Welcome back!
Time for another interview!
After learning more about the crypto exchanges that make the world of coins go round, I wanted to better understand their world a bit better so I sat down with one of the founders of the crypto exchange GOPAX.
Q. It seems like you were in blockchain previously but Gopax is a relatively new service you offer. Can you tell me more about your previous work at Streami and how you ended up launching Gopax?
Our vision is to be a socially responsible leader in the blockchain innovation and that involves different kinds of things. We didn’t start with exchange at first for primarily two reasons. First, we just didn’t believe it was the right time to start launching an exchange product. We just thought of bringing in institutional money, integrating payment service solution of the established financial institutions including Shinhan back, who ended up being our investor. It was a more needed model back at the time. The second reason was, I got into this space a little late. We started with stream wire and as bitcoin became widespread we believed that exchange can have more importance in terms of the health of the ecosystem. We started building the exchange from 2016, we were mostly done by June and the pieces that were left was integrating with the bank system. I persuaded my teammates and we officially decided to go for it and we started building in October 2016. It took about a year to create the project, as we wanted to get rid of all the technology issues.
Q. Where do you see your exchange at the end of the year 2018?
We just want to be an exchange that can set a standard for exchange market. Since there is no standard we need to make the standard. We want to safely protect the customers assets and develop the technology, so we can evolve along with the ecosystem. Lastly, because this is an exchange we want to improve our fluidity. This is best done with increasing the volume, so we want to do some good marketing.
GoPax is currently partnered with Steami, the social media platform based on blockchain. We are currently operating a webtoon contest along with Steami. This partnership is one of the biggest focuses of ours right now.
Our main interest in marketing is trying to increase the awareness that maybe there is some other element rather than speculating, that blockchain technology as a whole is more than just watching stock charts. The technology might be in its infant stages and might not make as great headlines, but the whole company believes the technology might be a game changer in the way it interacts with the public as a whole.
Q. Can you walk me through the listing process for a coin on your exchange?
Regarding GoPax and listing cryptocurrencies, we always try to bring in the actual team behind the currency. The users who are interested can then get to know exactly what the currency is supposed to do. A lot of the currencies nowadays have specific functions, it is not just medium of exchange or storage of value. Right now, our marketing events are aiming for increasing the public awareness of good projects that we believe are worth investment and using. We want to show to this country, to the general crowd, the actual use case of blockchain.
Q. There has been a lot of movement towards regulating the cryptocurrency market from both the U.S. and other countries, including Korea. How are you responding to these movements?
Regulators are doing their job and we respect that. We just want to find the right solution, so we could protect customers and at the same time contribute to the competitiveness of the industry. Dealing with regulations is all about finding the balance between innovation and customer protection. The right balance is not what we dictate, it is just evolving and continuing discussion involving public, media, people in the industry, politicians.We are open to discussion and while discussing with regulators, public or any stakeholder shaping the regulations we think hard to come up with the most responsible and proper way to lift this industry up and push it forwards.
Q. What kind of campaigns or events are you planning for this year and beyond? What about business developments and partnerships?
GoPax is currently partnered with Streami, the social media platform based on blockchain. We are currently operating a webtoon contest along with Streami. This partnership is one of the biggest focuses of ours right now.
Our main interest in marketing is trying to increase the awareness that maybe there is some other element rather than speculating, that blockchain technology as a whole is more than just watching stock charts. The technology might be in its infant stages and might not make as great headlines, but the whole company believes the technology might be a game changer in the way it interacts with the public as a whole.
Q. With retail and institutional investors, do you think there are differences in terms of investment behavior depending on where they come from, for example the difference between Korean and US investors?
We have pretty much just Korean retailers but based on what I hear from the companies abroad. It seems that Korean investors prefer altcoins to Bitcoin, they are more imaginative and speculative. I think they are also pretty well versed in blockchain, especially the institutional investors.
Q. If you could launch your own cryptocurrency, what would you call it?
GPX.
CEO of Gopax Lee Jun-na and Steve Ned Scott
Q. Any words of advice or encouragement for students interested in blockchain? What is your approach towards hiring/recruiting professionals?
That is a very hard question. The first thing that comes to my mind is that I think the reality is shaped based on what you believe is going to be the seed of the world we live in. I believe blockchain is the kind of technology that has a good potential to make this economic and financial systems better, especially in the digital realm, where there is more and more value every day. If you really believe that this is worth the effort, I just want you to come and participate in the movement. As we have more and more people who believe in it and take the action we can make the world for the better. If you are just after quick buck it is going to be hard and not fun. This is pretty challenging industry primarily because how unregulated it is. You have to work with some difficult questions. So it is going to be hard and even if you succeed in ICO, if you get it you are lucky but if you do not deliver it you will lose the trust.
This conversation at Gopax office was one of the best experiences I have had in awhile. Not only was the office so nicely decorated (I have never seen more welcoming or “chill” office setting) but the entire interview had such a relaxed atmosphere that I didn’t even get too embarrassed by how stupid I still am when in comes to all the blockchain technology terms. I also learned that cryptocurrency market is so varied all over the world, each country has its own approach to it and it’s really interesting to see how Korea is building their own crypto world.
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**This article was originally published on besuccess.com. in Korean version.