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Ep 66: Data Ownership, Privacy, and Hiring: MyStandard  image

Ep 66: Data Ownership, Privacy, and Hiring: MyStandard

S1 E66 ยท The Policy Layer
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Adam Zec, CEO of MyStandard, joins us to talk about fixing one of the most broken parts of the digital economy: data ownership. MyStandard is building infrastructure that lets individuals control and monetize their workforce data instead of handing it over to platforms by default. The conversation covers hiring, privacy, bias, and why useful blockchain products should lead with what they solve

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Transcript

Introduction to the Podcast and Host

00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Policy Layer, where we talk about the real decisions shaping crypto, tech, and the future of trust. I am Silvia Sanchez, your host from the Avalanche Policy Coalition. We aim to bridge the gap between the builders of Web3 and the people that are shaping the rules.
00:00:24
Speaker
On our podcast, you'll hear from policymakers, developers, academics, and others working at the edge of tech and regulation. We ask the questions that everyone's actually wondering and we keep it easy to follow.

Real-World Examples in Blockchain with Adam Zek

00:00:37
Speaker
This is the Policy Lane.
00:00:43
Speaker
All right, hello, hello, and welcome to the Policy Layer, where we talk about the big decisions shaping crypto tech and the future of trust. I am Silvia Sanchez, and today's episode is about something I think that this space needs a lot more of, real examples and an actual product solving a problem. We are joined by Adam Zek, the CEO of MyStandard, a company building infrastructure for data ownership, starting with workforce data and credentialing.
00:01:11
Speaker
His work focuses on making skills verifiable, portable, and owned by the individual in a system that has long been been fragmented. So this gives businesses faster access to the data they need while allowing individuals to benefit from the data that they provide.
00:01:27
Speaker
and Before my standard, Adam spent 13 years in talent acquisition sales and consulting, working primarily with Fortune 50 companies. so That experience shaped his perspective on what's broken in hiring and what it will take to fix it. so Thank you so much, Adam, for joining us today. Thank you for

Data Ownership and Control with MyStandard

00:01:44
Speaker
having me.
00:01:44
Speaker
Awesome. so I always like to start with the basics. so For people hearing about my standard for the first time, what does it do and what problem is it trying to solve? Yeah, your initial summary was great in the intro too, so we'll just use that. um But we're trying to just make it easy for anybody to become a data owner.
00:02:03
Speaker
And then after they're an established data owner on our mobile apps, give them opportunities that connect to their data without them having to do any work or effort to find those activities.
00:02:14
Speaker
And then give them the ability to say yes or no. I want to accept that opportunity, whether in in our first use case, as you as you outlined, it's a job. Yeah. Do I want to accept the opportunity for that employer to call me and get paid for sharing my information? Or do I want to deny access to it and they never know who I am?
00:02:29
Speaker
um And we're just trying to give a lot of autonomy and control to people were in ah in a world that ah has none, to be honest. And I think that's one of the core principles of Web3 and crypto from the beginning is

Choosing Avalanche for MyStandard's Operations

00:02:40
Speaker
ownership.
00:02:40
Speaker
And so far, we've really tackled ownership of value. we have not tackled ownership of other ah aspects of our lives. RWA is starting to become more popular, but um you know we're we're like the first use case, I think, that's really made for mass adoption, which is like, let's create a user-owned data marketplace, which just doesn't exist today. Right, so so that's the problem space. um And I think it's very real, especially when you talk about privacy concerns and data breaches. So now let's talk about why blockchain enters the picture. So we're moving a bit from product to infrastructure. And why did you choose to build on Avalanche specifically? What did the infrastructure make possible?

Collaborating with Avalanche: L2 Plans

00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, we needed the low cost for the network to run. We needed instant finality. We needed this app to ultimately run and feel like a Web2 app.
00:03:33
Speaker
If we're asking organizations to query and use the system and everything, it needs to move as quickly as everything they're used to using. Imagine in a world where you query a database and you ask someone for their data, and they accept, and it takes a few minutes for that data to be shared and the value to be transferred and it would ruin the experience. People don't like to wait anymore, rightfully so. And so we needed ah a blockchain that could suit that.
00:03:58
Speaker
um Also, Avalanche pitched us on where they're going with the product. So we actually established our relationship with Avalanche in 2021. And um and ah you know They are following the roadmap that they outlined to us back then. And eventually, my standard is going to roll out ah an L2, previously known as subnets.

