‘We just want ICON to succeed’

Like the rest of the ICON organization, 2infiniti is focusing much of his energy on the P-rep campaign. He was one of the guiding hands behind ICON.community, the online home of ICONSENSUS. He stresses, however, that he was hardly alone. He recruited individuals with a wide range of expertise, including developers, web designers, evangelists, moderators and translators. The ICON.community has 21 members so far, all volunteers.

2infiniti gives an overview of ICON.community. There’s a public channel for anyone interested in the P-rep campaign. There’s a private team chat where work stuff gets discussed. Then there’s a private P-rep channel for actual P-rep candidates.

2infiniti has a personal relationship with all of the team’s members. For everyone involved, it’s a labor of love. “[We’re in it] for the betterment of ICON,” he says. “We just want ICON to succeed. Passion isn’t something you can easily describe or quantify.”

Getting ICONists involved, too

As readers well know, ICON is based on an innovative governance model, the delegated proof of contribution. Participation is crucial to this model. The higher the rate of participation, the stronger the network gets.

The ICON.community team, including 2infiniti, are talking to many potential candidates for the P-rep campaign, including technical specialists and members of the community, i.e., Iconists. 2infiniti is especially keen to see more of the latter join the P-rep race. He wants people who are passionate about the project. “I’m hoping to see more Iconists apply for P-rep,” he says. “I feel that people are intimidated by the lack of information. Maybe they have the ability to run nodes, but they are just not sure. This is something I’m trying to resolve.”

Mass adoption coming?

Though we’ve yet to see mass adoption of blockchain, 2infiniti thinks it’s just a matter of time. Last year’s crypto crash might have helped. The meme of “We’re in it for the technology” might have been a joke in 2017, but no longer. After the bloodletting of 2018, only serious projects remain, projects like ICON that consistently build things out. “ICON always focuses on actual use cases that enterprises will need,” says 2infiniti. “Even for the public project, we still focus on real use cases. We don’t just innovate for the sake of innovation.”

He says that blockchain should be a very integrated experience. “When you’re using blockchain, you shouldn’t even know you’re using blockchain,” he says. “That is required for mainstream adoption.”

At some point, he says, we need a real use case where it makes sense to develop on blockchain, something that will replace an existing mainstream application. Maybe it will be self-sovereign identifications. Maybe it will be cross-border payments. “There are a bunch of things that it could be,” he says.

Just reach out

2infiniti is currently working on a community portal. With so many websites scattered over cyberspace, it can be hard to find good content, he says. As there’s no de-facto portal for ICON information, people are turning to Twitter, Reddit or other alternatives. But not after 2infiniti’s done with the portal. He says, “Ideally, this should be the site people go to for any information they want to find.”

In the meantime, 2infiniti encourages the community to stay up to date on the P-rep campaign. Hey, maybe even throw your hat in the ring. He’ll be happy to help. “Go to the ICON.community website,” he says. “Learn more about the P-rep campaign and apply as a candidate. If you need any help, just reach out.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story went out with the wrong headline on the cover image and on the accompanying social media shares, stating that 2infiniti was running for P-rep. He is not! Justin is helping out with ICONSENSUS on the ICON.community forum (and, by all accounts, do a fine job at it too).