Today we're sitting down with blockchain developer and CEO, Juan Bernardo Tobar. Hailing from Ecuador, Tobar has taken his blockchain talents from his hometown to offer his in-demand expertise in cities ranging from Moscow to New York. The 26-year-old founder of ADOM.Inc, his company's newest venture, a mobile-app called MAIA-X, aims to revolutionize the financial paradigm and give any user their "keys to freedom." MAIA-X launches this month on the app-store and we've got the full scoop from Tobar on what's in store.

Tell us a little about yourself

I was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador. After moving to New York to study philosophy and economics at the University of Rochester, I then moved to live in Moscow. I spent three years in Moscow teaching myself coding and math, while studying for an MS in Systems Engineering. I left Moscow to make a business out of the inventions I made during that time, which is what I am working on now.

How did you get your start in blockchain technology?

I built an options trading platform when I was in Moscow and I wanted to monetize it. I read up on brokerages and quickly found that the financial world is regulatory spaghetti.

Blockchain was becoming a thing around these days so I read up on it. Quickly found out that via smart-contracts on the blockchain you could get done everything you needed without any of the regulatory spaghetti!

In other words, you can deploy an army of smart contracts to do the same thing that banks/brokerages employ an entire floor of back and middle office employees.

The whole regulatory spaghetti is because of trust. Financial markets involve a lot of money so there is all this law to protect this money. Not only law, but technology to protect all this money. Back when money was only coins, only banks had the physical infrastructure (vaults) to protect money, so they were the gatekeepers of the financial markets. Then money became zeros and ones in computers - but the infrastructure to protect the integrity of these databases was also a massive undertaking.

Now there is blockchain - there are no gatekeepers! - and the infrastructure to hold the integrity of a financial market is in front of us - you reduce the need to trust jurisdictions, companies, people, to build legal infrastructure for protection - you can just program much of it into a smart contract!

So I went full on on blockchain technology.

For anyone unfamiliar with blockchain, what is one thing you think they should know?

That it allows anyone in the world to have full financial access - and it will be ingrained in our day to day interactions. We can expect it to completely change the way we interact with each other.

MAIA-X

What is MAIA-X?

MAIA-X is a mobile portal to the blockchain.

A mobile portal to the blockchain means that the most remote village in the world can have full financial access simply by having an internet connection. It means true financial access for everyone. Forget about travelling to the nearest bank branch to get a loan, or being financially oppressed - it is a portal to an internet of money, an internet of value.

We have seen in the past that the real catalyst of mainstream adoption of a new technology is an intuitive human interface. The point-and-click GUI for computers, Mosaic/Netscape browser for the internet, and now MAIA-X for blockchain.

Now, how should this 'portal' be? It should be intuitive, it should not distract us from what we need to get done but rather enhance the way we do things. It should revolve around the most human way of interaction - conversation.

MAIA-X is a chat app that allows you to enhance your conversations with blockchain. Just like current chat apps let you enhance your conversation with images by allowing you to 'paste' them on the chat - MAIA-X lets you enhance your conversation by 'pasting' smart-contracts into the chat.

This lets you sign contracts, vote on governance, exchange value without leaving your chat window - as easy as 'pasting' a sticker.

Combined with MAIA-X is the MAIA Blockchain Card: a programmable physical card that when scanned by the MAIA-X app unlocks bank card/identification/ticketing functionality - allowing you to prove your identity or ownership of funds and tickets even without your phone.

I expect that the ease of integrating smart contracts into people's daily conversations will lower the barrier of entry to leverage this technology.

What are your future plans for MAIA-X?

To put the word out there and empower people and businesses to do what they want to do, whether it is trade, governance, fund-raising, ticketing, communicating, but in a better way.

There are a lot of middlemen out there who charge fees without adding value - there are many businesses that would benefit from an alternative - my plans are to find these businesses.

You're the CEO of ADOM Inc. What are your main objectives at ADOM?

The goal of our technology is freedom. With MAIA-X we wish to give people their keys to freedom - the tools to not only interact freely with information, but also value.

We wish to be a part of the larger blockchain infrastructure that strives towards a new financial paradigm - a world where anyone with internet has full financial access.

To achieve this long-lasting vision we will build a strong team that shares these values.

Outside of blockchain technology, do you have any other hobbies or interests?

Yes. Music has been a part of my entire life. Starting from age 6 or 7 until I graduated from high school I was practicing piano - lessons and recitals. In University, I was very involved in the music scene. I became Production Director at WRUR 88.5 where I was in charge of the music studio, the recording equipment, the live equipment, and training people on how to use it. I engineered an album, recorded a couple of artists, and put on countless live shows. I recorded a couple of projects as a musician and I seriously thought it would be my career for a while.

Philosophy is another passion, and reading in general. I majored in Philosophy and I love to think about it. Although I dropped the habit now, I read a book a week for about three years - some philosophy but actually mostly math, statistics, financial derivatives. Which brings me to a third hobby:

Options and math/statistics/risk in general. Options as in the financial derivatives. I like to think about them, talk about them, read up on them, plot their curves on charts and think about the math and statistics behind them.

What is your biggest accomplishment to date?

ADOM Inc. It stands for 'A Dream Of MAIA'. It is not just a company but it encompasses all of my inventions for the past 3 years - the MAIA-X mobile app, the MAIA Blockchain Card, the blockchain ecosystem that surrounds it, and the vision of a new financial paradigm.

What is your advice for any up and coming blockchain developers?

You can learn anything you want to learn - for free! - from the internet. What do you want to build? Yeah, you can learn what you need to learn to build that, search it, stackoverflow it.

Connect with Tobar at JB@adom.tech