Blockchain vs Traditional Data Models

00:04:16
Speaker
And the reason we would do our L1 on Avalanche is to unlock a new utility on the app for our users.
00:04:24
Speaker
So it's nice that Avalanche's tech model structures like follows our roadmap. um And we can purposely build features into the apps that align with where Avalanche is going.
00:04:34
Speaker
And I think we have a really strong relationship now that's gone beyond just ah Avalanche invested in us. Avalanche has guided us from a tech perspective, from a legal perspective, ah marketing perspective. I mean, we really aligned really strongly with Avalanche's team and network, and we believe in their future.
00:04:51
Speaker
Great to hear. And I think that along with that alignment is also the functionality aspect of it, especially when you're trying to scale this. And that leads into something i find especially interesting here, which is this space that my standard sits in, because it's at the intersection of hiring, identity and privacy.
00:05:11
Speaker
And why is that such an interesting area for blockchain? I know you've alluded into this, but... yeah I know that it might be a bit easier for people to hear about hiring and privacy, but how can we tie that into into the blockchain space? Because it's not just about the tech, but about the trust, the data, and who gets to control information about about themselves. So I just wanted to um hear a bit more about that.
00:05:35
Speaker
yeah about that um Yeah, if it wasn't for the blockchain, we couldn't exist. So I think that's one of the fundamental principles here is a lot of people are building in the space a solution without a problem yet. They're hunting for the problem for the solution they think is needed.
00:05:50
Speaker
um We actually had a problem and we're looking for a way to architect a solution to fix it. And blockchain, crypto and everything we've built is the only way to do it. ah In order for people to truly own their data and have it not just be sitting on my server and then hoping that I'm a good steward of it, they're going to have to actually have the physical ownership of their data.
00:06:09
Speaker
um And so we we really did ah create a use case here that puts the blockchain in the background instead of the foreground. like It's our infrastructure. I don't need to talk around that we're like the Web3 for LinkedIn or anything. You'll never hear me say that. We're just a web you know a place for you to find jobs faster than you would find them elsewhere, find jobs without bias, employer-side bias, stopping you from finding your dream job.
00:06:36
Speaker
ah We're a place for you to um to to be able to say no to someone who you don't want to know about you, to to not get that information about you. and And I could pitch that to anybody and not have to mention the infrastructure, which is the blockchain industry.
00:06:51
Speaker
to do it. And I think that's an important thing for the space. I think that that actually helps crypto move forward by us not talking about the crypto, if that makes sense.

