On this week’s AMA, Kevin goes over the latest news from the Crypto world including the latest on the SEC ruling! He also goes over the beta exchange demo launch, the new survey, hiring updates on CoinMetro’s global team, the newest memes and more!

VIDEO ARCHIVES OF THE AMA (YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK)

#1. Financial Action Task Force to Prepare Binding Rules for Crypto Exchanges

• Kevin feels it’s a natural progression.
• Having global laws for KYC/AML makes sense.
• Bad news for bad actors, good news for the industry.

#2. South Korea to regulate crypto exchanges like banks

• The bar needs to be set high, and you can’t set it higher than this.
• Kevin hopes that the bar isn’t set too high, to allow for innovation.
• Bad actors should be pushed out.

#3. US SEC Will not Consider Ethereum a Security

• Bitcoin and ETH are not securities, according to the SEC
• There was more anxiety over ETH, but it wasn’t unexpected.
• They may revisit this ruling in the future, to make sure that fraudulent token sales are curbed.

#4. Majority of crypto exchanges and wallets don’t enforce proper KYC guidelines

• No surprise there!
• The majority of exchanges don’t have proper KYC.
• You can’t fault exchanges 100%, since there is just not enough regulation out there, but they should’ve seen it coming.
• They should have started to look into the processes on ensuring proper KYC compliance beforehand.
• There’s a cloud of suspicion around tokens/cryptocurrencies, and when exchanges come in and don’t try to engage in proper KYC compliance, that cloud of suspicion grows.
• The market would be increasing exponentially if exchanges/wallets were more forward-thinking when it comes to KYC/AML laws and would prepare accordingly.
• In financial industries there are cycles.

#5. UK’s FCA WARNS BANKS ABOUT INVESTING IN CRYPTO

• FCA is actually giving guidance to UK banks on how they should deal with clients that deal with cryptocurrencies and tokens.
• The banks are waiting on word from regulators, which is forthcoming.
• The majority of the income is transactional income.
• The bank at the end of the day isn’t making revenue.

SURVEY TIME! On our Telegram Group and via e-mail, the team pushed out a survey and they would like to have feedback to fine tune the company.

• The team is grateful for so much participation!
• Surveys will become a regular thing, since the structured feedback helps improve the product.
• BETA LAUNCH: A handful of contributors will receive an e-mail for the first phase of the beta.
• The idea was to have a full-featured beta, as the team didn’t want a barebones beta to be launched.
• 300 or so people will have access to the beta today.
• They’ll release frequent updates in order to get high-quality feedback.
• It will launch today to a selected group. And over the next 1-3 weeks, the team will gradually increase access to more members from the early adopters community.
• The team had a meeting with a local bank at the offices. It was quite the rollercoaster with the bank! Compliance was the biggest issue that the team was able to solve by showing their roadmap, and the operation.
• USD Deposit Solution: The team had a meeting with a UK firm and they expect USD deposit options coming out to the live beta! It won’t be for people/accounts based on the US, but for USD deposits anywhere else in the world.
• Danny De Gier, CoinMetro CCO, was at Amsterdam 2020 which is a money conference. The plan is to sit down with two or three banks to begin discussions.
• The team spoke to both crypto-friendly and crypto un-friendly banking institutions.
• There’s a lot of business development that happens for this kind of business on the non-tech side.
• Australia and the UK are the main focus for licensing right now. ETAs for licensing in Australia are July-August.
• On the Careers page, there will be many more open positions for team members to join!
• Two new hires to the Tallinn office. In-house SEO who re-located from France, and a Copywriter is joining the team!

Keeping Crypto on CoinMetro- will there be additional benefits?

• From the beta launch, we’re using Bitgo, so unfortunately no.
• The team is in the talks with them to support additional options.
• CoinMetro’s internal wallet once finished, will allow for forks, airdrops, gas, etc…
• Dividends are a little bit harder to deal with, since things that offer dividends are classified as securities.
• This makes it a difficult subject to address since it all depends on regulation.

What about voting/staking with proof-of-stake cryptos?

• The goal is to focus on certain aspects that other exchanges don’t focus on.
• TAM, ETCF, DEBIT CARD, these are the priorities with CoinMetro.
• If there’s a specific use case that brings CM users and/or revenues, that clients want, that’s beneficial to the whole ecosystem, then the team will consider them heavily.
• The team will consider any options that clients want.

Will trailing stop/losses be possible without resorting to a bot?

• They’re generally easy to add to any trading infrastructure, and will be included in the exchange.
• They won’t be available initially,

What do you think of the FATF situation? 

• Kevin thinks it’s good thing that they’re taking action and a good first step.
• They’re generally KYC/AML regulations that are relatively easy to implement.
• Overreaction is worrisome, particularly when it comes to power-shifts that are detrimental to the average individual.

There’s been some unrest on TG in the vein of negative attention, what are your thoughts?

