If you walk on the streets of South Korea, and randomly interview some people and ask what blockchain projects they heard. Qbao is very likely to be mentioned right after Bitcoin and Ethereum, the Smart Crypto-wallet, was firstly created in May 2017, has millions of users and a great reputation in China and South Korea.
Most of successful companies in the world have a characteristic that they choose a large field and then do the best in one field to win. Currently, it is difficult to determine whether Qbao would become a successful company in the future. However, from the past development of Qbao, it is indeed working towards the best.
For example, we have not yet started developing many oversea markets, we are still able to enjoy high popularity in these countries and regions we have developed, furthermore, we even surpass many local blockchain projects.
For example, at the beginning of product design, instead of simply designing it as a cold wallet or hardware wallet. Considering user experiences, we created a both decentralized and centralized cross-chain multi-currency wallet.
In July of this year, Qbao v3.3 will be released with new added asset management function. Users can choose cryptocurrency wealth management products according to personal preference and risk tolerance. Especially, during the bear market, asset management is the best choice for users to increase their assets value. It will be an important step in the expansion of Qbao business development. In addition, Qbao is focusing on creating an online and offline payment system, a digital currency exchange platform, a DApp Store, and a gaming and entertainment platform.
Pursuing either concentration or diversification is a problem that every entrepreneur must consider. Qbao has chosen a diversified development path since its early stage. Is it laying the foundation for the extreme user experience or the main business lag?
Recently, with this question, CoinVoice interviewed Nathan Sun, co-founder and the COO of Qbao. We discussed deeply on the strategy, the competitive status of blockchain wallet, and the relationship between diversification and target focusing.
Nathan, the entrepreneur who has been deeply involved in the Internet industry for more than a decade, believes that diversification and focus are not a contradictory concept in the blockchain world.
“An early project can focus on both its main target and diversification. The main business must be focused. This is the top priority. In terms of diversification, it can be done through cooperations with other organizations. Cooperation and information sharing are the spirits of the blockchain, aren’t they?”
Carefully thinking some of his views, you will catch sight of that this blockchain practitioner think differently.
The following is a dialogue excerpt. Hopefully it might inspire you:
|Choices
Competition is one of the daily events, and no one can occupy the top throne for long.
CoinVoice: Qbao was founded in May last year. At that time, you actually had a lot of directions to choose. Why did you finally decide to create a wallet?
Nathan Sun: We did so because we estimated that the wallet would become the key to the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. And we still believe it now.
CoinVoice: Do you think the wallet has a chance to be made into a “big business”?
Nathan Sun: The charm of blockchain technology is in the cryptocurrency or what we call “the token”. A wallet is the carrier of the cryptocurrency. What size is the value of the cryptocurrency track? Several trillions. As the entrance to this world, the wallet has to be a very big business.
CoinVoice: But this track may be so crowded just as the exchange and the media.
Nathan Sun: I don’t think that the relationship among the various wallet projects is a life-or-death fight. The industry is still at its very early stage. We are jointly expanding the entire industry and making the whole cake bigger. As for the number of competing products is not the most concerned issue of Qbao. Too many people missed opportunities because they care about competition too much.
CoinVoice: Is it likely Qbao to be the head of the wallet industry?
Nathan Sun: It is not easy to determine the future. Because the whole industry is too young, and wide for any wallet project to display its best. Even if the project is in the first place in a short time, it is difficult to maintain such a position. However, Qbao still has a great chance to occupy an important position in the crypto wallet field.
On one hand, we started early. On the other hand, we have a relatively good team, and a very clear idea of Qbao’s vision and can implement it steadily.
CoinVoice: Is it possible to have a monopoly among the wallets?
Nathan Sun: This is impossible in the short term because blockchain technology, like I mentioned, is at a relatively early stage. Back to to time when Ethereum was a dominant technology, to make an Ethereum wallets had been a more mainstream choice. There may be a head player, but once new blockchain technology emerges, it is possible to have new wallet technology that takes replace of the previous lead. In a short time, competitions are the norm.
CoinVoice: How long will it take for the competition to be clearer and the first-tier companies are basically fixed?
