Name: Jason Colby
Age: 24
Currently residing in which country: Germany
Favorite pastimes: Reading, Video Games.
Years in the industry: 4
Profession/Job title: vDice Admin.
Bitcoin Gambling Guide: Hi, first of all, tell us and our readers a bit about yourself!
Jason Colby: I was on the original team that started Ethereum back in 2014. I was with the project from the Whitepaper until after the launch of the network, over 2 years later. It was a great and wild ride. I was with the project from 2014 to 2016, based at the development HQ in Berlin. I was already well familiar with Bitcoin. But it was my time at Ethereum that made me realise the true potential of blockchain.
BitcoinGG: How did your career start in the industry?
JC: I was working for an Ethereum founder, Anthony Di Orio. He is a great and inspiring entrepreneur and blockchain thinker. He invited me to join the Ethereum project. So I flew down to Miami to meet everyone at the first meet-up. Ethereum was my introduction to the industry.
BitcoinGG: What was the catalyst for you to starting vDice.io?
JC: There was a gap in the market. I and a few others saw that. Every blockchain needs a SatoshiDice style betting game. It’s an important piece of infrastructure for any public blockchain. Also, they are always hugely successful. After 2 years Ethereum still didn’t have one. So, we decided to fix that.
BitcoinGG: Can you tell us your thoughts on cryptocurrency as a technology?
JC: Cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology that makes it possible are as important as the internet itself. Taking a long view of history, nothing will so profoundly change the world as this technology. It is the next, natural evolution of the internet itself.
BitcoinGG: Tell us about your brand, what are the strong points and what differentiates you from the competition in Bitcoin dice games?
JC: We are the world’s 1st fully decentralised gambling platform. vDice.io does not itself have any server architecture. It is an entirely new paradigm. All the code and logic for the game live on the p2p network that is Ethereum. It is like sticking a game on a giant ‘world-computer’ that can never but shut down. The implications are profound. We are only at the beginning of that.
BitcoinGG: What hurdles have you needed to overcome to get your brand to where it is today?
JC: Mostly technological. Ethereum has so much promise. There is so much opportunity and possibility. But it is still very new. So it can be difficult to navigate and maintain sometimes. That’s to be expected when you are at the very cutting edge.
BitcoinGG: Where are you operating from? How big is your team?
JC: I oversee the Smart Contract side of things.
Each core member heads their own distributed team. As is the nature with these sorts of projects, we have contributors, collaborators and sub-contractors working remotely. They work for their own enterprises, or as freelance. For any given area they report to the specific head at vDice.
This structure helps us maintain control and get things done efficiently and effectively. A lot of distributed teams can be unproductive. By structuring our team this way we can make use of the best resources and people, wherever they may be. And also ensure efficient results.
It’s important here to distinguish between the software side and the gambling side. The main vDice game, the SatoshiDICE influenced Smart Contract, is fully decentralized. As the games are on the network, we don’t control them. They are bits of software loaded onto the network.
So most of the work is software development. So there is a separate entity for that. The best jurisdictions for open-source software development are all under consideration. For the “gambling” side, it depends how much control we exercise as other developers build the games. Malta is the most likely jurisdiction at the moment for its competitive benefits, including competitive licensing fees.
BitcoinGG: How do you see the future of ether and online gambling?
JC: We think it has a future that is very bright and big. There is no better tool for making decentralised applications. This is important for industries like gambling. It will lead to great disruption and huge change. We will be at the forefront of that.
Blockchain betting will only get ever faster and more efficient. Then you will see all the benefits of decentralisation, and none of the drawbacks.
BitcoinGG: What is your view on affiliates and how should the relationship be built?
JC: They are an important part of any platforms growth. The relationship should be built on sharing and generosity that rewards the most skilled and able.
BitcoinGG: If you could change one thing about ether and online gambling, what would it be?
JC: That it would fast forward 12-months so we could skip the very early growing pains of the technology and get to the real fun stuff. The dirty work is important. We do it every day. But we can’t wait to get to the real fun stuff.
BitcoinGG: What developments do you see happening in the future for ether and online gambling?
JC: The space is wide open at the moment. It’s very early days. The opportunity is too great. We are the first and the best. Mostly we just expect a lot more competition and games of various types to copy us and our model.
BitcoinGG: Describe your brand in 10 words or less?
JC: The world’s first fully decentralized gambling platform.
BitcoinGG: What is your opinion on Bitcoin Gambling Guide? Are you a fan?
JC: Bitcoin Gambling Guide is clearly the industry leading publication of its kind. We are huge fans and honoured to be associated with such a tremendous brand.
BitcoinGG: Thank you and all the best with vDice.io.