“The ultimate goal of ICON is to achieve mass adoption of blockchain . This is really the ultimate goal of every public chain. My role is in line with that goal.”

Josh Choi, ICONLOOP’s recently hired Director of Public Affairs, believes in the power of technology and its potential to change the world in which we live for the better. The former Programme Lead of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN organization that handles issues related to ICT, Choi has spent his career bringing individuals, organizations and nations together so that they could put emerging technologies to work in promoting socio-economic development. He is now applying his skills for ICON, helping to expand the network by reaching out to public institutions and by crafting models of governance that encourage transparency, fairness, and diversity.

Getting the public involved

As Director of Public Affairs, Choi has two roles. The first is to expand ICON’s private networks, especially in the public sector. These networks will later be connected to the interchain. Choi believes that the public sector’s adoption of blockchain could be an important driver of mass adoption. If public organizations encourage people to use blockchain-based services such as tax payments and public transportation, the public might actually embrace blockchain technology. “That’s one part I’m working on now, to convince the public sector – government, international organizations, even charity organizations – to use blockchain, to be part of the ICON community,” he says. “They can join the interchain of ICON.”

Choi’s second role is designing the governance of ICON’s public chain. Pointing to the governance-related travails of some other platforms, he notes, “Governance might be a boring topic for some people, but it is fundamentally essential to the success of the public chain.”

A world of experience

Choi began his career during the heady days of Korea’s first internet boom, joining Daum Communications in 2003. At Daum, he saw first-hand the power of online democracy. “Lots of people went into the streets because they shared a lot of opinions on the internet,” he says. “They organized protests, they organized meetings, they raised issues in the community. I saw the huge potential of the internet even for social and economic growth.”

Determined to apply his experience and skills with the internet to the public sector, he moved to Switzerland, got his MBA from the University of Geneva, and began looking for jobs in the international public sector. He found one at the ITU. One of the oldest international organizations in the world, founded as the International Telegraph Convention in 1865, the specialized agency of the UN handles issues related to information and communication technology.

During a decade at the ITU, Choi researched cutting-edge technological trends such as AI, blockchain, smart cities and quantum computing, especially from the perspective of sustainable development. Though he liked his job at the UN, he chafed at its limitations. “I really liked my experience, especially connecting with high-level decision makers,” he says. “But even though I liked the job, there are too many high-level talks. It’s really worthwhile to talk, but I was always wondering what was really happening there, what kind of changes these people were making.”

“After ten years of experience, I thought that was enough.”

After leaving the ITU, Choi returned to Korea, where he searched for a place where he could help technology contribute to socio-economic development. He co-founded a small blockchain startup and worked at the Korea Startup Forum, an organization of more than 600 Korean startups. At the Korea Startup Forum, he organized conferences and built links between investors and startups. At one conference, he met the CEO of ICONLOOP, who was impressed with Choi’s experience and skill set. Not long after he was hired, joining ICONLOOP on Dec. 5.