This is a transcript of an internal interview initiative. Learn about our Core Contributors and their perspective on the future of Web3.
Annie: Hey Liam! As a Core Contributor at TX Labs, could you please tell us who you are and share a bit about your crypto story?
Liam: Previously, my background was mostly in financial research and investment. My main research interests were derivatives markets, market efficiency, and market microstructure. I graduated from NYU with a degree in finance. After being in academia for a while, with the chance to dive deep into the emerging DeFi market, I realized that being in academia will be very hard for me to keep up the pace with the Web3 industry. As a result, I joined NGC Ventures and led around 15 deals, and I also managed around 30 post-investment projects.
Annie: You mentioned that you were an investor before TX Labs. So what motivates you to choose to leave an investor role and become a builder?
Liam: I’ve known Michael for a while, and when we met up during the NFT.NYC event last year, we started to talk about the industry and the future of Web3. Back then, in the fund, we have already witnessed the bloom of various L1 ecosystems including Solana, Avalanche, Near, etc… We have also seen that different new Web3 use-cases started to emerge including GameFi and SocialFi.
Liam: I am a strong believer in the multi-chain future. With that many chains out there, I am actively trying to find a project that either can or has the potential to unite and connect all of the chains together. A universal fabric under all of these chains, sort of.
Liam: However, after more conversations with Michael, two things changed. First is the realization that blockchains can’t handle all of the things we want them to do, including heavy calculations, data retrieval, etc. Second, we need 100 to 1000 times more hybrid applications so that we can facilitate decentralized execution in conjunction with the blockchains and achieve integration with the Web2 world.
Liam: This is when I realized that Blockless will be the revolutionary technology that has the potential to not only connect all blockchains but also help the assimilation of Web2 & 3 paradigms. After that, the decision to transition from investor to builder became rather easy (also I realized I spent about 99% of my day thinking about pushing out Blockless ASAP).
Annie: Which part of Blockless attract you most? What’s the significance of Blockless?
Liam: For me, Blockless represents a more realistic future for the entire Web3 ecosystem. This future entails a much easier building experience for hybrid applications, a wide range of decentralization levels for different dApps with different security and performance requirements, and tighter integration of traditional web and the Web3 paradigm. This is how Web3 can truly become widely adopted.
