By Pablo Yannone Sancho, Journalist at GLTH
Cai is an Advisor in the technology sector, specifically focused on blockchain. This technology is closely related to one of his biggest obsessions: digital identities. In 2019, he began developing the concept for a company that could create 3D avatars from 2D photos using 3D reconstruction techniques and machine learning, an idea that combines both blockchain and digital identities. This concept eventually became Union Avatars.
This is not his first company. In fact, Cai has a long career that began when he was 10 years old and started coding. To be more accurate, it began even earlier, when his father sparked his deep interest in technology. Startups came later, with the definitive step being a cashback application that handled both fiat and cryptocurrencies, which introduced him to the world of crypto regulation; a field that, in 2016, was still largely uncharted in terms of regulatory frameworks.
The power of blockchain in law firms: an enabling technology that improves transparency, accountability, and trustability
Cai clarifies it: Blockchain is much more than cryptocurrencies or a “monetary system that is not depending on central institutions.” It is a very relevant technology within all types of organizations, and it has some specific advantages for use inside the legal sector. As Cai says, blockchain can provide “a lot of transparency, accountability, and trustability,” which are some of the keys that all lawyers would desire for their everyday life. “It gives us a new way of understanding things, of following product services,” he adds.
As a person obsessed with digital identities, Cai is very aware of anonymity. Blockchain “allows you to identify yourself without saying who you are,” a feature that aligns with the ZK concept (Zero-Knowledge Identity). Also, one of the main points regarding blockchain is “the possibility to trace something until its origins.”
Of course, we need to be warned about expectations. “We don't have to be blind and think that blockchain works for everything,” says Cai. “There are still a lot of solutions that can work with regular databases, so you don't need a central open database that you share among users.”
This is why there is one challenge we must face before using blockchain: “Understanding how to apply blockchain in a specific industry, understanding what are the key points that can work, what are the key points that don't work, what can be on-chain, what has to be off-chain for privacy reasons.”
There are also technological challenges, but, against all odds, Cai claims that “implementing blockchain in different sectors is getting easier.” It seems that you don't need to be an expert, or understand the grounds in the same way as in using AI. “It's more about understanding what the architecture is that we need for it and what can be useful and what not.” “There are many more topics that can be affected day by day by people on AI than on blockchain.”
So, how much should we know about blockchain?
“Well, when you go to the bank and take out some cash from the ATM, at the end of the day, you don't know what is happening behind the machine. You don't know everything that the machine or the system is doing to give you this cash.”
What Cai means by this is that “not everybody needs to know about it, like how to explain it.” “We have been pushing a lot for people to understand everything from blockchain, and people are also not fully confident in it until they understand it,” claims Cai.
For Cai, “blockchain technology has to be a medium and not an objective itself. So it's more of an enabling technology. So as long as it works, and somebody can review it and can see what's happening.”
And what about Cai’s identity?
Well, Cai provided us with very valuable information about how to protect our identities. If that was not enough, he also shared with us some interesting information about himself. He likes the present so much that he would refuse to travel to the past or to the future. Maybe it was because in the past he would not have his favorite TV shows -Mr. Robot and Peaky Blinders- and in the future he could be a step back from his biggest passion, which is technology. “I think most of the people who are in technology are because they are really curious to know how these systems work.”
Apart from being a very passionate technologist, he is a deep-thinker who defends the cycle of permanent change that surrounds us: “You can't assume anything, so don't take anything for granted,” he says. “Everything changes so fast that what is true or what is valid one day can be invalid the next day. The only thing that we know for sure is that change is the only permanent thing.”
Change is permanent and the only answer for it is willingness: “Push yourself, every day you have to try to be a little bit better than yesterday. Not trying to do a ‘big gap,’ but if every day you try to do a little bit better than the previous day, at the end of the day, in the long term, you will have a much better version of yourself.”
The most interesting advice came later, as it was very paradoxical and unpredictable. Cai, as an Advisor, encourages you to “break the rules and fight the law.” “A lot of the improvements, especially when we talk about technology, have been because somebody challenged the status quo and tried to modify it. And then we saw new laws created after that.” Breaking the law creates new law? What is the point of it?
“We always need to try to break some rules and find a way of doing it without affecting people. That doesn't mean that you have to do something illegal. I'm not talking about this, but just like playing on the limits and understanding, and especially with lawyers, I think they have a big chance of understanding things in a new way and trying to adapt their life to it.”
To say goodbye, Cai wanted to share a reflection about something very important for him as a Legal Advisor, entrepreneur, and person who loves technology: privacy. “I think over time with technology, we started having quite a lot of privacy. Then we kind of lost it with social networks and everything, and we have to reach a point where we regain privacy. Privacy doesn't mean that people will do bad things, but I think without privacy, we are kind of too exposed.” “Our data is being sold day by day. We lose control of our data. So I think it's important to be able to keep track of your data, knowing who has your data, who is monetizing your data. I think that's really important.”
CEO, Union Avatars
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