Jan 16, 2021
B21 Invest — Telegram QUIZ & AMA — December 23
On Wednesday, December 23, we had the pleasure to welcome to our Telegram chat:
Miles Paschini, Co-Founder.
We asked him questions about the development of B21 Invest.
Some sentences have been slightly edited for readability but the meaning has been conserved.
Summary
B21 is an app developed to make investing in crypto assets easy for everyone.
B21 is live in 65+ countries with 5 different languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian).
Users can create a customized portfolio of crypto assets and start investing with as low as $25.
Introduction
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: Can you tell us a little about yourselves. What did you do before crypto, how did you get into crypto, and did you have any other venture in crypto previous to being involved with B21?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: Hi, I’m Miles Paschini, an investor and serial entrepreneur with almost 30 years of experience in building innovative businesses in mobile and financial services markets. I have seven issued patents related to payment processing services. I was the founder of EWI Holdings which was sold to Blackhawk Inc. in 2006. Recently, I developed international award-winning debit card products that were implemented by the industries leading e-wallet and exchange operators in over 70 countries. Our first clients were Xapo and Bitpay, we grew that business to over 1,000,000 users
Product
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: What’s your role at B21 and what is the project about in a few simple sentences?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: I am one of the founders and honestly share a lot of roles. What I enjoy is on the product side and the corporate side of things. There are a lot of hats to wear as an entrepreneur, so it never gets boring.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: Can you share some more details about the B21 Invest project?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: B21 was developed to make investing in crypto assets easy for everyone. We wanted to build something that did not exist in the market. Technical interfaces like Binance are just too complicated for mass-market users. To accomplish this, we had to develop a lot of new back end trading systems.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: How has the journey been so far for B21?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: It has been a challenge. We had to go through many legal opinions, many market cycles, design challenges, etc. The product development was enjoyable, but we had to figure out many things to smooth out the experience and keep our focus on our product design goals.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: Is there any extensive KYC procedure to follow, as we have on other exchanges?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: B21 is a regulated product and as such we have to follow KYC procedures. When you sign up, you need to provide identity information. While this can be a pain, we must build a scalable product that is compliant in many markets. With this said, we are constantly working on making this process easier.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: What is the token use case? How did you make sure it captures the value of the ecosystem you’re building?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: B21 token was modeled after the Binance token. We wanted to make it a key tool in our ecosystem so it has several functions. It is used to pay fees on the platform, it is used to determine the status of a user by staking into their portfolio and it is used for referrals and acquisition. Our token locking into portfolios ensures that as the network grows that more tokens get taken out of circulation. This is good. We are implementing new products which revenue from them will be used to buy back tokens.
It is built for a true network effect!
Q — Twitter user @AlbayHaluk: What do you think is holding the DeFi space back? What is preventing the mass adoption of DeFi products?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: Yes. We are introducing a DeFi product very soon. It is in final testing now. We think DeFi is great as it enables customers to earn rewards on their portfolio while they are speculating on growth. DeFi on its own is very complicated to manage so B21 is making it as easy as an on/off button. As far as growth, I think it is growing at an amazing pace. We just need to make it approachable to mass users.
Q — Telegram user Angel: Which of the six languages have been added?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We have English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.
Q — Telegram user Smirnov: What exclusive benefits do VIP members receive?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: Access to premium services, like DeFi, Cards, promotions, lowered fees, and new tokens.
Q — Telegram user Atul Kumar: When will the world stop being afraid to use DeFi? What is B21 Invest doing for the mass adoption of its technology?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We are taking the complexity out. It will be as easy as the on/off button.
Q — Telegram user Maxim: What are B21 plans shaping up for marketing and building a strong core community which is essential for any new project in the crypto industry?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We are here, direct with founders and customers and building relationships. Good product, good service, good communication.
