Luis talks about Project Aragon and development plan.
Aragon is an Ethereum based ecosystem which allows to manage entire organization on blockchain. It implements features like a cap table, token transfers, voting, roles, fundraising and accounting and everything needed to run organizations like companies, NGOs, foundations, open source projects etc. Aragon organizations are easily customizable, and they are also extensible by installing third party modules. Aragon is all about decentralizing world that also includes token-governed digital jurisdiction.
Luis Cuende (Project Lead) and Jorge Izquierdo (Tech Lead), leaders at Aragon believe that the blockchain and the internet are changing the incentives for companies to exist, and they will build tools for the next generation of companies that will take advantage of these changes. Crowdfunding was decided to raise the money for the project and they shared the steps to follow to securely participate in the Aragon Token Sale. As a result, they raised about $25 million in 26 minutes, and it was 2nd largest crowdfunding event in blockchain space.
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson
EtherWorld is delighted to share excerpts of a conversation we recently had with Luis Cuende to know more about him and his Aragon team.
E: Hi Luis, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into blockchain technology?
L: I got started with free software at the age of 12, and thanks to that I was awarded as the best underage European programmer in 2011. I’m also a Forbes 30 Under 30, a MIT TR35 and was an Advisor to the VP of the European Commission. I cofounded the blockchain startup Stampery, the leader in blockchain certification. Freedom is my core value, and that’s why all my focus is with Aragon.
I immersed myself in the world of blockchain from a very early age, developing my skills in software development and programming throughout my early teens. I really fell in love with Bitcoin about 2012. For me it wasn’t the financial part at all; it was the sociological implications and how it could make us free.
Before co-founding Aragon, which now has my undivided attention, I founded and contributed to a number of blockchain projects from Coinbase-like applications to developing a p2p bitcoin exchange, and finally Stampery, the leading blockchain timestamping solution out there, backed by the venture capital firm Draper Associates, lead by Tim Draper, investor in Tesla, SpaceX, Skype and Baidu.
E: Please tell us more about the Aragon Team and the pre-sale investors.
L: The Aragon founding team is composed of me and Jorge Izquierdo, who’s the Tech Lead. He was a very successful iOS developer, with an app in the App Store’s #2, and he has been researching on blockchain for a while.
About the pre-sale buyers: we have CoinFund and ICONOMI as institutions. They’re both one of the best blockchain funds out there buying tokens. They have been advising us and they’re invaluable. We also have ShapeShift in. Then in the personal level we have Joe Urgo, very recognized in the community because of Ethlance and the Dapp Daily. Daniele, CEO of Stampery, also participated. Finally, an Ethereum founding member that wanted to remain anonymous has also contributed.
E: Will you please help us get an overview of the Aragon project and its unique features.
L: Aragon lets you manage entire organizations using Ethereum. With Aragon, you can:
- Issue, assign and manage your organizations tokens
- Raise capital from anyone in the world, creating token sales
- Govern it with a very easy voting system
- Change how your organization behaves by changing its bylaws
- Assign roles to key people so they have different permissions
- Much more, since we will be providing a module system for developers to release their creativity :)
E: What was the thought process behind choosing Ethereum network as a platform for Aragon? How will it benefit mainstream?
L: Ethereum is the way to go because it’s a dream platform for developers. It’s so easy. Therefore, it has attracted the best development community, and that creates a virtuous circle. The mainstream can benefit from Aragon Network since it will be the first jurisdiction that is not tied to physical land. I believe that’s huge.
E: Blockchain-world seems to be a little complicated for general public, do you think a small enterprise can use Aragon Network for its business, where the end users may not understand the technology?
L: Sure! We are making the UX as nice as possible so everyone is included!
E: What do you have to say about the grand success of ANT ICO? Words for investors.
L: Thanks a lot, everyone. With great power comes great responsibility. We have to continue executing now, and we plenty of resources to do so!
E: After recent collaboration with ShapeShift, how soon we can see ANT at ShapeShift?
L: I think pretty soon, but can’t promise anything!
E: Would you share the roadmap about project Aragon Network?
L: Yes, we have all the milestones in our Development Plan, but to say the important one loud: deployment of the Network on May next year.
Thank you, Luis! for providing us the opportunity to know the particulars about you and Aragon. EtherWorld wishes you and Aragon team our best.
This interview is originally published at EtherWorld's Medium.
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