Maicoin: Creating a Link Between Digital and Local
Maicoin is one of the only available solutions for buying and selling Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Taiwan. They are one of the few cryptocurrency marketplace platforms that also allow the option of bitcoin transactions at your local convenience store. We had the chance to sit down with Nick Chang, General Manager, and Chris Chuang, Business Developer, in the offices in Taipei and talk about the cryptocurrency scene in Taiwan, Maicoin’s services, and their sister company AMIS.
Jason: Can you give us a general overview of your startup and what you guys do here?
Chris: So we have three main business divisions: First the brokerage side, which is buy and sell. Right now we have bitcoin and ethereum. The company was founded about three years ago (2014), and that’s the basic business. We allow people to pay through bank transfer and also convenience stores, and we partnered with a chain called Hi-Life, so people can make purchases through there.
Nick: Our [transaction process at Hi-Life] is you place an order, and then you pay for the order [at the counter]. Hi-life is updating their system next year, so they will have an English interface [then], and it is important because we have an increasing number of foreigners here in Taiwan.
Chris: Another division is merchant services, so we help small businesses accept bitcoin, and we convert that to Taiwanese dollars for them. It’s a little bit slow; a lot of merchants aren’t as keen to pick it up because there’s not a huge demand yet (everyone’s saving bitcoin). In the future we hope that can grow. We have around seven or eight merchants right now all over (e.g. independent music artists, fashion, organic food).
Nick: We have an e-commerce [company], a hotel, a few bars, a brewery, a spa, and a few indie fashion designer brands.
Jason: What’s been the overall impression from the merchants?
Nick: [For merchants], it’s free marketing.
Chris: Most of them are interested because they hear a lot about bitcoin, but they do have concerns about how they can process returns, and then the price fluctuation.
Jason: When you were starting up, how big was the cryptocurrency scene and how has it changed now?
Nick: Very very slow. Still slow, but we’re seeing some growth, especially with the price surge [of bitcoin] and ICOs, so things are growing, [but] the perception is still more negative than positive. Many people still see [bitcoin’s] strong ties to an underground economy, but people are enticed towards wealth and seeing the price go up, so this can definitely cause a lot of change in perception.
Jason: What would you say have been some of the biggest changes or developments since you guys started to now? The public perception of Cryptocurrency for example?
Chris: I think it is changing; there was kind of some negative connotations, but its differently has started to get more mainstream in the news and magazine. [Now] we’re interviewing people for our customer service, and we were asking them “what’s their perception?” and they actually said that it [bitcoin] is starting to be viewed as trendy now, so it’s been changing.
Jason: As you’ve been growing, What have been some of the challenges and hurdles that you have faced? Whether dealing with the business, outsider investors, or government?
Nick: The government is not very proactive about regulating this. We as an industry player would definitely like to have some government intervention in this so that people would have a better understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. We’re definitely pushing that, but we’re not policy makers. The Taiwan government is definitely very aware of the blockchain technology as it is a huge part of the fintech trend that every country is trying to stay relevant, but it seems government officials are reluctant to acknowledge the fact that blockchain technology derives from Bitcoin, which should also be taken seriously.
Chris: They’re pretty open to electronic payments and fintech.
Nick: Electronic payment is an obvious trend, and Taiwan is definitely trying to catch up in this area. The thing is We don’t really have dominant players in Taiwan: it’s not like in China where you have WeChat Pay or Alipay. They thrive because they start out as a social media platform and e-commerce, so they gather their user base first and then they introduce the peer to peer use cases when their users are encouraged to send money, aka red pouch, during Chinese New Year then the merchants start wanting to accept it as a payment, that’s the sequence how they succeed. Here in Taiwan they want to start with the merchant payment gateway first, but it’s tougher to build traction this way. To a merchant, how do you decide who to go with? There’s all sorts of gateways; you’re going to choose the one that offers you the lowest fee when there lacks product differentiation. So they start a bidding war, and it goes nowhere. No one’s really using them, because everyone is waiting for other people to pick on that is most popular.
Jason: Where do you see the future for growth in Maicoin and cryptocurrencies in Taiwan?
Chris: So we have a third division that’s similar to a brother/sister company to Maicoin. It’s called AMIS, and we’re helping them develop a private blockchain. We have been working with JP Morgan helping them develop their consensus protocol, so that’s more of the enterprise solution that we think has more longer-term viability. We’re actually working with local banks here such as Fubon and Taishin to help them to develop an Ethereum-based blockchain. AMIS is part of the EEA (Ethereum Enterprise Alliance), I think it’s one of the first members.
[Writer’s note: at the time of writing, in the past week J.P. Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon came out strongly against bitcoin as a cryptocurrency, but was open to blockchain technology, and the firm has been involved in blockchain technology since 2016 starting with Quorum, their blockchain program that has been working with AMIS]
Nick: Yeah Fubon and AMIS are the founding member of the EEA, So [since] AMIS is our sister company, we provide blockchain technology consultation services to institutions, for example setting up a private blockchain for them. The structure for AMIS is meant for bank clearance, and the goal is to encourage its participants to develop mobile payment applications on top of the infrastructure, therefore each bank in the AMIS network will have its own mobile payment application that will work with others in the same AMIS network. Essentially it’s like a VISA network, but deposit- or cash-based, and capable of handling peer to peer transactions; it’s not only consumer to business like a credit card is, so this will be bi-directional. You can accept electronic payments even if you’re not a merchant, very similar to WeChat Pay except what We’re offering is a truly decentralized solution.
