“Accept the things to which binds you,” wrote Marcus Aurelius 1,900 years ago. fate For founder Trevor Koverko, in car accident while in his 20s. Eight years ago, Koverko’s vehicle got smashed by fully-loaded truck, a major collision that led to brain injury and disability. Polymath fate almost meant dying — he believed at the time — involved playing for NHL’s New York Rangers, which drafted him in 2005. But with temporary paralysis on left side of his body, such hopes were dashed on that in 2011, and portended an . Destiny fateful day uncertain future “At that point, I was forced to reinvent myself and find a new purpose,” tells Hacker Noon. “And that’s when I discovered entrepreneurship and later crypto.” Trevor Koverko A Shift in Focus Relentlessness can find different ways of expression; such as intellectual pursuits. The Canada native spent time in , learning about software, investing, and monetary policy. Economic discussion at the time involved moral hazard of financial institutions, as well as, regulators’ failure to prevent the 2008 Financial Crisis. Silicon Valley and Wall Street Cryptos are at intersection of computer science, economics, and game theory. Koverko began to embrace — attending cypherpunk gatherings that increased awareness for a budding revolution led by anonymous entity Satoshi Nakamoto. decentralization and programmable money It was also an opportunity to . During this time, he founded, participated, and invested in online businesses — and used proceeds to start a private equity fund. acquire digital assets (The story continues below.) Photo credit: T. Koverko Polymath founder Trevor Koverko is considered an early participant in blockchain industry, and speaks frequently at conferences. Operator and Investor “I ,” says Koverko. “I prefer investing in high margin, high yielding businesses. I discovered website investing and become hooked. We would purchase small tech companies for 1–3 times trailing EBITDA and sprinkled in some leverage (debt). It was a fantastic business and a lot of fun.” love private equity The Polymath founder says his with emergence of Bitcoin (BTC). personal roadmap became clearer “I on eBay of all places,” says Koverko. “That was my gateway drug and before I knew it, I was tumbling down the crypto rabbit hole. I became plugged into the early crypto ecosystem and had the opportunity to angel-invest in some pretty amazing, foundational projects like ShapeShift via my friend Erik Voorhees (ShapeShift’s founder).” bought my first Bitcoin in 2012 (The story continues below.) Photo credit: Shutterstock In December 2012, 1 Bitcoin (BTC) traded for $13 — having risen steadily in value throughout that year. Tokenizing Physical Assets These experiences would later inform creation of Polymath which Koverko founded in 2017. It’s securities token platform that makes it convenient for companies to tokenize real-world assets. The firm’s ST-20 token standard helps ventures (STOs). Compliant security tokens represent partial or complete ownership of real-world assets, and these digital assets are secured on blockchain. It also shows gradual shift from physical ownership (such as paper-based company shares) to via compliant security tokens. launch security token offerings digital-based ownership “Most of the regulations we need to operate exist already,” says Koverko. “We think many tokens are financial securities and issuers must follow the existing rules and frameworks. Luckily there are many advisors to help business navigate through the process of registering with the SEC and managing complex compliance considerations like secondary trading restrictions.” He adds, “By being complaint, you open your business to trillions of dollars of institutional capital that only participate in investment-grade securities.” Alibaba founder Jack Ma said last month at World Economic Forum, “There are ; only of yesterday.” no experts of tomorrow Polymath is blazing a trail that digitizes ownership of assets. It wouldn’t have existed had NHL’s Rangers signed Trevor, . the hockey player Polymath was founded in 2017. The platform helps ventures digitize ownership of assets.