Nathan Sun: This is hard to predict. There is a saying called “One day in blockchain market, one year on the earth”. The industry is developing so fast that nothing can’t be unexpected. You can even tell that during this round of bear market and bull market conversion. It is difficult to predict how long it takes for a group of mainstream players to appear. Perhaps within three to five years, when the blockchain technology becomes relatively mature, the competition status will stabilize.
CoinVoice: Does the bear market have impacts on new user acquisition?
Nathan Sun: Yes. In fact, we already felt that. When the market was better, the number of cryptocurrency holders increased faster. Our users grew at a considerable rate. In the bear market, fewer people tend to be concerned about the market. Some users even sell out their own cryptocurrencies in a low price. The overall users base will drop. This is a normal phenomenon.
However, I am still optimistic about this industry, because a bull market makes bear market, and vice versa. Even in the bear market, many people still are concerned about the technology. As the market recovers and blockchain technology becomes known to the public, more and more people will use cryptocurrency wallets. The potential of the entire industry will be better.
| Roadmap
The blockchain is the entrance to the world.
CoinVoice: What is Qbao’s vision?
Nathan Sun: To be the key to the blockchain cosmos.
CoinVoice: How can you achieve it?
Nathan Sun: From six aspects:
First, the safe storage of digital assets, this is fundamental;
Second, a cross-chain multi-cryptocurrency wallet. Users can restore most of mainstream cryptocurrencies as long as they have Qbao App;
Third, the crypto-token trading platform. This means that users can trade cryptocurrencies through Qbao.
Fourth, online and offline payment system. The vast majority of the application scenarios of cryptocurrencies are still used for either speculation or investment. However, I believe that cryptocurrencies will increasingly show its technologic edge. It will be used by everyone to purchase both online and offline products and services.
Cryptocurrency asset management function is now already available on Qbao Network. It means that, like banks, we not only safely store the digital assets of users, but also provide various financial products based on cryptocurrency assets to increase the additional value of holding crypto-token.
The last part is that Qbao also serves as a DApp Store. There are blockchain projects or DApps behind each cryptocurrency. We make the connect between these DApps and users, provide a synchronous and easier way to apply in various scenarios in these DApps with the token assets.
CoinVoice: These six aspects, how much have you achieved now?
Nathan Sun: Basically, a preliminary version with all those functions has been developed and is still being optimized.
CoinVoice: The more you do, the more competitors you have.
Nathan Sun: That’s the reason why we are now focusing on Qbao product and maintaining its communities, accumulating reputation and user base, laying a good foundation for the future competition.
CoinVoice: Who is the most concerned competitors for you?
Nathan Sun: As far as we know, there are no competitors who we are particularly concerned about. We will pay attention to competitive products though.
CoinVoice: As you mentioned earlier, Qbao is an early starter, a good team, with a clear vision. But is it all?
Nathan Sun: Qbao has a very excellent community as well. Qbao has a very good overseas and domestic community.
CoinVoice: What do you mean by good?
Nathan Sun: Our community provided us with many useful suggestions. The community of many other projects is now very active, but because their products are not actually landed. Community members can’t contribute 送much. Qbao is running an existing product, so that we can build a better product for the community. We pay a huge attention on hearing the voice from the community members.
CoinVoice: What size is the Qbao community?
Nathan Sun: More than 1million people.
CoinVoice: How can you operate such a huge community?
Nathan Sun: Well, in fact, we don’t have a particular trick, but we treat the community sincerely. We really regard the community as part of the project, instead of treating the community as just an external telegraph group or WeChat group with simple maintenance. We cherish our community very much and we are very willing to listen to their opinions. Treating community members with sincerity is the key to having a good community.
|Boundary
Early projects can focus on both its main target and diversification.
CoinVoice: I have heard from your staff that Qbao is about to release a new version?
Nathan Sun: Yes. Version 3.3.
CoinVoice: When is the closed beta test?
Nathan Sun: In July.
CoinVoice: What functions or services will be added to the 3.3 version?
Nathan Sun: The main new added function is the Token Asset Management function. Asset management is providing value-protection and value-add services for cryptocurrency holders. Qbao will provide varieties of cryptocurrency-based wealth management products. Users can choose suitable products according to personal preferences and risk tolerance.
