The story of JoJo, the Dragonchain mascot.

JoJo, the fiercely charismatic Dragonchain mascot, is a source of constant interest in the SM threads. A recent recounting of its inspiration, relayed by CEO Joe Roets last week in the Telegram channel, offers some interesting history and a poignant metaphor for the Dragonchain value proposition.

The original inspiration for JoJo begins with what is quite possibly the most adorable reptile in existence: the armadillo bearded lizard.

These tough little creatures live only in the deserts of South Africa and exist mainly on a diet of bugs and spiders. Though they have jaws powerful enough to break a bone, they’re called “armadillo” because they roll themselves up into a protective ball and latch onto their own tail when threatened.

What better way to represent the natural inherent strength of the Dragonchain platform?

Architect/Founder/CEO/Man of Many Talents, Joe Roets, inspired by the scrappy yet elegant metaphor, asked Justin Hillgrove of Imps and Monsters fame, if he could sketch something for the team as they were about to release an open source project out of Disney.

According to legend, they had no budget but Justin gave them a sketch.

You can still see that picture still on the Disney Github site.

Another Disney colleague from the original working group (and recent addition to Dragonchain, Inc.!), Eileen Quenin convinced Joe to let her find someone to touch it up, do some shading work and in came 99designs to bring us the JoJo we all know today.