In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Konstantin Richter, CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon, gave some advice to crypto founders: embrace governance. The value of professional oversight is often overlooked in an industry that, at its core, is anti-establishment.
Konstatin’s perspective is driven by his interactions with major financial institutions like J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, who have been hesitant to enter the space for several reasons, including the tendency for projects to not set up traditional structures.
Crypto is overrun with scams, rugpulls, and other types of fraud. Earlier this year, Hailey Welch launched $HAWK, a meme coin based on the viral clip she was featured in. It collapsed within hours and millions of dollars were lost.
Outside of the thousands of memecoins that pop up every single day, several high profile failures of crypto businesses have tainted the industry’s image. Konstantin highlighted FTX, which collapsed in 2022 and had no board, “I still see a lot of that.”
At the beginning of April, Mantra’s OM token, an established and well known token, fell over 90% in a single day. Mantra does not have a traditional board either, instead relying on a governance token that grants holders voting rights.
“Young founders and people building open-source systems have an inherent suspicion of oversight—I totally understand that,” he explained. “But you’re missing out on real entrepreneurial benefits if you don’t have a professional board to hold you accountable and guide your thinking. It opens you up to dangerous behaviors.”
Implementing proper governance in crypto is not easy. The most obvious risk is that you alienate crypto purists who view oversight as central control. Smaller projects will also struggle to afford to afford professional boards, potentially increasing the gap between well funded and community projects.
Konstantin’s call to founders is clear: in order to be accepted by the masses, it needs to mature. If users are able to trust the businesses they interact with, this can spur growth and innovation, not hamper it.
