Ishan Pandey: Hi Stanley Wu, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the motivation behind Ankr?
Stanley Wu: Yes, of course, I am Stanley Wu, and I’m the Co-founder and CTO of Ankr as well as a longtime engineer (formerly at AWS) and a computing student. The motivation behind Ankr as a company is pretty simple. We saw a huge need for infrastructure services in the blockchain movement – and we started by harnessing unused cloud computing power in data centres worldwide to power decentralized systems. We have now made it easy for every developer and application to be able to communicate with blockchains and power their projects.
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Ishan Pandey: What is the core idea behind the Ankr and how is it going to benefit the Web3 economy?
Stanley Wu: Ankr’s job is to provide the underlying infrastructure that makes blockchain tech and Web3 work in the background. We connect Web3 developers and decentralized applications to different blockchains with API/RPC tools so they can build projects and execute tasks. We also offer a product suite for staking, dApp development, Web3 gaming, and even end-to-end engineering tailored to enterprise solutions. With better infrastructure, Web3 will finally be able to reach mass adoption with a much better development environment and user experience.
Ishan Pandey: What are some of the obstacles you foresee in people utilizing your network, and how do you intend to overcome them?
Stanley Wu: One obstacle that is always persistent in Web3 is the difficulty in getting started with development on the new web. That’s why we go over the top with our developer documentation, tutorials, videos, and other educational materials to make sure any developer will be able to use our solutions if they have a base level of skills. This is also a part of our dedication to the open-source community – we must all pitch in to create better learning and development tools to build the open internet of the future.
Ishan Pandey: What impact do you anticipate DeFi will have on how the internet evolves in the forthcoming years?
Stanley Wu: It will have an enormous impact on the internet and will likely be implemented in every decentralized use case that will emerge – gaming, social applications, NFT platforms, etc. As DeFi provides so many interconnected layers of incentives, it is already enticing traditional financial players to get involved as soon as possible.
Ishan Pandey: Governments and Central Banks of many countries are planning to bring DeFi under regulatory framework. According to you, should DeFi be regulated?
Stanley Wu: Of course, DeFi will need some level of regulation in order to reach complete adoption. But there will probably always be levels to this – completely permissionless decentralized financial applications as well as compliant applications running on-chain. There have been too many times that DeFi founders have taken advantage of users or fallen short in their security practices, so having some oversight in abuse should be welcomed.
Ishan Pandey: What are your views on the future of DeFi and NFTs in view of the current weak economic situations globally?
Stanley Wu: Even though we are in the midst of an economic drawdown, Web3 and its investors are as active as ever. Every week there are headlines of how Web3 is integrating further and further into everyday life – Meta, Reddit, Twitter, and other giants have already rolled out their NFT plans, and this will doubtlessly expand into other digital economies as blockchain tech matures and is more able to be added seamlessly into applications.
Ishan Pandey: According to you, what new trends can we see in the blockchain industry?
Stanley Wu: I think we will continue to see Web3 coming into its own as more companies and organizations adopt solutions for the technology. As this happens and there is increased infrastructure, better multichain standards, and better user experiences, Web3 will start to become an indispensable tool for everyone currently using the internet.
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