{"id":55646,"date":"2018-06-11T02:09:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T09:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=55646"},"modified":"2018-09-04T13:57:17","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T20:57:17","slug":"interview-with-spotcoin-ceo-bringing-blockchain-to-the-black-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/interview-with-spotcoin-ceo-bringing-blockchain-to-the-black-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"How Spotcoin is Bringing Blockchain to the Black Sea [INTERVIEW]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Based in\u00a0Tbilisi, Georgia, Spotcoin<\/a> was founded in 2016 as an early cryptocurrency OTC marketplace as a key player in the developing blockchain industry of the Black Sea region. Spotcoin\u00a0CEO, Timothy Gick, shares his thoughts on the future of Spotcoin and plans to expand into mining, payment systems, and education.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

With the aim to establish a comprehensive blockchain ecosystem in the Black Sea region, Spotcoin intends to build a suite of services\u00a0to make decentralized technology a seamless part of daily interactions with currency.<\/p>\n

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Timothy Gick, CEO of Spotcoin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Spotcoin digital asset ecosystem is to include a cryptocurrency exchange integrated with their existing OTC platform, a payment system for daily transactions, mining facility, and Black Sea Blockchain Institute.<\/p>\n

Each of these separate projects under the Spotcoin umbrella seeks to enhance the current user's experience with liquidating and using cryptocurrency through a simple, efficient platform running on the Spotcore engine.<\/p>\n

Liquidity, Mining, and Education<\/h2>\n

With nearly no marketing, Spotcoin generated over $10 million USD in 2017 OTC transactions \u2013 revealing a demand for regional digital asset services.<\/p>\n

With their newfound success, Spotcoin is seeking to expand their presence in Georgia and beyond in an effort to “further blockchain adoption.”<\/p>\n

CEO, Timothy Gick describes their\u00a0development in the past year:<\/p>\n

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“We had our existing OTC marketplace going, so we had the OTC trades from last year which we did over $10 million with no marketing whatsoever, just basically from word of mouth. Then we got into mining and then education. Really kind of the focal point was the education aspect\u2026 to better understanding the potential of the region.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Blockchain in Georgia: Benefits and Challenges<\/h2>\n

One of the first countries to integrate blockchain into government data systems, Georgia is an unlikely but hospitable setting for burgeoning blockchain innovation.<\/p>\n

Gick describes his sentiment for Georgia as headquarters to Spotcoin:<\/p>\n

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“The Georgian government as a whole they were early adopters of the technology, using it for land deeds \u2013 basically putting land deeds on the blockchain, they were the first country in the world to do that… As a whole, I\u2019m pretty excited to be headquartered here.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Given their growth, Gick made clear that Spotcoin has no intentions to leave Georgia and even expressed working with Georgian Ministries to develop the nation's regulatory framework for cryptocurrency:<\/p>\n

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“There is a degree of uncertainty with the government because they haven\u2019t made those big decisions yet, but I\u2019m not too worried because Spotcoin has been asked to be a part of some working groups that are basically laying the grounds for the regulatory framework\u2026 We\u2019ve been working with the World Bank\u2026 and American Chamber of Commerce. We\u2019re definitely involved in the initial steps for those future policies, so we\u2019re able to kind of provide additional information for the decision makers.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Spotcoin\u00a0and NEO – Partners<\/h2>\n

With the wide variety of emerging smart contract platforms, Spotcoin saw no benefit to follow the bandwagon of developing a standard ERC-20 token.<\/p>\n

Instead, Gick sought to find an alternative blockchain that was viable in the long-term and aligned with their mission of expansion and adoption in the Black Sea region.<\/p>\n

Of the smart contract platforms proposed, Gick pointed to NEO<\/a> \u2013 lauding its long-term outlook and goal to achieve 100,000 TPS:<\/p>\n

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“We chose NEO for a number of different reasons\u2026 We established a criteria that married up with what we wanted to do and our future goals and that fit NEO. With our fiat exchange, we\u2019re focused on NEO.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The SPOT Token will be issued on the NEO blockchain and adhere to NEO's NEP-5 standard.<\/p>\n

When asked if Spotcoin had any plans to switch blockchains in the future, Gick replied:<\/p>\n

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“We have no plans. NEO has their 20\/20 vision. I really like what Da [Hongfei] wants to do with the 100,000 TPS, and I believe that they will achieve that.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Furthering their partnership and joint efforts, Spotcoin<\/a> and NEO aim to launch hackathons in Georgia that focus on the NEO blockchain:<\/p>\n

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“Our second event we\u2019re going to run is a hackathon focusing on a specific problem set in the NEO blockchain\u2026 and we\u2019re going to incubate at the Georgia American University\u2026 Our goal is to bring in a NEO representative and run this as a NEO event\u2026 We want to bring in more devs focusing on the NEO blockchain to the Black Sea region.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Through key alliances, product expansion, and government support, Spotcoin is poised to achieve their mission in shaping the blockchain industry in the area.<\/p>\n

For more information on Spotcoin, see their website<\/a>, visit our Spotcoin coin profile<\/a>\u00a0or watch the video below.<\/p>\n