Enjin’s Simon Kertonegoro: We’ve only scratched the surface of crypto

Coin Rivet: Tell us about Enjin and how you came to launch Mintshop.

SK: Since our inception, we’ve been obsessed with creating meaningful social experiences for gamers to lose themselves in – connecting them with like-minded communities, providing plugins to revolutionise their experience, and creating high-value economies for them to profit from.

A few years ago, we realised the potential of blockchain for games. So we set about utilising blockchain to create lifelike economies that mimicked society in every way, and in doing so, we happened to build a solution that could power the economy of value, including present-day society’s 

With the intention of creating a blockchain solution that’s useful for the masses, our entire focus has revolved around lowering the barrier to entry. Mintshop is just one example of the obsessive drive our leadership has to democratise blockchain to the point literally anybody and everybody can start building on top of it. We believe tokenization is the killer app. It’s spread from a multi-billion dollar industry. Our ecosystem is ready, now it’s time to bring it to the world.

The Mintshop enables users to fill out a simple order form and submit it to us, we’ll do the rest. We will deliver to them, a fully functioning next-generation ERC-1155 token that they and their users can store, send, receive, melt, and manage via the Enjin Wallet. They can also integrate these items into games via the software development kit for Unity that will soon be aggressively promoted to 4.5 million Unity developers. There is also a whole host of exciting integration features on the horizon. 

If you want control over the blockchain with the ability to tokenize anything you want, the Mintshop is the perfect option for you.

Coin Rivet: You lay claim to the world’s most secure cryptocurrency wallet.

SK: Security is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. We’ve had our wallet independently audited by a respected third-party data security firm and we have taken their feedback and iterated upon our design until reaching the highest levels of security humanly possible. The audit is publicly available: https://enjinwallet.io/files/Audit-1018.pdf. We’ve integrated a wide range of innovative features to ensure that cryptocurrencies and tokens (both fungible and non-fungible) can be protected from prying eyes.

We use NSA-grade encryption techniques alongside the Enjin Secure Keyboard (our proprietary in-app keyboard that periodically scrambles letters to impede the actions keyloggers or malicious actors looking over the user’s shoulder) and two layers of cryptography (AES encryption at a lower level and software encryption in the app itself). Keys are stored in encrypted memory, and on Android, screenshots are explicitly blocked.

We balance our security with usability, priding ourselves in excellent UX/UI. Individuals don’t need to understand what’s going on underneath the hood to use the wallet. They can import their other wallets directly into the Enjin one with ease, easily manage their coins, and access detailed transaction information should they desire it. In addition to this, while fees are dynamically set by default, users are free to adjust these as they see fit.

“The infatuation with a ‘Wild West’ may have been acceptable when Bitcoin was chiefly used for gambling or illicit purchases, but we need to leave it behind as innovative new use cases are being envisioned for the underlying technology”

Coin Rivet: How do you respond to the charge that cryptocurrencies are all hype no substance and a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist?

SK: It’s an unfortunate occurrence that regularly happens when new technologies begin to get popular. An obvious example is the dotcom bubble, but there’s certainly an element of ‘creating a problem to provide a solution’ with many projects. That said, there is a reason it’s hyped – it has real potential to be transformative to a lot of sectors.

Such statements are very pessimistic and show a lack of understanding around some of the real world adoption that is currently taking place. It also downplays problems that distributed networks to resolve, such as the notion of omnipotent third parties, which are prone to the infliction reputational and financial damage when they prove themselves incapable of managing data or funds that, ultimately, should be entirely in the custody of the individuals to whom they belong.

Is the technology overhyped? Perhaps. Does it mean that nothing of substance will come out of it? Absolutely not. We’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. With layers built on top of the base protocol and different classes for the various tokens issued, I anticipate we’ll see the tech integrated in most business operations, in some form or another, within the next five years.

Coin Rivet: The UK Treasury Committee recently labelled Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a “Wild West industry” and called for regulations in order to protect investors. What’s your take on regulation in this space?

SK: Effective regulation, where laws don’t hinder innovation in the space, can only be a good thing. It’s necessary to shed some of the anarchic dogma intrinsic to the earlier cryptocurrencies if the technology is to be deployed in enterprise or government settings. If we want mainstream adoption, it’s best that we lay down standards for the protection of investors and deterrence of fraudulent activity.

Developments like security tokens, ETFs and stablecoins (very popular topics in the cryptocurrency space at the moment) simply cannot reach their true potential without a cogent legal framework being adhered to. The infatuation with a ‘Wild West’ may have been acceptable when Bitcoin was chiefly used for gambling or illicit purchases, but we need to leave it behind as innovative new use cases are being envisioned for the underlying technology.

Regulation is still something of a mess, but we’re slowly getting there. Our main concern, as participants in the burgeoning industry, should be ensuring that regulators understand the various nuances of the networks so that fair, transparent and unambiguous frameworks that do not stifle growth can be put into place. Malta seems to be ahead of the curve in this regard, and other jurisdictions should seek to emulate their approach.

Coin Rivet: The call for regulation aside, what’s your take on the current state of the cryptocurrencies space? Has the bubble burst?

SK: At the moment, it’s easy to get negative about the current state of affairs. After all, people who invested around December time have been watching their holdings slowly decline in value over the past year as the bear market drags on. I don’t think it’s a good measure of the interest in blockchain technology as a whole, however. It may scare off the ‘get-rich-quick’ hype, but, from what I’ve witnessed with a number of innovators, this has been a time for building. Every day, teams release upgrades, new software, forge new partnerships, etc.

If anything, I think we’ve made more progress this year than any year prior – the foundations are being laid for institutional investment into the expanding field, more and more companies are trialling pilots and some of the first projects having carried out ICOs are finally beginning to release polished products.

The cryptocurrency markets are still in their infancy, and prices won’t stabilise anytime soon. We’ll see volatile market cycles until speculation settles and mainstream adoption has occurred. That’s what we’re fighting for at Enjin.

Coin Rivet: Where would you like Enjin to be 12 months from now?

SK: The ERC-1155 token standard will be finalised and released very soon, as we recognise that it has applications beyond gaming, and can serve the wider ecosystem.

We will also have multiple mass-market products released to the world such as the Blockchain Software Development Kit for Unity, the world’s largest game engine, making it easy for game developers to implement blockchain assets into their games. Within a year we will have hundreds of games adopting our blockchain development solution. 

Within a year we would have released EnjinX which we predict will become the most popular blockchain-based web app within 12 months. It’s created to be the Google of blockchain. A clean, simple, and easy way to navigate blockchain data with APIs that seamlessly aggregate data for easy integration into websites, platforms, games, and apps.

We will also release the Efinity scaling solution which will allow instant transactions for ERC-1155 tokens with next-to-no fees, along with our Minecraft integration tools and many other tools specifically designed to make it easy for developers and entrepreneurs to create and integrate their own blockchain-powered assets.