KuCoin AMA With Root Protocol (ISME)— Stepping into the New World of Unified Access to Web3

Dear KuCoin Users,

Time: March 19, 2024, 12:00 PM- 1:30 PM (UTC)

KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session featuring the CEO and Founder of Root Protocol, Dylan Dewdney, in the KuCoin Exchange Group.

Official Website: https://root.xyz/

Whitepaper: https://root.xyz/whitepaper

Follow Root Protocol on Twitter, Telegram and Discord

Q: Let's start with your journey into crypto. When and how did you first get involved?

Dylan: I think I was a bit more primed than most to be attuned to the idea of Bitcoin very early on bc of my masters studies i

Q: You've had some fascinating encounters, like appearing alongside Ed Snowden. Can you share your experience? Also, who are some influential figures you admire in both the crypto space and beyond?

Dylan: Certainly! It’s a funny story to be honest! We were trying to get Yat Siu (Animoca Chairman) interested in our project as a lead investor. We couldn't get traction the normal ways, so we designed an entire live conference and asked him to speak at it - this was our annual DeData conference which was held in Berlin. He didn't speak, but we ended up getting the pitch meeting with Animoca, and they came on as our lead investor.

I'd previously moderated Ed Snowden and Gavin Wood at another DeData conference held online, but this time I appeared alongside him and we had a discussion together. It was really cool! And surreal. On both occasions, I was struck by his ability to think cogently and clearly, and in an original way about many aspects of Web3 and implications, etc. A very humble, super nice, intelligent guy!

The influential figure that I liked is Vitalik from the beginning, and even called that he would be on the cover of Time back in 2015, which he was!

n sociology and also bc of the financial crisis/recession of 2008 as part of my thesis in 2007/8, I studied some online games, like eve online and also WoW, and I was very intrigued that people were paying real money for in game assets and then I was also pretty disillusioned with what i came to recognize as the mass failure of the financial system. It was 3 years later that I came across an article about Bitcoin in late 2011. After some deeper research and joining the Bitcointalk message boards, I had pretty high conviction by 2012.

Long story short, got more and more involved in the space over time, and went from a hobbyist miner, to an investor, and then intro'd myself to some of the founding ethereum team here in Toronto and then took part in the Ethereum ICO and then began the process of working within the industry by 2017, and angel investing and being part of different projects.
Also, the early BTC pioneers and early cryptographers - David Chaum is a friend and someone I think we should all pay respects to. Nick Szabo. Andreas Anatapolous. Erik Voorhees is a friend and someone I really admire.

And for the non-crypto figures, Yuval Noah-Harari, Peter Thiel (who I had a convo with once) and Elon Musk.

Q: Moving on to DIDs. There's been a lot of buzz about them lately. Can you explain what they are and why they're getting so much attention? And how do they tie in with Root/ISME?

Dylan: We were one of the early pioneers in the DID space - and we have a jump on it to be sure. Indeed, half of my pitch meetings with investors was given over to educating them on how important they were. DID stands for Decentralized Identifier - and there are a lot of projects using the term as a shorthand for decentralized identity, but it's a misnomer to be honest. They essentially act at the most primitive level of the internet, if you will - like a url - in fact, a DID is a URI, which stands for Uniform Resource Identifier and all URLs are URIs, and we all understand essentially what a URL is at this point, I think.

You can think of your DID as a URL for people and entities in a way. It is a really important technological breakthrough and has wider implications in terms of tech and the internet and its change on society than even blockchain tech imo bc while blockchain tech handles the value transfer layer of the internet (which is in itself a big deal), DIDs allows the handling of identity and data sovereignty on the internet - in essence, the new internet will not be about going on platforms, it will be about becoming the platform.

Q: Now, let's delve into the less glamorous side. What's one aspect of crypto or Web3 that you find particularly challenging or dislike, and why?

Dylan: In the early Ethereum days, I and many people in the space including the founding team, hoped that ERC-20 and ICOs, etc, would herald an era of more capital efficiency and democratization of the ability to invest on genuine projects that would change society - that smart contracts had the power to change society. However, I think all smart contracts allowed has been an easier way for people to essentially speculate and gamble. I dislike the overall emphasis in the space on speculation - though I do understand the inclination of people to want to find ways to escape some of the financial oppression they are essentially under by being part of the status quo and the local economies they are in.

We are barraged with images of success and making it, with very little reliable pathways to abundance and success. I get that, however, I think that this speculative orientation to our space ultimately hurts us and attracts the wrong kind of attention, and retail investors are typically the ones who get hurt the most. They ape into things without even understanding what they are, or they simply don't care and accept the nihilism of it all and ape into and shill meaningless projects, like memecoins and sh*tcoins, etc. For myself, I spent a full year researching Bitcoin and even teaching myself mining before getting in the same with Ethereum and deciding to get into their ICO.

Q: Shifting gears to the future, what are 'Web3 dreams,' and how close do you think we are to realizing them?

Dylan: I define the Web3 dream as the idea that we will have the ability to map multiple data points (typically in the form of verifiable credential attestations), a variety of on-chain wallets and info associated back to our self-sovereign DIDs. The dream of Web3 is a dream of control over your digital destiny and one where we have more efficient systems. The business model of the internet can evolve beyond just advertising and retargeted metadata. The customer and brand can have a far richer way to interact and know about one another in a non-creepy way via data sovereignty.

Q: What are some potential future use cases of the projects you're currently involved in?

Dylan: Some of the potential use cases that can be envisioned are monetizing and leveraging all sorts of things. For example access to your genome by researchers. Pre-qualification and inclusion into a number of brand experiences based on the credentials and data you may hold - whether that's a Harvard medical degree or whether you are one of the best players on some MMORPG.

The near term stuff and germane to people in crypto - we can start to think about the building of anonymous/pseudonymous reputations that not only encapsulate on-chain info, but off-chain info too.

Q: What mechanisms does the root protocol employ to establish and maintain trust across decentralized networks, particularly in the context of blockchain technology?

Dylan: We are on the cutting edge and utilized LayerZero!

Q: I'm interested in supporting your project! Can you share more details about the Ambassador Program and how we can get involved?

Dylan: Please send a message to @JasonGrantTG. We may open up an ambassador program soon!

Q: Considering the current volatile market conditions, which may be discouraging for investors, could you provide compelling reasons as to why I should consider purchasing your tokens in the present market landscape? Additionally, what benefits or incentives are there for token holders to continue holding your tokens?

Dylan: I am going to suggest, do not buy our token. This is a very volatile space and I have no control over our token price.

Q: Can you provide a rundown of the top 3 impressive features that set this project apart from its competitors? What aspect of your project's superiority over its rivals do you have the utmost confidence in?

Dylan: Certainly! DID-based accounts, intent-centric architecture and account abstraction.

Q: Can you share your social media links? So can we keep ourselves updated?

Dylan: Here is the link to our X (Twitter), Telegram and our website.

🎁 Participate in the Root Protocol AMA quiz now for a chance to win $10 in ISME!

The form will remain open for five days from publishing this AMA recap.

KuCoin and Root Protocol have prepared a total of $2,000 in ISME to give away to AMA participants.

1. Pre-AMA activity: $800 in ISME

2. Free-ask section: $50 in ISME

3. Flash mini-game: $400 in ISME

4. Post-AMA quiz: $750 in ISME

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