Team
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: How many people are on the team? For how long have you been working on B21?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We have 9–10 people actively working on the project. We started in 2018 and have focused on building the backend and app. We have developed a lot of proprietary technology like our micro trading engine and our multi assets trade engine and soon our DeFi features. It is cool stuff that makes complex things look easy for our users. We are very happy we have delivered a good and ever-improving product to market.
Finance
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: You started in 2018 and have been around throughout the bear market. Did you raise funds so far? If so, how did you handle them? Are you planning to do any future raises?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: Yes. The bear market period was interesting. We had to keep faith in our vision. We raised about $2m in 2018 and used the funds to build the platform and legal fees. Recently, we announced a new round with CCIX Global. The amount is not disclosed due to investor requirements but is an exciting relationship and Vishal Uttam has joined our board. The CCIX relationship will help us on the growth side and introduction to new markets like the Philippines.
Q — Telegram user El Golfo: What are the remarkable and practical ways to generate revenue in B21?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We do not give investment advice, but I pick a nice portfolio and invest over time.
Q — Telegram user Prerna Malik: What types of cards can be used to make transfers in this DeFi model?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: You can invest with cards (Visa and Master), ACH, bank transfer, and in India, UPI/NEFT.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: Where else can we buy B21 tokens?
A — Parth from B21 Invest: A lot of people have asked about $B21 tokens. You can currently buy them directly at Bitfinex.
Security
Q — Twitter user @OkanBoysan29: Regulation is very important. Many projects were closed in many countries due to failure to use the correct regulations and permits. To go global, how does the B21 Invest team deal with these issues?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We have taken a multi-pronged approach. Presently, we work with a custodian who supports us in many countries, including the USA. We also applied for a DLT license in Gibraltar and have been approved for a principal license. We invested in a licensed exchange in Estonia and our founders have a large stake in a US bank that has a digital asset custody license.
Business Development
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: What stage is the project at?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: We are live in 65+ countries and the product is working well. We have new user growth every day and continue to enhance the product. Most exciting is we are getting first-time investors involved and that was the mission, to join in the mass market. Now with the token launch, things are coming full circle.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: Is there a particular region in the world you focus on?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: The app is supported in 6 languages so we are trying to be as inclusive as possible. I would say to date our best success has been in India and the USA. Lately, we are seeing new users from Japan as well.
Q — Ayeley from GAINS: What are some of the features of your platform that make it attractive to first-time investors as compared to a technical interface like Binance?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: There are several, let me mention a few. First, you can invest in let’s say 5 tokens for $25. This would mean some tokens may be getting purchased for only a few dollars. On a regular exchange, this is not easy to buy a micro amount. Also, you can buy all 5 tokens in a single transaction, with a few clicks. In this example, a user gets to buy a microtransaction of a token and a basket of tokens in a click. The back end is complex but B21 makes it look easy and fast only a few seconds.
Q — Twitter user @Cebihuseyin61: What is the most ambitious goal of your project? Can you share any upcoming updates?
A — Miles Paschini from B21 Invest: It is a big world and many people do not get easy access to investments that can improve their lives. We want to reach millions and millions of users and expose them to opportunities for investment that are presently only available to large investors and very technically-inclined people. It is all about reaching that next layer of the market in a good way. As far as the roadmap, we mentioned the DeFi coming. We are also adding Cards for withdrawal for easy spending of portfolio value. In the USA, we are going to add support for IRA investments so people can invest pre-tax dollars into crypto.
We are very excited as B21 trading is now live on Bitfinex! 🚀🚀.
Thanks for coming in Miles, and the other team members who joined us today. It was fun to learn more about B21 Invest. I’m looking forward to trying out the platform, especially your DeFi component when it comes out. Anything else you’d like to say? Where can we follow you? — Ayeley from GAINS
I would like everyone to follow us on all social media handles and join our telegram channel. Website, Deck, Onepager, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, Linkedin and Youtube. — Parth from B21 Invest
Join us now! Enjoy quality articles, daily curated news, insightful infographics, and enter a vibrant, fun, and knowledgeable community!
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