Milton, Danilo and Alessandro, thank you for doing this interview. I think people who are just getting into the crypto community as well as established members of the crypto community can learn a lot from your insights. Let’s meet the three:
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Milton George is the founder of MF, a digital marketing company based in Europe (UK Cyprus) with clients all over the world. He also works in close collaboration with e-commerce conglomerates and established influencers as a strategist. He’s regularly called for advice by brands, some exceeding €50 million in revenue annually. He is currently residing learning to windsurf in the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Cyprus.
Danilo De Rosa is a former vc backed serial entrepreneur now helping fast growing startups and big sized international businesses to grow their revenues online through growth marketing strategies.
Alessandro Levi is CEO and founder of SEMPLUS, a high-tech start-up based in Silicon Valley, working on touchscreen technologies for automotive, mobile and IoT applications. Levi is an engineer by trade and has a PhD. in robotics. He’s a technology enthusiast, businessman and investor. His other interests trading, finance and crypto currencies. He currently lives in San Francisco.
Now that you know the founders’ background, let’s dive into the interview:
When did you first hear about the blockchain and what made you realize its potential?
Danilo: I heard about Bitcoin in 2012, I was raising capital for my startup (raising $1MM with a VC firm) and this new technology took my interest. My first impression was that was a complex tech scam, I then realized I was wrong ?
Milton: I also heard about Bitcoin in early 2012, I had a few friends that invested but I didn’t, unfortunately. I even remember back then I was playing high stakes tournaments on Pokerstars with a friend (we were playing from the same account), and we won the 2nd position (big prize). I told him we should invest this money in Bitcoin but he refused ? If I recall correctly, BTC was around 1-2$ back then.
Alessandro: I heard about blockchain/Bitcoin in 2012 while talking with a few entrepreneurs at a venture capital event. My first impression was that blockchain had huge potential for hackers but lots of barriers to go mainstream. Clearly, times have changed.
How long have you been interested in this technology?
Danilo: Around 5 years, until today.
Milton: Around 2012 I started reading about BTC, blockchain technology crypto currencies but only recently (this year) Danilo convinced me to get involved more and we started this crypto “side-project” together with Alessandro Levi.
Alessandro: It was about one year ago that I started to read more about blockchain technology and only recently I started to really focus on it. I started to exchange information with Danilo about good crypto coins, promising technologies and then we created our Crypto Investors Facebook group and most recently our newsletter with Milton.
Just got the first installment and love the newsletter, by the way. When did you decide to start it and what is your objective with it?
Danilo: The newsletter had one original objective be a service useful initially for me and Milton. We needed a medium where we could store articles and updates about this growing crypto world. Browser folders can’t keep the pace with what’s going on and then it’s always harder to understand which source is valuable and which is not. Many Crypto communities are chaotic and badly moderated so it’s hard to find the right information. I value a lot a valuable confirmed source, it permits you to make the right assumptions far from fake news and euphorical maximalists considerations.
How will the average person benefit the most from cryptocurrencies?
Danilo: It’s exciting. You feel you are taking part to the next tech revolution, a disruptive innovation that is going to change finance forever.
Milton: It’s not just crypto that it’s interesting, but the whole blockchain technology is revolutionary. Data that are written on the blockchain are open for audit and will be stored there forever. Also it doesn’t need a “trusted” third-party to confirm transactions. So to answer your question, the average person will benefit from the blockchain technology. Think of an Uber service but without Uber (third-party) just a p2p service. The applications are endless!
Alessandro: I consider blockchain as a great technology that is poised to go mainstream, like the Internet in the 2000. Everybody and every service will benefit from it.
Which exchange do you use to trade cryptos?
Danilo: Kraken, Cex.io, Coinbase, Bittrex, Etoro (legit, nice platform, but it works with CFDs)
Milton: CEX.io Poloniex
Alessandro: I mainly use Kraken, Bittre and Coinbase.
Do you have any mining experience?
Danilo: No, I like the concept of mining but I like more to be evaluating fundamentals before making our investment decisions.
Milton: No, it’s only profitable if you get in very early (mining).
Alessandro: Nope, not at this time.
What do you think is the main barrier to entry for the average person to integrate the blockchain into their life?
Milton: The Jargon, a relative high barrier in terms of tech knowledge to understand the concept, the value of this innovation. The communities are very helpful and inclusive, so step by step is easy to get the right information to understand it. I personally heard the first time about Ethereum through a TED video that I suggest everyone to view to understand the concept behind it. (Don Tapscott https://www.facebook.com/pg/ETHelites/videos/?ref=page_internal)
Alessandro: The main entry barrier is to find the right resources and people/developers to learn and exchange ideas with. Then you can integrate blockchain into a multitude of applications.
Apart from finance and banking, what is another industry that will be turned on its head as a result of integrating the blockchain?
Danilo: Insurance. I worked in a Internet of Things company and I have seen that there could be a huge interest in building a bridge between IOT tech, health and insurance. The connection and the value is there, they just need to be linked together with the blockchain.
Milton: Regulations (coming soon) cultural adoption.
Alessandro: Decentralized sharing economy. For example Airbnb, automated bike rental, wifi-router rented on demand.
What’s your current favorite blockchain startup and why?
Danilo: Tenx. I think that to get cryptos to the mainstream public we need to use them in our daily lives starting like with an easy to access credit card. After this first step the society will be able to include the blockchain in many of its active industries. Mainstream access is very important so I think that Tenx can be a first step towards a more mainstream access.
Milton: Dokchain, it provides identity management to validate that each party involved in the transaction is who they say they are, whether consumer or provider. Secondly, it can perform what it is known ‘autonomous auto-adjudication’. What that means in plain language is that once the parties have been validated, the transaction between them can be processed instantly in a machine to machine communication based on previously agreed upon smart contracts.
Alessandro: OpenBazar. It’s a bitcoin peer-to-peer marketplace that does not charge “middleman” transaction fees. It’s a platform that put the users in control of what they are selling and buying, without relying on a centralized company. They accept Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as payment.
Thank you three again for doing this interview. If you have not already, please sign up for their crypto newsletter at www.crypto-investors.co.
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