CoinMetro 26th October 2018 AMA Notes
AmaZix Staff
VIDEO ARCHIVE OF THE AMA (YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK)
IN THE NEWS
- China has a long history in censorship;
- Kevin is not sure about how blockchain can be censored technically;
- China classified BTC/crypto as property and it's a step backward.
#2. Hong Kong Stock Exchange: regulate blockchain under existing rules
- Data companies should be regulated;
- One day blockchain will be regulated, something like GDPR will come;
- Existing rules should be amended;
- There does need to be a segregation between IPO and ICO in terms of caps, etc.;
- Kevin partially agrees with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's position;
- Legislation shall be flexible (e.g. Ethereum was first deemed as a security and later on lost this status).
#3. Feds Promise AML Crypto Regulation By June 2019
- This regulation was adopted before its completion;
- AML/KYC exist everywhere, so it should be like copy-pasting;
- Kevin wished there would be no KYC, but the reality is a bit complicated for that;
- Democracy doesn't work that well;
- AML/KYC are needed as we can't trust anyone because of the bad actors.
#4. $8M worth of crypto "hacked" from Trade.io's cold wallets
- Cold Wallets might be perceived differently by different people;
- A cold wallet should not be connected to the internet, therefore it cannot be air hacked;
- No matter how secure is something, it does have some vulnerabilities;
- That probably wasn't a cold wallet;
- Ledger wallet is not a cold wallet in Kevin's view;
- More information is needed for this case.
#5. Coinbase introduces its own stablecoin
- Everybody seems to get into stablecoins;
- From a retail standpoint there's no use case for them, as fiat on-ramps provide actual stable currencies;
- Institutional clearing would benefit from stablecoins and platforms will keep their liquidity pools;
- Hype is the biggest catalyst on the market now;
- Creating stable coins is easy, they don't need to be backed initially;
- Crypto is there to escape fiat because of the trust issues, why we should use bank-backed stablecoins then?
#6. Japan gives crypto exchanges self regulating power
- New markets are always initially self-regulated;
- If those regulations don't work, the more strict regulations will come;
- Now the situation is in testing stage both for the regulators and the participants.
#7. deVere Group CEO: XRP and ETH to Outshine Bitcoin, Crypto Market to Expand by 5,000%
- People love making predictions;
- XRP gets a bad name;
- XRP may technically outdo Bitcoin, but not financially;
- Institutional money come to OTC without affecting the price movement, mostly into Bitcoin;
- Making predictions with no time limits don't bring much value;
- Any market coming into crypto will increase the prices significantly.
#8. North Korea Allegedly Backed Two Cryptocurrency Scams This Year
- Isolation from the world's financial system isn't good;
- The war won't start, as there's nothing to fight for, losing brings losses, but winning doesn't bring anything in this case.
#9. Coinbase Will Soon Announce Its First IPO
- Coinbase needs to dive into traditional finance;
- They've done things right for the most part;
- They opening new income streams before crypto is exhausted and it's a solid policy.
#10. Tether gained $30mil from coin burn
- Kevin has a post on Twitter about that;
- Tether loses trust;
- Burning tokens manipulates the supply and it's not acceptable with asset-backed tokens (do they burn fiat as well?);
- This news is so ridiculous, it's almost not funny;
- Regulators are looking at Tether.
REDDIT QUESTIONS
#1. Will the debit card launch this year?
- Right now the team is in talks with 5 providers. 1 supplier is on hold for compliance and legal settlements;
- It takes time not from CM, but from Banks;
- CCs can be possibly launched this year;
- Legal should be 100% correct, no cutting corners.
#2. How will it work, any special features?
- Multi-currency will be possible;
- Automatic exchange to fiat currencies will be possible.
#3. When will "Voice Login" be available?
- Voice login has been ready for about a month. However other not yet ready features hold its release.
#4. When will the Go dashboard design be updated?
- Design of the dashboard has been updated recently.
#5. Will there be a flash sale or not?
- Flash sale will be decided before the end of November, the team leans to 'yes';
- The team is looking for partners on equity terms;
- More money = more flexibility, faster success, and higher demand;
#6. What if the crypto regulations end up being more draconian than what we already have in traditional markets?
