Exploring Avalanche’s Future Strategy — An Interview with Roy Hirata

What's Avalanche

A layer-1 blockchain developed by the US blockchain company Ava Labs that enables high-speed, low-cost transactions. It also has excellent decentralization and has shown remarkable growth worldwide. It is currently focusing on expansion in Japan, and cases of adoption by large companies are increasing.

What made you decide to enter the Web 3.0 field?

Hirata Roy (hereinafter, Roy): I didn't originally want to enter this field. If anything, it would be better to say that I was forced to enter it. I was originally running a lifestyle brand and travel goods business, but the situation was not good due to the impact of the new coronavirus.

In that situation, my best friend from university told me, "Maybe you should buy Bitcoin." I had heard various stories about Bitcoin since around 2017, but personally, it seemed like a scam to me. However, my best friend from university said, "Why would you want to receive your salary in fiat (legal tender)?"

From my perspective, I couldn't understand why someone living in a developed country would have Bitcoin, even if they were in an emerging developing country with currency instability. However, I thought it would be strange to criticize without studying, so I started by buying Bitcoin.

What did you specifically study?

Roy: I mainly read the Bitcoin white paper. I never had any problem with reading English or technical papers, and I also had the idea of ​​using it as a kind of branding. I thought that maybe I might do business in the crypto field in the future, so I started a room called "Read Bitcoin Papers at Night" on Clubhouse, which was popular at the time.

I was surprised that 11 people gathered in the room I started even though I had no followers, even though it was the middle of the night. When I streamed the same content the next day, 17 people gathered. At that time, I felt that there was a need for this, and decided to do something with Web 3.0.

Roy, you are the Head of Japan of Ava Labs, but where did you first meet Avalanche?

Roy: At the time, I was studying various blockchains widely, and in the process, I read a white paper, which was the trigger. I read all the major blockchain white papers, and Avalanche's vision was written in detail and they had thought out innovation.

Also, when I moved my base of operations from Clubhouse to Twitter (now X) at that time, a post that mentioned Avalanche happened to be popular. This may be because there was no one posting information about Avalanche at the time. From there, the number of posts about Avalanche increased as a result of optimizing, and I established my image as "Roy of Avalanche". That can be said to be the origin of my current activities.

Is it because of that past that you were asked to become Head of Japan?

Roy: I didn't have any particular desire to become Head of Japan, but I did have a desire to work on a major project. In the midst of all of this, Avalanche fans asked me to start an unofficial Avalanche community in Japan in 2022.

Avalanche is certainly a good project, but there is little activity in Japan. I also recognize that Avalanche is one of the key positions in Web 3.0, and I thought that it would not be in the national interest if there was no presence in Japan.

I also thought that if I was going to be active, I had to set a goal, and I decided to aim for this unofficial community to be recognized by Ava Labs, the ecosystem, and the whole world. I thought to myself, "If all goes well, someone will reach out to me," but I was approached much sooner than I expected.

It was around that time that Ava Labs was talking about setting up a regional team. They were initially going to expand into Asia, including Korea and Japan, and one of the original members of Ava Labs asked me if I wanted to try being Head of Japan. He was a very hard worker and sometimes made unreasonable requests, but I saw this as an opportunity.

I felt that meeting expectations here was the key for someone without a track record. I was recognized there, and after going through the selection process, I ended up in my current position.