How to Run a FinTech Project in a Falling Market and Succeed

The market is ruled by fear and greed. Greed comes to the forefront when the market is buoyant, only to give way to fear when it is falling. Yes, the world of cryptocurrencies is currently gripped by fear, and most projects have been frozen in expectation of better times. So when an audacious player that has not fallen into a crisis-induced torpor and bold enough to take a proactive approach appears in the market, it inevitably draws attention from the entire crypto industry. One such player is, of course, Azbit. This startup has plans for a unique large-scale project bringing together a full range of banking, exchange, and investment services, all under a single platform. We caught up with Azbit co-founder and CEO Max Zmitrovich to ask how they are doing it.

Max, the current situation in the cryptocurrency market is on everyone's lips. This is understandable: the market is falling, and investors are holding back, waiting out the downturn in expectation that the market will recover. How do you, an experienced CEO and entrepreneur, assess the situation?

When it comes to times of adversity, I immediately think of companies such as Lego, FedEx, Starbucks, and Wikipedia. You might wonder what they have in common — apart, of course, from their global fame and the success they have achieved. All these giants were created in difficult times —recession or post-war, when the market was unarguably depressed.

It is true that the current state of the market is not the most favorable. Cryptocurrencies have been waiting a long time for a boost to enable the upward trend to continue. The market is a living organism: periods of decline alternate with periods of growth, and this is normal.

Don't you think it's risky to launch your project specifically now, when the market is falling?

Despite the situation, we are convinced that prospects for cryptocurrencies are extremely favorable, so we are actively working on implementing our product. In addition, I'll admit that Azbit has some aces up its sleeve. Not long ago, we entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Roger Ver, and his Bitcoin Cash project and Bitcoin.com portal, and we are actively collaborating with other major players in the industry. We will also be making a number of other significant announcements very soon.

Apart from this, we do not have our heads in the clouds, and are taking a realistic view of the current state of affairs: investors are becoming more demanding and careful in choosing: they need to be offered something special. A special idea, special conditions. For example, a fee sharing bonus of 75 percent of our profits for our token holders.

Giving your clients 75 percent of your profits? That's an unexpected approach — especially now, when everyone is economizing.

Perhaps this might sound melodramatic, but we call all our investors members of the Azbit family. You don't economize on your family, do you? We have tried to make the dividend payment system as easy to understand as possible. 75 percent of our commission will be automatically distributed once a month by airdrop among all the Azbit token holders. The tokens are digital equivalents of shares in Azbit AG, which is registered in Switzerland. This means that participants in our crowdfunding campaign will be able to receive dividends in future.

Max, there is no shortage of investment platforms, exchanges, and banking services today. What is your main difference from your competitors?

The market's explosive growth in 2017-2018 led to the emergence of a large number of startups aiming in one way or another to address problems with investing in cryptocurrencies. However, we do not see any of them as competitors: our project has significant differences and specific features. The experience we have built up over the years in creating cryptocurrency exchanges and forex projects has enabled us to develop a game-changing solution. Through a single platform, Azbit will offer access to every financial market, including the cryptocurrency ones, as well as supporting effective interaction between traders and investors. All quotes will be recorded in a blockchain, making our client relations as transparent as possible and eliminating potential "client-platform" conflicts.

Investors are now more cautious than ever, and this is not just a matter of the economic situation we have just been discussing.Another reason is that of late the market has seen the emergence of quite a few projects that have had grandiose plans and made lots of promises, but have not actually developed anything. I have to ask: what stage is Azbit at now?

You're right. In the past two years, a huge number of startups have emerged that have had nothing more than an idea. Azbit, though, has entered the market fully armed: we have a clear concept and many years of experience in business, finance, and the digital money industry. Our payment system, which will be called Qpay, is already 90 percent ready. Our multi-cryptocurrency exchange is 80 percent ready, and its core code has already been developed. We have registered a Swiss joint-stock company, Azbit AG, and have obtained a Small Payment Institution license for payment processing in the European Union.

Azbit has obtained a securities exemption from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D. Regulation D governs the conditions under which accredited investors in the U.S. can acquire securities (including ICO tokens) issued by companies during a crowdfunding campaign. Today we are actively working on creating our investment platform, and we plan to launch our multi-cryptocurrency exchange as early as the first quarter of 2019. As you can see, we have ambitious plans, and they would be beyond less prepared projects. But, as the saying goes, "If they say "it's impossible', remember that it's impossible for them, not for you". We know what the market needs today, and are confident that we have entered it at the right time.