Q&A — Raoul Milhado, founder & CEO of Elitium.
I’m an avid supporter of any Dutchie — or crypto-enthusiast, for that matter — who shows ambition, application, and aspiration.
Elitium founder Raoul Milhado personifies each one. His enthusiasm for what can be achieved through considered use of blockchain protocols is infectious.
Since the beginning of January, I’ve been in contact with Raoul (mostly through Skype and I must say I’m impressed by his determination and how the team has navigated through the ever-murky world of crypto-regulation.
Needless to say, they’ve also survived the tech’s toughest year to date: 2018.
Most tellingly last year, Raoul and his team decided to forego an ICO. Instead, Elitium’s focus is to build a new industry standard for blockchain projects: one that delivers long-term value; focuses on the use case; delivers on promises.
So what is Elitium all about? And what will 2019 behold for this project aiming to reinvent the way people experience luxury goods?
Let’s ask him!
“Can you tell the readers about your previous professional experience? And how Elitium was born?”
Yes, absolutely! My experience is so important to where I’ve arrived today. So, I’ll cover as much as is relevant — but keep it brief(-ish…)
I’ve worked in digital marketing and technology for the last nine years. My experience spans various countries and countless industries. I’ve tackled all sorts of interesting projects: web development, online marketing, SEO, mobile apps. I was involved in an Ad-Tech business. I’ve also developed and helped scale P2P platforms.
Then, in 2016, I moved into Yachting and became a Managing Partner at Boatsters.
What struck me about this industry was — despite the money involved — everything felt so outdated. Processes were incredibly inefficient. But through experience, I knew Boatsters could digitize the sector to help both yacht owners and renters enjoy a much-improved experience.
So, we worked to build this end-to-end yacht chartering solution: a global platform with online booking, payments, messaging, the lot. And it made a huge difference, almost overnight. My colleagues and I started thinking of other things to add — one idea was, ‘hey, what about crypto?’
We built a wallet solution that could accept around 55 different cryptocurrencies as payment to rent a yacht. We were the first to connect the luxury space to cryptocurrency and people went wild for it!
Given the wallet’s success and all this positivity from both clients and yacht owners, I knew there was more we could do. Luxury partners were reaching out to inquire about the solution, so I set about exploring how we could further integrate the blockchain into our luxury experience.
The journey led to a meeting with Jean-Pierre Morand: an experienced technologist who had already been working in crypto for years. Conversations with JP taught me lots about the tech, about smart contracts in particular. And that was the moment the concept for Elitium popped into my mind — smart contracts seemed the perfect way to overhaul yacht rentals, as well as many other processes in the space.
I partnered with Jean-Pierre to evolve the idea; dive further into the blockchain; investigate whether a cryptocurrency made sense in the real world — and it became clear there was this huge opportunity to combine technologies and develop a complete solution that would set a new standard in luxury, which historically is a sector that’s fallen short in terms of innovation.
But expertise was lacking in key areas: namely, legal and finance. So, JP and I approached Collin Nicolaas whose background in finance, compliance and international business would make him the perfect addition to what would ultimately become the Elitium Management Team.
Collin quickly accepted, and thus the foundations were laid. Now it was time to build!
As an experienced leader who’s worked across industries, run organizations, grown a solid network; I knew that together, we could find the right team of experts to make this complex dream a working reality — the Elitium project came to life.
“Zooming in: Could you describe how the process of let’s say, renting a yacht, happens today?”
Sure — let’s look at our company Boatster’s Black as an example.
Bear in mind, we’ve tried to build the optimal solution with the technology at our disposal but until we can deploy our blockchain solution, even our process can be improved.
Currently, it works as follows:
- The client selects a yacht, which s/he reserves, kickstarting the contractual and payments process — the first manual, inefficient element.
- The client then makes a payment; these are primarily international transfers that themselves take days as banking is also outdated. Worse, on weekends, banks are closed, yet this is the most popular time for a yacht charter — leaving several parties waiting days for a payment to finally process.
- Now for the rental agreement, which requires all parties involved — as many as three — to sign, then countersign; meaning a repetitive back-and-forth ‘print, sign, scan, return’ sequence that makes no sense.
- Lots of people share the same document(s) through email, Dropbox, Google Drive — inefficient, insecure, and senseless — but there’s no other way!
- The same happens with identification, confidential documents, and other details, all shared through insecure digital channels.
- Moreover, communication is never centralized: Imagine coordinating multiple parties via email, WhatsApp, phone, Messenger — at some point, you will lose track of client requests, special arrangements, data — particularly when speaking with several yacht managers on larger-scale charters.
- Finally, there’s tracking deposits, insurance, passenger manifests, client preferences, coordinating staff with the yacht Captain, finalizing reservations, arranging berths — it’s endless administration!
But the headline solution is so straightforward: a customized Smart Contract that uses a native cryptocurrency as its payment method. The technology automates much of the process, with the entire experience managed within a single mobile app!
Just look at how cumbersome the current process is!?! Frustratingly, it has resulted in Boatsters failing to finalize several deals as clients and owners struggle with the bureaucracy of it all.
