Crypto Bank? Isn’t that just more centralization in a decentralized industry? Short answer, yes. Crypterium bills itself as the first crypto bank that is positioning itself to be the first major crypto bank within the next five years, when the so-called-according-to-the-promo-video crypto-banking revolution occurs.
In the video, Director of Investor Relations Austin Kimm states that traditional banks will still exist, but the crypto platform will offer so much more in terms of instant transactions, few to zero fees, and much fewer regulations in the way people can get loans. While this might have your attention, let’s run the numbers.
Financials
In a very long ICO from Oct. 31, 2017 to Jan. 6, 2018, Crypterium raised $51 mln, surpassing its goal of $47 mln.
The ERC20 token known as CRPT was launched on the exchanges on Jan. 22 at the initial price of $2.02. It subsequently fell quickly to $0.96 by Feb. 5. It continued on a downward trajectory to its current price of $0.51 at the time of writing.
While, this could be an expected downturn for a utility token, according to Kimm, CRPT is a cross between a utility token and an investment token that should, “bring token holders value as the price rises.”
That value has yet to be seen. Despite the plummet in price, the market cap is at $41 mln, but daily trade volumes are paltry at only $448,000. Note, there are currently 400,000 registered users with Crypterium.
Team: mix of skills
The team has a mix of skills, but most notably in payments, general business and fintech.
Austin Kimm- Director of Investor Relations & Co-founder
Kimm is an experienced CEO in the insurance industry, worked in such regions as UK, Australia, Russia and the Czech Republic. He currently is involved in many side projects related to fintech and crypto as an advisor. He is also the founder of a successfully sold 24-hour fitness club in the UK - Kimm Health & Leisure Ltd;
Steven Polyak- Co-founder & Advisor
He is currently the CEO of ArcPay since January 2018.
Gleb Markov- Chief Operating Officer, Co-founder.
Chief Executive Officer at PayQR International Ltd. Experienced serial entrepreneur in the field of fintech (Bonus Club, OOO Technologii, PayQR International Ltd.), Mass Media (EKinoT - Watch Movies Online, GamePlayTV (Perviy Igrovoy TV Channel), Game-Man IT magazine). He has a wealth of experience in electronic payments, an obvious boon to running a crypto bank.
Vladimir Gorbunov- Financial director, Co-founder.
CEO and Founder of Workle, he is also an advisor to Cryptoindex.io.
Banking a la crypto
Crypterium will offer patrons the following services similar to a full-scale traditional bank but in the cryptosphere:
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Purchase and sale of BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, Dash, XEM, NEO, MIOTA, XMR, etc.
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International transfers to any bank account, including bank cards.
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Conversion and exchange between assets.
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Direct payments for services such as telephone, utilities, fines, loans, taxes, Internet, etc.
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Automated payments using direct debit.
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Transaction history data (including sorting services such as filters and payment categories.)
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Currency operations in fiat.
The technology is all about mobile payments, so no swipe or chip cards needed. However, while this could be a major advantage for some developing companies, Americans still love to write checks and the Germans and the Japanese still love to pay with cash. It will take a long time for mobile crypto payments to catch on. Technology change over is also a major hurdle that prevents tech from taking off, because change costs money.
Alex Dovbnya
Denys Serhiichuk
Tomiwabold Olajide
