On the other side of the world, Bittylicious promises prompt support during the UK working day, and industry best practices followed when it comes to AML and KYC. We have the brief chance to speak with Marc on this member of the cryptosphere.
Coin News: Can you tell us a bit about how Bittylicious came into fruition?
Bittylicious: I read up a lot on Bitcoin before accepting it with a web hosting company I ran. It wouldn’t be an accepted currency on there if it was not genuinely interesting, so I already knew that Bitcoin was exciting by simply reading about it.
From there though, devoting my time to Bitcoin came about because I had a large Bitcoin order and the price subsequently sky-rocketed, so I was sitting on a significant amount of Bitcoins. I felt that there was a large gap for a better place to sell Bitcoins and thus developed a site to cater for this.
I believe in the process of launching early with a minimum viable product if possible. We launched two years ago with a simple site that enabled me to sell Bitcoins, and that was it. It always had the clean interface though. From there, it rapidly expanded into a lot more. The main challenge was about trust. Thankfully, some people on bitcointalk were happy to risk small amounts of money with the system. After being live for a few months, people were happy to trust us with larger trades.
There is no one best thing, but the most important things that differentiate us from others is our really simple UI, the trust people put in us (e.g. our reviews) and the rapid releases we put out which makes us flexible to new changes in the space.
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CNA: What have been the greatest accomplishments so far?
B: Honestly, every day is so varied and interesting, it’s hard to single out specific accomplishments. There are boring targets such as daily numbers of trades, but recognition from unexpected sources (e.g. mentions in articles or the media) is always quite rewarding.
As for the most revolutionary aspects, it seems simple, but having extremely thorough and nice customer services really helps. It’s more than just making Bittylicious trustworthy; it helps garner trust in the Bitcoin ecosystem in general.
CNA: What do you think Bitcoin needs to be the form of payment we want it to be?
B: Time more than anything else. Bitcoin is already reliable, but as for prominence, this is something that will grow slowly. Word of mouth shouldn’t be underestimated, and it’s very rewarding to show people how to use Bitcoins for real-life purposes.
CNA: How do you think Bitcoin will affect the Asian market in particular?
B: Power back in the hands of the citizens! Having said that, this applies to the whole world.
CNA: What are your opinions on cryptocurrency legality and regulation?
B: That governments which take a step back and don’t regulate, or regulate lightly in correct area (e.g. AML) are doing the right thing. Bitcoin evolves, and there are applications we haven’t even thought of yet, so over-regulating can give other governments a huge competitive advantage.
CNA: Do you think it is hypocritical when Bitcoin supporters who are critical of banks are also critical of altcoins?
B: There’s nothing wrong about being critical of anything. Sometimes we all need a reality check.
Altcoins are good and a necessary technological playground in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Seriously, if some of the economists of previous decades and centuries had this technology to play with, they would be very excited indeed.
As for a superior altcoin, who knows? It doesn’t really matter in my opinion.
CNA: Do you have a Bitcoin price prediction?
B: Up, basically. Couldn’t say what target though.
CNA: What can we expect from your venture in the near future?
B: Expansion into other markets and other payment methods in general, continual anti-fraud improvement mechanisms and improved altcoin integration.
CNA: Finally, for those who don’t get Bitcoin, do you have any suggestions?
B: Give it a whirl! Just go out and buy some and pay your mates with it. Even if you don’t use it any more, it might just give you some insight into different ways of thinking about money.
Those in the financial industry who aren’t paying attention to Bitcoin, and there are many, will go the way of the dinosaur.