In the coming future, there will be three cryptocurrency wealth management products online. One is a PoS-based mining pool product. The second one is lock-in product that cooperated with other projects to allow projects to better their token airdrop events. The long-term token holders can receive certain rewards. The third but not the last product is provided by Qbao and its quantitative partner to provide profitable products with low risks. Quantitative financing is very common in financial markets. Taking a portion of the funds and make invests in the financial market is actually at relatively low risk with a lucrative return.
CoinVoice: Do you think the new features are adding value to users?
Nathan Sun: The main purpose of cryptocurrency at the moment is still for investing, but if users want to hold tokens for a long time and add value to it, Token Asset Management services are very valuable for them, especially in the bear markets. There is a saying that “Make money in the bull market and make tokens in the bear market.”. In a bear market, the value of the token may fall much more than the expect level. Selling in a low price would not be a good choice, instead, Qbao allows users to invest in the bear market and then earn more tokens and enlarge future earnings.
CoinVoice: How are you going to improve Qbao next?
Nathan Sun: From the perspective of a professional wallet, we will support more mainstream cryptocurrencies with a higher level of security. In terms of mainstream cryptocurrencies, we will support mainstream public blockchains like EOS and IOTA. In terms of security level, we are now a combination of decentralized wallet and centralized wallet. In the future we will provide cold wallets and hardware wallets soon.
From the perspective of trading functions, we have now intergrated with Kyber Network to achieve decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. This is just the beginning. Soon, we will turn the cryptocurrency exchange function into a trading platform. Not only will with decentralized trading agreements (such as Loopring and Kyber Network), but also with mainstream centralized exchanges for users. It will provide a better trading experience.
From the perspective of Asset Management, in addition to the three financial products mentioned above, we will work with more partners to provide more competitive and profitable financial products to users.
From the DApp Store perspective, we will corporate with more excellent DApp teams, allow users to use more DAPPs through Qbao and feel the charm of blockchain technology. We will gradually turn Qbao into a platform-level product.
CoinVoice: How many users does Qbao have?
Nathan Sun: Qbao now has millions of registered users and 10 thousands regular users. The exact figures are, in fact, very hard to tell, because there are always bonus econnoisseurs, which, in a different way, can also tell Qbao’s good reputation (lol).
CoinVoice: Do you take some countermeasures to prevent the bonus econnoisseurs from breaking rules?
Nathan Sun: It can only be said that we have tried as much as possible, the bonus econnoisseurs are everywhere. It is difficult to prevent them completely.
CoinVoice: What level of user number, do you think, means that Qbao has reached the next stage?
Nathan Sun: This is hard to say. It really depends on the development of the market and the whole industry. This is due to the lack of players in the entire cryptocurrency industry. I heard that the number of participants in cryptocurrency market is about 3 million in China, but it is difficult to estimate the number of the next stage.
CoinVoice: I heard that you are still working on a crypto-pet game?
Nathan Sun: In fact, we are in contacts with many DApp game projects. Qbao provides a cryptocurrency payment API, players can easily use the cryptocurrencies in blockchain games on Qbao in the future. Qbao is planning to build a blockchain game platform.
CoinVoice: So it is not directly related to Qbao. Is it one of your other products?
Nathan Sun: The game platform will work with third-party game companies. The team itself will focus on the wallet, not on developing games. The company’s strategic focus is mainly in two parts. One part is to complete and perfect the development of the six mentioned modules. The other part is on marketing and operation. In addition to opening the Chinese market, it will continue to take root in the Korean market. Also we are committed to exploring the Southeast Asian and Japanese markets.
CoinVoice: For a startup companies, you can’t be perfect if you have too many goals.
Nathan Sun: Not exactly, doing the right thing at a right time sometimes is more important.
CoinVoice: Qbao also has the market and news functions on it, but it may not be as good as other professional tools.
Nathan Sun: This is a question of diversification and concentration. Qbao is good at developing a safe and easy-to-use wallet. We will focus on this part more. Regarding diversification, we will look for more professional partners. We won’t do everything ourselves.
