CoinGeek Weekly Livestream: Osmin Callis talks BSV culture and venture capitalism

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Kurt Wuckert Jr. talked to Osmin Callis on the CoinGeek Weekly Livestream this week. The two discussed Bitcoin SV, nChain, BSV culture, and venture capitalism in the ecosystem. 

Osmin Callis’ Bitcoin story

Osmin Callis has been involved with some of the biggest brands and companies in the ‘big block’ Bitcoin space, and has been in the tech industry for 26 years, starting her career in financial services. After the 2008 financial crisis, she worked independently and discovered Bitcoin.

Like many others, Callis’ dug into Bitcoin and fell down the proverbial rabbit hole. She discovered there was more to it than the price and became fascinated with the potential of the ledger itself. Eventually, Callis started working at nChain in business development, and her career has been in the Bitcoin space since.

Working at nChain

Wuckert asks Callis what it’s like at nChain behind the scenes.

She describes her colleagues at the company as “both incredibly smart and incredibly humble.” They’re constantly pushing the limits of their own knowledge and experience. She shares how they took the time to break everything down for her and the others involved, showing incredible patience. She and Wuckert discuss how this helpful culture is present in BSV.

Over her time there, Callis saw the company grow from 30 employees to over 250. She describes the rumors that nChain is a shell company as “incredibly disappointing.”

Satoshi Block Dojo

Wuckert begins this section by explaining how happy he was to hear about the Satoshi Block Dojo. He’s been calling for more business development for a long time, noting that BSV has a lock on the tech side of things, but this area has required more attention for some time.

Callis explains how the pandemic affected things first, saying that many deals had to be put on hold. “I basically felt like I was treading water for a little while,” she says before explaining how the Satoshi Block Dojo launched and she joined as Chief Operating Officer.

Delving into the Block Venture Studio, Callis explains how it’s a model to James Merchant, who she had always been attracted to, coming from a VC background. It’s designed to “bring entrepreneurs out of the woodwork” and has done so thus far.

“If it’s not better, faster, or cheaper, it’s just not serving anything,” Callis says, explaining how the Dojo decides if a potential business is commercially viable.

Wuckert asks what an ideal applicant looks like. Callis says a great team, a demonstrable understanding of a problem and a potential solution, and a realistic business proposition are all essential.

Wuckert asks what happens when an idea is great, but the team is either weak or needs to be reorganized. Callis responds that making them understand what’s in their interest and a culture of radical candor help.

“There have been a couple of scenarios in which the teams that came in were not the teams that left,” she says.

Digging deeper, Wuckert asks what the difference between a venture studio and a consultancy is. “A venture studio incorporates consulting and incubation into the overall model,” Callis says, emphasizing that it’s a hybrid of these two things but isn’t actually either of them, per se.

Blockchain solutions

A viewer asked what the most interesting thing big companies are looking at blockchain for as a solution and how the studio has helped them work through their ideas.

Callis says the Block Dojo is gearing up for a corporate roadshow in which they’ll go to various corporate entities and talk to them about how blockchain technology can benefit their businesses. This could be tokenization, micropayments, or any of the other capabilities. Unfortunately, Callis is not at liberty to say which companies are in the mix.

Growth and innovation

Wuckert asks whether the people coming to the Block Dojo are now moving from other chains like Ethereum or whether they’re totally agnostic and just looking for a blockchain solution.

Callis says that corporates are usually looking for a blockchain solution, but they have no real concept of other chains. Many of them have heard buzzwords and basic concepts, but they need to be educated on the specific capabilities worth exploring.

Micropayments and reinventing ideas

Viewer Snecktoshi asks if micropayment will revolutionize behavioral economics. Callis unequivocally answers, “yes.”

Another viewer then asks what the financial incentive is for building leading-edge technology for another company versus doing it directly. Callis answers that while the Block Dojo incubator does take in outside ideas, the Venture Studio originates its own ideas.

Watch:The BSV Global Blockchain Convention presentation, The Next Big Thing: Incubating Start-Ups on the BSV Blockchain