Interview — Nick Murphy — Head of External Operations at Beaxy Exchange
What is your name, function and role at Beaxy?
Nick Murphy — Head of External Operations.
People joke that I help with anything and everything that’s not directly related to development. When I first started with Beaxy, I was most focused on the fundraising aspect, but as the project progressed and fundraising goals were achieved, I started taking a more hands-on approach with the operations and strategy side of the business, as well as helping expand company exposure and visibility to folks in the legacy finance world and local Chicago market. As of late, I have spent a lot of time working on custody solutions, fiat onboarding/offboarding, and ensuring liquidity on the exchange.
How did you first learn about Bitcoin and the crypto space?
I first heard of Bitcoin / cryptocurrency when I was in college around 2011/2012. I was intrigued by the space and instantly wanted to get involved. I started by trading Bitcoin here and there, but didn’t really get serious until I had graduated. After graduation, I was trading more and more, and quickly became obsessed with the space.
Which aspects of Bitcoin and the crypto space made you choose to explore it more?
From the first time I learned about Bitcoin, I saw a lot of potential for price movement to the upside. I also recognized the underlying blockchain technology and knew it had the ability to disrupt a variety of different industries in a matter of time.
Did you work at anything crypto related before you joined Beaxy?
Yes, I advised a few projects and had launched a cryptocurrency investment fund in 2017.
How did you learn about Beaxy?
I was first introduced to Beaxy very early on…. Over 16 months ago. A friend of mine (who you guys now know as Jared, our Director of Customer Support) asked me to take a call with the Founder/CEO. It was initially set to be a 30 minute call that (due to both of us being extremely talkative people) ended up being about 3 hours long.
After just a few minutes of talking with Artak, I immediately felt the passion and enthusiasm he had for creating a better experience for cryptocurrency traders around the world, and I quickly decided I wanted to be involved. Artak saw Beaxy as a solution to the endless complaints that members of communities across the world had in regards to exchanges.
When did you join Beaxy and why?
I came on board as an advisor towards the beginning of 2018. Towards midsummer, Artak and I had gotten to a point where we were on the phone for 5–6 hours a day, and he asked me to move to Chicago to work side by side. I moved the next week.
What does a typical work day look like for you?
My typical workday consists of… a lot of meetings… and a lot of calls. We’ve all been working extremely hard, putting in long hours to make Beaxy the success we have envisioned for so long.
During the fundraising stage, I spent most of my days in the office, then had calls throughout the night with people overseas. I vividly remember several occasions where I was finishing pitch calls at 1:30 am, then being back up at 4 am for 5 am calls with London!
Now, most of my time is spent in meetings with the team or engaging with extremely successful folks from the legacy financial markets, exploring and developing our overall market structure, building out our relationships with liquidity providers, custody solutions, banking partners, etc. It’s never a dull moment, but I love every second of every day.
This is an amazing team to work with and I feel like every time we get together to explore an idea or discuss any given topic, we come up with new, better ways to do things that have never even been thought of before.
What would you consider as the greatest joys in the things you do for Beaxy?
It’s a great feeling to know that we have achieved our fundraising goals in the middle of a bear market. That wasn’t easy, but knowing I (with a ton of help from the team) contributed to our overall ability to build out this amazing exchange, definitely brings me the greatest joy.
It also brings me a ton of joy when I spend time with these leaders from legacy financial markets…. They have taught me so, so much about how markets have worked in the past, what has / hasn’t worked (and why), and how the big players have achieved success. When I learn about a lot of the things that have happened in the finance world prior to crypto, it amazes me, and highlights how young and undeveloped our industry really is.
Recognizing this has been great, as it has led us to develop and implement strategies and plans that we think will help legitimize the cryptocurrency space, help traders develop and improve, and give people a safe, reliable, transparent platform to go to when they want to trade.
What’s the moment that made you most proud so far at Beaxy?
Hands down, I’ve been most proud of watching every one of my team members evolve into better versions of themselves. We have all gone through extreme breakthroughs in not only our professional lives, but also in our personal lives. We all hold one another up, and always help push each other to new limits. Personally, I feel like a completely different person from when I first started, and I wouldn’t be able to say that without the help and encouragement of my team on a daily basis.
In your own words how would you describe Beaxy?
Beaxy is a knight in shining armor. In an industry filled with so many scams, shady behavior, lack of honesty, and lack of transparency, we differentiate by having integrity, being truthful, and providing users with a safe, reliable place to get involved with cryptocurrency. We have built everything from the ground up with this mentality, listening to our community, and building out exactly what people want and need.
Do you see any room for improvements in Bitcoin and crypto?
Definitely. I think there are some major technological challenges that still need to be overcome, but I think the biggest improvement will be tied to regulation and helping improve the general public’s knowledge and understanding of what cryptocurrency really is and how it can be used.
Do you see any room for improvements for exchanges and how do you think Beaxy is going to solve them?
YES. YES. YES. From a technical perspective, most exchanges offer the same subpar tools and user experience. Exchange matching engines are horribly put together (have you ever had the good ‘ole “Order Submission Error” ??) and typically have very limited order types, basic functionality, etc.
We provide the fastest, highest throughput matching engine in the game, pushing over 250,000 transactions per second, per pair, which is lightyears beyond anyone else in the space. We have a variety of order types, portfolio management tools, and much, much more.
Cryptocurrency exchanges today aren’t trustworthy, aren’t reliable, and don’t prioritize their users over themselves. A lot of exchanges are not prepared for the future — for example: any exchange not taking KYC… this won’t last when regulation comes in.
Many exchanges are partaking in things like frontrunning, prop trading against their users, and millions of other things that would NEVER fly in the traditional markets. Beaxy solves this by being 100% transparent with every move, being connected to our users / community 24/7, not pushing extravagant fees on trades, and offering a variety of tools to help our users, to name a few.
What is the thing that drives and motivates you to build a better exchange every single day?
I’m more motivated to build a better exchange every single time I spend time with mentors and friends from the traditional markets and explore different tactics and strategies that we can improve and implement that will completely change the cryptocurrency trading experience.
What’s your future vision for Beaxy and what is the thing you hope to achieve in the long-term for Beaxy?
Our future vision for Beaxy is to be the one-stop-shop for anything crypto related. When you think crypto, we want you to also think Beaxy. We want to ultimately build out a futures/options/derivatives platform that (in conjunction with our current platform) will allow you to spot buy/sell cryptocurrency and hedge that position with a future/option/derivative out of the same wallet, on the same exchange.
When will Beaxy have succeeded in your opinion?
When I can google my own name and be ranked higher in SEO than the musician. LOL. Joking (kind of). Beaxy will have succeeded when we dominate the market, bringing users over from our competitors, activating users that may be on the sidelines after the downturn, and bringing on new users into the crypto space.
And I would like to end with giving an opportunity to say anything you still want to say to the community or in general
I just want to thank my team members for all of their hard work, encouragement, and drive for success over the last 18+ months. To the community, I thank you for your continued support, trust, and belief in us this far. We have built something truly amazing and it’s only going to get better as time goes on.
Thanks a lot, Nick for taking the time to answer all of the questions and sharing all of this information. Follow Nick on Twitter here.
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Other things to keep your eyes on:
- Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeaxyExchange
- Official Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeaxyExchange/
- Official Discord: https://discord.gg/rMX3s5m