Engaging Policymakers: Economic Impacts of Crypto

00:07:00
Speaker
um I think that we need more so apps and use cases that just make people's lives better.
00:07:07
Speaker
And it doesn't have to do with token trading. It doesn't have to do with memes. It doesn't have to do with the value of the token. The token is not the product. The product is the product, and the token will benefit from the success of my standard in our in our company.
00:07:20
Speaker
but it's not something you're going to hear us talk about. um If we build this company properly, everything else takes care of itself. And I think we need more of that. And so I think it's it's kind of interesting that the less we talk around the crypto, the more advanced it's going to push the industry. And I think that more than how much you talk about crypto or not, because I think also it's a cool way to highlight what can be built on the technology. I think it's more about, okay, the value proposition, again, of the product. It doesn't matter if you're building on let's say this super fancy a centralized database, if at the end of the day, it's forgetting about, okay, what are we doing? what are we What are we doing with the data, with the privacy of the people that are using it? But in this case, okay, you're using blockchain. It's all about that decentralization proposition. And I think that more than living in some abstract corner of Web3, it's touching things that people are dealing with in real life. Again, like hiring, finding jobs, managing your data.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I think that's probably why part of it, or a large part of it, resonated in DC, because you were in DC last March speaking to the Crypto Caucuses and as part of the National Cryptocurrency Association. So I just wanted to um learn a bit more about what were you hoping that policymakers would understand about your work and what resonated most out of that conversation? Yeah, that's a ah great question. um I guess going into it, it was a little bit of a sandbox, right? This was a new opportunity for us. you know we built this It's kind of funny how the the storyline of my standard, because I've been doing this since 2021.
00:08:54
Speaker
And at no point did I think I would be in D.C. talking to politicians around you know our network becoming a standard for Americans' lives. like that So it's it's kind of fun to step back every now and then and see how far we've come.
00:09:07
Speaker
And so when I got to D.C. and I started talking to politicians, I realized that ah they're all excited around a few aspects of what crypto could present. They're excited around the idea that if this industry is unlocked properly, it can create millions of new jobs. right ah And so that was one of the things that ah America embracing Silicon Valley and the internet very early started.
00:09:34
Speaker
allowed, right? We became like the tech hub of the entire world. That's where all the hiring is. That's where all the jobs are. So um crypto has an entrepreneurial spirit ingrained in who we are. That's one of the aspects about this industry that is so enchanting.
00:09:48
Speaker
um At any moment in time, you could become an entrepreneur, find a network, build on a network, potentially raise capital. like It's all very accessible, and that could create an immense amount of jobs here in America.
00:10:00
Speaker
And so that's one thing that, you know, I think policymakers are are looking at at this industry and hoping they can almost like, like get a second chance to to do what we did, you know, in in Web 2, like with Web 3, right?
00:10:13
Speaker
uh, and, and establish ourselves as like a, you know, the tech hub, the hiring hub, you know, the place where all the you know people from overseas, the top people want to move to, to, to work. That's where all the money is. Um, and I think that's one of the reasons why what we're doing is, and is interesting to them is it, is it's the intersection of that.
00:10:29
Speaker
Like we're literally that we're a company that's, you know, we've hired people. We're starting to grow in States. And I have, uh, you know, A vision that we're as big as Facebook and have tens of thousands of employees, you know, ah and we're hiring and have offices in the United States. And that's all based off of some like crypto startup, right? That kind of was able to to bootstrap themselves up and build that up. And we can get there. We have pathways to do it.

