Alex is the founder of ICO Countdown, one of the earliest Blockchain Crowdsale listing sites that spotlights high potential crypto projects with a focus on crowdfunding methodology, and conducts due diligence to ascertain the viability of those projects.

Hi Alex, thanks for chatting with us! How did the idea of ICO Countdown come about?

Well, I found a lot of due diligence was missing in the crypto space. I’ve been following the space for about 5 years. I was interested in alternative cryptocurrencies, and at the time the only discussion was on Bitcointalk. After 5 years of due diligence, there was a boom in crypto projects in 2013, and I followed it through into creating ICO countdown. It felt like the right time, and I felt I had enough experience. A lot of people had missed out on the Ethereum crowdfund, and other popular crowdfunds, so I created a website with the aim to give people the best data and information. I wanted to perform due diligence on these projects and improve the community, remove projects that are damaging to the community.

Back in 2013, many different thing were happening. There was a bull run. People weren’t doing the best due diligence. ICOCountdown was a reaction to that. Another principle we were founded on, is we want to show off new technologies which myself and others believe could impact the world in the future. Many of these projects are not getting a lot of exposure, and providing them with exposure is another important aspect of the site.

Do you have a background in conducting due diligence on crowdfunded projects?

I’ve been in due diligence a long time, with my main background in cyber security, and a lot of the same skills translate to the crypto world. It requires a good technical understanding, since you can’t do the typical SWOT analysis [Ed. note: SWOT stands for Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats, is a common framework for analyzing business organizations]. Back in the early days, I was just trying to express basic ideas, like why is the blockchain used, why is decentralization important. In the 5 year window since, I’ve analyzed many projects. I really believe in the technology, but new people didn’t know as much. I wanted to create a very simple site, so that people coming into this space could feel there was somebody on their side. A lot of times, people are trying to push an angle, saying “This is a good crypto project”, without giving good analysis. I wanted to make sure the right projects, such as WeTrust, could be represented — these projects need a chance, and deserve a chance.

In addition to cybersecurity, what do you feel must be understood when performing due diligence on cryptoprojects?

There has to be a core understanding of the fundamental technology, as blockchain stuff is very focused on consensus networks and algorithms. There needs to be an understanding of why the bitcoin algorithm works, why it’s stress tested, why it doesn’t have collisions, and valid use cases. In the other realm, for general crypto projects, there needs to be an understanding of the project’s general volition in the world, of what the project team is trying to achieve and aim for. Different things, ranging from the political, and the social, to the environmental, all feed into decentralized technology. You have to examine all of those factors. From one second to another second, new information could appear, and could fundamentally change the status of a company or project, and my job is all about being ahead of the pack with that information.

Since you interact with a number of different projects at ICO Countdown, you have a “bird’s eye view” of the blockchain industry as a whole. From what you’ve seen, what aspects of token crowdsales could be improved?

My personal ideology is there needs to be more prototypes, more early alpha releases, so that people can get their hands on the tech before crowdsale release. The ideas behind these crypto projects are brilliant, and the crypto space is not small. Quite a few people are working on many different projects. With more people, particularly from Silicon Valley, coming in and having a crack at it, including ex-Google engineers, that’s been really cool. If we could bring old school peer to peer tech guys back into the mix, that would be really cool. In general, I think crowdsales are improving, there’s more capital inflow, and teams are stepping forward a lot more to deliver. But more validity of the software and more proof of concepts would be great.

You’re clearly very passionate about the crypto space! Which projects are the most exciting to you?

All of the projects! Everyone in the space is doing a great job. There’s been a general increase in tech development, capital injection, and a definite increase in more and more people in the space who want to develop and create. I believe in being inclusive in this space, to stimulate the best tech development we can. There’s a great sentiment moving forward, and I hope it perpetually moves forward.

What excites you most about the WeTrust project?

I really like the team, and like the steady tech development that has happened before the crowdsale. The project holds a lot of synergy with the whole decentralization movement. The guys seem very technically capable, and on their hustle, and I definitely respect that. It doesn’t harm anything coming from Silicon Valley, having experience in those markets. The team has good ideas, are taking the project very seriously, and are very passionate — and passion is an important part of what I look for.

What kind of blockchain projects would you like to see in the future?

Definitely cybersecurity related projects. Crypto projects work on a basis of cyber security, so it would be great to see more projects focus on securing users, making users less susceptible to things like malware and DDOS. That would help users get involved in the blockchain movement. Aside from that, I’m a fan of minimalism and simplicity — a project doesn’t have to be complicated to win. More engineering products could be cool, like more AI project — though those tend to be very complicated.

I try to put a general focus on people coming up with new and exciting ideas. Some of these ideas or very different, or very weird — but I like the weird ideas that are abstract, with a lot of content. The sort of thing that’s strange at first, but then you think “They have something here!” In any sector, many people can come up with great and interesting ideas, and I want to see more and more ideas in the blockchain market, along with more development. There’s a lot of talk about insurance, which I know WeTrust is looking at, and is a really complicated and interesting problem, since it’s an industry that really hasn’t developed for many years.

Thanks for the kind words and for chatting with us Alex!