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BackLearn what CoinMetro’s CEO thinks about the global crisis, financial markets including crypto, CoinMetro’s status in the market, and much more in This Week in Crypto!
Crypto Market News Highlights
1) Kraken Announces Plans to Expand Indian Operations As Crypto Ban Lifts
This is probably on everybody’s radar, and definitely on ours too. There are lots of people in India. Still, not the easiest place in the world to do business. A specific strategy is needed. Kevin thinks it makes sense for Kraken and everybody else to move into India. The question is – how seamless they can make that move.
2) Europe’s New AML Rules Made Crypto More Attractive to Institutions, Says Boerse Stuttgart Exec
No, it doesn’t. At all. It makes it more accessible, but the only thing that made crypto attractive to institutional investors was non-correlation. This week, bye-bye.
3) Russia Seeks to Block ‘Darknet’ Technologies, Including Telegram’s Blockchain
“Seeks” is probably the most important word in that sentence. Good luck. Having said that, almost every single technology that provides “some form of privacy”, is already hacked. Stopping people from using a technology is often almost impossible.
Check out our Medium post to read more crypto market news!
Live Questions
What’s the update on marketing?
We had someone accept one of our marketing offers today, for Digital Marketing. We are still looking for Senior Content, and few other positions. We expected to push out the first marketing by end of March, but we will probably be two to three weeks behind schedule on that.
Check out CoinMetro’s open positions on LinkedIn and CoinMetro Careers!
What was completed this week in terms of dev, marketing, bizdev?
We have been sending out applications and documentation to a bunch of different Payment Service Providers, banks, liquidity providers, and bolstering a few things on that end. We have had some internal stuff where we had to put together a ton of documentation, which was a little bit brutal. The exchange frontend and backend code is being refactored. Head of Digital Marketing hired.
On the CSD side, we had some progress with issuers.
What is new regarding the self-assessment guidelines and bringing on GBP?
Kevin expects that within 40-60 days, we should be able to bring on the assets we want to, regardless if the bank has the guidelines in place or not. We are still working on GBP, as well as with additional providers. One of the top things on Kevin’s list personally, is to get different payment gateways and those things launched.
How about Virtual IBANs?
Still digging into that with LHV. We have a few other providers we are looking at as well. The timeline might be a bit extended.
What about UK Faster Payments?
This is part of the reason why we have been sending out so many applications this week. We are trying to make sure we can get that online as soon as possible. One of the Banking-as-a-Service providers we talked to over a year ago, is now ready to onboard us. That would mean Faster Payments as well. Can’t say much as to when.
When are the 28 currencies coming?
According to the provider that offered this to us, they expect to have EUR/GBP online within 4 weeks, and most of the other currencies within 4 weeks after that.
It’s a bit piecemeal and we may be coming out with many small updates over time, but it’s all in progress.
How is the sandbox and CSD progressing?
Progressing nicely. The Co-founder of Ignium (the official name of the CSD) had meetings with two different issuers. We also have a meeting next Tuesday as well.
Why has the Quant marketing push not started yet? You said it was close, months ago.
It was close. We had some discussions with Finance about issuing an invoice over to Quant, so they can supply us with extra QNT for marketing purposes. The actual amount was based on a EUR value, so maybe we are going to get more QNT. Maybe waiting wasn’t a bad thing. It’s in progress.
Buy or sell QNT for EUR on CoinMetro!
Do you see a lot of other crypto exchanges getting wiped out?
Kevin thinks a lot of businesses are going to get wiped out because they run into hard times, same as many of their clients will run into hard times. Spending patterns may change.
Not expecting a major impact on any vice, and trading is a vice. Coronavirus or not, many crypto exchanges are on their way to shut down, for a myriad of other reasons.
Do you think CoinMetro has done well in these volatile days? Any problems or bugs?
Minor bugs that we were able to find. In terms of being able to stay online and not having any issues, we have not had any problems.
How is the code refactoring of your backend going?
Good. Frontend is almost done, or already completed. Backend was started by our CTO, Salvatore. Not sure about the progress percentage wise, but it’s going well.
Where do you see CoinMetro at the end of this year?
Kevin doesn’t think the current crisis derails what CoinMetro is trying to do. We are in the trading industry, which usually weathers storms quite nicely. If people have to get to cash, they have to get to cash. Which means they are selling.
Any standouts for Q2 Roadmap?
The Q2 roadmap is not published yet. The new Go! Dashboard, streamlining the onboarding process. TraM needs some rework done on design, and tightening up the backend code.
