different Founders that are a part of the chardian ecosystem to really help with resourcing marketing and calms understanding like what strategic Partnerships we can also facilitate which helps them sort of bring their networks in and build this larger Community together and with regards to different use cases

11:36and applications uh I'm sure there are many possibilities for what is able to be built and used on shardium but does the ecosystem have any specific focuses at least more in the short term you know in terms of dap developments is it defy nfts gaming other kinds of real world use cases absolutely I feel like when I've had this conversations or this conversation

12:00with other folks from from l1's we're all so nervous about getting pigeonholed into one specific vertical but I do think that even though we are working with projects across all of those different verticals and actively like partnering with Founders and bringing them in I am particularly excited about the gaming space just because like we talked about earlier it's such a great

12:21on-ramp I think to the world of web3 and it's such a unique interactive way to build trust and relationships with folks that are already in the web free community and that are just dipping their toes in the water as well so we're really looking at ramping up some of those efforts over the next quarter too amazing and the gaming industry is you know it's such a a wide variety of

12:44people that are even in more so in the recent years as well you know going from casual gaming to hardcore gaming from young kids to uh elderly people everyone's really playing games and that part that you mentioned about integrating the transactions into it but not having that as a focus it's great to be able to transact and actually be earning money while you're playing a

13:06game but that shouldn't be the focus it shouldn't turn into a job so I feel like the size of the gaming industry is much bigger you know the market capitalization uh than blockchain as a whole and when that this technology successfully merges in you know really nicely and not you know in a clunky way where we're all focused on the transactions per second we're just like

13:29hey we can play this game and yeah we're earning or we're able to monetize by the in-game assets and transfer them out to a different game or sell them or buy them easily I feel like that's when we could see explosive growth in the web 3 sector right kind of going after that feeling of fun and joy I mean when I think about way back when I first got my first Game

13:54Boy Color with Pokemon Red I believe it was um and just that feeling of Engagement and joy and you remember that and you spend a lot of time with it and it didn't really matter how that specific technology worked and I think it's going to be similar you know with liquid 3 gaming it's going to be this underlying piece that allows us to do a lot of interesting things and be a part of a

14:17really fantastic Community but it comes down to it you're just building that like affinity and joy within the community and that's really what will kind of spark that growth just like you were saying and and speaking of sparking growth for growing the communities I've recently saw online that chardium just closed a new round of fundraising for over five million

14:39dollars with a bunch of major partners that sounds like huge news uh especially in you know the current market conditions um bitcoin's not skyrocketing upwards it's sort of in a sideways motion people are wondering what's going to happen next it looks like some of these long-term Partners uh Venture capitalists and these funds are still very interested in investing in layer

14:59ones so congratulations to that I would love to hear more information on that raise and the partners and you know the steps moving forward from that thank you so much yeah we are absolutely thrilled with the raise um came in at 5.4 million I believe and especially during these market conditions it really shows that the investors and partners are extremely

15:22confident in us and what we're doing they see our I think it's now 500 000 person Discord Community that's still growing and they see the potential of shardium and really what we're trying to do on both like the technical side as well as The Human Side we had Angels like contribute like crypto Viet and we're spinning up actively you know proof of community

15:45events with them in Vietnam now we were really focused on bringing in that kind of strategic value with this round as well so all of our partners are contributing in really interesting and unique ways as they deepen our relationship with us Beyond just the capital that's amazing to hear and I have visited some of the developer communities in in Vietnam and they're

16:07pretty hardcore about uh the future of blockchain so that's great to hear that you're also involved in that uh part of the world that's fantastic I love that you've you've been out there did you feel like the community was even more engaged in some of the other geographies you've visited or was there anything else that was specifically unique that you found

16:26well definitely uh the gaming sector as you've mentioned uh aligned very well in the Southeast Asian region and Vietnam and you know I even saw some of the major companies you know Google is very involved in the blockchain and developer ecosystem in Vietnam and they're very focused on building for the future so um yeah I think you know that area of the world is sort of Paving the way for

16:52North America to also stay involved very deeply because I feel like you know it's sort of like as these L1 races are happening uh the parts of the world need to stay on top of uh having talent as well to stay involved in the newest Innovations in technology yeah I completely agree and it is just maintaining that large Global perspectives like I mentioned with

17:16crypto Vietnam community over there are some of our other contributors to this round we're like Amber group Galaxy j17 and it's quite the the global Bunch so I feel like Global contributors make for uh you know better strategic value in terms of resourcing connections and Partnerships so that's something that we're really really excited about with the Strategic round

17:41amazing well congratulations and with that round closed you know what are some of the next steps that shardium is going to take with that capital in expanding and growing in different directions yes so we're really excited to start growing in some new geographies like I mentioned we have those incredible you know network of global contributors I'm here based in the U.S so we are spinning

18:05up some of our community events out here we are having side events and educational moments alongside some of those larger conferences we're looking at some key hires both on the people side and the technical side of the business so there's a lot that we're going to be doing this next year especially as we head towards mainnet at the end of the year which is the next

18:26massive milestone for us yeah definitely and what are some of the major things that are need to get done to to get to that mainnet launching successfully absolutely aside from really focusing in on the technical side making sure that we have every single feature complete that that we were aiming for on my side with the amazing growth team that I'm working with is

18:53really doubling down on those education and Community efforts and structuring out some really unique campaigns around our brand and our core value crops so that way when you think about charity and you understand exactly not only who we are and what we do but how to easily get involved and be a part of the community and if there's people that want to

19:13follow along online and or look at for these in-person community events as well what is the best way for them to start getting involved yes so please please please check us out our website um as well as Twitter or just if you look up at chardium um on there that's that will be the easiest way we have many many different channels but I would say that our

19:38website right now is the best best Avenue we have a great newsletter that you can sign up for there and it will be you know probably the easiest Avenue to reach out at stratium.org I don't know if I said that earlier um I'm also depending on how comfortable the audience is with different channels um for folks that are exploring like getting into web3 growth and marketing

20:03um I'm on LinkedIn I feel like LinkedIn can be a little underrated um you can send me a message I'm happy to hear from you um personally as well because I'm really for bringing more folks into the space and it can be really hard to get your your toe in the door when you're thinking about a career in web stream marketing community building and growth

20:24um I completely agree and thank you for that Kelsey and I will leave uh the the Twitter and the shardium.org links in the description but I'll also leave your personal connection uh to LinkedIn and if people want to reach out directly as as we've been having as one of the focuses of this discussion is it's just a group of people that are looking to get together and and build yeah so you

20:45know that human connection is important and I appreciate you offering that as well yeah absolutely it's been great being able to have the opportunity to talk through some of what shark game is all about yeah thank you so much all the best moving forward on all these initiatives uh and looking forward towards a successful mainnet launch I'd love to have you and your team back

21:06prior to the main net launch happening to hear about more of the updates and and to see uh what's next in store but until then let's follow up in the near future we love that thanks so much Ashton speak with you again soon