Understanding Blockchain's Infrastructure and Privacy

00:10:52
Speaker
And so that our storyline, like who we are, is enchanting. Number two is like on the same track, we help people find jobs faster. So, you know, being able to talk to DC politicians around the unemployment rates and unemployment situations in their states and say like, hey, by adopting this technology, you know, your citizens will find jobs faster.
00:11:12
Speaker
um States are fragmented right now with how they help people find jobs. um So we're an interoperable solution between all states for people to find jobs across borders. There's a lot of like aspects around just our core principle of who we are that we're resonating with people at DC.
00:11:25
Speaker
And then when we get to the Crypto Caucus specifically, um we we're talking around the idea that you know we create an argument that's hard to refute of why k crypto needs to exist and flourish. right we It's easy to make it political.
00:11:39
Speaker
it's easy to point at Trump token and say, hey, this is a political tool to you know put money in the pocket of somebody that we don't align with if you're you know on the on on that side of the aisle. it's very easy It's an easy argument to make, and no one's going to really you know refute that.
00:11:53
Speaker
um But you can go to somebody who doesn't necessarily agree with crypto ah because of the political aspects of it, and ask them, do you like the idea that Americans should make passive income on their data and take it back from the big tech companies who make $1.3 trillion dollars a year on our data, on on Americans' data?
00:12:12
Speaker
do Do you want that? Who's going to say no, right? Do you want Americans to find jobs faster without employer side bias? Who's going to say no? Do you want Americans to have a natural moat that protects their data and their individuality from ai Who's going to say no?
00:12:26
Speaker
If you like those core things, you like my standard, and therefore you also like crypto. So it changes the argument a little bit from being strictly... Value-oriented, yield-oriented, um all the things that are kind of holding up the Clarity Act today.
00:12:42
Speaker
So it's it's very, ah you know, I think we can become um aligned with both sides of the aisle and make this kind of a bipartisan issue. Because I think at those three principles I outlined, everybody's going to back.
00:12:53
Speaker
And our job right now is to just continue spreading the message and then getting more support. And I think that's a really big difference and when you actually bring a practical use case instead of a generic conversation about crypto, because I think that there's also a difference between showing a product and saying, okay, this is solving the problems that a lot of Americans are facing today. At the end of the day, they're not going to...
00:13:19
Speaker
get down to the nitty-gritty of a blockchain terminology and like very specific technical aspects as long as you are presenting them okay this is the problem this is a solution and this is how it works and then i think that's a much easier segue into being open into crypto into these technologies and i think that we've seen a lot of um negative headlines sometimes and again as you said and like getting into the political side of it which is a whole a crazy conversation as well. um And also wanted to ask what questions came up in those meetings that surprised you or or stayed with you. I know that it can be a bit mixed sometimes so were they interested in privacy or what was something that they wanted more clarification on?
00:14:05
Speaker
um One thing that ah came up that I was surprised to hear about from ah one of the, uh, the staffers we met with, um, was that they were a little bit confused why there's so many layer ones, why there's so much need for so much infrastructure and all this infrastructure infrastructure has its own token are worth millions. What's that millions based off of if nobody's using some of these networks?
00:14:31
Speaker
Um, They were a little bit confused why there isn't just one blockchain that rules all, that everyone just builds on instead of having to build on all these individual blockchains. And they seem to have a little bit of skepticism that the industry infrastructure like is is is building the right way as we were building blocks.
00:14:50
Speaker
infrastructure on top of infrastructure rather than more established applications and use cases. i'm Obviously, hearing what we're doing after that was refreshing to him. ah But it it did show that they are looking at this industry and a little bit confused. And honestly, us inside the industry, we sometimes are a little confused too, right? I mean, we've seen, and I'm not going name names out there, but there's L1s out there that have raised...
00:15:15
Speaker
millions of dollars and have ah no activity, no trading fees on them, no established apps at all, and are still worth, you know, you know, 10 figures in a market cap and some of the 11 figures in the market cap. And so it's just like why, you know, so they're looking at it in the same sort of like kind of like confusion that we are. And that shows that the industry needs to grow up and start to, you know, pin it, prune out the weeds, prune out the networks that aren't being used, focus on the ones that are making steady progress and most of all focused on applications. Yeah. That's an interesting point. And I think that when policymakers are genuinely engaging, asking questions, those questions usually tell you a lot.
00:16:00
Speaker
and And I think it's also important for us as the industry or whether you are a blockchain developer or someone building on blockchain to listen to those things because... um I think a key thing that is still lacking on both sides is kind of that that bridge when there's the understanding of the policy implications from a technical standpoint, but also when policymakers understand the technology.

