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Ecosystem
October 23, 2020
Meet the Team: Kim Cope on Bringing the Mainstream to Blockchain
Guest
Meet the Team: Kim Cope on Bringing the Mainstream to Blockchain

Who are you?

Hey, I’m Kim, one of the founding members of CryptoKitties and leading Dapper, one of the most used smart contract wallets. I currently lead a team of amazing product managers, engineers, designers, – all working to bring the first billion people to the blockchain through Dapper, the trusted gateway to your digital goods.

Prior to joining Axiom Zen, Dapper Labs’ parent company, I was an analyst in the financial space where I worked on various cash management solutions for Fortune 500 clients. I then moved on to a product role with a fintech startup and ultimately decided to launch my own product - Startup Skool, an international edtech company focused on educating youth on entrepreneurship, design thinking, and technology. Jumping around in different industries helped me find my true home at Axiom Zen where I was able to work on numerous technologies before ultimately finding our passion for blockchain. 

What lured you into the world of blockchain?

Within Axiom Zen we were always exploring new technologies from machine learning to artificial intelligence and virtual reality so blockchain was obviously on our list. What was actually my first experience with it was through my father who apart from his day job working for the Investment Regulators of Canada (think FINRA but for Canada) actually helped bring some of the first bitcoin ATM’s to Canada. He first heard about it through work and with me working in the finance space at the time it was always a fun conversation but it wasn’t actually until I joined Axiom Zen that I really started working with the technology. 

What is most exciting for you about the product you are working on? 

I’m really passionate about bringing mainstream users into the blockchain space because there are so many problems this technology can help us solve. The issue is that people need to experience the benefits of it for themselves but what’s stopping them is the difficulty and unnecessary complexities that are presented to them when they get started. With Dapper, we’ve learned a lot from our mistakes and the mistakes itself of Ethereum and we’re working hard to take care of those complexities behind the scenes in order to present a familiar, safe, and trusted platform for users. Hearing from new users about how much we’re simplifying this space is the best motivation. 

What should I read next?

Inspired - Marty Cagan

The five dysfunctions of a team - Patrick Lencioni

Hooked - Nir Eyal 

What’s your most used emoji? 

see-no-evil. I tend to embarrass myself, my team is way cooler than I am so I don’t always get their pop-references haha so this is a great emoji to admit when I made a mistake or am not following.