CRYPTO markets are in turmoil as regulations weigh heavily on market value but blockchain is still well and truly on the rise.
Now Ethereum has tapped up one of the industry’s brightest lights in the form of Aya Miyaguchi to help it focus on the future.
The former San Francisco State University MBA graduate is joining the Ethereum foundation to help them improve their performance as they continue to battle industry giant Bitcoin for market dominance.
Ethereum enters new stage
Aya who moved to the not for profit from her role as Managing Director of Kraken Japan is well versed in the crypto space.
She led the launch of Kraken Bitcoin Exchange in Japan and helped the San Francisco headquartered company raise $6.5 million in venture capital from 11 investors, among them Blockchain Capital and Hummingbird Ventures.
She joined the organisation last week and admits that while improvements are necessary that building relationships is key to her strategy.
She said: “Having been involved in different layers of the blockchain ecosystem, I am aware of the the improvements that need to happen at the core level of the Ethereum platform, and that these improvements can only happen with the support of a strong community.
“I am excited to be taking on this role, and to support the research and development efforts and the relationships within the community.”
Former executive director Ming Chan offered her best wishes to Aya as she began her new role.
She said: “I will be taking care of a number of long overdue matters of a personal nature, I would like to ask our community and the media to focus on the exciting forward-looking developments at the Foundation, in the Ethereum community and in the growing global blockchain ecosystem.”
Power in alliance
Ethereum an open-source, public, blockchain-based platform and operating system features smart contract functionality which stores computer code.
Its currency Ether is intended to be bought and sold by businesses, governments or individuals to allow them to tap into the vast, distributed resources of the Ethereum network to run their own apps.
Around 30 tech and banking leaders including JP Morgan Chase, Microsoft, and Intel are involved in a joint project that taps into the blockchain.
Known as the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance the organisations are setting out to revolutionise the way they do business.
A year ago they performed a “spot trade” on the foreign exchange market for global currencies using a custom Ethereum version to facilitate the trade.
Other members include Accenture, BBVA, BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, BP, Cisco, Credit Suisse, ING, Thomson Reuters, and UBS.