Critique of Centralized Data Systems

00:16:26
Speaker
So I think that sometimes um the blockchain sector can be like, oh yeah, regulators need to understand this, but also we need to be okay. What are their their doubts or maybe these types of concerns that are obvious to us that
00:16:42
Speaker
we can be in eco-chamber sometimes, but that maybe are those decisive factors that are going to make a difference at the end of the day. um And I just wanted to go back to the privacy point very quickly. um How do you explain that privacy piece in a way that makes sense to non-technical audiences? And this is more like expanding it, not just to to policymakers, because what what should people take away from from this component? um but Okay.
00:17:09
Speaker
I usually just relate to how things are today. So if you have a LinkedIn profile, as an example, anybody can look at your profile. There's a public aspect to it. And then organizations pay LinkedIn for the opportunity to look at your details.
00:17:24
Speaker
and send you messages. um You don't get an opportunity to say, no, I don't want that company to know who I am. You don't get to know what data they may have taken from your profile and extracted to their own databases.
00:17:34
Speaker
um And ah it's very one-sided, right? So we just kind of change all that. So you know who's looking at your profile. I'm sorry, who's asking for your data. um You actually know what data they're requesting from you, and you can deny aspects of their data to be shared with them. um and ah And obviously, for the privilege of looking at information, they pay the individual, right? So we pay the data owner.
00:17:56
Speaker
um And so I think just, ah you know, your data is sitting with LinkedIn. So LinkedIn to does whatever they want with it. a Note to anybody listening, an example of where data privacy falls off with things like LinkedIn, your data is default opted in to LinkedIn's AI modeling.
00:18:14
Speaker
So you never got to say, I do want my data added here. it just is. And you actually have to go into the privacy set of settings, which you probably do right now while you're listening to this thing, find it in the settings, go to their AI, and toggle off for your data to be in their AI modeling.
00:18:28
Speaker
it just makes it's It's completely abusive that they just spun up a whole new product and service line and feature without the consent of the people who are actually providing the data to do it. And so that's an example of where data privacy absolutely falls off with your data sitting on a central repository.
00:18:44
Speaker
um they get to do whatever they want with it whenever they want with it ah and make all the money from it. i hope So I think that can resonate with somebody who's not like a technical or Web3 person. Like, And also, the other thing we talk about, too, is like every centralized server is called centralized problems.
00:19:00
Speaker
So like eventually, they're going to get your data. If it's on a centralized server, it's going to get hacked, leaked, partially hacked, or leaked at some point in time. Even Web3 companies like Ledger had their customers' data leaked.
00:19:11
Speaker
LinkedIn has had, I think, six major hacks or leaks over the years. Even Equifax had our like social security information leaked. like If it's on a centralized server, it's being attacked constantly. And eventually, they're going to get in especially with AI and quantum computing coming and being able to break through encryptions like you got to have the data fragmented and owned by the data user in order for it to truly be safe um and uh you know we all feel that every day like if you get a scam call you know they found your data somewhere it it was leaked on some database and they're trying to get you a scam email scam phone call um and i don't know what how many billions of dollars are generated from that but it's a lot and we protect americans and people from that
00:19:49
Speaker
Indeed, and I think that's a really good call to action, um not just for for LinkedIn, but also, like, approaching this with a bit of of more caution than usual, because I also think that, as users, um we can be a bit too innocent. That's the word that i want to use to be, to be respectful, no? Like, you think, okay, there's this platform, and you don't really expect that, like,
00:20:14
Speaker
People are going to be selling all your data, your things. At least that's not the way you hoped that it would be. But unfortunately, reality tells us otherwise. And again, yeah, like when you apply for a job through a random place and then all of a sudden you're getting a bunch of scam calls for completely unrelated services that you never signed up for. And it's just like, okay, where is my data going? Who is owning this? And not just with LinkedIn, with with social media, with a lot of things that the default is...
00:20:41
Speaker
okay, you have no control over your privacy, that you have to go through a bunch of clicks and settings and scroll up and down. And I don't think that all the users are equipped to do it or they don't make it so obvious, these app developers. It's not like this big thing that pops up on your screen, like, we need to pop it out of our... and I don't know like AI training protocols or data click here.
00:21:05
Speaker
You have to scour through. It's kind of like when you're, i don't know, when you're shopping a for a sale, they don't put the best products at the top of the store with 50% off. You have to go through the back of the store and just dig through everything and hunt. And I don't think it should be this way. yeah,
00:21:25
Speaker
i think I was at TJ Maxx the other day. I know exactly what you're talking about there. That sort of stresses me out. It's just it's just hunting for 45 minutes. I can't do that. And again, not everybody has the time or the patience to do this. And it was like a silly example with like, okay, you're buying a shirt or whatever. But when it's people's data, when it's even, i don't know, a grandma using Instagram to share cat memes with her family. But all of this stuff happening in the background is getting sent to who knows and whos where. Yeah. Yeah, and we don't care about it until it hurts us. But the thing enough people have been hurt by this situation.
00:22:02
Speaker
these various activities that I think a lot of people care now. And we feel hopeless to it because it's just how the internet