- To Kevin moving forward is adoption by the masses;
- For that we need banking and regulated framework for stopping bad actors;
- Regulations have drawbacks because it's difficult to make perfect laws;
- It's naive to assume that things will work without control;
- Human beings need rules;
- Moving forward means to let your grandmom use blockchain without understanding how it works;
- The regulators understand that regulations need to be changed;
- Crypto will do the same as Amazon, Uber, AirBnb did to the large industries;
- Sometimes we need to take 2 steps back before moving 1 step forward.
#7. Will there be a delay from when US contributors will be able to use the exchange or will they be able to use the exchange immediately upon release?
- Kevin can't give an answer yet, the consultations are ongoing;
- Every 2-3 month there's some new info from SEC;
- No company-specific delays, it only depends on legal requirements.
#8. In the last AMA you mentioned that some designers that were hired were not right for the team and were let go. When did this happen? How many designers were let go? Have they been replaced? How strong is the design team now?
- Kevin can't share all the details yet;
- The designer team lied about their location;
- More facts were uncovered, after that there were threats and a legal dispute got launched;
- Some designs were leaked;
- The new design is being done by the new team of designers;
- There are 3 full-time designers and the team looks for 2 more;
- The new design team is good and productive.
#9. Have you ever invested in crypto? Are you currently invested?
- Kevin has invested money in some projects.
#10. Which crypto project most excites you, currently?
- Kevin doesn't have time for reviewing other projects;
- There are a lot of interesting ideas, but their realisation is questionable.
#11. How far away do you think regulations are? Will we see something in 2019?
- 2019 will be the year of regulations, major pushes will come in G7 countries.
#12. What are you doing this weekend? Is Estonia a fun place to live?
- Kevin was working this weekend, he usually works on weekends, but he'll try to take time with his daughter.
#13. Your take on https://www.swinca.io an Estonian based ICO/company and what looks like a similar property ABT set up as Hansecoin. Both would be perfect for a property based ETCF on the CM platform.
- They're looking to attract a lot of funds;
- The project is rather ambitious and is focused on the ecosystem;
- They don't have any Estonians, only Swiss & French;
- On paper it's good, but...;
- No information about their token structure, which HanseCoin has;
- HanseCoin may open up a public sale next week, but there won't be much availability. For the private sale - stick to their Telegram.
#14. Since you've been dealing with government officials, banking higher-ups, liquidity providers, on a frequent basis for over a year now: do you notice an off-the-record change in mentality since last year (since the boom-bust), either pro or contra blockchain? When everybody was anti-crypto, investments and R&D were happening?
- The tone is more positive now;
- Banks don't want to fall out of the market, they will put money into crypto;
- Regulations will allow banks to adopt crypto, the structure is already there;
- Outwardly it's more pro, inwardly it's neutral;
- It's not just simply new tech, it's something more;
- Stupid pitches killed the initial image of crypto;
- Banks care about the benefits and protection for the end consumers, but nobody writes about that in their Whitepapers;
- The adults will come into play in crypto.
AMA LIVE QUESTIONS:
- Kevin thinks that the market will grow past $1 trillion, if it's successful, regardless of bull/bear market.
- CoinMetro is a matching engine, not a market maker. Capitalisation is not the issue. Partnering banks understand CoinMetro's business model and bank accounts will be there to process large transactions.
- Multiple IBANS won't be an issue. Automatic conversions are being developed. The more people ask for something, the faster it's developed.
- The plan is to mint XCM right before the launch (December), the team is on schedule.
- There's staff in Ukraine. The provider the team initially chose didn't deliver. The team tries to centralise everything in Tallinn because they want to build up the team spirit. After minting, the Telegram channel will be overtaken by all offices.
- Beta feedback channel suits for the website feedback as well.
- Kevin doesn't like the hype, but the team has the organic content and marketing strategy ready for the launch. They pay market makers for support, which is a rather unique approach. Players like Bloomberg will be involved. Flash sale would help better marketing, but the funds are there. Time is required for the exchange to grow and evolve. The main goal is mass adoption, and that doesn't require being a top exchange. The user base is important.
- There were some technical updates on the Go Dashboard. The smart app now has the wallet page. Paper trading contest page has been published.
- HanseCoin private sale is going well, jump on their Telegram to find out about the possible public sale.
- Kevin really wants the exchange to go live, but he wants to do everything right.
- Feedback is always important and should be provided by any means possible.
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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!
As always, we're available to answer any questions you may have on our Telegram Group 24/7.
