Hi Justin, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the story behind ? Ishan Pandey: Skylaunch Hi Ishan, thanks for having me today! My name is Justin, and I am the COO of SkyLaunch! I have been in the crypto space for 5 years and have been working on several DEFI projects lately. Justin Chevalier: Other than that, I studied at Grenoble Ecole de Management, where I got my masters degree in International Business, and I used to be a Sales & Marketing Manager for top IT companies such as Oracle, Runecast, and Criteo. A lot of people are working only half time in the crypto space, but with SkyLaunch, I decided to take the leap and join the crypto world full time! The story behind SkyLaunch is quite simple to understand: 2021 has been the year of launchpads, but all of them focus on only one thing: raising money. Many great projects are out there, and they don’t necessarily know how the cryptospace works. Networking is very important, and raising funds can be only secondary. With SkyLaunch, we want to create a platform that helps the project before, during, and after IDO, connecting the best actors in the space and ensuring every project has all the tools and resources needed to reach the success they are aiming for. What is the process for a blockchain project to get listed on an IDO or launchpad platform? Ishan Pandey: We have a full team of cryptoanalysts that are reviewing projects, talking to them, seeing the progress, and whether it has good growth potential. We have our own set of criteria, and we really want to go for quality projects rather than quantity. We are here to provide long-term investment to our users, and we prefer having a few very good deals than IDOs every 2 days but with low potential. Justin Chevalier: If you are looking for an IDO platform and are considering SkyLaunch, there is a page on our website to submit your application! According to a recent report released by JPMorgan, Ethereum’s supremacy in decentralized finance (DeFi) is in jeopardy because network scaling, which is required to sustain its dominance, may emerge too late. Do you think the delay in the final phase of Sharding will have a negative impact on Ethereum’s hegemony within the DeFi space? Ishan Pandey: Justin Chevalier: Ethereum is the leader in DeFi but some blockchains will take some market share. There is no doubt about that. Nevertheless, I still believe we are very early in the development of the crypto space, and new blockchains with better scalability will come to light and take some market share from Ethereum (we already started to see this phenomenon with Solana, Velas, EGLD, Polygon, Avalanche… that have had some really nice gain in terms of capitalization during 2021). Cryptocurrencies garner tremendous possibilities for global economic reform, and the paradigm shift is evident even as crypto crime hit a record $14 billion in 2021. What are your views and suggestions pertaining to cyber security in the cryptocurrency industry? Ishan Pandey: As mentioned, I still think we are very early. The crypto space can be quite tricky and complicated for newcomers and is still being seen as a “grey/dark” area for most of the general population. Nevertheless, the more use cases that projects will apply to day-to-day life, the more sense it will make (luxury brands using NFTs linked to physical goods to counter fake products, etc.) Justin Chevalier: As for cyber security in the cryptocurrency industry, we will need more development towards user experience. Cryptocurrency is a revolution, but cryptocurrency also needs to think about the average user and guide them as much as possible to make their life easier. I still believe that cyber security in the cryptocurrency industry has not achieved enough to make it easy and simple to use. Solana was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in 2021 and has also posed as one of the biggest competitors to Ethereum. What are your thoughts on Solana? Ishan Pandey: Solana is a very strong competitor for Ethereum, and we have seen a lot of projects focusing their main development on Solana first instead of Ethereum. The momentum is slowly shifting, but to replace Ethereum, other blockchains like Solana will need to prove that they can scale better, which is no easy task, in my opinion! Justin Chevalier: In what ways do you think Covid-19 has affected decentralized finance, and what has been the overall impact of the pandemic on the crypto industry as a whole? Ishan Pandey: To be honest, I don’t think Covid-19 has had a major impact on the crypto industry. At least not more impact than anywhere else. It could have been even the opposite. With all the lockdowns, people became curious and started to read about crypto, and a lot of new users arrived during those lockdown phases. Justin Chevalier: Despite recent market declines and regulatory crackdowns in some countries, cryptocurrencies are gradually but steadily gaining acceptance across all businesses and industries. Do you believe blockchain technology will be widely adopted in the next five years? Ishan Pandey: I certainly do. Otherwise, I would not have made the leap from a traditional job to full-time in the crypto industry! Justin Chevalier: We are in a new trend, a new paradigm, and we see tons of evolution from one day to another! One year ago, DeFi was at a very early stage, one year ago, almost no one was talking about NFTs. One year ago, we didn’t hear much about GameFi or Metaverse … The space is growing and evolving very fast, and this is the most exciting part of my job; to see all these changes and ride the wave to provide SkyLaunch users with the best new upcoming trends and projects! What new trends do you see in the blockchain industry next? Ishan Pandey: It is quite difficult to anticipate as everything is moving so fast! If we exclude crypto, I believe that blockchain has a huge role in the import/export industry (tracking of goods …). Blockchain can have a very strong role in the luxury brand sector to fight counterfeit goods (link a physical luxury good to an NFT on a specific blockchain, so you know that what you have is real and not counterfeit). Justin Chevalier: Then, if we include the crypto industry, I am sure that the next big thing will blow everyone’s mind as the DeFi, NFT & GameFI/Metaverse did! Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to remove informational asymmetry existing today in our digital markets by performing due diligence, asking the right questions, and equipping readers with better opinions to make informed decisions.

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