Building MyStandard: Challenges and Compliance

00:22:11
Speaker
is built today. That's how all these websites that we use are built today, which is why we're called MyStandard. We didn't go with like a very like talent acquisition-oriented name for the company because we wanted this to just be established. like This is the standard of how I think about my data and how I think about my value.
00:22:29
Speaker
um And ah so we with a more generalized name that I think will work across all regions and and such. yeah Yeah, and it's a great name. And I think it should be the standard. It should be um the default mode in which a lot of these platforms are built.
00:22:45
Speaker
Ask yourself, what's a wallet for? Bank cards, train tickets, spare change, maybe even a picture of your cat Fluffy. But what about a wallet that does more?
00:22:56
Speaker
Meet Core, the native crypto wallet for Avalanche. Mobile, desktop, however you work, it works around you. There's no messing around with exchanges. Upload funds directly from your bank account or Venmo just as easily as sending a PayPal transaction.
00:23:13
Speaker
You've probably got enough passwords to remember already, right? Log in with your Google or Apple account. No seed phrase memorization required. It's that easy. With multi-chain compatibility, Core lets you view and manage assets across Avalanche and other supported networks. All in one place.
00:23:31
Speaker
Pretty awesome. Then there's a whole world of crypto apps and tools to explore direct from your wallet. Get the wallet that does more. Download Core today. And just out of curiosity, what part of building my standard has been harder than it looks from the outside? Because, okay, this is great to solving this big problem, but take us a bit more into like the behind the scenes and these types of of challenges that maybe people are not. and i mean a Building a product from scratch and software from scratch is just hard to do
00:24:04
Speaker
um you know there's ah There's edge cases you have to take into account. There's always the happy path of how a user registers and will use it. There's also like the you know the unhappy path you have to take into account. We're building mobile apps that have to work on every type of device and all the different versions that are out there. and you know We get reports from people saying they have trouble on this part or this part we have to go in there and triage it and fix it. and you know Those things are going to get better over time. But it's just building and building from scratch is difficult. We we raised capital in early 2021. We didn't launch our app until the mid like mid-end of 2025. It takes a long time to build software that will scale and work consistently and not crash.
00:24:46
Speaker
And work as fast as a Web2 app is going to work. And and and that took time for us. um We also had to do all of our outside counsel work in 2022. So we actually worked with the SEC on our token and our model and our business model, token model in 2022. had probably 12 meetings with the SEC. So that they were well well known with that entity. We did that to establish trust, but also to make sure that if you you know these tokens are being kind of utilized by us corporations, that they aren't going to become...
00:25:15
Speaker
securities that get these companies in trouble or anything like that, right? so we had to do that work to ensure that this is a utility token, that the token is abstracted from the usage and and everything that comes with that. So, you know, we did a lot that groundwork um that nobody really sees.
00:25:32
Speaker
And maybe nobody cares about, but we had to do it to establish that this is like built for the long haul. This isn't some one-cycle crypto company that tries to pump a token and never build anything and leave, which is what we've had for, i don't know, my entire time and career a career in crypto, which is like seven, eight years.
00:25:50
Speaker
ah We're building for a 10-plus year horizon here. So, you know, that groundwork and and and steadiness of building maybe isn't appreciated, but is important.

Industry Maturity and Constructive Projects

00:26:00
Speaker
But, you know, it's not easy to do. And that's probably one of the reasons why lot a lot of people are doing it, is this is harder than it looks to do. Absolutely. And I think i you can have like an idea, but then it's sort of like this spider web effect. Like, okay, you start doing something and then it leads on to build another thing. And then this problem emerges and just making sure that not just um the UX side of it works well, but the back end. And I think... um
00:26:28
Speaker
It's even more important now that we're like, okay, also positioning it as a use case with Web3, ensuring that, okay, it's a good product, the user experience is pleasant because, okay, like, why are we even doing this in the first place? um And just before we close, and what needs to happen for more real-world use cases like this to be taken seriously in policy rooms, like moving from this diagnosis into actionable next steps? ah
00:27:00
Speaker
I think that the established players who are in this industry, who have already established trust with the community and with institutions and potentially with governments, need to support builders who need to have a good way to vet first, and then good a good way to support builders who are trying to you know build on their chains or whatnot. I think Avalanche has done a great job with us. I think other chains are trying to do things...
00:27:27
Speaker
But, you know, i see i think that's part of it. um Crypto is kind of like building with Legos. You're kind of piecing together technologies to build ah something that you you believe is going to you know make ah make a big impact.
00:27:41
Speaker
um And so you need to establish yourself with that those Legos need to be also trusted, right? So like we worked with Chainlink. heavily, like we're heavily at Chainlink aligned. ah They actually helped with our smart contract, like things like that. So like, like they were willing to do that with us, even though we're a nobody, you know, compared to who they are in the industry. So that sort of thing that Avalanche and Chainlink have done to kind of support us and give us, give it like they vetted us and now they gave, now our trust is kind of an extension of their trust, right?
00:28:07
Speaker
um So I think that's part of it. um And then second, I think we need to just, ah you know, unfortunately, not really look at the things that are extractive in this industry. So, you know, really like, you know, pump fun and things like that. Like, you know, as an industry, we we we're giving them and stage in an audience. um You know, even the negative marketing is good marketing.
00:28:31
Speaker
And I think we just need stop talking around these extractive plays. They're never going to get any, they're never going to move the industry forward. DC doesn't care about that stuff. um And so we need to just ah make sure that, you know, we highlight things that are going to add value and and and business models that add value and stop talking around extraction and extraction plays.
00:28:52
Speaker
Also, I think we need to stop talking around so like Sam, of being freed you know like like ah All the stuff he did with FTX, and people were saying he'd be the best investor of all time, he'd be a 140 billionaire. like He was investing in other people's money, and he's, you know what i mean? like People are highlighting these these these individuals who are extractors and bad for the industry and kind of propping them up.
00:29:15
Speaker
So I think this's like there's some growing up that we need to do as far as like what messaging we're taking and what what people in DC are hearing because so you know you'll see that everywhere. like So i like focus on the ones who are building and solving problems and like let's stop talking around the extractors and the extractors who have been

