The blockchain company Nchain wants to blaze a path toward creating on-chain solutions to the Bitcoin scaling conundrum, and now they have Jon Matonis at the helm. In a May 1 press release, Nchain announced that Matonis has joined their team as Vice President of Corporate Strategy.
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The press release stated, “Blockchain pioneer Nchain announces the appointment of Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Jon Matonis as its new Vice President of Corporate Strategy. In this position, Matonis will support Nchain’s business growth by developing commercial relationships, and evaluating opportunities for strategic investments and acquisitions.”
Matonis’ History in the Fintech Space
Matonis is known in the cryptocurrency industry as the founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation, which is one of the first organizations dedicated to providing funding for voluntary code developers. The foundation was also geared toward evangelizing Bitcoin and spreading the good word of cryptocurrency across the globe.
Over the years, Matonis has also been a tireless defender and popularizer of Bitcoin. His words have also been published in a variety of digital magazines. According to the press release, his articles have appeared in Forbes, Bitcoin Magazine, American Banker, CoinDesk, Payment Source, and others. Furthermore, Matonis is appreciated for creating the first well regarded Bitcoin Price Index, as well as hosting the largest Bitcoin conference in Amsterdam in 2014.
More impressively, Matonis is recognized as a staunch defender of decentralized solutions for the bitcoin scaling dilemma. He ferociously advocates for solutions that do not compromise the integrity or decentralized nature of the bitcoin protocol. This means his personal values align with Nchain’s position of creating on-chain solutions to the scaling debacle. In one comment Matonis said,
“The gradual elimination of trusted third parties from our economic and legal infrastructures belies a serious and unprecedented reorganisation of many legacy social structures. The winners will be those select individuals and entities that finally liberate themselves from the current centralising, rent-seeking chokepoints. I am excited to work with nChain to support growth of the blockchain ecosystem for everyone’s benefit.”
Nchain Secrecy and the Role of Matonis
Until this press release and another one on April 12, regarding Nchain’s acquisition by High Tech Private Equity Fund, the company has been secretive about their operations. They even disallowed employees to post profile content on Linkedin. They admitted their lack of public activity after Bitcoin.com asked questions about the specifics of their current projects. They responded,
“Regarding your question below the entire organization 
has kept a blanket is secrecy around its entire operation. Staff are not allowed to post on LinkedIn or to even have business cards historically. (This point you could reference). As part of coming out of stealth mode this policy of confidentiality will be considered and modified, however we have yet to determine exactly how.”
However, it appears that Nchain has decided to exit stealth mode by hiring Matonis. This has been seen by some as a well calculated move by the firm. Matonis is an influential public figure in the Bitcoin community. This suggests that Nchain may be preparing to conduct a vigorous public campaign while also competing with blockchain rival companies such as Blockstream and others. It will be interesting to see how Matonis drives Nchain’s corporate strategy policy as Bitcoin’s scalability issues start to become even more inflamed and pronounced.
Do you think Nchain and Matonis can create non-centralized, on-chain solutions to Bitcoin’s scaling issues? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter.
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