Lisk 101 w/ Max Kordek
For those of us that enjoy hearing about motivated, promising projects in the blockchain space, this interview on the CRYTPO101 podcast will be music to your ears.
Matthew Aaron interviewed Max Kordek, founder and soon-to-be CEO of the Lisk Foundation, the company responsible for the cryptocurrency: Lisk (LSK). Max, who has a background in electrical engineering, is living and working in Berlin with the team behind the Lisk Foundation and has been involved in the space since 2012. He was first interested in Proof of Work projects but grew tired of the excessive energy usage.
He then worked on the development of the NXT Platform but felt that the vision was “too decentralised” and lacked strong leadership. He experimented further with smaller startups before becoming convinced that he could develop a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) blockchain with clear and transparent leadership — thus Lisk was created about 2.5 years ago.
“You should never copy, you should get inspired.”
Max Kordek
Listening to the interview, it soon becomes clear that Max has a nuanced outlook on the best way to build a decentralised blockchain protocol. He believes in strong and committed leadership during the developmental phase that then transitions into a more decentralised governance model.
“If you want to have a truly decentralised project, you cannot have a centralised governance forever.”
When asked why Lisk should be considered as one of the viable competitors to the dominant Ethereum, Max said that “The biggest strength of Ethereum is also its biggest weakness — that it’s all on one blockchain”. Lisk, on the other hand aims to develop a “network of networks” enabling projects to build their own sidechains that are built on the Lisk chain. From their own website:
“Lisk is a blockchain application platform created to bring blockchain technology to the world through an SDK (Sidechain Development Kit) written in JavaScript, the most commonly used programming language in the world.”
Along with this core project Lisk has two additional priorities — user experience and education. The Lisk website even has an academy where they attempt to educate lay people in the basics of blockchain technology. The difficulty of understanding this technological revolution, let alone commencing to build a blockchain of your own is no small feat and Lisk’s commitment to education is admirable.
Lisk boasts of “consistent development”, even still, as a project Lisk is determined to get their protocol right, something that takes time.
“We are still super early stage. I’m saying [after] 1.5 years and it’s still the same but this just proves our whole point that it is super complex to develop a blockchain.”
When asked about the current bear market and whether or not the lower prices from January this year are a hindrance to development, Max had a refreshing outlook:
“When the price goes down, people go to work. People get their assess in the basement.”
This focus on education, user experience and getting to work even when things aren't ideal are a combination of values that we at CRYPTO101 respect. Be sure to check out the interview.