Former Banker has secured millions in funding to expand startup aimed at converting fiat into digital currencies.
Nikolay Storonsky is a former Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers trader and has secured $66 million to expand the reach of his startup "Revolut".
This wouldn't mark the first time a former wall street banker left the more traditional space to deal in digital currencies...
Blythe Masters, formerly from JP Morgan and Anthony Jenkins, the former CEO of Barclays, have also made the leap.
Plans to include digital currencies?
Revolut is targeted at travelers using different currencies. The main benefit is getting around the hidden conversion fees. It offers a cost saving alternative to other more traditional measures.
The website can be seen here:
The current business model is working quite well, but they are looking to add virtual currencies to the platform.
According to Storonsky:
"As early as next week, Revolut plans to let customers hold, exchange, spend and transfer virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum for free. Profiting from the price difference between buyers and sellers as opposed to charging commissions."
As early as next week customers can trade virtual currencies fee free, sweet!
According to Storonsky, Revolut already has over 80,000 users since it's launch in 2015 and he expects the latest virtual currency additions to only increase those numbers.
Currently over 140 employees work for Revolut in London, Krakow, and Moscow. Storonsky plans to open branches in New York and Singapore.
Revolut isn't the only one...
Currently Goldman Sachs "Circle" offers a similar product.
It offers customers the benefits of peer to peer money transfers between U.S dollars, Pound Sterling, Euros etc. all from a mobile phone.
There are no fees or foreign exchange mark ups.
It runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
My thoughts:
My biggest take away is that the virtual currency space is expanding. For those thinking this is just a fad, think again...
It is also nice to see that Revolut is offering virtual currency trading fee free.
That is big.
I am not sure if that is something the other exchanges might migrate to, but it sure would be nice if they did. If an exchange can set up a site that runs well while also charging no fees, I would expect them to take a ton of the market.
Hopefully as these types of things pop up the fees start dropping across the board and eventually get to the low low price of "free". :)
The price drop in Bitcoin, Ether, Steem etc... isn't the end, it just a hiccup along the way.
Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/uk-startup-by-former-banker-plans-expansion-into-digital-currency
Image Sources:
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/cryptocurrency-is-interesting-again
Follow me: @jrcornel
It will be difficult to lose the fee.
I hope it gets lower.
Game of Fear. Who dares wins.
Anybody who thinks this is a fad is delusional. As for the fee free situation... that is fantastic news. Would be great if they added some of the other smaller alt coins to the exchange too.
And yes... it is just a section of bumpy road... people panic way too quickly... but the 'media hype' doesnt really help that situation I suppose...
Great post. Upvoted and followed. Would be thrilled if you felt generous enough to take a peek at my latest... (no obligation)
https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/breaking-the-mold-of-social-conditioning
LOL :D
Everybody have a nice day :)
(meme found at bitcointalk.org)
This is how millionaires are born.
totally agree with the 'hiccup" as you've described. I believe the crypto crash has a lot to do with panic sale as well, we need to HODL. Some of the less experienced crypto traders freak when price starts to go down.
well.. it went down a lot in just a few days so the panic is understandable. Long term hodlers have experienced deeper dips though. for instance https://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/04/11/an-illustrated-history-of-bitcoin-crashes/#744d66d54039
I agree too. It went up very quickly and there are some spooked investors out there!
Yup, which is why if you have funds on the sidelines, or funds you intend to rebalance, it all just becomes a garage sale for buying discounted coins for those of us who are long on cryptos.
Nice, thanks for sharing!
Pretty much everything will operate on a blockchain in the future, the most transparent and open source platforms that largely benefit the users the most will be the entities that succeed.
Informative post, thank you!
It has been very interesting to see the rise and fall of bitcoins lately. As everything in life there is always risk, but I do think bitcoin will bounce back and then eventually go even higher... just a bit of a waiting game :) something for nothing does not exist! Thank you @jrcornel for posting this!
Great post
good to know, thank you
Fantastic article! I agree....this ride is a long haul so let's all buckle up for a smooth cruise into the future!
Thanks @jrcornel for the encouragement despite the price drop in Bitcoin, Steem etc along the way.
Upvote, Follow and Resteemed!
@lazarescu.irinel
thanks for sharing
This would definately expand the utilisation and acceptability of cryptocurrencies. Smart chap. So technically no more cap on currency transfers to be declared to regulators as you can "travel light", pass through customs & immigration, visit an office and liquidate or convert from your wallet to fiat & vice versa.
Cryptos are here to stay. I am in for the long haul
Agreed.
I have this feeling u are a big person on bitcointalk. Check out my post here if u would and consider if u are interested in completing the comment :)
Is the IMF making the SDR a blockchain currency to replace the dollar?
yes
Sooner or later the bitcoin and other high end cryptos will rise back up in value. Buy and hold, buy and hold!
Cryptocurrency market has a brilliant future ahead the earlier they invest the better the future will be. All these strong signals only means one thing, grow and expansion of the market ahead. I agree with you @jrcornel
nice information..thanks
Great post.
