Zima Red ep 127: Tim Schuermer - Gallop: The Ultimate Tool for NFT Data
Primer: There is a lot of work to extract and process NFT data at scale. In this episode of the Zima Red podcast, host Andrew Steinwold introduces us to Tim Schuermer. Tim is behind Gallop, a platform that provides API-driven NFT tools for consumers.
Background
Began his career in Bloomberg
Moved to On Deck
Spent 10+ years there doing business development and partnerships
Learning About Web3
Was a natural evolution from TradFi to FinTech and then to crypto
Was an early follower of Coinbase
Held cryptocurrencies in 2014
Believed in the underlying tech and principles of Web3
From his experience in TradFi and FinTech, he saw that the incumbents influence the innovation rate within the space
From a philosophical standpoint, Web3 does not have such challenges
TradFi & FinTech VS Blockchain
TradFi and FinTech are beholden to a set of institutions that dictates what products or experiences consumers can get access to
Gallop
His other 2 co-founders are technical and academic
Thought about how their backgrounds could be applied to the space
Are all excited about the Ethereum ERC-721 and 1155 standards
These standards are non-fungible in nature, but there are certain aspects of fungibility around those contracts
Started Gallop, which provides rich data infrastructure for Web3 assets
Why Is Gallop Needed?
Are building a set of composable data analytics and insights APIs that enable devs to rapidly launch NFTs, products, services, and experiences
There are products like block explorers
However, block explorers are not able to let you interact with data at scale (e.g. 1000s or 100,000s of NFTs)
Their service is cost-effective and will be able to listen to multiple blockchains
Solving 2 problems:
Normalizing the data is a cumbersome process
As data liquidity around NFTs increase, managing the data at scale becomes more challenging
As NFTs grow and become their own asset class, you need to start thinking about their financial behaviours, how they are collateralized, how their value is to be appraised, etc.
What Does He Mean By Interacting With The Data Could Be Difficult?
As a dev, you might want to build an explicit node, an RPC API node directly, or use other alternatives
They want to be that alternative in the NFT space, with low latency, high uptime, and production support
What Does It Mean To Demand Data At Scale?
If you are looking at a single instance of something, you can use a block explorer
However, if you want something at scale/full historical context, this is not available
For example, a lending protocol would want a way to query that data within milliseconds and accurately
Their Products
💡 Gallop has 3 products: (1) Aggregation, (2) Analytics, and (3) Insights. We have covered Aggregation above. What are their Analytics and Insights product lines about?
The Analytics product is for users to understand the liquidity around certain types of NFTs at the collection, token, and trait level
The Insights APIs are used to inform how digital assets should be priced on lending platforms. It’s more proprietary and novel in nature
The Insights product is custom fitted to the customer’s needs
Behavioural Insights From The Best Traders
Wash trading is fairly common
Have to differentiate transactions that are economical vs non-economical
They are building models that can identify certain trends at scale
People are interested in identifying wash trading/fraud from a transactional standpoint
Their Moat
They have technical products that work well and accurately
Building their API products towards where their customers want them to be
Ways For Gallop To Expand
To be a bridge for people building in Web2 and Web3
Which NFT Subsector Does He Find The Most Appealing?
From a personal standpoint, he enjoys the social utility aspect of NFTs
Likes how NFTs could be used to catalyze other behaviours (e.g. Stepn and exercising)
Working with customers and partners in the financial utility space for NFTs
Expansion Of NFTs With Financial Use Cases In The Future
NFTs providing provenance over non-digital assets (e.g. real estate, automobiles, etc.)
Unlocking financial utility around NFTs from a governance and provenance standpoint (e.g. if you are a FinTech lender, how do you manage the governance and voting rights around that debt and how is it deployed?)
Could streamline the process by representing them as NFTs to reduce transaction costs and unlock liquidity
Advice For People Building In Web3
Focus on what you can control and make sure that you are providing value to your customers
Don’t get distracted by what’s happening around you
Most Controversial Thought
There’s lots of opportunities to build value within the space
If He Was Not Allowed To Work On Gallop
Building a cabin in the woods of Northern Idaho
If He Could Improve One Thing In The Space
No more whitepapers and litepapers
Projects should be able to communicate succinctly in a handful of sentences
Who Is Someone He Look Up To And Why
Noah Breslow, his former leader and CEO at On Deck
He navigated a business that faced an enormous set of challenges
He is respectful, professional, and had high emotional intelligence
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