CoinMetro 14th December 2018 AMA Notes
AmaZix Team
VIDEO ARCHIVE OF THE AMA (YOUTUBE)
IN THE NEWS
#1. The EU Backs State-Owned Blockchain
- Sovereign identity on the blockchain is a great use case. It’s quite difficult to achieve at the moment, but it’s only a matter of time before some government gets on it.
- Estonia has some inroads in this area.
- More regulation is necessary before we see it fully implemented.
#2. ICOs in Crisis, Running Out of Money With No Products
- 2017 was a crazy year.
- Lots of it was ideas “made out of air”.
- CoinMetro prepared, and in many cases, Kevin predicted these down swings.
- “I don’t like making predictions.” - Kevin Murcko
- We needed this to happen at the end of the day, “sh*tcoins” need to go.
#3. Crypto Exchange Binance Is Launching Its Own Blockchain – Will It Be the Next Ethereum?
- It’s a logical step for many companies to build their own blockchain for specific use cases.
- I don’t know if they’re the best company to do it, from a broker/dealer standpoint.
- The financial industry at large uses standardized practices and tools.
#4. Mastercard Patent Filing Outlines Way to Anonymize Crypto Transactions
- MasterCard? Anonymize? Weird.
- At the end of the day, it’s not what most people think.
- What they want to do is anonymize the data when it’s in transit and in storage.
- They’re looking at ways to safeguard data.
#5. Cryptocurrency founders show true love for their start-ups with tattoos of company logos
- “I love my company, not sure I’m ready to tattoo it on my ass.” - Kevin Murcko
- True love, or publicity?
- If John McAfee wants to tattoo CoinMetro on his forehead, have at it.
#6. Crypto Exchange Kraken to Plan Private Offering After ‘$4 Billion’ Valuation
- This one was surprising.
- If you look at the volumes Kraken does, what they charge, the amount of clients they have, YOY volume, the fact that they don’t have additional revenue streams.
- It seems really awesome for CoinMetro.
- Kevin’s skeptical about that valuation.
- Private offering among the client base? Seems oddly familiar. ;-)
#7. Bitcoin-Friendly Revolut Receives European Banking License, Aims to be ‘Amazon of Banking’
- Bitcoin-friendly here is a bit of misnomer, because you can buy Bitcoin on Revolut but you can’t do much with it except sell it back.
- It’s a business model that CoinMetro wants to emulate to a certain extent.
#8. Venezuelan Government Paying Old Age Pensions in Petros, Without People’s Consent
- This is crazy.
- “This Petro thing is just complete and utter horse sh*t”
- A country with failing governance has created a b/s token on someone else’s blockchain.
- If anyone is still behind the Petro thing, they need to have their head examined.
- This is a play by a scam artist, to scam more money from one of the poorest countries in the world.
#9. Germany’s Second Largest Stock Exchange is Launching a Zero-Fee Crypto Exchange
- Solaris Bank is part of this one.
- These guys are going to come into the market, and no one is going to stop them from doing it.
- They’re after a different market than we are.
- Most retail clients don’t trade on stock exchanges.
- Their goal is a tokenization of assets, and they want to get in now to play around with tokens and understand the technology.
- CoinMetro is still going to be a retail-focused brand, that will bring these traceable instruments to a much larger audience.
- Stable coins: kind of a joke.
- At least they returned funds.
- B2B settlements are one of the few good uses cases for stable coins.
- Ripple is the best fill for this use case.
- CoinMetro has no plans for a stable coin.
“If you have a great idea, fight for it!” - Kevin Murcko
REDDIT QUESTIONS
How do you feel about going live at this time?
- There’s no reason to be nervous in life, you just do it!
- We do expect some bugs, we’ll fix them, and move on.
- UI/UX will be the last thing we fix.
- Bitcoin/Euro is the plan for Monday.
FDIC equivalent in Estonia?
- The entire EU has the same type of insurance across all countries in the EU.
- There are limits on each segregated account.
- Up to a certain point they are insured.
- We’re working with one of our liquidity providers to provide an authorized representative EMI license.
- This will allow us to use an insurance that’s provided by this company to their clients to insure each and every individual SEPA account.
- Once that’s set, it’ll change the scene a bit.
