Tomaž Levak is the Co-founder and CEO of Trace Labs – OriginTrail core developers. OriginTrail is a web3 infrastructure project combining a decentralized knowledge graph (DKG) and blockchain technologies to create a neutral, inclusive ecosystem. ^[1][2]

Education

Tomaž Levak attended the University of Ljubljana for a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from 2007 to 2012. From 2012 to 2014, he attended the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences for a Master's degree in Human Resources Management. ^[1]

Career

Tomaž Levak started his career as a marketing advisor at KZ Šaleška dolina in July 2011 working for the brand EKODAR - Slovenian organic meat. He was the Co-author of the innovative system for traceability of organic meat under this brand (together with Žiga Drev). ^[1]

In 2013, Tomaž Levak joined the Kuwait Shooting Federation as an Advisor to the Organising Committee. He was an Advisor to the Management of the Organising Committee during two international competitions: H. H. The Amir of Kuwait Second International Shooting Grand Prix and 1st FITASC Grand Prix in Asia (Compak Sporting and Sporting). ^[1]

OriginTrail

In September 2013, Tomaž Levak founded Trace Labs^[3], the core developers of OriginTrail, and serves as the Managing Director. ^[4]

OriginTrail, founded by Tomaž Levak, Žiga Drev, and Branimir Rakić, is a Decentralized Knowledge Graph that organizes humanity’s important assets making them discoverable, verifiable, and valuable. It connects the physical world (art, healthcare, fashion, education, supply chains, etc.) and the digital world (blockchain, smart contracts, Metaverse & NFTs, DeFi, etc.) in a single connected reality. ^[3][4]

"OriginTrail is enabling frictionless international trade. That means over 40% of US imports are today utilizing OriginTrails infrastructure to exchange security audit report data on over 22,000 factories overseas, so we have credentials that are being exchanged utilizing this technology." - Tomaž Levak on the use case of OriginTrail^[7]

OriginTrail has its own native token known as Trace (TRAC). TRAC is an ERC-20 token created on the Ethereum blockchain. It can be used as a payment method for data exchange services on the OriginTrail network and also to incentivize stakeholders to carry out actions that deliver value for the ecosystem as a whole. There is a maximum supply of 500 million TRAC tokens. Plus, all TRAC tokens in circulation were pre-mined during the initial coin offering (ICO) in January 2018. ^[5]

"With performing a token generating event (TGE) this January, we have issued a token called Trace which is used as a “fuel” in the upcoming OriginTrail Decentralised Network. That means that users of OriginTrail protocol will use Trace for any interaction with the protocol to compensate the nodes in the network for their storage and processing power. Since OriginTrail is an open-source, neutral protocol, Trace is a way to manage relations between users and nodes in the network in a decentralized way." -
Tomaž Levak on TRAC's ICO ^[8]

OriginTrail Parachain also introduces a native OriginTrail Parachain token (OTP token) which is a utility asset that is not only used for blockchain gas fees and inclusive governance but also enables a way to incentivize the growth of DKG (decentralized knowledge graph) usage. ^[6]

"OriginTrail protocol is – in a nutshell – a solution for trusted and efficient data exchange between organizations, with the blockchain providing an additional layer for data integrity and traceability. As such, OriginTrail can be used in any product supply chain.

Once the data is on our network, it can be harnessed for different shipping-related purposes. We have created four larger groups of use cases that are going being proposed and they fall within: Supply Chain Integrity (authenticity, brand protection), Supply Chain Management, Compliance/Certification, and Trade Finance." - Tomaž Levak explained in an interview^[8]

When asked what steps blockchain-based service providers need to take to go mainstream, Tomaž Levak responded:

"If service providers wish to create mainstream applications, they need to start with small tangible steps creating value but have a vision on how to replicate that value at scale. At the same time, they should not look to entirely replace legacy systems."