NOTE: Sophia.TX is an emerging blockchain platform that uses the $SPHTX token to facilitate supply chain processes of all types, similar to SAP, around the world. The Sophia.TX team’s primary focus has been on real-world application from the start, leaving very little time (or desire) for them to market and get the company name out there. We at Crypto.IQ caught wind of this fantastic project and wanted to dig deeper and share what we gathered about this project. Crypto.IQ’s Noah Hornaday tracked down the CEO, Jaroslav Kacina, who has been around the world multiple times this year alone gathering partnerships and progressing the project towards everyday use for large businesses, we scored an interview with him. The information is there for you to come to your own opinion, but, with that said, we expect $SPHTX to be a large up and comer for 2019.

Crypto.IQ: We see that SophiaTX has a new branch that was just established recently in China. Given the regulatory situation with China in 2017, we were wondering if you could give us any insight on how things are going for you out there, and if there has been a change of overall opinion on crypto and blockchain from last year?

KACINA: China has a dominant place in global manufacturing and trade with many well-known products and entire brands being produced in the country. Such a significant role comes with issues around transparency and trust within supply chain and also challenges in brand protection. We have a number of blockchain based solutions for companies that can bring desired trust and transparency into complex international relationships and efficiencies into supply chains.

Our plan is not related to crypto at this stage but rather to provide professional blockchain services to businesses with strong international or pro-export focus through our presence in China.

Crypto.IQ: What is the most important upcoming development on your road map?

KACINA: One of the most important developments in near term is actual SophiaTX mobile app, which will pull all the components together. In this case we are building an e-invoicing app which allows many businesses to better manage their billing and receivables. It will also include connection to ERP, accounting systems, and also two new components named TX Identity and TX Pay. I just want to highlight that this template for distributed application can be then used for rapid prototyping and development of other applications of SophiaTX across many areas and industries.

Crypto.IQ: What is TX Pay and TX Identity, and how will it help businesses adopt blockchain?

KACINA: The combination of TX Pay and TX Identity allows businesses and users to avoid complex user access and token based transactions fees in order to use the blockchain or its applications, in another words ‘we need to take the complexity of the blockchain out of the blockchain’ to make it fit for businesses to use.

Currently, one of the most challenging user aspects of blockchain such as Ethereum and Bitcoin is that users must use public and private keys that are very complex to remember. This leads to many either forgotten, lost, or stolen accounts. We want to make use of SophiaTX user-friendly and secure. Therefore, we have decided introduce TX identify which will allow many blockchain applications and transactions to be accessed and used via this service. TX identity is simply a better way that users can access our blockchain applications.

Second element, which is a big issue with current blockchains, is that businesses and developers need actual tokens or coins to make transactions on the blockchain. In our case, we will be enabling TX pay to be used as a subscription service for transactions fees on SophiaTX. Simply, a business which would like to buy a number of transactions can purchase this via TX pay. This way, businesses are not exposed to token and all tax and accounting issues related to that.

Crypto.IQ: What are some of the features that set the SophiaTX Blockchain apart from the likes of IBM, Accenture, SAP, and Oracle?

KACINA: There are a number of key differentiators that we consider important. First, we have built truly public blockchain that allows tokenization and public access. While IBM, SAP, and others have focused mostly or exclusively on private business oriented blockchain or on BaaS (blockchain as a service). SophiaTX has a full-service capability to provide not only private and consortium but also truly public blockchain, which is already up and running. From price and cost perspective, the large providers are in a business of providing expensive software and services and we believe blockchain in general should be way more affordable and accessible to small business and consumers. It could be compared to the situation that big banks didn’t bring the bitcoin to the public but rather enthusiastic and dedicated disruptors (did). Simply, it does go against their strategy and business models. We have been first to recognize the need and opportunity to integrate with large software providers such as SAP, and we are well on track to lead in this space.

Crypto.IQ: It seems that you are working with a handful of large consulting firms; can you share who you are working with and what industry they are introducing you to? (I.E. Ernst&Young/Automotive)

KACINA: The collaboration with big four but also with a number of other regional leading consulting firms has led to a number of remarkable opportunities across variety of industries. What is becoming evident is that our strategy for building SophiaTX into a cross industry platform is paying off. We have been able to pursue from automotive and manufacturing to food, agriculture, media, e-health, as well as public sector.

Crypto.IQ: Why do you choose dPoS as a method of consensus?

KACINA: It’s the fastest and most efficient protocol, which has been proven by projects such as decent, STEEM, bitshares, and others and can be well modified for enterprise purposes.

Crypto.IQ: And lastly, we know you guys have been traveling, networking, and building diligently throughout the bear market of 2018. What are some of the things you like to do outside of crypto to take your mind off the your project and the markets to have fun or relieve stress?

KACINA: There are a number of avid mountain bikers and the topic next to blockchain is which is the best bike and suspension. The younger and more ambitious do thai box, mountain climbing and again MTB.