6 Questions for Lugui Tillier about Bitcoin and the future of crypto

Lugui Tillier is the Sales Manager at Lumx Studios, one of the top cryptocurrency companies in Rio de Janeiro, a city with a booming crypto industry.

But for Tilier, who has dual citizenship in Belgium and Brazil, cryptocurrency is more than just a job. It was a passion sparked by a friend that evolved into his first full-time crypto job at Lumx in 2021.

1) How did you get into crypto?

I am extremely lucky because the father of one of my closest friends founded the first cryptocurrency company in Brazil in 2016 – BLP Crypto. Before this, he always talked to me about cryptocurrency and blockchain, telling me that it was the future and that I should know more about it. So around 2019, I finally listened to him and started researching Bitcoin. I started working for Lumx in 2021.

2) Tell us about Lumx and what you do for them.

We are a blockchain abstraction solution for large enterprises. We help anyone who wants to integrate blockchain into their business, or companies who want to deploy projects or conduct experiments on blockchain. We provide services such as payment solutions and decentralized identity (DID) solutions.

Large companies can mostly only focus on their own applications rather than hiring blockchain engineers or learning blockchain technology and infrastructure, which is still complex. So we enable these large companies to work and test safely. I’m the Sales Manager at Lumx, so I’m responsible for building and maintaining relationships with blockchains and protocols.

3) Do you invest in cryptocurrencies yourself? What are you most interested in right now?

Luigi Tyrell — *Lugui Tillier of Savvy Brain Academy in Tanzania started donating to the school using Bitcoin in 2017. Source: Lugui Tillier*

I invested heavily in Tier 2. (I like Polygon, Arbitrum, and ZK solutions like ZK-Sync and Linea.) In the last cycle, we saw a lot of projects launched on Ethereum, which was unsustainable. We pay $50 (or more) per transaction. There were days when we had a gas war and people were paying almost 6 Ethereum per transaction.

I still don’t know if it was just a lack of knowledge about building things on layer 2 in new projects and companies. But people want exposure to Ethereum, so what should be happening at layer 2 is happening on Ethereum.

Liquidity is now flowing to Layer 2, so Layer 2 is better prepared for the next wave.

4) Where do you see Bitcoin and Ethereum in 10 years?

I think Bitcoin and Ethereum are the major consensus platforms in the world. This is strange because very few people think of Bitcoin as a platform right now. We have viewed Ethereum as a platform within which you can build other applications and layers around it. I see Bitcoin entering a new era due to the advancement of some protocols such as Taproot Assets and Ordinals.

Related: Bitcoin fragments may be more valuable than full Bitcoins

In addition to being a currency or store of value to pay for items, you can also store other currencies on it. Bitcoin is moving from an era as an asset to an era as a platform for storing and trading other assets.

5) What are the main barriers to mass adoption of blockchain technology?

Although we have made significant progress, blockchain still consists of complex infrastructure. This is complex not only for end users, but also for traditional companies that want to work with them. I often joke that it’s only when you try to teach your dad how to use MetaMask that you realize how complex it is – hence the importance of emerging abstraction solutions.

While these solutions may slightly compromise decentralization, they retain the programmability and automation of blockchain and significantly lower the barrier to entry. This is important because now we have a second option. People can remain 100% decentralized if they want, but for those who don’t, they can choose to adopt a “semi-decentralized” model, which is the missing link in mainstream adoption.

6) What do you do in your free time?

I really enjoy studying philosophy, especially Stoicism. Everyone who works or lives in this crypto world faces a lot of volatility and they are used to a lot of dopamine and incentives. I like things you can’t control, so I like the philosophy of stoicism. The mantra of Stoicism is to cultivate different things that you have no control over. When you master this, you can live peacefully in this crazy crypto world. So it’s one of my favorite subjects – not just in my personal life, but in my professional life.