This week, The Index host Alex Kehaya speaks with Joseph Al-Chami, a Product Manager at Figment, one of the world's largest blockchain infrastructure providers and core developers for the Graph.
Joseph's career in blockchain and Web3 technologies started when he won a blockchain challenge at a FinTech competition while he was a mathematics student at the University of Montreal. Although this competition launched Joseph's career in blockchain technology, his interest in Web3 and Blockchain infrastructure began when he was the president of the University of Montreal's student-run coffee shop. Joseph asked his fellow students to volunteer their time working to keep operating costs low at the coffee shop. Joseph had to create incentive and slashing mechanisms for the volunteer workers to sustain this.
"…when you look at our experience there, it's exactly what we're doing in crypto; we're working on incentive mechanisms and slashing. We're creating something bigger than us, a big story. And this is what I took with me from school…."
This idea of community and building something for the greater good attracted Joseph to Figment and its products, which work to empower developers to grow Web3 ecosystems. Joseph notes, "Web3 is being built by missionaries, Wed2 by mercenaries." He holds this ideal close to his heart and seeks to do things differently from his Silicon Valley counterparts. In other words, make the world a better place for all and not just for the few.
Joseph believes that this standard starts with more development in Web3. One of the most significant projects at Figment is the development of Web3 infrastructure through community engagement. Figment offers "self-build" education to support developers transitioning from Web2 to Web3. Taking a page out of his university coffee shop playbook, Joseph has also introduced a token incentive system to attract more developers to the program and support the growth of Web3 ecosystems. This eventually turned into 'The Builder DAO,' a co-op project launched in partnership with The Graph, Pyth, Solana, and other community contributors.
"…we helped many builders move from Web2 to Web3 and a lot of builders to learn how to build using the Web3 stack. And now, we turned our Learn product into a DAO, which is called Builder DAO. And today, it's helping thousands and thousands of builders create materials and learning and onboarding others into the Web3 ecosystem."
Figment is one of five core development teams working with The Graph, a decentralized indexing protocol for querying networks like Ethereum and IPFS. Figment's development team is currently focused on integrating the current technology of The Graph to different chains, such as The Cosmos Hub. Figment also utilizes the Graph to leverage Blockchain data to support DataHub better, another Figment project that aims to provide developers with Web3 protocols.
Listen to Alex Kehaya's full interview with Joseph Al-Chami to learn more about Figment and their efforts to expand Web3 ecosystems. The podcast is available for download via Apple, Spotify, and other major streaming platforms.
Please follow us on Twitter to stay updated on the latest Web3 and technology news.
