FROM POKER PROFESSION TO BLOCKCHAIN OBSESSION

-The story of Multi CEO, Levin Holz

By the summer of 2006, at the awkward age of 15, Alex “Levin” Holz was already balancing his time between anonymous poker forums, cell and molecular biology at secondary school and a social circle of Hamburg retrobates that guaranteed nothing but a lifetime of community service and courtroom visits. Something had to give. And that give you could say came in the form of a Reddit post highlighting the wonders of an online card game that was only just reaching the container bays of Germany’s largest shipping port.

That game, Texas Hold Em, would be the approach to life that would bring him early success. It was this approach, as many of you reading this may relate to, that led to an early introduction to Bitcoin, mining and the future potential of DLT.

“I was fortunate,” he explains with the same composed face that most likely won him so many adversaries within Macau’s felt tables. “Aside from the odd Hamburg soccer match or Counter-Strike LAN party, I really didn’t see much value in going out, or holding staring competitions in dimly lit techno clubs. Playing online poker and keeping active on tech forums was the perfect solution to keeping distractions at bay.”

So how about your transition to Blockchain?

My introduction really came through both Poker forums and the increasing need to move uncensorable money around the world. Having to use online payment providers such as Neteller and Skrill was a headache, and it was these issues that ultimately led to my fascination with the concept of being able to transfer significant amounts of money at almost zero cost.

Next was a brief but eye-opening foray into mining. I remember spending more time trying to figure out how to set up the original rigs than actually performing the mining itself. It was a little more difficult to obtain online guides in those days. Nevertheless, a few months of mining later, BTC and LTC really started to take off. It was the early days of mainstream adoption you could say. Unfortunately however, my gains from mining did not match my expectations and that led me to just buying Bitcoin directly via Bitstamp, which as some of you may have experienced, required multiple phone calls and visits to my “trusted” bank.

Ensuing this, I, like many, participated in a rather discouraging 2 year bear-market in which Bitcoin basically became a $300 stable coin, leading to me spending most of my time reading whatever was available online, staying the course, and remaining true to the Bitcoin vision.

Thankfully, Bitcoin reached the fabled $1,000 mark for a second time, allowing me to finally retire from poker, place all my full focus into crypto, and most importantly cut-out the never ending trips to Macau.

It was around this time that began my new love, investing in tech start-ups and creating an accelerator, MouseBelt, with my co-founders in San-Francisco. This project is one I’m exceedingly proud of due to the fact it has allowed me to collaborate with many industry leaders such as Mastercard, Binance_X, and Stellar, to name a few.

So, why an exchange, and why now?

I’ve probably registered accounts on 50+ exchanges through my time in this space, and quite honestly, never found the perfect fit. I find that a lot of exchange operators really aren’t that involved or interested in the tech itself and are more likely chasing quick profits via listing fees and/or through the offering of high-risk trading products without adopting the true, long term vision of being in this ever-growing space.

At Multi, we are exceedingly focused on matching traders with their needs, whilst simultaneously offering coins that in our honest opinion can genuinely add longstanding value to the crypto space. Coins that we, as a team, can morally support with listings, liquidity and informative content.

How would you describe the key pillars of Multi?

We have a diverse team that includes people from all over the world. It’s allowed for both a really interesting and hard-working dynamic. Overall, what really stands out, in my opinion, is our unanimous goal to sustain a really high level of business ethics, which yes I know, sounds like everyone else, but I know we truly mean it. Examples include having a strict no listing fees policy — why? It allows us to collaborate with projects we truly believe in. Additionally, we create valuable content for the tokens we list because that is one of the key things this industry is lacking; education.

How does Multi differ from its competitors?

Frankly speaking, I feel like most exchanges are just trying to do everything and anything. Many, you could say, are just pioneers at copying each other. This often results in a bloated, user-unfriendly environment, with products that offer next to zero liquidity. Our aim has always been to stay laser-focused on our original mission; to offer a stable platform for margin trading of mid-cap coins that are not available elsewhere. This in itself, you could call the main differentiator between us and other exchange providers.

What does the future hold for Multi.io?

There’s no shortage of ideas for potential products we could offer, but for us it’s imperative to never overwhelm a new market participant with too much noise. We’re always going to strive towards offering an easier experience for trading and investing while gradually offering more complex products, but it’s important that these new additions tie into the Multi ecosystem in a way that we feel would add value to the crypto space as a whole.

And finally, how would you evaluate the current landscape for Blockchain? What does the future hold for cryptocurrencies as a whole?

With the Federal Reserve recently going on national TV and saying that there is an “INFINITE AMOUNT OF CASH” available, people will soon start to realize that they’re being cheated on. We already see increases in interest from retail investors, and barely a day goes by in which i’m not being approached by a friend or family member with regards to purchasing Bitcoin. There’s a common denominator between the both.

Personally, I’m especially excited about the DeFi movement which we plan to get really behind, whether it be through the enabling of margin trading for multiple coins and/or some fun, educational challenges which have already commenced as you can take part in and monitor from our Twitter and Telegram pages/groups.

Rapid-fire questions for Levin:

Pizza or Kebab?

-Kebab

First Altcoin?

-NXT

If you could have a drink down the pub with anyone, who would it be?

-Stewart Butterfield

What would you do on Mars for fun?

-Long Bitcoin

Favorite crypto projects?

-Kyber.network, Republic Protocol, ThorChain

Simulation or Reality?

-Simulation. No reality would have lifestyle bloggers.

Historian or Futurist?

-Please don’t shill me, Graham Hancock. It’s all I hear from my BD. Futurist

Best Investment?

-ChainLink (Greetings to my Link Marines)

Worst Investment?

-Getting scammed out of 180 BTC in 2014 #LTCGear

Worst Trade?

-Recently? Probably every trade made on the 12th March

Best Trade?

-BSV early 2020. Highly recommendable for swing trading.