An expanding number of cryptocurrency can only mean one thing for the future: growth. I thought that Circle stepped out of the cryptocurrency sphere some time ago (no more Bitcoin) but if they are back again, that's great. The entry into Bitcoin and similar tokens should be effortless and smooth if the promised solutions -fast/cheap/permissionless payments - are to reach the large public.
great post man, thanks for sharing
Good post best regards from me@abupasi.alachy
great post!!!
another bitcoin card? Why is it so speciall
No fee business models coming from people who grew up in the world of traditional finance? It's almost as if cryptocurrency incentivizes good behavior!
Someones loss is someones gain :(
I have set my buying at 1000 in case there is panic selling
It's going to be unstoppable, faster and cheaper to move your money than the banks fantastic. Good read thanks. Cheers mike
Fee free trading is amazing, thanks for sharing!
Aside from cryptos (which I love), I have a Revolut card, and I have to say it is excellent for exchanging cheap EUR-GBP-USD. Looking forward to the prospect of it including BTC
I personally cannot wait for the world to peg all fiat against the BTC
I totally agree with the point that since the arrival of bitcoins there has been a downfall in the market about crypto currency, I feel the bitcoin will come up if more people are aware about it. Upvoted.
Great post,Thank you
buy bitcoin
Bork!
Anyone else see a pattern of: "Former Wall Street xxxxx" and the terms "Blockchain" and "Startup" elsewhere in articles in this space?
The grass is greener on the other side, indeed. :D
Yes definitely the virtual currency space will only continue to grow.
Can you imagine if there was an accurate way to truly wrap our heads around how many new net members the crypto currency world is gaining per day, month and year? What a chart that would be.
An excellent post as always, glad I caught it on my drive by visit today.
I see this "hiccup" as an opportunity! Now's the time to buy... when the shy doesn't fall on Aug 1... Bitcoin, Ethereum Litecoin and the rest will start shooting back up and they'll take most of the other better known cryptos with them. I grabbed some Ripple yesterday, because it was cheap. Now's the time... wish I had about $10,000 to invest- I'd be a millionaire by the end of the year!
thank for sharing
Finally some confidence in the cryptomarket. I too think that this is just as u said,a hiccup. That guy who is buying is really smart. This drop will soon be over after August and cryptos will flourish again. To me this is a golden opportunity to buy, buy and buy. Thank you for sharing
Lemme tell ya: my biggest Bitcoin transaction was back in 2013. It was 55+ BTC and it was worth about $7.6K at the time of transmission. The majority of the funds weren't even mine, I was basically the escrow agent for it because I was very active and trusted in the Bitcoin and crypto community to do these kinds of things due to a history of helping to organize a bunch of group purchases of mining equipment and setting up mining pools without taking off with everyone's crypto (the Blockchain ledger came in handy to prove my honesty).
Even after all the beatings BTC has taken in the last few weeks, and after Mt. Gox, after hacks of other exchanges, with a background of community strife and uncertainty: that 2013 $7.6K transaction would've been $110-115K if it was just held by all the owners and if they ignored it until now.
For the portion of my cryptos that not being sold or used to buy something, those are the part of my crypto investments that did the best:*
So some of the best advice I can give based on years of investing and 4 years of mining, using, and buying cryptos is: be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day. My best crypto investments were blue chip or mid cap coins that I just left alone for several years.
Posted by an anonymous source on Jim Stone's website:
http://82.221.129.208/baaasepagez2.html
The other cryptocurrencies that are gaining prominence these days are designed to be a direct threat to Bitcoin. You see, Bitcoin's strength is that there is only a limited quantity of them that will ever exist. They can't be printed to infinity. However, if other cryptocurrencies take hold and over take Bitcoin in value or popularity it will be the death of Bitcoin (and all cryptocurrencies) since it will then become evident that although Bitcoin is limited as to quantity there is no limit to how many new cryptocurrencies can be created. Some people already know this (at least subconciously) but since Bitcoin has remained the dominant one by far the reality of it has not yet sunk in. If people are willing to just jump to the next fashionable cryptocurrency that comes along Bitcoin will become worthless. Who wants to miss the boat on the next big thing? Who wants to be stuck with something that is falling out of fashion? That's the real reason behind the big push on etherium and some others.
Great work
Well, it's the future and this seems to be a natural evolution. It is certainly an interesting time... let's just buckle up and enjoy the ride! :)
Awesome :D
Thanks for sharing!
Well, price are indeed plummeting but for wise investors this is the great opportunity to enter into the market and earn some hard cash. Crytpo markets has always been very volatile and because of that it always were the hot favorite for the investors. For now, it is falling but in near future, it will again rise and triumph. This is the best time to get in and earn a solid return on investment within few months. I hope and wish al the investors a great success.
I stayed up til 6am waiting for that bottom. ETH dropped to $130 and BTC flash dropped from 1830 down to 1740-50 range... Was exciting amd nerve racking at the same time
Thanks for sharing :)