BLOK Capital DAO is quickly emerging as one of the most exciting new projects in Decentralized Finance, by pushing the boundaries of what DeFi is capable of. It is already one of the leading pioneers in account abstraction, thanks to its rapid integration of ERC4337, that has enabled a number of world firsts in the industry, including the first ERC4337 token sale, and the widespread adoption of social media login for account holders. All of which serve to simplify the onboarding and ease of use of working with blockchain based protocols.
But how has BLOK Capital achieved this? Of course, it requires the best technical experts, working at the leading edge of blockchain technology, but that is not enough. Technology is how innovation is manifested, but innovation starts with people, people working together, pushing themselves and others to create something truly new and industry-changing. This culture of innovation is at the heart of BLOK Capital.
Our culture drives and energizes both the core team and our extended network of partners, ensuring that all our team deliver the best possible outcomes in every activity, whether it’s protocol design, UI, UX, community building, or any of the many activity streams that are needed to build a successful business. From the earliest days of the project, we took the stance that if we wanted to create something ground-breaking in the industry, then we could not accept ‘good enough’. We had a vision to create a DeFi protocol that enables decentralized wealth management for all walks of life, to reduce the wealth gap and drive financial inclusion, and we have been determined from day one to turn that vision into reality. There have been plenty of times along the journey, when we were told ‘that’s not possible’, but by sticking to our ‘no compromise’ mindset, we did not and will not accept that, always pushing our partners to find a new way forward. But how is such a culture of innovation created? A big differentiator in this project is the background of the founders.
The crypto world is generally considered a young person’s game, with many traditional industries, and their executives, initially taking a back seat to watch from afar to see if cryptocurrencies would stick around or not. And our industry is still regularly challenged, with the crypto world littered with high profile company collapses, FTX being one of the most well-known. But why did FTX and others collapse? Our view is they collapsed because the young people running them had no experience of how to manage a business and no appreciation of the responsibility that comes from handling other people’s money. They were also run off-chain as traditional centralized businesses, which inherently puts too much control of customers’ assets into the hands of the management.
BLOK Capital is completely different. The four founding angels have all enjoyed long successful 30+ year careers as senior executives running businesses in a variety of multinational industries, from finance to manufacturing. Alongside our founder Sheetal Nehra, who brings decades of international business growth experience, our marketing activities are led by a former CEO of Shell in North Africa, our compliance officer was the global Head of Security Risk Control at UBS bank, and I myself was CTO at a multinational manufacturer of high-tech products.
Together, this team brings maturity, common sense and an ethical approach to business. And as the founders, this team laid down the principles of culture, and continue to role model the behaviors and attitudes that are essential if people want to be part of bringing BLOK Capital DAO’s vision of total self-custody for people and their assets to the world. At the heart of our project is transparency and decentralization, all within an on-chain environment self-governed by the community of BLOKC holders. This can only be delivered by people who thrive on collaboration and bring a people-first approach to business. And these guiding principles are used constantly by the core team to vet each and every new core team member, service provider, advisor and partner as we grow. Many did not meet the standards we set, but this rigorous approach has ensured that each and every member of the team we have built are truly the best in the industry, setting up BLOK Capital for success and to deliver an exciting and inclusive financial future for all.