CORE MAGAZINE September 2017 | Page 13

Interview An Interview with OceanLab: Why Waves Needs Infrastructure Built Around It To Go Mainstream Being involved in the cryptocurrency industry for extended periods can at times blind regular users to realising there are new investors entering the industry every- day. The first investors were technological- ly literate and could foresee the potential built into the technology. However, we are now at a stage in the cryptocurrency movement where we see more and more new users that are less technologically literate. This crowd is to be welcomed with open arms, however, we must as a community create simple applications that simplifies blockchain data in order for these investors to stay within the space. it. Windows 3.1 could only have thrived with the creation of third party applica- tions built around the system. Bitcoin itself, whilst being the first and most “vanilla” cryptocurrency, has a vast range of applications built around its blockchain. All of the infrastructure and applications built around Bitcoin are large contributing factor in maintaining the price above opposing cryptocurrencies. With this reasoning, it is essential for rival- ing cryptocurrencies to do the same. One clear Bitcoin contender, the Waves block- chain, is using this very approach. Waves, with its 16 million dollar backing in fund- The obvious example of this is way back at ing, are themselves building an infrastruc- the beginning of the computer age when ture in order to support its goal of hosting MS-DOS was released. MS-DOS by itself ICOs. Despite the great work by the Waves was revolutionary, but by itself it was not team, time and personnel are always lim- user friendly because of its use of complex ited and it is impeccable for third parties command lines and unappealing look. to assist in building around Waves. This is In this analogy, think of MS-DOS as raw where Oceanlab, an experienced jack-of- blockchain data. Along comes Windows all-trades team comes into play. 3.1, a simple but user friendly interface built on top of MS-DOS; it’s fair to say that It is no secret amongst Waves circles that Windows 3.1 played a significant role in the Oceanlab team, Fabrice Distefano normalizing the use of computers around (aka Sphearis) and Olivier Saintelet (aka the world. Windows 3.1 can be thought of Dibatch), are a duo that have the brains, as all of the cryptocurrency wallets such knowhow and will to complete the tasks as the Bitcoin wallet. But Windows 3.1, at hand. Oceanlab aims to create simple and the Bitcoin wallet, whilst being impor- and understandable applications built tant, needed more infrastructure around around the currently existing Waves infra- 10