Following their announcement to support VET staking, Binance.US held an AMA session with Sunny Lu on July 15th. The timing couldn’t have been better as 2 days later, Binance has listed VTHO on its international platform. This is a big milestone that reinforces VeChain’s fundamentals as in order to be listed, VeChain and VTHO would have needed to pass Binance’s screening process again.

Hosted by Catherine Coley, CEO of Binance.US, the session was a chance to learn more about Sunny and his experience in growing VeChain.

The interview started with a reminder of VeChain’s goal: to build the leading public blockchain platform that enables developers “to build valuable applications which can really transform technology value to business value”.

While VeChain is renowned for its supply chain use cases, as a smart contract platform it can be applied to a wide range of industries and applications. To prove this and in response to a question about potential solutions in the entertainment and social network industries, Sunny revealed that a music and movies related platform is being developed in Los Angeles and highlighted 8Hours Foundation’s PlayTable; a gaming hardware device that merges physical and digital elements into a fun experience, and which Sunny hopes will gamify children’s education.

“I would consider a small success in the near future when the number [of transactions] could hit like 1 million transactions per day”  – Sunny Lu

Talking about the future, Sunny envisions a VeChain powered world where people might use blockchain without even knowing it. For him success is not defined by token price but rather by the number of valuable daily transactions being created; stating that a short-term milestone is to achieve 1,000,000 daily transactions. More transactions, however, would mean higher business value and naturally increase the token’s intrinsic value.

In regards to its business oriented mindset, VeChain believes that business developers are as important as technical programmers and he values having an active community. Through initiatives such as the Community Contributor Awards, Community Video Contest or Bounty Rewards, the Foundation has been able to keep an engaged community with which the team can exchange ideas, obtain feedback and interact during seminars and meet-ups. According to Sunny, the community plays an important role in VeChain’s growth, sharing that “more than 50% of the business leads come from community members as many have strong professional backgrounds”.

“VeFam is the most friendly and also the most supportive community in the world. It’s just simply the best in the crypto world” – Sunny Lu

It’s not about the data and technology but rather the things you can achieve with them

VeChain’s decision to initially focus its blockchain efforts to tackle problems in supply chain might be linked to Sunny’s experience and network as the former Chief Information Officer of Louis Vuitton China.

Sunny shared how tapping into his old connections was essential to grow the project during the early days. Through Sunny’s professional relationship with Philippe Fortunato (at that time CEO of Givenchy), VeChain was able obtain a stock keeping unit (SKU) from Givenchy to test and prove the value of blockchain. Thanks to the success of their pilot, Givenchy now tracks 100% of its leather goods with VeChain.

According to Sunny, supply chain is a “low-hanging fruit” that enables companies to quickly reap the benefits of the technology and unlock new business opportunities. It’s not only about collecting data but rather creatively transforming the data into value. By analyzing the information H&M collected through its traceability solution for example, DNV GL was able to help prove and validate the company’s sustainability contributions and practices. 

Being adaptable, learning from business meetings and understanding the different needs, ideas and innovations required by businesses is something that Sunny enjoys. It broadens his view of the world and enables him to continuously grow. Listening to their clients’ needs, VeChain was able to expand its automobile solution from an immutable record to store a vehicle’s maintenance logs to a complete a carbon footprint ecosystem.

Having a flexible and agile mindset has helped VeChain and its partners to adapt to new situations; designing solutions such as My Care to demonstrate the role blockchain services can play in an ever changing society. 

In terms of his personal life, Sunny demonstrated his admiration for Vitalik, stating that Ethereum was critical in proving him that complicated business activities can be described in a blockchain and inspired him to start VeChain.

“Ethereum was out of this world. Vitalik is really a genius” – Sunny Lu

He also shared a quick overview of his daily routine, which starts at 6am and usually includes business meetings until 10pm. Sunny also commented on the importance of exercising and emphasized the support and understanding he receives from his family, something he really appreciates as he is often on the job and is unable to spend as much time with them as he would like to.

Ever wonder how a blockchain CEO blows off steam? Let’s ask @sunshinelu24!#vechain pic.twitter.com/tivkxXzzKp

— VeChain101 (@VeChain_101) June 21, 2020

Author’s Viewpoint: 

In my opinion the AMA was good way to better understand Sunny as person. He has the skills and knowledge to bridge business with technology but more importantly, he has the enthusiasm, humility and self-awareness of a good leader, making him someone people would enjoy working with. During the Humans of Blockchain series, Sarah and Dimitris expressed great admiration for Sunny and now I can see why. It was exciting to see Sunny as (if not more) energetic, diligent and passionate as someone that just discovered blockchain. And with his business savvy, positivity and determination, I have no doubt that Sunny will continue pushing VeChain to the next level and continue to change the world through blockchain mass adoption.

A full recording of the AMA can be found below.

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