Showcasing Blockchain's Practical Applications

00:29:31
Speaker
around. and I think that's a a way for us to really make ah you know DC take this industry more serious. Yeah, and people building legitimate projects, people actually am solving real-world problems. And I think that we should really try to shift the narrative on that positive tone, on that um more human side of it as well.
00:29:53
Speaker
um But just before we let you go, where can people find you? Where can our listeners learn about my standard and just keep up with what you're building? um Yeah, we're on ah primarily and Telegram, like a nice community on Telegram of people who, you know, are are excited around what we're doing and where the vision of this is going.
00:30:12
Speaker
And like that we're building in public. So if you follow us on X, which we could probably post the socials here, um you'll see us pretty consistently update with where we are, or what we're doing.
00:30:23
Speaker
um everything we're doing in dc we're doing extremely transparent so every time we book a meeting with another congressman or senator or a staffer like we're putting that into our x so that it's very obvious that there's a momentum building there uh because that's happening real time um and we want our community to see that progress real time rather than ah all of a sudden some sort of unveiling happens um where insiders kind of profit like anybody who wants to you know get into what we're doing can see the progress as we grow, as opposed to just finding out after the fact, right? So it's it's out there in the public.
00:30:56
Speaker
And that I think that's the best place. MyStandard.io is our website, primarily used just to get people into the app. If you're in America, you can download and make it a profile today. We have not launched globally yet. That'll be announced when we do it on our socials.
00:31:10
Speaker
um But until then, I think those are the three places that you'd probably want to go. um If you're more curious, to just kind of dive into more what we're doing. If you just search my name or our company on YouTube, we've done dozens of podcasts. I spoke on stage at an avalanche summit um that's on there. There's a lot of content out there. I guess we've been very open and transparent on and what we're doing and and how we're doing it. So there's no shortage of ways for you to get dive more into what we're doing. And I'm i'm always happy to answer questions.
00:31:40
Speaker
Of course, in the back they're like showing a the process and that transparency, I think that's that's beautiful. So once again, thank you so much, Adam. I think it was a great reminder that policy conversations change when people are shown something real. And my standard is a great example. And the broader point is bigger than one product and one project, because when builders can clearly explain what they're doing, why it matters, and how it fits into real world systems,
00:32:05
Speaker
I think that's when the conversation gets a lot more

Conclusion and Further Resources

00:32:08
Speaker
productive. So that's it for this episode of the policy layer. We hope you enjoyed it. And for more episodes and educational resources, head to avalanchepolicy.com and see you next time.
00:32:21
Speaker
We hope you enjoyed this episode of the policy layer. If you want to learn more, check out avalanchepolicy.com for free educational resources and also follow us on social media at avalanchepolicy to stay updated.