Catallact: Meet the Founders
Paul Lewis and Dan McGinn are the founders of Catallact, a blockchain analytics engine for the financial industry. Catallact has the potential to add massive value to Cardano, the first third generation blockchain to evolve out of a scientific philosophy & research driven-approach. Catallact wants to apply rigorous scientific analysis to cryptocurrency asset markets. Both founders are veterans of the financial industry, each having more than 10 years of experience trading derivatives. Five years ago, Paul became interested in data science and the blockchain industry. He enrolled in Cornell Tech and graduated with a Master of Engineering in Computer Science in 2015.
Previously a derivatives trader for 12 years, Dan McGinn achieved a Master of Science in Computer Science from Imperial College London in 2015. Following this, he became a Researcher & Industrial Fellow at Imperial College London, focused on research in cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Their shared interest in machine learning applied to blockchain technology has led them to form Catallact. Built upon Dan’s extensive academic research and their combined industry expertise, Catallact applies machine learning and data science techniques to blockchain. Their goal is to provide automated and scalable insights into the dynamics of crypto-assets. Catallact is one of the four startups accepted into the first batch of the dLab/EMURGO Startup Accelerator Program based in New York.
Catallact: A Closer Look
The Catallact founders believe that to be successful, they must first build the right thing, then focus on building it right. For Paul and Dan, building the right thing means creating a tool that solves a clear problem: bringing meaning to data. Catallact is using AI and data science to achieve this goal. Public blockchains such as Cardano, generate huge amounts of data based on the flow of cryptocurrency trades. However, there is a lack of tools available to monitor, analyze and visualize this data. This makes it hard to identify certain types of trading behavior, such as trades performed by algorithms rather than by humans. Catallact is building the tools to understand the behaviors behind market flows. These tools will bring better insights into the types of high-volume trading activities that take place across exchanges. As transparency around cryptocurrency trading and transactions becomes increasingly important, Catallact’s tools will be vitally important for traders, regulators and institutions towards generating analytics for cryptocurrency assets.
How Will Catallact Drive Value to Cardano?
While Catallact’s immediate focus is on illuminating trading patterns and anomalies on the Bitcoin blockchain, the two founders envision a blockchain agnostic tool that can be applied to any blockchain. The implications for Catallact with Cardano would be a top-down view on the types of trading activities that occur on an ongoing basis. Catallact is building the radar that would allow institutions to gain better insight into the types of trading behaviour that take place across the Cardano blockchain. As Cardano is the first third generation blockchain written with high assurance code and utilizing formal methods, the data flow on the Cardano blockchain will be significant and require Cardano’s solutions to scalability, sustainability, and interoperability. While the blockchain industry as a whole is still in its nascent era, these kinds of insights offer greater trading transparency for regulators and institutions in the future which will help the overall maturation of our industry. Institutional interest in blockchain requires the type of tools Catallact is building in order to gain better insight into markets and lend credibility to blockchain-based services.
Catallact & dLab/EMURGO Startup Accelerator Program
Catallact’s founders are focused on building the right thing. The dLab/EMURGO Startup Accelerator Program is committed to helping the founders build it right. Paul and Dan are excited to receive world-class advice and mentoring from EMURGO team members to help develop Catallact. They will also be exposed to amazing connections and coaching offered by the dLab/EMURGO team. All of this will help Catallact reach a minimum viable product that they can bring to market. After this minimum viable product, the founders will be focused on acquiring customers and gaining revenue. The support of the dLab/EMURGO Startup Accelerator Program will help Catallact achieve their goals.
Wrap Up
Catallact founders Paul Lewis and Dan McGinn are developing the tools needed to bring transparency to the blockchain industry. The rich data generated on distributed, permissionless blockchains brings many new possibilities. As regulation and adoption increases, Catallact will provide the tools for identifying patterns in this data using machine learning. As a company in the dLab/EMURGO Startup Accelerator Program, Catallact will receive world class advice, mentorship and networking opportunities with blockchain industry experts. If you are developing a project or company using Cardano or blockchain technology, be sure to reach out to us at venus@dev.emurgo.io .
About EMURGO
EMURGO drives the adoption of Cardano and adds value to ADA holders by building, investing in, and advising projects or organizations that adopt Cardano’s decentralized blockchain ecosystem. EMURGO leverages its expertise in blockchain R&D as well as its global network of related blockchain and industry partners to support ventures globally.
EMURGO is the official commercial and venture arm of the Cardano project, registered in Tokyo, Japan since June 2017 and in Singapore since May 2018. EMURGO is uniquely affiliated and works closely with IOHK to grow Cardano’s ecosystem globally and promote the adoption of the Cardano blockchain. To learn more about the project, visit the EMURGO website.
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