Technology has proved to be of the greatest propellers of economic development in recent years. The advent of innovative technologies such as blockchain has offered new solutions to old problems in the global economy. One of the main projects acting in this space is Cardano, a blockchain enterprise based on human-centered approach to innovation with the aim of providing financial services and technological infrastructure to developing countries and to the three billion people who are excluded from mainstream banking services.

Cassiopeia Services is pleased to introduce you to the first in a series of industry-focused articles and interviews featuring IOHK’s founder Charles Hoskinson, and the cryptocurrency Cardano ̶ a decentralised public blockchain aiming to provide financial services and ultimately help individuals in developing countries achieve financial inclusion.

Founded in 2015, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) is a technology engendering company that, through innovative solutions such as their blockchain platform Cardano, aims to provide financial services to the three billion people worldwide who are currently excluded from mainstream banking, ultimately helping them achieve financial inclusion. Through building solutions, IOHK aims to push for a fairer and more transparent order that would help a great number of people, by means of bringing back trust into the systems.

The company recognises the high potential in future Blockchain studies, as well as its rapidly developing market. As such, education presents a core element of IOHK’s philosophy, consequently shaping its mission: to establish a reputation as a leading institution in the academic study of blockchain by tackling difficult research questions and building a strong foundation in the blockchain industry.

Research Based Approach to identifying and testing solutions

Confirming that education is truly the backbone of its approach, IOHK employs decentralised research teams across the globe, comprised of academic experts in specific fields. The teams work together to bringing innovation and development through collective effort.

In addition, besides bringing innovation to the market, IOHK aims to teach the local talented individuals on the uses and implications of such technologies, thus contributing much more to the field than just a “finalised product”.

IOHK’s Director of Education Lars Brünjes, a Pure Mathematics PhD, explains: “We strive to offer the highest quality teaching to selected students who will become the next generation of young talent in the industry.”

Speculatively, this can have larger implications on further development and growth of the specific market IOHK operates within, as it enables individuals to fully grasp the uses and opportunities the innovation bears.

Cardano: A deconstructed cryptocurrency concept focused on the Emerging Economies

By deconstructing the concept of cryptocurrency, IOHK team created the blockchain platform Cardano. Cardano is home to the ADA cryptocurrency, which can be used to send and receive digital funds. This digital cash represents the future of money, making possible fast, direct transfers that are guaranteed to be secure through the use of cryptography.

Cardano is more than just a cryptocurrency, however: it is a technological platform that will be capable of running the financial applications currently used every day by individuals, organisations and governments all around the world. Cardano will also run decentralised applications, or dapps ̶ services not controlled by any single party but instead operating on a blockchain.

This is the first blockchain project to be developed from a scientific philosophy, and the only one to be designed and built by a global team of leading academics and engineers. It is essential that the technology is secure, flexible and scalable for use by many millions of users.

David Esser, the IOHK’s product manager focusing on Cardano explains the research process in detail: “IOHK employs an evidence-based approach that requires a lot of research upfront by scientists and academics researching on how we might approach something and try to write mathematically provable specifications. When you’re building a brand new technology it’s the things that never existed before, and so during that process we discover the details in how it would fit better for the market. We have to adjust to the realities of the technologies. We spend a lot of time on research and theory before putting down the work.”

A major innovation by Cardano is that it will balance the needs of users with those of regulators, and in doing so combines privacy with regulation. The vision for Cardano is that its new style of regulated computing will bring greater financial inclusion by providing open access to fair financial services for all.

Cardano’s main focus is to apply academic research and evidence-based solution to provide technological infrastructure for the developing world, where blockchain can have a transformational impact: “Emerging markets are where cryptocurrencies matter,” says founder Charles Hoskinson.

By employing a public-private partnership approach with the governments of developing countries, Cardano employs Blockchain, as it is believed to be the best way to rebuild fraudulent systems, looking to enable fraud-free land registration, fairer voting systems and improved supply chains.

Cardano is currently working with projects in 25 developing economies worldwide such as Ethiopia, Mongolia, Georgia, and hopes to be present in 52 African countries by 2020.

Part-1 of our in-depht interview with founder Charles Hoskinson will be live on Friday on our FinancialFox channel. Follow us on @Cassiopeia_ltd @_FinancialFox. Stay tuned!