• “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” – that’s not always a good thing.
• Kevin would rather have a strong Telegram group that is full of educated individuals that offer constructive feedback, whether good or bad, is the ideal.
• The Beta will launch today to a selected group of people.
• Betas are made to fail! The team is relying on the initial testers to provide feedback on the bugs!
• Pump and Dumpers are not the ideal client for CM.
• The team is working on the long-term health of the CoinMetro platform.
• “When moon” “When exchange” are not good and can even drive users with good feedback out of the group. 

A lot of blockchain conventions are going on these days, why isn’t CM attending these?

• Kevin’s been approached to speak in a few places: Malta, Tallinn, etc…
• Most of the conferences are done for financial benefit for the people running the conference.
• Anecdote: Kevin stopped at a lot of booths to talk real shop and all he got was stickers, lanyards and coffee.
• Once the team has been built further, it’ll be a better time to send CM reps to conferences.
• HIRING PEOPLE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE BUSINESS RIGHT NOW. 
• COO will be at conferences, along with team members, once the time is right.

Is the smallest divisible unit of XCM going to be 1 Murcko?

• Maybe one Kevin?
• It’ll probably be named on its own on Discord before the team has a chance to name it.

How does paper trading on the beta demo work?

• Everyone gets test amounts (10 BTC, 10 ETH, etc..) to begin trading activities.

How will the interface work?

• Clicking from the chart will be available eventually, as part of the charting package.
• Percentage sliders are a possibility in a future build.
• This is the constructive feedback that is necessary for building the right platform.
• The team doesn’t want to have a ton of tools, because it can make it harder for novices.

There are no laws stopping someone from Panama from dealing with other exchanges. 

Debit Cards are scheduled to be released in the next quarter or so. 

• The team is working with banks to get the best deal possible on the debit card.

When can we see an iOS app for CoinMetro?

• It’s in the test section of the iOS App Store. It’s scheduled to be delivered shortly.
• There’s demand for mobile trading.

Could we see some posts on the Crypto Academy section?

• Kevin’s writing the tutorials and the marketing team is writing out the screenplays to the Academy.

How customizable will the UI be? 

• It’s modular based, widgets will come over time.
• You’ll be able to add a degree of customization, but will be limited for the beta.

DELAYS:

• All businesses face delays, and it doesn’t them unprofessional.
• CoinMetro isn’t just about tech. (e.g. Kucoin and Binance are not compliant)

ETFs

• One of the main products is ETCF (please see Whitepaper! Section 3.3.2)
• Institutional investors are not our first focus.

All tokens that go through token sales are securities. Will CM offer securities?

• CM will be 100% compliant with all regulatory jurisdictions in which CM operates.
• They’re all security tokens, they may become “hybrid assets” when the ICO is over and they’re listed on an exchange.

Will CoinMetro become a broker in the industry?

• Coinbase is trying to get a broker/dealer license because they’re speculating on the fact that the CTFC and the NFA will be the ones dealing with crypto from a regulatory perspective.
• CoinMetro is planning on doing this, for sure- both in the US and the EU.

The right foundation can lead a company to long-term profitability. 

The initial live beta will only be for contributors only. The idea is to make sure we get quality feedback.

Any updates on Cancún Coin?

• This was tied to a mayoral candidate on Cancún that didn’t win.
• He’s still interested in doing it.

What kind of positions is CoinMetro looking for?

• If you’re talented in anything, we’re looking for you.
• Marketing and Business Developments are key, Developers of course.
• Keep a look out on the careers page

Are the APIs ready?

• Some APIs are ready, but they won’t be in the initial beta.

AmaZix offered to stay for an extra two months, as we work on the transition. 

• CoinMetro likes AmaZix! 😀

High resolution images for vinyl decals, will be made available at some point in the future. 

When will XCM be minted?

• Sometime at the end of the beta demo and live beta.
• They want to make sure for people to be able to buy/sell XCM

Why should I use CoinMetro instead of Binance? They allow people without verification to trade.

• That’s the exact reason why you shouldn’t trade on Binance.
• They’re setting themselves up for regulatory issues in the future.
• They will need to get KYC retroactively in order to stay compliant.
• At some point in the near future, no one will be offering unverified access to platforms.
• CoinMetro is looking to be 100% compliant to be future-proof.
• TAM, ETCF, Pre-paid card program.
• This is all to create a regulatory framework to make sure that CoinMetro is here in 5-10 years.

Is the pre-paid card still on schedule for July?

• On the new roadmap it’s scheduled for Q3
• The provider that CoinMetro is working with changed their timeline due to regulatory concerns, which forced CM to change their timeline as well.

The team will be sharing screens and videos on the exchange soon. 

Make sure you’re on the CoinMetro Updates Channel!

Dark Version for CoinMetro will be available!! 

No definitive answer on additional flash sales at this time.

What is Kevin’s favorite meme?

• “The Jesus one is great. It’s one of the first ones I saw so it’s near and dear to my heart, but they’re all cool!”

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Well, that’s it for this week’s AMA with CoinMetro Founder Kevin Murcko! Please join us next week on the CoinMetro Facebook group at 2PM GMT for another round and make sure you submit your questions to the CoinMetro Subreddit!

As always, we’re available to answer any questions you may have on our Telegram Group 24/7.