XYO Network 101: Displacing GPS

In this episode of CRYPTO 101 podcast, Matthew sat down to have a chat with XYO Network co-founder, Scott Scheper.

Who is Scott Scheper?

From Orange County, California and lived there his entire life until he was 28 years old. He confesses he enjoyed a great upbringing before leaving for College at Chapman University, CA. The admission seemed like a “miracle” to Scott because he was a self-professed “disinterested ADHD kid”. However, in 2008 he graduated with a degree in finance which might just have been the worst time ever to graduate with such a degree. With no successful job prospects he dabbled with other entrepreneurs that went on to grow companies like Twitter and Uber.

Soon, another entrepreneur named Arie Trouw — who had a history of technological innovation, particularly in the aesthetics behind social media platforms— took a chance on Scott and the two of them founded the XYO Network 

Scott Scheper

“Compared to 2008 to where I am today, I am a different person. I think the passion and fire and drive is still there, it’s very much the same. But knowing the ‘how’ and the ‘how to build a movement’ … you can only read it in a book so often, but when you go through crazy and rocky waters, to actually live it is a totally different experience.”

LCL

Scotts has an acronym — ‘LCL’ —that helps guide his business choices.

• Learn
  • Educate yourself, be obsessed with growing and extending yourself. Scott’s first recommendations are writings by a man named Gary Halbert, In particular the Boron Letters. And a book called ‘Expert Secrets’ by Russell Bronson
• Create
  • This one is simple and is all about action, get out there and do something. Anything. Create the thing you wish somebody had already created.
• Laugh
  • Be sure to find the humour in the craziness that is part of being on the forefront of creative ventures. You will find yourself in unbelievable situations and on a path that you could not have predicted, sometimes it may feel overwhelming and like you are in over your head. Try see it through and have a laugh about the situation.

What is the XYO Network?

From 2012 Arie Trouw was busy running his own venture called ‘XY findables’ specialising in geolocation wearables and attachables.

“Since 2012, XY has been on a mission to decentralize the world’s location data. We have done this by creating a real-world network of Bluetooth and GPS/Cellular Beacons that interact every day in the real world. With the successful roll-out of our consumer business, XY Find It, we are now primed to introduce the most exciting breakthrough in geospatial history: The XY Oracle Network.”

Having stayed in contact with Arie, Scott realised that XY had huge potential and he could benefit them with his marketing expertise and entrepreneurial spirit and decided to offer his assistance in late 2017. Not only this, but Scott had recently came across Bitcoin and Ethereum and quickly realised the enormous potential for a financial and digital revolution. All of these ingredients went into the pot that brewed up what is now the XYO Network, which stands for XY Oracle Network,

“The XYO Network is the first crypto-location network built for the world of tomorrow. The XYO Network leverages the powerful location protocols developed by XY and combines them with the world of blockchain.”

Check out this video that explains the platform in about a minute. Scott’s involvement sparked a massively successful venture:

“It took us a little while but over the next two months I was laser focussed on cleaning up the ecommerce business. And then the exciting part started, we started mapping out how we could use this location technology and create an oracle network that smart contracts can collab [with]. It has set off one of the most amazing turnarounds — I think — in western capital history. We have gone from a negative 4 million dollar deficit to 22 million dollars of working capital in 10 months. We have gone from 7 people to today where we have 70 people. We run the company like a public company. We have an SEC reg A+ qualification.”

What problem does the XYO Network solve?

“We are trying to decentralise location.”

GPS location services can be spoofed because they are centralised services. THere are single points of failure than can be manipulated to trick the server into believing pinging devices aren't where they actually are. This is a big problem, not just for people playing Pokemon Go, but for the future of deliveries and automated transport like self driving cars. It can quickly become a matter of life and death.

XYO will aim to decentralise geolocation so that instead of relying on centrlaised points to determine X and Y coordinates, thousands of connected devices (like nodes on the Bitcoin Network) witness and verify locations in real time. Each of these nodes is populating the blockchain and their entries are being verified cryptographically by subsequent nodes.
 

“What Bitcoin did to the financial industry in 2009, we are doing [that] for location infrastructure. It’s really easy to spoof one satellite in the sky, it’s really hard to spoof thousands of encrypted devices with public and private keys”

Check out this video that explains the platform in about a minute.

Scott’s motto for life is: “Screw it, let’s do it!” and his advice for newcomers to the space is much the same. That, paired with the Learn, Create, Laugh mantra is what has guided him in the space and what he believes will prove helpful for others. If you prioritise learning before creating you are far more prepared for the moment when you eventually say “screw it let’s do it.” and if it doesn’t work out, there is always that last ‘L’ — laugh.

Finally, Scott has what he calls a ‘200 year bet’
 

“Cryptocurrency and blockchain revolves around a series of natural numbers, cryptography, applied logic and applied math. So, in 200 years, what do you think is going to be around if you have to bet your life on it? Bank of america, or math?”

He also recommends picking up our very own book, Johnny’s Guide to Cryptocurrency, so check that out!

XYO is an incredibly promising project in the space and well worth keeping an eye on. Check out the podcast if you haven't already and jump on the XYO website to learn more!
 

Written by: Glen Veitch - CRYPTO 101 Blog Writer