[Zooming into NamuLabs] CINO Eric Kim

Global Web 3 transformation company NamuLabs! It has been attracting many eyes with successful projects and continued being in the black for 3 years.

Today, we are going to meet Eric Kim, the CINO of NamuLabs.

Q. Please introduce yourself

I’m Eric Kim, a 12-year developer and Chief Innovation Officer at NamuLabs. Before I started as a developer, I was a White Hacker, which I used to do out of a sense of curiosity. From then on, I had a strong desire to learn more about emerging technologies.

I started developing emerging technologies in earnest in 2018 when I joined an AI development company, where I developed a service that combines blockchain and AI. Although the convergence of these two technologies has only recently been recognized by society, I think that being able to explore them earlier and think about their convergence has helped me a lot.

• Alice’s comments

CINO Eric Kim has appeared as a technology expert panelist on many Korean broadcasts, including SBS, MBC, and JTBC! I think it’s because he had a brilliant development history before he started working on emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain, winning the Minister of Information and Communication Award at a programming competition.

CINO Eric Kim presenting at 2023 Global Tokenomics Forum

Q. Account Abstraction(AA) is one of the areas that CINO Kim has focused on. Ethereum’s ERC-4337 proposal (to use a wallet in the form of a smart contract to improve Ethereum’s UX) was only released last year, but you’ve been working on it since 2018?

Yes, at that time, I had created an implementation that applied Account Abstraction in practice, not theory, and installed it in over 100 businesses. I also presented it at Blockchain Seoul 2018, and it received attention at the time because it made blockchain technology more accessible to users and installed the service in businesses without any fees, but the unfortunate thing is that blockchain technology was more of an ‘investment’ than a ‘technology value’ at that time. I felt that no matter how groundbreaking the technology is, if it doesn’t attract attention, it’s difficult to progress further.

However, seeing that Account Abstraction, which I researched from that time, is now emerging as a focal point for global blockchain development, and NamuLabs is starting to verify its technology with Account Abstraction at the National IT Industry Promotion Agency(NIPA) in 2023, I think it’s really time for this technology to shine.

• Alice’s comment

Account Abstraction: It’s the integration of Ethereum’s previously separate “Externally Owned Accounts” and “Contract Accounts” into a single “Smart Contract Wallet.” It simplifies the process of using traditional accounts, making it intuitive and convenient.

He was obsessed with Account Abstraction at the time, and thought the idea would surely take off in due time, but interestingly enough, he didn’t think it would be Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin!

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=> Want to know more about account abstraction? Click here.

Eric Kim, who is having an interview with MBC, a Korean broadcaster

Q. You had a solid career as a developer, how did you decide to start NamuLabs?

The more I developed, the more concrete proposals I came up with to build the future society with emerging technologies. However, I saw many cases where no matter how good the ideas were, it was difficult to realize them without a good partner. When I met Todd Heo, the founder of CoinNess (now CEO of NamuLabs), we shared the same attitude of drawing a vision for the future based on technology, so it was natural for me to found NamuLabs.

• Alice’s comment

At the time, CINO Eric Kim had joined the Noder Foundation, a research group of 20 people. It was an opportunity to naturally think a lot about how to create new social value by using the newly developed technology, and CEO Todd Heo was running the web3 investment information platform Coinis at the time, so he was able to share similar determination!

Eric Kim giving a speech on Account Abstraction

Q. CINO’s Eric Kim is not just a developer who is good at development, but an inventor who is good at ‘innovative’ thinking. How do you come up with innovative ideas?

When I was thinking about Account Abstraction in 2018, I think I was really crazy about the technology. How to innovate further and how to realize this theory was one of the most important challenges in my life. I was also immersed in cryptography because I thought it would help me. To some extent, people have a lot of ideas right before they go to sleep, right? I think I used to hold a can in my hand before I fell asleep because I wanted to be more creative, and when I dozed off, I would wake up and write down my ideas and try to realize them.

Q. The difference between NamuLabs and other developers is the Innovation Strategy Department. What does the department do?

The Innovation Strategy Department is the antenna of NamuLabs.

First of all, I would like to define innovation. I believe that innovation is achieved by being able to detect the necessary signals in a sea of information more sensitively than others, implement them well, and convince others. To this end, NamuLabs Innovation Strategy Department is responsible for capturing all technology and business signals that are happening at the forefront of the industry. We research technologies and trends, meet with trendy people who are making them happen, study where the market wants them, and start developing them.

I also believe that no matter how creative an idea is, it cannot become an ‘innovation’ in our society if the market does not see the potential for growth. So when I thought about what are the foundations for an emerging technology to become an innovation, I think that when 1) technology 2) public perception 3) regulations are in place, it is when these three things are in place that we can see the development of inventions that are like innovations. In 2018, I decided to create an innovation with account abstraction because the technology was discovered, the public gradually thought about Web3 Mass Adoption, and the discussion about regulations for the market began. If I saw the ‘possibility’ of innovation at that time and was immersed in it, I think it’s time for the ‘realization’ of that innovation, and I’m very excited about what NamuLabs will develop in the future.

Q. What are your personal goals for this year?

I think this will be the year that NamuLabs launches its own service. Until now, we’ve been asked why we don’t launch our own service even though we have the technology ability, and I think it’s because of our decision. Just like Elon Musk’s Space X, we’ve entered the business of making other spacecraft efficient and cheap to fulfill the goal of going to Mars, and we’re doing it with high efficiency. We’re paving the way by creating our own conveyor system and advancing our technology so that many projects can succeed.

In fact, I had previously prepared an AI go game business with CEO Heo and received many investment proposals, but I thought that now is the time to do many challenges that can be done with emerging technologies, such as the convergence of blockchain and AI, rather than this service, so I boldly changed the direction of the business again. I think this year will be a year of new challenges as we gradually launch our services one by one!

The story of the people who make NamuLabs will continue in the future, so please stay tuned!