Metronome Minute — Jim Newsome
In the Metronome Minute, we ask members of the Metronome team a few questions about their role, expertise, and what interests them about the project.
This week’s edition features Jim Newsome, founding partner of Delta Strategy Group and former chairman of the CFTC. Jim is a leading authority on policy derivatives, futures, and other traded assets. He has been invited by the Chamber of Digital Commerce and other well-respected organizations in the blockchain space to speak on regulation at the most influential conferences and gatherings in the industry.
What is your role as a Metronome advisor?
I first met Matthew Roszak at a Bitcoin conference in Miami a few years ago. Perianne Boring of the Chamber of Digital Commerce invited me to speak on what regulators thought of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Matt and a few others were the only ones who approached me after my talk to further discuss how regulation would bring more legitimacy to the industry. Since then, I’ve worked closely with the Chamber of Digital Commerce and Matt on various projects, Metronome is one of them.
Five years ago, this was an impossible topic to approach from a regulatory standpoint (the community wouldn’t have any of it), but we’ve made great progress since then. At Delta Strategy, we don’t try to be everything for everyone, so this allows us to have a strong focus on the regulatory side of projects like Metronome.
So I help the Metronome team by lending my expert advice on how to operate within the current and future regulatory landscape. In other words, while developers and auditors built out the technology, groups like Delta Strategy make sure the regulatory side is shored up. The team wanted to get every aspect of Metronome right and have spared no expense (in time or money) to ensure that. I’m proud to offer my guidance.
What excites you most about Metronome?
I’m most excited about the team and its leadership. Matt is a prominent thought leader in the space and Jeff is one of the most talented developers I have ever known. The team itself runs the gambit, from its developers to its advisory board. I doubt there has been a stronger team and board of advisors gathered for a cryptocurrency project in the past. Together, they are building a true built-to-last cryptocurrency.
Another exciting aspect about Metronome was how the funds raised during the Initial Supply Auction are utilized. So often, you see founders and authors taking a big cut from the token generation event to fund a project. However, Metronome was functional at launch, without a foundation to take a cut of the ETH proceeds. Having proceeds stay in the ecosystem to provide support for the community should be helpful to Metronome, especially during its formative years. Further, the ability to operate across all silos (being a cross-blockchain cryptocurrency) is something that I think we will see widely used going forward.
What do you think have been the greatest challenges in bringing this cryptocurrency to life?
The team has said this many times, but it is worth reiterating: There was only one chance to get it right when you have a self-governing cryptocurrency like Metronome. I think that was the biggest challenge for the team to safeguard against and for the community to fully comprehend.
This is where I have the ultimate faith in Jeff, as a brilliant technologist and the best developer I know. Finding and remedying issues was an arduous, but necessary task. In fact, I see every challenge Metronome faced getting to the launchpad as a win, because it meant the launch was successful.
What do you hope will be the most-used application of Metronome?
Metronome is “the full-meal deal” compared to the other technologies and cryptocurrencies. It is the first cryptocurrency to bring all the best characteristics of that category together. Everything users need from a cryptocurrency — chain portability, speed, security, and advanced payment features — Metronome can provide. So, I hope Metronome sees widespread adoption and use as a currency.
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The Metronome Team