Minting XCM and voting
- “I like to vote and see what people are thinking.”
- It’s about making the right decision.
- At the end of the day, it helps Kevin see what the clients want.
Is Beta a disaster?
- Not at all!
- The first launch of any platform is not going to be perfect.
- There are obviously bugs, and most of them have been fixed, in regards to the matching engine.
- All of this will get better over time as more people use the platform.
- The important part, which is the matching engine, works well.
Crypto Loans?
- Kevin doesn’t like that market.
- Most of these companies are loaning out up to 50% of the crypto value in fiat.
- And then the loan principle is usually paid back in crypto.
- Depending on where the market swings, especially if you’re not hedged- it could be trouble.
- “I don’t see where it provides any value to anyone.”
PAMM/TAM Accounts
- On the FX side, some of the PAMMs have gotten hit pretty hard.
- Each PAMM has a different risk parameter and is spelled out in a straightforward way.
- Retail-managed accounts will almost always be high risk.
- “People try to chase the profits, and they really end up chasing losses.”
Advice for trading in a Bear Market
- Always the same rule: sit on your hands.
- Devise a system.
- When you have a plan, and it’s worked on back testing or demo testing, don’t get off the plan.
- If you’re in a terrible trade, and you’re about to hit your stop-loss, take the loss. Because you’ve programmed the loss.
- You always need to be ready for the next day.
What does 2019 hold for Ethereum?
- Ethereum reached its lofty heights based on the back of an ICO bubble that we will never see again.
- That’s not to say ETH can’t reach those heights again, but it needs to show a use case to show that value.
- It’s very hard to put a value behind the processing of smart contracts.
- At the end of the day, 2019 for ETH will see a huge range.
Will fiat on and off-ramps be available at launch?
- Yes. EURO in the SEPA zone.
- Credit Cards yes, in multiple currencies. Bank Transfers EUR in the SEPA Zone.
- Day 1 will be BTC/EUR.
- As quickly as possible, there will be more currencies.
- Fees (€1k example): SEPA transfer, €1.
- If you’re doing that over a credit card inside the EU 2.99%, outside the EU 4.99%
Liquidity for Exchange
- No ball park regarding liquidity.
- It’s by the gut, seeing how the orders roll in.
LIVE AMA
How is Fundraising going?
- Fundraising is going, some commitments here and there.
- We’re close to a first few confirmations.
- CoinMetro will survive 100%.
Marketing, new customers.
- This is the reason we build an ecosystem that’s not just about crypto trading.
- From the crypto side it’s easy: we pay makers. Why wouldn’t you come here and make money with limit orders? It’s a no brainer.
- In Tallinn we’ve been doing test cases with billboards and airport gates, and we plan on taking these globally in due time.
- The Ambassador program that will be multi-faceted.
New listings outside of ERC20
- “Our entire wallet system is based on Bitgo, so anything they can list in their wallet infrastructure, we can list on our exchange.”
- That’s going to change, it’s one of the first things we’re going to be working on after margin trading and margin lending features are live.
Will US clients have fiat gateways.
- You can send EUR via SEPA, from the US at least from day 1, no.
- We’re working on additional payment methods.
- You can use USD from credit cards, from anywhere in the world.
Debit Cards
- We have been back and forth with multiple providers.
- When it comes to Debit Cards, one provider may have access to 3-4 countries, another to 8, etc.
- We require multiple providers in order to be all-encompassing.
- There are risks involved.
- Solaris bank 2-3 regions, will have more in 2019.
TAM and ETCF
- Q2-Q3 2019 launch window.
- The team is working with a law firm in Estonia on this.
- TAM and ETCF are highly reliant on regulation.
- The TAM will probably launch first.
Public API
- It should be released sometime before the end of February 2019.
CoinMetro News Publication based on the coins on the platform?
- There is an SEO idea/product that will essentially be this.
When will margin lending/trading be ready?
- The work has started, and it’ll most likely be ready sometime after Q1 2019.
- Margin lending will start first.
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Well, that's it for this week's AMA with CoinMetro Founder Kevin Murcko! Please join us next week on CoinMetro's Facebook at 2PM GMT for another round and make sure you submit your questions to the CoinMetro Subreddit!
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