Digital Wealth News is pleased to bring you our “Fintech Luminaries” series – featuring thought leaders within the blockchain and digital currency space. For the next feature in this series, we’d like you to meet Marie Tatibouet of Gate.io, established in 2013 is a blockchain assets exchange platform, operated by Gate Technology.
NAME: Marie Tatibouet
TITLE: Chief Marketing Officer
COMPANY: Gate Technology
WEB ADDRESS: https.gate.io
How did you personally become involved in blockchain?
Back in 2016, I joined a platform called 21. Signing up as an expert, you could earn BTC by answering people’s questions. I joined it for fun mostly, and started researching how to withdraw the BTC a few months later. And from there, I fell down the wonderful rabbit hole that is blockchain technology.
What does your firm do/offer within the blockchain sector?
Gate Technology is the mother company of Gate.io, one of the oldest (2013) and largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the industry. We also own Wallet.io, a cryptocurrency wallet that integrates directly with our exchange platform. We also recently announced Gatechain.io, our public blockchain and decentralized exchange coming at the end of 2019, which will be fueled by $GT or Gatechain Token, currently being distributed on Gate.io.
What is your role within your firm and what do you do there on any given day?
I’m the Chief Marketing Officer, so it’s my job to help spread the word about our cryptocurrency exchange, and the value it espouses: security, transparency and integrity.
This is done in so many different ways: social media, offline events, press conferences. However, as we are incredibly customer-focused, our biggest emphasis is communicating with users directly on the platform.
I spend a lot of time studying user behavior as well as conversing directly with users so as to assist the tech team in continuing their roll-out of features that traders will actually use.
What area/s of blockchain do you believe will grow the most in the coming 5 years?
One of the reasons I joined Gate.io was its commitment to transparency: indeed I feel this is what blockchain technology is all about. Weeding out the middlemen who take a cut of people’s actual hard work is something very promising indeed. However, disrupting old ways doesn’t come easily, and in some of these industries, the middlemen are very powerful. Any industry where peers are trading with each other will be the first to be disrupted: eCommerce, real estate, finance.
What do you believe the next major innovation in financial technology will be and why?
The next major innovation in financial technology will undoubtedly be a blockchain technology innovation. There are many new exciting projects that are being launched everyday, but we haven’t seen true delivery as of yet. Some of the most exciting projects in my personal opinion are those dealing with reclaiming your own data.
What are the biggest problems facing the blockchain industry in the future?
The entry of huge corporations is both a blessing and a curse. Whilst it draws interest to blockchain technology and normalizes it, some entities have a lot to lose when it comes to privacy, data ownership and transparency. We need to make sure that we don’t allow them to overrun and set the wrong standards.
What blockchain leader do you admire the most and why?
I took Andreas Antonopolous’ MOOC course at the University of Nicosia and it was life-changing. He is incredibly precise, enthusiastic, and industry-aware. Anybody working in the industry should take his course.
How do you feel consumers (or if more relevant for your firm – businesses) are adapting to the facet of blockchain that your company operates within?
Consumers are increasingly aware of privacy and data protection, and that’s a great thing! We always thought convenience had to be traded off with data, but that’s no longer true.
It is a common misconception that exchanges want to keep funds centralized. For any quality exchange, this couldn’t be farther from the truth: keep users’ funds puts us at risk and increases our costs. However, decentralized exchanges weren’t technologically advanced enough until recently to provide users’ with true financial freedom and a great user experience. 2019 will see all of that change, and it’s an exciting time.
If you were to personally invest in just one blockchain firm (other than yours), which one would it be and why?
It is unethical for me to name or invest in a project due to my position at Gate.io. However, I would definitely invest in a blockchain media or research company. One of my favorites is the Blockchain Transparency Institute (https://www.bti.live/). They work tirelessly to expose all of the fake volume projects and exchanges, and as one of the primary metrics in the cryptocurrency world, this is super important.
Marie Tatibouet is the CMO of Gate.io, she is responsible for the strategy and operational excellence of Gate Technology’s marketing. Marie has in-depth experience of working on several blockchain projects.
