Nelson Valero, Former Council Member & Vice President of the NEM Foundation

January 16, 2020 – Depending on who you ask, 2019 is another turbulent year for the crypto and blockchain industries. Globally, we’ve seen companies refocus their efforts or merge with others to survive. In the Philippines, we’ve read about more pending regulations, developments in the space, and more education drive. BitPinas sought the opinion of people who work in the blockchain and crypto industry in the Philippines, including leaders and influencers here and abroad on what they think about 2019 in general and what they look forward to in 2020.

Nelson Valero is formerly a Council Member and Vice President of the NEM Foundation, an organization whose intent is to spread blockchain awareness particularly that of the NEM Blockchain.

Can you please share the latest developments from your company/project/group this year?

For NEM Blockchain, they have Catapult. It is a full-featured blockchain engine that can power both private and public networks with its unique smart contract plugins.

So far I took a long holiday and this year 2020 I am now back and ready to engage the Philippine Blockchain community to help spread awareness about this technology.

We always support our fellow Filipinos who wish to dive into this new technology. My team and also my close friends believe in blockchain so much that we actively provide sound advice to the people to reach out to us. The impact of this technology on our fellow Filipinos… Imagine the Philippines producing top Blockchain experts. This will not only benefit our fellow Filipinos but also the entire country.

Please share a personal highlight for you this year in the crypto and blockchain community.

Photo for the Article - Nelson Valero, Former Council Member & Vice President of the NEM Foundation

With the help of the NEM Philippines team headed by Emerson Fonseca, who is now the Chief Community Officer at Paylance, we were able to engage 20+ Universities in the Philippines and train the professors about the Blockchain technology.

This was a personal highlight for me because since doing a study about blockchain back in 2013 at UNSW (University of New South Wales) in Sydney, Australia, it made me understand its importance. I wanted to help my fellow Filipinos become the first to understand and perhaps develop a killer app that uses blockchain.

What do you think is the most important blockchain and/or crypto development in the Philippines/Globally in 2019?

C Estates connects people around the world to seamlessly transact and conveniently buy and sell real estate properties.

C Estates uses NEM blockchain technology to fulfill its mission and vision in providing a better way of doing Real Estate transactions and becoming an industry standard of the future.

Blockchain is a global network therefore even if this project is developed locally, its services can be opened to a global audience.

Read More: C Estates is Ready to Disrupt the Real Estate Industry Through Blockchain

What is your company/project/group looking forward to this 2020 in this space?

To continue and support NEM Philippines in terms of engaging the community about this new technology. This year as I mentioned above, after my long holiday, I am ready to support Emerson and his team and push this technology in the Philippines

What do you personally look forward to in this space?

I personally want to see actual blockchain-based applications being developed by our local talents. Who knows one could discover the next killer app for the blockchain technology.

I also want to see more universities starting to embrace this new technology and including it into their syllabus. Not only in the Information technology space but in other Science courses.

What do you see for the Philippines in 2020 in this space?

I want to see more blockchain-based use cases that were made by our fellow Filipinos. Year 2020 is another exciting year for Bitcoin. Why? The halving event this coming May.

I have been following the news about blockchain on a daily basis and I am very positive that awareness about this technology is moving forward towards mass adoption.

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