The role of data in making informed decisions in businesses can’t be overemphasized enough. At the core of every business lies the need to make decisions that could bring about transformation.
With well-sourced data, businesses can determine how to jump on trends that lead to big changes. Beyond companies and firms, individuals also need to make informed decisions before taking certain investment steps.
In as much as insights from well-sourced data can be effective, there is a need to make it relatable and understandable to all. Reni a blockchain research company is providing insights for individuals and organizations to make smarter financial decisions.
To give more on this, Blockbuild had a chat with Ore Afolayan, a Blockchain Research Analyst and Founder of Reni who took us through how Reni is deploying the power of data to enable better financial decisions.
Background
Ore is a man of different interests and different skills, he is popularly known for digital marketing and marketing strategies for brands.
He is also skilled in data analytics and website development. In all these skillsets, Ore has stood his ground in developing a niche in digital marketing, thus his recognition and visibility in that space.
Relaying his blockchain/cryptocurrency journey, Ore stated how he and an acquaintance during his MSc days in the University of Ibadan got acquainted with a cryptocurrency called TBC in 2016.
Going further, both of them decided to explore the coin with the notion of generating passive income and basically having improved lives through it.
According to Ore, they both had to open Luno account to kickoff their trade in cryptocurrency – an advice someone gave to them – however after some back and forth with trust and uncertainty, coupled with the stagnancy of the TBC, they both sold it off with nothing significant to hold as their gain.
This experience led him to move on while forgetting about cryptocurrency, however in 2021, there was the explosion of NFTs, and prior to that Ore had planned to diversify his investment portfolio.
According to Ore, during this explosion, especially when Bitcoin rose to $68k, people were making money, making returns, buying all-time highs, but at the same time, there was a significant number of people also losing money.
Following all these, Ore began to develop an interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, as the need to inform people on how to avoid pitfalls.
Ore started to explore how data and insights can help crypto users and other use case blockchains such as NFTs in making informed decisions.
“So now, there is a need for us to visit the drawing board because we understood that we couldn’t build another Binance, FTX or major crypto exchanges, people are doing this already. So how do we protect them? Then now comes the need for us to provide relevant data. We do our own research, we aggregate data and pull data from other data sources then make it available for people to understand.”
Explaining further, Ore said, Reni would be exploring the idea of making data and insight available in local indigenous languages. He emphasized that Reni isn’t a crypto signal platform but a data aggregating platform to keep users updated in making informed decisions.
Milestones
Reni started out as an educative blockchain and cryptocurrency platform in October 2021 as it sets to onboard more subscribers and also increases its Telegram community for more access to insights.
As much as Reni is poised to increase its subscribers, it isn’t relenting in its primary activity. Reni’s research team is continuously working to aggregate data that would give insights on understanding the adoption of cryptocurrency among people in southwest Nigeria and moving forward to other parts of the country.
According to Ore, these insights can be used by major stakeholders in the space to derive insights. Ore also mentioned that Reni started a writing contest that enables people to have access to more research, white paper, and surveys.
“We are welcoming members of the public, it’s a writing contest, on essays, documents, information in that space, well research, non-plagiarized that are very well informed. We are trying to make it available to people so that people can actually see what they need to make informed decisions.
So it’s not about joining our team, there are people with different experiences, people who have unique stories, so they come to share it such that someone in the outskirts of the city can understand and relate to that narrative.”
However, as explained by Ore, the information provided will come with an attached cost.
“We are trying to make sure that, people are providing data and they are renumerated for their writing prowess, for the right improvements for the depth of the research for whatever variables they are bringing to the table”
According to Ore, one of the things Reni is doing is trying to make sure users have informed and well-researched insights available for people to experiment and make their investment step.
However, by the end of this year’s second quarter, Reni hopes to have impacted a significant number of people with its insights thus leading them to make the right investment decisions.
Data insights and cryptocurrency
Ore explained that oftentimes, when people invest in cryptocurrency, they are actually jumping on the wave of the moment and they can be successful at it, but at the same time there is a need to be strategic with investment decisions.
Giving an illustration, Ore stated that when bitcoin is experiencing a drop, users don’t need to panic, because Bitcoin has so many holders and according to Ore, Reni has understood the trends through research to learn that there are millions of people holding unto bitcoin and it doesn’t mean that the holders are trying to exploit the system, after all, it is a decentralized system.
Further explaining Ore said that understanding data in terms of the number of people holding bitcoin at different times of the year, will help them to avoid panic buying and rash investment.
With further illustration, Ore explained that if people had understood that 80% of the Squid coin was held by the developers, they wouldn’t have probably invested to have avoided losing their money.
“Cryptocurrency is all about demand and supply, and if these set of people (developers) have sold theirs, there is a tendency that you will lose your money in the long run”.
With data, you understand that the developers of some of these cryptocurrencies are holding a significant part of the projects, and once these projects are dropped, the money you invest in them is gone.
You don’t have the luxury to hold unto these coins for long, because its holding isn’t equally distributed across board, just a few persons holding the largest percentage, thus there is a need to apply caution to whatever trading, so that is the way we are trying to put data into perspective.
“At Reni, we do not tell you how to trade but provide you insights in making informed decisions, when there is a significant drop, a need to sell or hold on, a need to diversify your portfolio. so that’s how we are coming in to provide data and insights for people to make informed decisions.”
Democratizing blockchain and crypto education
Ore explained that the curriculum still in use wasn’t flexible, even though that is what has been adopted for a long time.
” There is the decentralized finance, making money from NFT, holding unto your USDT wallet due to the Naira fluctuations, or buying a cryptocurrency that has the tendency to do well, if these are the things happening around us, why not make people get informed about it from the early stage?
El-Salvador now uses bitcoin as a legal tender and there is a high tendency that more countries will come to this adoption. There are many institutions and corporations accepting cryptocurrency as means of payment.”
According to Ore, there’s a need to understand that the world is changing, and a necessity to build from it by letting people get aware that cryptocurrency might take over in the long run.
“There’s a need for us to be informed by providing information and education doesn’t mean just buying coins, it’s about evolving technologies.
As an employer, finance corporation, government authorities, there is a need to make this information readily available so that they can now use this newly acquired knowledge”
Blockchain technology might likely be the future, so why not keep people informed?”
Reni in the future
Looking at where Reni hopes to be in the nearest future in terms of providing people with data to make informed decisions, Ore explained that beyond sourcing for data, Reni is aggregating it in one place.
Through this, the platform is looking at how users cab gets incentives probably in form of tokens to use the aggregated data.
“We want to make sure that this data is well understood and that is why we are introducing local languages because our focus is basically Africa as at the moment.
We would be deploying visualization tools, but not everybody understands the English Language. Thus the onus lies on us to make this data available in local languages across the African continent.”
According to Ore, Reni doesn’t want people to lose money, thus the platform is making it possible for people in local communities to understand how to deploy data in making informed decisions.
“Now, we are looking at more partnerships, so that we can have maybe an influencer in the community who have an understanding of cryptocurrency and can translate the provided data into what people in the community can relate with seamlessly.”
We are making these data not just available but understandable and relatable to the uninformed so that People don’t lose money in the process of wanting to make more money, that is the problem we are solving”
Our target is trying to penetrate other parts of Africa so we’re looking at strategic collaborations.
“Reni is providing data to the right set of people using shared value as our platform would be building solutions that can be integrated to partners’ website to reach more communities across the African continent.”, Ore concluded.
Featured Image: Ore Afolayan, Founder, Reni
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