Hi I am Ashish Vaja - @byzantinehash.

ABOUT ME   

Born in England and raised in the US since I was in elementary school. Currently, I live in Indiana with my wife, two beautiful children, labradoodle, husky, and turtles. When I was younger I used to play competitive chess a lot. My USCF rating was over 2200 or National Master. I do not really play anymore, but I try to apply much of what I learned in everyday life. When I am not with my family I am either doing insurance related work or information technology work. I have the following professional designations: Transportation Risk Specialist (TRS), Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC), Certified Blockchain Expert (CBE), Certified Bitcoin Expert (CBIE), and Certified Bitcoin Professional (CBP).    

My beautiful wife Amy

Not sure where these two came from

One of our dogs

MUSIC   

Losing myself in music is vital to my well-being, I wouldn’t be able to function without it. I listen to everything imaginable. From Haydn, to Earl Scruggs, to Dylan, to Pantera, to Oasis, to Miles Davis, to Green Day, to Dignen, to Eminem.    

IN DECENTRALIZATION WE TRUST   

I own two companies Mayflower Insurance and Rake Inc. Both companies are heavily focused on decentralization technologies, cryptocurrency, token network effects, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. (Neither has been released or announced yet)   

Unlike many people out there, I truly believe that cryptocurrency is powerful without blockchain. Cryptocurrency without blockchain has what it takes to disrupt almost every industry that exists. None of my work is meant to challenge fiat or replace banks. I do not think banks or fiat are going anywhere anytime soon. It is my belief that companies such as Facebook, Google, Experian, Insurance Companies have the most immediate danger of disruption.  As we learn to better understand token network effects and control them cryptocurrency will become just like email or websites. Everyone will have one. My ideas have been brewing since around 2010 and morphing into what they are today. When I first saw Bitcoin it interested me, but with a very different vision than what Bitcoin was meant to serve.   

I do like blockchain, but I don’t drink the blockchain Kool-Aid and do not think it’s the answer to all of our data problems. Blockchain in its current form is a specific type of database with advantages and disadvantages. It is also in its infancy and will likely transform into something more advanced and complex in ways people would think is science fiction today. There will be some posts in the next month expanding on my thoughts in this area and more specifics.     

                                                      MY BUSINESSES   

MAYFLOWER INSURANCE 

Mayflower Insurance was established in 2003 in Wisconsin, USA. Since that time our main offices have been moved to Greenwood, Indiana. We currently have offices in Greenwood, Indiana – Crown Point, Indiana – Mequon, Wisconsin – McAllen, Texas. It is licensed to do business in over 20 states. Having been licensed a few days after my 18th birthday as an insurance agent I gained a lot of important life experiences, but I also built up a lot of frustrations with the industry. Outside of blockchain and cryptocurrency there is a great deal of room for disruption through utilizing technology already available in other industries.  Mayflower Insurance is looking to leverage the power of token networks and artificial intelligence to decentralize manty aspects of the insurance industry. It is very important to Mayflower Insurance to make the consumer experience more equitable by further segmenting the way consumers are classified through the use better data collection. Mayflower’s cryptocurrencies will eventually record everything with the goal of protecting the consumer, protecting the insurance company, provide an immutable audit trail for regulators, and protect Mayflower Insurance as well. Mayflower Insurance will not have customers in the future, only members of our token network. Members of the token network do not have to buy anything from us to be a part of our vision.   #Insurance 

RAKE INC 

Rake, Inc. was established in 2017 in Nevada, USA. Currently it is in the middle of obtaining funding with minimal revenue coming from mining operations. The company has two areas which it will begin generating revenue with: 1) Mining Operations/Research & Development 2) Development of token networks, not limited only to the Rake Token. The primary focus of Rake is token networks and artificial intelligence. The vision for Rake is one of systematic innovation cycles as opposed to a single product or cryptocurrency. Rake is about taking back control of your data. The word Rake has many meanings, but the one that matters to me is the clarity and size of the rake, which large companies take from consumers every day. Data is gold today, big companies incentivize their customers to find them new customers, hand over their data for free, and also author/curate their networks for them. Within the next couple of months Rake will have its own SteemIT account with more details available.  

JUST SAY NO...TO ICO   

Neither company will have an ICO. They will both be launched as mineable coins and there will be no immediate rush to list on exchanges. At first they will utilize existing PoW algorithms which are ASIC resistant. Down the road mining will not be fixed to PoW or PoS, nor will the algorithm used be fixed. Eventually, a custom wallet and algorithm will be developed. Both of the companies are looking to not only expand in the US, but also expand into difficult markets in South America, Asia, and Africa.   

COMPANY PHILOSOPHY 

All companies should have a greater purpose and I believe our vision can help people in horrible conditions have a chance to not just survive but thrive in any environment. My belief is that righteousness will always be rewarded. That means any venture I am involved in should seek to help all of humanity not just those who have money and give your company immediate profits.    

MOVING FORWARD 

#steemit community is working proof of the potential of token networks to change every aspect of our life. Finally, finding a community that gets that there is more to cryptocurrency than just simply blockchain is amazing. I am hoping to not only be able to make announcements for my two companies on SteemIT, but also author educational content, ask for help/opinions on ideas, and learn from a diverse group of people.    

CONTACT 

If you need to reach me I can be found on https://steemit.chat or LinkedIN.