Meet the Team Behind Oasis — Ekin Tuna, Business Development at Oasis Foundation
With all the amazing partnerships and developments Oasis has made up to this point, people often wonder who or what is the driving force behind our progress. That’s why today, we’re introducing you to Ekin Tuna, from Business Development at Oasis Foundation. The goal of the Oasis Foundation is to empower the entire ecosystem around the Oasis Network, and Ekin is an integral part of that.
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With all the amazing partnerships and developments Oasis has made up to this point, people often wonder who or what is the driving force behind our progress. That’s why today, we’re introducing you to Ekin Tuna, from Business Development at Oasis Foundation. The goal of the Oasis Foundation is to empower the entire ecosystem around the Oasis Network, and Ekin is an integral part of that.
Before joining Oasis, Ekin was already on an incredible trajectory in the blockchain space that included co-founding ChainSlayer, a Blockchain Analytics Startup that provides market intelligence data on the crypto economy, as well as holding key positions in blockchain organizations that focused on smart contract security and software development.
Now at Oasis, Ekin takes his deep experience in business development, privacy and security and the blockchain to help bring Oasis to those who most need it. And in this interview you’ll discover what drives Ekin, how he views the future of blockchain, and what he loves most about working with Oasis.
Our hope with this installment of our Meet the Team Behind Oasis series is that you learn more about Oasis and gain valuable insight into the important people that are helping us build the next-generation of blockchain.
What’s your background, and what experience do you have in blockchain?
I’ve been working in the blockchain space for seven years and spent that time doing a number of exciting and challenging things. I’ve been involved in projects ranging from fully decentralized protocols to consultancy and even founding my own company along the way called ChainSlayer.
Role wise, I’ve done extensive work in technical and business focused areas — with the past few years focused squarely on business development, fundraising and strategy. This kind of work really excites me!
What is your role at Oasis? What do you do on a daily basis?
I’m the head of business development for the Oasis Foundation, and what that means is I find and integrate the right partners that help us grow the Oasis Network in the right direction.
In terms of my day-to-day activities, that can be a number of things, but generally it looks like this.
- Engaging with potential partners and understanding what they need and how we can work together in a mutually beneficial way.
- Keeping up with the latest trends on all things crypto. I read a lot of newsletters, news publications and research papers, just to name a few.
- Exploring new and exciting business opportunities for the Oasis Foundation and its partners.
You’d be surprised how fast a day goes by when you’re focused on just these core activities, but of course my role includes a lot of other things too.
What are you currently working on?
My highest priority at the moment is growing the Oasis ecosystem to support and have the necessary DeFi primitives. This covers things like bringing liquid staking, stablecoins, and derivatives to the network. Also incentivizing our soon to come Uniswap trading pairs are on the top of that list — so be sure to look out for that.
When did you start working in the blockchain space? What made you get into it?
I first jumped into the blockchain space in 2013, when I realized the transformational impact that decentralized and trustless systems would have on everyday life. Those were still pretty early days for blockchain and the number of people in the space back then compared to today weren’t even close. But my conviction and passion for the technology kept me around and it’s amazing to see the adoption that blockchain is experiencing now.
I also believe the most important goal of blockchain is to ensure that all the innovation happening supports the freedom of individuals and does not repeat the mistakes of the current information industry. It is possible to use blockchain technologies in oppressive and liberating ways and my personal goal is to support the liberating use cases.
Name another blockchain project you admire & why.
Cosmos without a doubt. The vision of being the internet of blockchains seems to be the most accurate representation of what works practically up until now, and it’s what different developers want when it comes to layer 1 development.
What do you think the future will look like for Oasis? Why do you think it will succeed?
Things have to change in a big way, and that fact alone has given Oasis the opportunity to make a big difference where it really matters. First off, we need to support the individual freedoms of people in the web 3.0 age, as today’s web user has literally become the product and their behaviour is manipulated for commercial gain.
On a societal level, this is a massive concern as the evidence suggests that creating small microbubbles and pitting users against each other is a profit-maximizing strategy for the platform operators, and that’s never a good thing. So it’s important to find alternative ways of governance that give power back to the users, and creates a healthy discourse instead of the current polarized mode of discussion.
Fundamentally this can be done by allowing the end-users to control how their data is being used as restricting access to their data will ultimately revert the relationship between platform operators and their users. Oasis’ technology is one of a kind being that it’s a project that has gone the furthest in building a practically functioning solution that will allow this kind of transition to happen.
That said, what drew me to Oasis is the possibility that it will fundamentally change the way that the internet works. Not necessarily by changing how it looks visually but by creating a force of democratization to build trust on a global scale.
What excites you the most about Oasis?
The people here at Oasis are awesome! The incredible work ethic and positive energy that everyone has makes the experience here a real joy. Our team calls are also really productive and inspiring and they are one of my favourite parts about working with Oasis. It’s really great to be able to exchange ideas with such a talented group of people, and I look forward to making a big impact in the blockchain space with this talented group of people.
Which person in the blockchain space do you most admire?
I admire more developers, community members and hackers than I can keep count of. Collectively, these people have made it possible to have an alternative to centralized systems. The blockchain space itself is a continuation of the principles of freedom, information sharing and trust that the world wide web was built upon. People’s contributions to that vision are different in size and magnitude, but no one can build that vision alone.
Do you think blockchain is the future? Why? What will it take to become mainstream in the future?
From a high-level view, blockchain technology has endless potential to impact the world in a very positive way. I also think the protocols built in the next few years will become computer science 101 material for every future graduate, and this will certainly have a trickle-down effect that will impact generations to come.
As far as blockchain going mainstream, we saw the first really user-friendly blockchain applications roll out to the market in 2020, but still mainstream users face a lot of hurdles. For instance, there are two important things still making it difficult for the non-technical audience to jump on board with blockchain — and they are 1) the user experience when having to switch between wallet providers and decentralized applications, and 2) the lack of fiat on-ramps for the majority of the applications. Also, as the majority of the decentralized applications are built on Ethereum, the transaction fees are a real hindrance for the majority of new users.
We’re obviously working hard to change these things, and it’s a big part of why I’m so excited to be here at Oasis.
What are your hobbies and interests?
Two things I really like to study are politics and mathematics. :)
What is your motto?
Every action, even the decision of not acting, is a decision. It’s important to be in control of your own decisions.
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