Aniket is the co-founder and COO of Biconomy, a plug-and-play API platform, that simplifies blockchain transactions, with lowered transaction prices. He is a seasoned professional with diversified work experience in marketing, investments, and operations. Known for his versatility and flexibility, Aniket is currently leading operations at Biconomy. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with the COO of Bioconomy to have a glimpse into how a universalized blockchain system can include billions of crypto users into the ecosystem.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

From a technical lens, we're a multi-chain relayer network that helps decentralized applications (dApps) reduce costs by simplifying meta-transactions and the onboarding of users. We lower the barriers to Web3 by making it easier and more affordable to interact with dApps. From an aerial view, Biconomy is a Web3 technology company that simplifies transactions for dApps interacting between blockchain ecosystems.

2. With what mission and objectives, the company was set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the inception of the company.

We want to help onboard the next billion users into Web3. These include developers looking to optimize building infrastructure, Web2 institutions discovering blockchain technology, and cryptocurrency or NFT users who want a more seamless, intuitive experience interacting with blockchains. Our origin story — We started running validator nodes in 2018 for a major blockchain to participate in consensus and asked ourselves, "Now that there's security, how do we scale up adoption?"

We spoke to dApp developers who were building infrastructure and said, "How about we take a load of UX issues from you? You save on engineering resources and gas costs with an easy-to-use API." Biconomy was born, with Gasless as a core product.

3. Kindly mention some of the major challenges the company has faced till now.

Web3 and blockchain technology are very much evolving. Development trends, scaling challenges, and developer mindsets shift quickly to seek solutions. What works now may not work in 12 months. Over the last 3 years, we're fortunate to have a really solid team solve some real and practical challenges for the 100+ dApps who've integrated our products such as Gasless and Hyphen. Gas fees can skyrocket and prevent dApps from growing their stack and users, and cross-chain complexities can make it very hard for users to transact between chains.

The key pain points will be integrating education of evolving technology, enhancing the user experiences — for both dApps developers and their customers — and moving alongside the most scalable solutions as the Biconomy team learns and grows with the nascent industry.

4. Please brief us about the products/services/solutions you provide to your customers and how they get value out of it.

We have two main products — Gasless and Hyphen. Gasless helps dApps and their users reduce gas fees while interacting between blockchains and digital asset platforms such as NFT marketplaces.

Hyphen helps users interact across chains from within dApps — imagine being in a blockchain game and transferring or buying assets without leaving the gaming experience. We reduce the complexities of bridging, token swaps, and security for users.

5. What does your technology and business roadmap look like for the rest of the year?

Our technology will continue to serve our core audience, which are the builders of the future. These are founders, dApp developers, and blockchain protocols that are seeking better UX. We'll continue to refine our products to allow faster and cheaper transactions but also work closely with our customers to solve integration challenges.

6. How have you seen the evolution of the industry? As you said that you have been here from the beginning, how has the growth been?

We'll speak to the blockchain market size, which is estimated to rise globally at a CAGR of 56.3% between 2022 and 2029 (Fortune Business Insights). Growth drivers include open-source technology and the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies as an alternative asset class that's getting more popular over time.

7. What role has Web3 played in the innovations of new technologies?

Web1 gave people the ability to read content online. Web2 lets people read and create content — birthing the creator economy. Thanks to the immutable nature of blockchain transitions, Web3 is shaping out to be the 3rd version of the Internet that allows people to read, produce, and own their digital assets without the need for intermediaries.
As more institutional capital is poured into the space, we are seeing Web2-to-Web3 business remodeling, increased consciousness by the masses to asset autonomy, and the growing potential of creating and preserving value on the blockchains.

8. Do you also feel that the right kind of talent is a challenge in the industry?

The way we live, play and work has changed, so we see Web3 talents as optimistic builders who are willing to embrace change and ambiguity. They do not draw hard lines but are willing to learn and adapt to fast changes. Everyone wants to hire top talent, but we think retaining them and growing with them sustainably is the real challenge. We're lucky to have assembled a crazy-talented team of builders who just want to build an awesome vision together.