Antanas “TonyG” Guoga on Bankera, Blockchain and the Digital Shift in Europe
Bankera is all about “BANKING FOR THE BLOCKCHAIN ERA”. They had one of the most successful pre-ICO funding rounds ever and the project is accompanied by several industry giants.
When I first learned about the advisors behind the project Bankera, one specific member of the team sparked my interest — Antanas Guoga aka TonyG. I follow him for many years now, since I first saw him play poker on TV. He is way more than a poker player: entrepreneur, business man, politician and sports manager to mention a few. I had the honor to interview him and ask him some questions about the project, Bankera, blockchain and the digital shift in Europe
If you are new to Bankera read my article here.
Without further ado we come to the interview. Have fun!
YZ: Dear Mr. Guoga, thank you upfront for answering my questions. When I learned that you are advisor to the Bankera project, it sparked my interest. I’ve been following you for some time now and am fascinated by your career. Can you introduce yourself quickly to the readers and tell them how you got in contact with the blockchain economy?
Antanas Guoga: Hi, I am Antanas Guoga, a digital entrepreneur and a member of European Parliament. I am also known as TonyG for the poker community. I have been successful entrepreneur at least for a decade. More than 500 employees are working in the companies I have invested. The companies that I have created in Australia, the USA, and in Lithuania are generating great results. Born in Lithuania, I moved to Australia at the age of 11.
My first interaction with blockchain ecosystem, was back in 2013 when I bought my first bitcoins to check how the technology works. I am on the record at the committee meeting at the European Parliament for inviting other politicians to buy some cryptocurrency and to check in practice how does the technology evolve and how can innovations change our economies.
However, I have become more involved in the blockchain ecosystem when I met co-founders of SpectroCoin (Bankera’s predecessor).
Bankera chose to operate on the NEM and Ethereum blockchain. Choosing the NEM blockchain made the project interesting to me, as I am a supporter of the ecosystem and community. How were you involved in choosing the ecosystem you operate on and how much importance do you think it has in regard to the future success of it?
While SpectroCoin even by its name has always focused on spectrum of cryptocurrencies and was one of the first wallets supporting DASH in addition to Bitcoin, so it was a natural move to support multiple blockchains for Banker tokens as well. However, the introduction of Lon Wong, the president of NEM foundation to team Bankera managers made a huge impact to issue Bankera tokens as both ERC20 and Mosaic tokens. On one hand, it will be a nice natural experiment to see which protocol is better as the tokens itself will be the same, but will also make it more preferably for different contributors and will be a stimulus for Bankera contributors who have not heard about NEM before to try it and compare their experience to the experience they have while using ethereum.
How strong is your influence on the project as an advisor? Do you and Lon Wong for example meet with the team to discuss strategic decisions e.g. building an exchange for Bankera?
Our as advisor’s role is mainly to provide a feedback an opinion of where market is turning and what are potential needs of customers, we do have meetings with team to discuss the most current developments as well. However, the Bankera is a natural development of SpectroCoin, which was planned initially and an exchange is a part of ecosystem the team wants to develop.
Building a bank for the digital era is not something done overnight. You had a working MVP in place when you started promoting Bankera — setting it apart from most ICO projects that are merely whitepapers at the moment they are launched. As an early mover you now set the fundamentals for the future standards digital banks will be measured by. Do you think the acceptance for these non-traditional businesses will grow rapidly within the next few years?
I believe, that what we call traditional and digital banks will be defined as banks in next 10–20 years, just their story how they ended up there will be different. But if we look at general trends in banking, even traditional banks are moving to internet by closing their physical branches or entering new markets without physical presence as well as reduction of correspondent bank relationships and a need for alternatives such as cryptocurrencies, it will make it naturally that consumers will have to accept non-traditional banks to be able to transfer and exchange money cheaply and safely.
You are a man of many hats. As a politician you work at the forefront of political labour for acceptance and development in technological shift in Europe. What is your feeling about the sentiment of European politicians in regards to the rapid growth of blockchain economy?
As a member of the European Parliament I see that my other colleagues are trying not firstly to learn what this technology has to offer, expand their understanding about ways it can be applied as well as how those applications comply with EU law. So I am positive that other colleagues from the European Parliament will not try to hinder the growth and evolution of this technology. The overall attitude in the European institutions is positive and oriented towards enablement framework. European Commission is going to launch European Observatory Forum and I believe it will boost even more discussions on the application of the blockchain technology, ensuring more transparency and security for various business and public administrations.
Do you think regulation will be the main concern in countries that are aware of the developments or do you think adaption to the current state of the art in technology will be prioritized?