We’ve made it Elitium’s mission to solve the inefficiencies, and to do the same across multiple segments within what is a vast — and growing — luxury sector.
“How will the blockchain technology backing Elitium simplify this process?”
The capabilities unlocked by blockchain technology is what excites us most. We wrote about them in detail in our whitepaper, but I will cover the main points here.
First, Elitium envisions to become a global company: think eBay, Uber, Airbnb or Facebook, that’s the scale we aspire to. So, we need a robust platform that helps us manage millions of active daily users.
We’ve chosen to build on EOS.IO as this is one of the few existing platforms capable of supporting a significant volume of user requests at what we see as an ‘industrial scale’. This will be foundational to the success of the Elitium Network. Currently, EUM is still an ERC coin as this supports our exchange-listing strategy. However, as soon as we launch the dApp, we will migrate to EOS and offer a 1-to-1 coin swap.
Second, we’re building a world-class user experience that reflects the luxury lifestyle. So, we need technology that keeps pace with the user, offering timely, reliable feedback to anyone using the application. EOS prizes low latency as one of its core features, making sure international transactions process without delay, which aligns perfectly to our global proposition.
Finally, to deliver on the user experience, we also need consistency and reliability. EOS ensures efficiency and high-performance, handling the dApp workload to facilitate the development of the Elitium Network.
If I were to summarize the benefits of the EOS technology stack, I’d focus on the below:
- Instant Smart Contract settlement
- A sophisticated dApp solution
- Proven technology
- Leading tech partners
Better still, EOS has a team of investors and partners to support its development — Peter Thiel being one shining example.
In the context of Elitium, the EOS tech will help us across a range of processes including contract settlement; document handling; payment settlement; booking confirmation; even refund processing. As well as data storage, instant payments, atomic swaps, and lower transaction fees.
“Why not just use Bitcoin instead of EUM?”
It’s a question every cryptocurrency team should ask themselves: ‘Could another currency support our vision?’ In truth, when you’re building a project with the scale of Elitium in mind, you need a level of autonomy to enable the capabilities you need to succeed.
Bitcoin simply cannot satisfy the majority of Elitium’s use cases.
The Elitium experience will rely on platform stability. By having a proprietary cryptocurrency — EUM — we have some control over this. If we were to use Bitcoin, on the other hand, we would have to rely on a notoriously volatile currency and risk succumbing to its own security flaws, price manipulation, or other events beyond our control.
We also have a host of network innovations, planned. EUM allows us to process instant conversion to a selection of fiat currencies — USD, EUR, JPY, CHF, GBP, for example. We’re developing a bespoke rewards program that will use a secondary coin, EUMX. Plus, we have a tokenized insurance offering in EUMI; so client funds are even more secure.
Finally, we need to configure custom smart contracts. A proprietary blockchain allows us to do this with pre-coded contracts that clients can customize to a certain degree.
We appreciate Bitcoin is a fantastic solution for certain use cases.
Elitium, however, is building for a very specific need with a very real purpose in mind, and so Bitcoin doesn’t cut it for us. Whereas EUM supports our vision, can act as fuel within the ecosystem and will allow the development team to incorporate an innovative feature set.
The combination of the {Elitium Luxury Lifestyle App x EUM} will be a winning formula.
“How will the Elitium app work?”
The idea behind Elitium is to allow anyone who enjoys elements of luxury as part of their lifestyle, access to whatever they would like at the click of a button — or as close to that experience as possible.
With this in mind, we are designing the Elitium Lifestyle App with a focus on a variety of use cases.
- Services such as yacht charter, flight and hotel reservations, private jet hire and car rental
- The Elitium Boutique shopping experience including limited edition branded goods
- An on-demand, 24/7 personal concierge service partly powered by artificial intelligence
- A wallet solution that’s compatible with select (crypto)currencies
- Single sign-in to access any of our luxury services
- A tailored rewards program with its own coin, EUMX
What’s important to note is the relationship between the Elitium App and its underlying technology.
The app itself gives users seamless access to all the luxury goods and services they could imagine, including bespoke and one-time offerings. Plus, the benefit of a personal assistant, on demand. While partners suddenly gain access to this network of wealthy consumers looking to enjoy their crypto-riches, receiving an attractive commission on transactions within the platform.
The EOS-EUM partnership enables the entire client experience, ensuring nominal transaction fees, insured funds, and member loyalty. With partners enjoying process efficiencies through smart contracts, improved data transfer and storage, and the potential to innovate thanks to a suite of OPEN API’s.
We’re operating in a vast ecosystem that will create synergies for all involved.
EUM Staking Program
Elitium is also planning a staking program to reward members who choose to hold a balance of EUM in their wallet in the Elitium App. The intention behind the program is to help secure the network, underpin the stability of the EUM coin as well as incentivize adoption of the broader platform.
The program will obviously depend on our ability to obtain the relevant licenses and documentation. So, we expect this aspect to take a bit more time as legal circumstances and regulation dictates — but watch this space for announcements.
Artificial Intelligence
Then, there’s A.I. We want to incorporate all relevant cutting-edge technology into our experience to deliver the best user experience imaginable — after all, that’s what luxury is all about.
