My time with BigchainDB GmbH (formerly named ascribe GmbH) is coming to an end. Last week was my last week in the office, and my employment contract officially ends in July.

In September, I will return to Canada to start a new business. I’ll write more about that in future posts, but for now, I’d like to make it clear that I think BigchainDB GmbH is a good company, with lots of smart, interesting and talented employees. I have enjoyed working with them.

Last October, the BigchainDB executive team decided to focus on one project: Ocean Protocol. After that decision, I helped transition some other projects. I wound down ascribe.io, and I helped move BigchainDB-the-software under the umbrella of the IPDB Foundation. I also helped create docs.oceanprotocol.com, the starting point for a lot of Ocean Protocol documentation. (I also did other things, especially tasks in the grey area between technical and non-technical.) Most of that is now done. The docs will have to be updated, of course, but others can do that.

I’ve been thinking about starting a new business for a while, and now seemed like a good time.

I’d like to make it clear that I like the BigchainDB-Ocean team, and I hope Ocean Protocol fulfills its vision. Anyone who has to make decisions could benefit from having more data, from city planners to orchid biologists to almond distributors. Some of them will use AI and some won’t. I think Ocean’s current emphasis on AI is just them focusing on a initial vertical. I believe the potential is way bigger.