Manfred G von Nostitz for Council

Foundation Elections
#22

Re Dragonfly: Although I have already addressed this issue in response to questions , I understand there still is a continuing concern in some quarters about my association with Lon Wong’s Dragonfly company, since I have been listed as an adviser on the Dragonfly website.

Herewith the background: In March 2017 I was invited by the Universities of Calgary and York to help organize and take take part in a Southeast Asia Canada FinTech conference in Toronto. To represent the Asian side I was asked to provide the ASEAN speakers. Inter alia I selected Supachai Panitchpakdi a former Thai Deputy PM and former head of GATT and WTO as the lead speaker. I was also asked to speak on a panel about blockchain developments in Southeast Asia, using a local company as a reference point. This is how I came to represent Dragonfly at this conference where I only spoke about the NEM Foundation blockchain technology and the NEM Blockchain Centre (NBC) in Kuala Lumpur.

As you are all aware Canada is Ethereum country, and so I quickly discovered that the diverse Canadian academic, government, and business audience knew nothing whatsoever about NEM or the NEM Foundation. As a result of this conference I was able interest the Tapscott Father &; Son team in NEM, the Canadian blockchain gurus, known worldwide for their publications on blockchain technology and youtube presence. The conference also enabled me to introduce and set up appointments with the Tapscotts and NEM Executive Directors at a following Consensus Conference in New York.

As a result of this Toronto experience I figured that the best way for NEM to break the Ethereum stranglehold on Canada, was to link up in a partnership with the Tapscott Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) in Toronto, to create a platform for NEM to get known with Canadian academia, business and government. This I was eventually able to negotiate and secure NEM’s approval and signature.

This is the only time I ever used Dragonfly as an entry shingle — only for the promotion of NEM. I have had no involvement with Dragonfly since this March 2017 conference. I have never conducted any business on behalf of Dragonfly and have never been remunerated by this company. My attendance at this Toronto conference was wholly funded by the University of Calgary.

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#23

That Tapscott connection was a nice deal. Thank you for that.

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#24

Yes you beat me to the punch with Don :slight_smile:
A friend of mine was his classmate and made the introduction at Consensus as well.

By the time I had conversation with Don’s team, I heard that NEM regional had pursued it already. It was a shame I was not updated of that conversation, but was informed by Don’s international team (a month or so later), and not by my local leaders, an unfortunate oversight.

That being said, I did not hear back about what was structured with the Blockchain Research Institute (‘BRI’). From what I recalled from Don’s team was that through our membership we have access rights to all their research, yet I have yet to see those research utilizes, shared or deployed to local leaders (at least me) to help promote blockchain overall.

If we truly formalize our relationship with the BRI, lets take advantage of the vast knowledge, research, and community to grow the overall blockchain community with both NEM and Ethereum.

I hope you can lead that conversation Manfred (if it is an area of expertise for yourself) so we can truly leverage purchased resources / relationships and be an effective organization.

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#25

These are all good questions. I would add further:

What is the nature of our partnership with BRI? (We get access to their research like a regular corporate partner? Do we pay? What other products do we get? Is there exclusive research?)

What value has BRI brought to NEM? Have they looked into our projects as case studies? Are they promoting NEM as a solution especially to academia or in their regional base of Canada?

I think a partnership with someone of the likes of Tapscott is great but the details of it to me are unclear and I would like to know more.

#26

Dear okj,

While all your points are valid and relevant, your questions regrettably show that the NEM community at large has never been briefed about the value of the Foundation’s relationship with the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) in Toronto.

After I negotiated the Partnership Agreement, Stephen Chia took over the file, cutting me out. I never got a debriefing from Stephen about his meeting with Alex Tapscott which I had set up at Consensus - although Tapscott informed me directly. Thus from the NEM side I am currently not authorized to brief on the terms of the BRI agreement and would in any case be lacking since I was left in the dark about any follow-up that may have been taken by Stephen Chia.

Meanwhile in my opinion it made no sense that BRI should be managed out of Southeast Asia. Instead as eventually transpired, responsibility for this partnership should be allocated to the NEM Head of North America. In this regard my understanding is, that if Alexandra is elected, she will inter alia accord this partnership the commensurate attention it warrants and inform the community of the details .

If elected as Councilor I will be able to add some value to her efforts in Canada since I am not only a Torontonian with a network, but also with my government and business experience I know how to navigate the Canadian landscape.

#27

Dear Kimble,

Please see my Forum message to okj on the subject of the BRI I in conjunction with the following additional comments…

I had already finalized the NEM/BRI agreement in March 2017… Integral to the partnership, BRI had requested the appointment of an NEM Liaison Executive “to work with institute’s client relations”. I offered to do that job, but was turned down and instead informed that my services were no longer required. Instead Stephen Chia advised he would henceforth exclusively handle the file.

As far as I could tell however from Alex Tapscott, there was no substantive follow-up by Stephen Chia, increasingly preoccupied with the NEM election campaign. This is one reason I decided to run for Councillor because if elected I would be effectively positioned to help the new President transform the NEM/BRI agreement into a valuable and mutually supportive partnership.

Meanwhile, noting that you are representing Vietnam for the NEM Foundation, I think that Vietnam may eventually become the most important blockchain country in Southeast Asia, given the strong Confucian tradition relating to education, the absence of entrenched legacy systems and the extraordinary aptitude of the Vietnamese for new technologies.

In light of my long history with Vietnam , which includes two postings in the country, I have gained some understanding of the Vietnamese and retained a very special interest in the country. Thus if I were elected I would look forward to working closely with you in the future to help Vietnam develop its promising potential .

#28

I hope that after the NEM elections this NEM/BRI partnership can be ramped up for the promising benefit of the wider NEM community … With your sterling credentials you can play an important role in this regard. I will continue to facilitate any such efforts given my Toronto connections. While I have explained to the Tapscotts that a hiatus is understandable given the electoral campaign, they have still personally voiced their disappointment about the lack of substantive follow up by NEM to date after the Partnership Agreement was already agreed to last March

#29

I appreciate the vote of confidence but I don’t feel like I’m actually so good at negotiating or closing deals or partnerships. I get to be very blunt and honest, which is in part why the community likes me but not so great for sales. Hahahaha. At any rate, I’m sure we can find somebody capable to handle this.

#30

NEM stands out from rest of projects our foundation is built on people like you, Jeff, it doesn’t matter if our honesty will allow someone else to win in short term.