Artificial intelligence will help us stay in constant contact with members through instant communication. We’ll be able to surface recommendations to clients as they travel the world, using machine learning to understand preferences. Then, tailor communications to what people want.
Plus, there’s the timeless benefit of efficiency: AI makes the boat move faster.
“Elitium has a large team and quite some advisors — can you tell us something about how the team is formed?”
When we started Elitium, we knew we’d need a lot of help to realize our vision.
We believe the team we’ve built is perfectly positioned for success, with those in executive — and advisory — roles possessing a unique worldview and phenomenal skill set.
Jean-Pierre is the blockchain guru, a technical specialist with 20 years’ experience in IT. He’s a leader in his field having helped with the adoption of the internet in France during the ’90s. He will be pivotal in the platform development of Elitium.
Collin Nicolaas is the financial wizard who has spent a successful career building and scaling international businesses. He has evolved our company structure with an ever-present eye on internal efficiencies and legal strategy. He’s exactly what we need during an unpredictable phase.
I’ve got high-level tech experience; but more importantly, I bring a deep understanding of the luxury sector to the table, backed up by my knowledge of digital marketing and mobile applications. Three years in yachting gives me the perfect foundation from which to build out the Elitium Luxury Lifestyle proposition.
Among our advisory board, you will see a roster of experienced cryptologists, financial and legal experts, social media specialists and, of course, high-profile influencers; while our core team has helped build what you see today — the future focus is hiring technology and sales skill-sets.
We’ve registered the organization in Gibraltar, basing our HQ there, which means we’re regulatory compliant and mitigates the risk of disruption as we scale. Plus, we have a department based in Switzerland, so Elitium is fully compliant there as well!
“Looking at your roadmap: 2019 will be an exciting year for Elitium. What are the milestones you’re most looking forward to?”
First, let’s quickly look back.
2018 was an interesting year: a time to focus on strategy, compliance, getting the foundations in place during an uncertain 12 months.
Now that’s there, 2019 has become so much more exciting!
We’ve got so much in store, here are just a few things that come to mind…
- We’re looking to build on, and expand our organizational setup. We’re currently based out of Gibraltar and Switzerland with team members covering most corners of the globe — reflecting our future user base.
But we’re now focused on extending our reach with new partnerships across technology, regulation, luxury brands, and more. - We’re kicking off development of the Elitium Luxury (lifestyle, goods and services) App: our one-stop-shop where we’ll manage client’s luxury lifestyles via a groundbreaking mobile experience — a first in luxury!
- We’re well on our way to the first ever Elitium Luxury Event in collaboration with our lifestyle brand partners where we will also introduce the final details of the exclusive Elitium Member Network.
- EUM is already available to buy, but we list on Bitmart very soon — alongside more major exchanges in the coming months — in parallel with other third-party wallet providers.
- We’ve listed EUM on our very own decentralized exchange(!) — a feature we plan to integrate into the Elitium App in the near future, the Elitium Exchange will be live soon.
- We’re also scaling our offering beyond yachting and private jets; in 2019, we’re aiming to build a scalable, secure solution for application across the luxury industry, targeting more than just the super rich — think luxury vacations, premier car rentals, unique dining experiences, all catering for an audience with different spending powers.
Luxury — and a luxurious lifestyle — are relative concepts: terms to consider from a broad perspective. For many, booking a holiday in a beautiful resort with a scheduled flight on a typical airline — this is luxurious. Buying a few bottles of vintage wine, another luxury experience. Just because someone purchases a piece of jewelry perceived to be luxury does not mean to say the jewelry has to be expensive.
Ultimately, Elitium need not be the reserve of a wealthy clientele. Rather, anyone on any level of income with a taste for luxury that fits within their budget should be able to use the platform.
Elitium is for everyone who loves comfort, luxury, not merely for the so-called rich.
The vision is forever growing.
At times, we need to slow down just to regain our focus but, as you can see, we’ve got huge plans for 2019, and beyond!
“Raoul — I hear you have something nice for our readers. A giveaway?”
Yes — indeed!
As a thank you for taking an interest in the Elitium project, we wanted to create something special for your readers.
The Elitium Team is inviting them to join our one-time Elitium giveaway for the opportunity to win one of our four incredible prizes.
How to enroll:
Easy like that!
“How can people stay up-to-date?”
There’s so much going on in the next few weeks, we’d love for people to stay in touch. For to-the-minute updates on airdrops and upgrades, we suggest the following channels:
- Telegram: t.me/elitiumofficial
- Twitter: twitter.com/elitium_eum
- Website: www.elitium.io
Do sign up to the Elitium Telegram group to join us on this incredible journey.
Beyond giving you access to a unique giveaway, it’s a space to hear about ‘everything Elitium,’ to share your vision of luxury, or simply discuss the exciting developments of the blockchain world.
I am not a financial advisor who tells people to buy certain assets.
That being said, after extensive talks with the team of Elitium, I am fully supporting Raoul and his team’s venture.
I am being compensated for my time writing this article.
Thanks for reading,
Mr. Backwards