I want to believe that at least in Europe the blockchain technology will keep on evolving and regulations will not slow it down. At the current stage, the technology itself is in premature stage, we are learning about the possibilities where it can be applied and checking its limitations. I think it’s wise firstly to learn and fully understand future full potential of the blockchain technology and then discuss whether regulation is needed and if yes, which way is the best to do it.
Recently I had the honor of interviewing Swiss National Councillor Marcel Dobler; he is very outspoken about digitalization in Switzerland and is involved with developing an electronic ID solution. Switzerland is not the only country debating the digital shift: In north-eastern Europe, countries like Lithuania (your homeland) or Estonia are pushing digitalization a lot. Do you think countries that are not top-ranking in traditional economic scales gain momentum to grow in non traditional ways by being early movers and adopters of new technologies?
Definitely! Digital economy is a great catch for countries like Lithuania. We don’t have the natural resources. We have been building our market economy only for just 25 years. We are hungry for success and our talents gain the added value not from the classic economic sectors. Technology and innovations are benefiting for the young economies and its talents. More than ten years ago I surprised many people by coming back to live to Lithuania after spending more than 20 years in Australia, Asia and all over the World. I deeply believe that Lithuania is so far the best country to live in with talented and open people wanting to change the world and are open for new opportunities of the digital age.
I have organised the event #SWITCH! on the modern technologies and entrepreneurship few months ago in Kaunas, Lithuania — it was attended by 15 thousand participants mostly young people. We focused on trendy developments of the digital market. Cryptocurrencies and other applications of blockchain technology were amongst the topics discussed. People could not fit in to the large audiences to talk to NEM and Dash representatives! This is something I am extremely proud of. This inspired me to initiate the Blockchain Centre Vilnius which is connecting the partner centres in Melbourne and Shanghai which will offer a hub for startups coworking, education and community events on blockchain technology.
Lithuania and its capital Vilnius offers all necessary working conditions for such companies: one of the fastest internet in Europe, flexible conditions to establish business in a short term. There live thousands of multilingual talents for affordable costs for a company. Just recently, we adopted structural changes and liberalised our Labour law and immigration policy.
Many people know you from TV where you were present as a well known poker player. I have a background with gambling myself, mainly poker and sports betting. Making calls (no pun intended) in the crypto world often seems quite similar to playing a game of poker — due to making decisions on incomplete information. Are you still a poker player and do you feel the same? Do you think your experience in the poker world made you a better business man?
As most people know, for 8 years I was a professional poker player. I stopped my professional poker career after I entered politics. This was an exciting period of my life but it was never my goal in life. However, looking back at the experience that I gained in poker, it helped me to train my logical, analytical thinking, especially when it comes to strategy. That is why poker always fascinated me as sport. In business as well as in politics, there is a great value to have a good strategy and foresee the next tactical move.
Besides Bankera you are working on many other projects, from sports management to a hotel — are you trying to align your projects e.g. bringing crypto payment to the other projects you are involved in or even moving their accounts to Bankera?
Blockchain technology is a revolution removing the middle men, bringing power back to people. And cryptocurrency is a most important application of this technology which is going to develop further. There might be ups and downs but I do not believe in the apocalypses of the industry. Japan already recognises Bitcoin as the official payment mean. This is going to evolve. I am believer and see the advantages for all the sectors. For example, the latest initiative I am backing in is connected to the healthy lifestyle and wellness starting with the fitness wallet. It will utilise the data we track about our health and wearables to reward tokens for achieved fitness and mindfulness goals.
Since I believe in Bankera, see its future potential, I recommend it to everyone to try it out and experience the new era of blockchain banking. If the account in Bankera will be a good solution for future projects, I will definitely think about bringing both projects together in order to fulfill each other.
Last but not least — most important in crypto — when moon for Bankera?
Bankera has a very strong value proposition as it only has its own exchange, to ensure transparency and to have a steady road to the moon. As people have already recognised, Bankera is increasing its value on fundamentals, not on speculations and marketing i.e. by releasing actual products, not just an ideas. Hence, one thing I can guarantee is that Bankera will have a comfortable trip to the moon as it has chosen a great path based on delivering, not speculation, however if it will be next year or within 3 years depends also on the ecosystem and other unknowns.
Dear Mr. Guoga, thank you very much for taking time to answer my questions. I wish you all the best for all your future projects!
Thank you for reading — if you liked what you read, feel free to share, comment and follow me. Also feel free to suggest any improvements and corrections to the article in the answers below!
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For extra “thank yous” here are my donation addresses:
- XEM: NDYKAE-YR3YCV-NOO36B-KSH5OC-N6KFV2-CLABPX-LBS6
- ETH: 0x762bd7dcd23aec62d1a5bd3e3b2b57bb1b64026d
- BTC: 1HKjfeVFHzLKUR2THCecTrvcedF9czKxtC