On the operations side, we are looking at some of the limitations we have right now — increasing collateral and leverage.
On the marketing side, we will launch our first marketing process and start to bring on new clients. We are also going to be bringing on more banking and payment providers.
CoinMetro’s Q2 Roadmap will be posted on CoinMetro’s Medium page.
How are user numbers this week? Still getting new signups?
New signups are always coming in, but Kevin has no exact numbers available.
How long will it take for CoinMetro to be in the top 10 exchanges in Europe?
Just volume to get into the top 10 exchanges is not a direct goal. It is an indirect goal, because the company growing would get us there.
If Kevin had to make an educated guess, starting marketing now and moving towards the end of the year getting into self-sustainability and getting into profitability in 2021, Kevin would say end of 2021-2022 is a good time to look for that.
How bad is the whole Coronavirus/recession situation for CoinMetro?
In experience from having run FXPig, Kevin doesn’t care if people are buying or selling. As long as they are doing something. In terms of economical scares, trading is a vice for many people. One of the best industries to be in are vices, in times of crisis. Kevin doesn’t see any additional risk to CoinMetro’s business model, when you tack on global recession or global issues.
The main epicenter of this issue is going to be short lived. The effects won’t be that short lived. The major punch in the gut is happening now, and will most likely happen until the end of April/May, at which point we will see real changes in the virus, and we will start to see normalcy.
In terms of trading, Kevin doesn’t see it changing much. In fact, we see spikes in revenue rather than falters in revenue. It’s also a time for us to take advantage of fear. When fear hits the market, very agile players can move quicker.
With current developments, how much harder will it be to raise more capital this year, and do you have a contingency policy?
Everybody has contingency policies. It’s a rosy word for “I have something written down on paper, that I hope I never have to do”. The point is that we need to stay agile. We were agile for 14 months last year, maintaining a shoestring budget, and still produced products. There is no reason to say that we can’t do it again.
Kevin doesn’t think it becomes harder to raise money, it may even become easier. An argument could be that even though prices may be falling, we probably have more transactional volume happening in the market. Even central banks are focusing more on digital fiat, because of these types of fears.
Kevin doesn’t think this changes much. It stays the same, or it gets slightly easier, depending on who we are targeting to raise that capital.
Is it time to buy back?
The fundamentals are telling you right now that there is no reason to buy. Is it possible that Bitcoin pops to 10k tomorrow? Sure. If that happens, and you are the guy that didn’t buy, you shouldn’t be pissed. Because a trader’s job is to find opportunities that fit their risk tolerance. Not taking a trade is just as good as taking one, and sometimes it’s even better. You shouldn’t worry about missed opportunities, you should simply worry about not getting out when you are supposed to.
You have to pick your points, and mitigate risk. Maybe your price point doesn’t get touched. Oh well, there will be another one at another point. No big deal.
Not Financial Advice.
Reddit Questions
Now that India court has declared crypto legal for citizens to own, trade, and use, Kevin will you be taking a trip to start a sandbox there for CoinMetro? That’s like a billion people that just got the green light! – KSavage79
Kevin isn’t sure if we need a sandbox. We will definitely be looking to onboard more Indians. Having Rupees onboard makes sense, and is something that Kevin has already started looking at. CoinMetro is also looking for additional payment gateways and providers.
Is there any way to apply for a summer internship at CoinMetro? (Tallinn office) – Apollion
Sure! Send us a message at: jobs@coinmetro.com. As long as we are still here and not dead from the Coronavirus, the door will be open.
“Kevin Explains Crypto” Term: Liquidation
Not a term that came out of crypto, but can definitely be applied to the market. Especially this week.
Liquidation is essentially having your open trading positions closed, because you do not have enough money to support those orders. With industry terminology, we would say that you do not have enough margin, not enough money in your account to maintain the risk involved in holding the leveraged positions.
Interested in learning more? Have a look at the video where Kevin explains “liquidation”:
Listen to Last Week’s TWiC on the Go
Get the complete scoop by tuning in to our audio version of last week’s TWiC on SoundCloud. Happy listening!
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That’s a wrap for this week’s AMA with CoinMetro Founder Kevin Murcko! Please join us next week on CoinMetro’s Facebook and YouTube Channel at 1 PM (UTC) for another round and make sure you submit your questions to the CoinMetro subReddit!
As always, we’re available to answer any questions you may have on our Telegram Group 24/7.
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