CoinVoice: From the user’s point of view, I may only care about three points: safety, convenience, and costs. Is transaction fee expensive on Qbao?
Nathan Sun: The transaction fee for the decentralized wallet is not rewarding the wallet company, but for the miners. The wallet does not charge any fees in the middle.
CoinVoice: What is your profit model?
Nathan Sun: There are many profit models in Qbao. For example, operating financial products, trading platform fees, and so on. However, Qbao’s current focus is on acquiring more users, and will not pursue profitability at the early stage.
“CoinVoice”: To take the wallet as an initiation, and realize a complete platform. Is it true that most wallet companies are doing this?
“Nathan Sun”: It is entirely possible that many people now realize that crypto-wallet has the opportunity to become the entrance to the blockchain world. It is because the road is very big and various that it attracts so many projects to join. This is not a bad itself. It depends on how each project provides better services to users in the development process and provides a better use-experience for community members. These projects will occupy the market.
“CoinVoice”: Patrick Dai once strongly recommended Qbao. Are you close to Qtum?
“Nathan Sun”: Qtum is very close to us, and they have been giving us a lot of supports. In fact, many domestic and foreign projects have a good relationship with us, such as Loopring, Kyber Network, and PlayCoin. Because of that Qbao is a reliable team, it is very pleasant to work with other projects.
|Management
Trust is the cornerstone of everything.
CoinVoice: How was Qbao’s core team formed?
Nathan Sun: Qbao three co-founders were classmate in same university. And we are friends for many years. Because we are optimistic about blockchain technology, we are attracted by the industry and decided to start a business together.
CoinVoice: How did you find the other core members?
Nathan Sun: Finding talents is a headache problem for startup companies. There are usually two mays to recruiting people. One is recruitment online and the other is find people recommended by acquaintances and friends. Comparing with “finding”, Qbao pays more attention to the internal cultivation of talents.
CoinVoice: What is the core of the cultivation of talents?
Nathan Sun: Trust.
CoinVoice: So do you completely empower your employees in management?
Nathan Sun: For employees with outstanding ability, they will have sufficient authorization to let him create more value. For the relatively young employees, we will communicate, listen and encourage.
CoinVoice: What kind of employees do you appreciate?
Nathan Sun: People who has creative ideas and strong executions to realie their own ideas. The key is to be able to execute their ideas, whether the ideas are right or wrong. We tolerate some minor mistakes.
CoinVoice: Which is more important between ideas and execution?
Nathan Sun: Both are very important. Execution with no idea is mediocre.
| Thinking
Your world is better if you treat it better.
CoinVoice: What problem do you think about recently?
Nathan Sun: How to develop Qbao and its products, how to promote the development of the industry through the development of Qbao.
CoinVoice: What do you spend the most time on?
Nathan Sun: Team management.
CoinVoice: What is the biggest problem with team management?
Nathan Sun: Let all team members keep up with the speed of Qbao development.
CoinVoice: Will it be anxious to transform from an executive of an Internet company to a blockchain entrepreneur?
Nathan Sun: Occasionally.
CoinVoice: What do you do when you are anxious?
Nathan Sun: Go for a drive.
CoinVoice: What is your biggest change in the start-up?
Nathan Sun: The improvement of cognitive level, responsibility and execution. I did never start a business before. I used to do technical and management work and I was responsible for myself. After starting a business, you are responsible for many people, such as the team, the investors, the users. However, the stress is motivation.
CoinVoice: What is your personal hobby?
Nathan Sun: I liked playing games and watching movies before. Now, my personal hobby is reading and thinking.
CoinVoice: What book do you read recently?
Nathan Sun: Old books. A Brief History of Humanity and A Brief History of the Future.
CoinVoice: Any thoughts pops up through reading?
Nathan Sun: Human beings are great, and tiny. These things we do are insignificant relative to the history of the entire universe. However, the innumerable power leads to such a fast developing of human history. Don’t forget your original intention. Be sincere to your team, family, and friends.
Your world is better if you treat better.
Scan to join Cryptoverze group on Qbao Network
[zombify_post]
Great Interview!