How This CEO Is Making Room For Company Growth In a Crowded Market Not content with merely keeping up with competition, Grygoriy Sytenko is leading the company towards disrupting the entire niche

In 2018, Grygoriy Sytenko found himself assisting a small blockchain-based project, in the course of his career as a legal and compliance advisor. Although the head of compliance in one of the world's largest chemical companies immediately developed an interest in blockchain technology, even he couldn't have predicted what would happen next.

After just a few short months, Sytenko joined the team of OWNR, a tech startup based in Estonia. The company had already released the initial version of OWNR Wallet by this point, and Sytenko's role was to provide occasional compliance guidance. Before long, he was asked to regularly advise the team on the legal framework and soon, he was appointed head of compliance. From there, his expertise in business strategy led him all the way to the position of OWNR's CEO.

OWNR's flagship product is a cryptowallet—an app for storing, accessing, managing and buying cryptocurrency. The use of cryptowallets has significantly increased in recent years, as the number of practical, everyday applications for cryptocurrency continuously grows. Unsurprisingly, the cryptowallet niche is incredibly saturated by now, with over 230 apps listed on CryptoCompare alone. With such plentiful competition, offering overlapping services in the vast majority of cases, how can a single product stand out?

Daring but feasible

What drew Sytenko to OWNR, despite the myriad other promising cryptocurrency projects he could have joined, was the simple yet brilliant concept behind the wallet: daring but feasible. In his time as CEO, he has pushed this motto to the limit, leading and overseeing the introduction of new approaches and features.

In a market as saturated as the cryptowallet niche, a company can hardly create anything new or thoroughly revolutionary. However, Sytenko and OWNR spotted an opportunity for growth, despite being part of an immensely crowded business environment: universality. Hundreds of available cryptowallets notwithstanding, the market has still to see a single, universal wallet that would suit both sophisticated users and newbies.

That's both the daring and the conceivable part: it's an immensely ambitious project to consolidate all features available across hundreds of apps into a single system, giving access to all known cryptocurrencies, but it's certainly not impossible.

Going a step (or ten) beyond what's expected

This is what Sytenko's company aims to provide: an all-encompassing yet simple and intuitive cryptocurrency wallet, usable on all devices, for all coins and all operations conceivable. The vast majority of currently available cryptowallets come with a series of inherent limitations—such as supporting only selected coins or working on a single platform.

OWNR wallet has already outpaced the majority of the competition in terms of convenience and universality. It supports eleven basic coins—including EOS, which rarely appears in multi-currency wallets—as well as all 240K+ ERC-20 tokens. The cross-platform functionality means that it's accessible from any standard mobile or desktop device. At the same time, it's non-custodial—which means extra security—without compromising on ease of use.

But Sytenko's plan doesn't stop here. He's keen to point out that there's more to OWNR wallet than just several unique features making it easier or more convenient to use. As a matter of fact, the wallet forms the basis of a broader project: what Sytenko refers to as a crypto ecosystem, where any and all cryptocurrency-related activities could take place in a single environment.

Currently, the OWNR team is laying foundations for two new features: blockchain explorer and debit cards prepaid with cryptocurrency. The latter are expected to be ready by the end of the third quarter. But even that is not all: API for developers, one-stop analytics for enterprise, in-built trading strategies for regular users and tools enabling professional traders to monetize their methods are all future elements of the OWNR ecosystem.

Facing tough challenges

As we all know, forging a brand new path to success is never easy. Making Sytenko's and his company's vision a reality is certainly not without its challenges.

For one, competition remains stiff at this point in OWNR's development. Out of the hundreds of cryptowallets available, many have been around for years, having the advantage of plenty more time to build a loyal user base. To complicate matters further, new wallets emerge every month. As Sytenko points out, building and perfecting the basic functionality takes time, let alone the advanced functionality OWNR aims to add. From an onlooker's perspective, it may appear as if OWNR is moving forward slower than other developers.

Another big challenge is staying compliant with the ever-changing legal landscape—Sytenko's primary domain. OWNR obtained an MSB license for the US, and is now engaged in the lengthy and complex process of applying for licenses in each individual state. That's not to mention having to adjust to the recent changes in OWNR's native Estonian jurisdiction. Cryptocurrency is still regulated quite poorly in many countries, leading to changes in regulation every several months.

It's a fight worth fighting, though: for the majority of cryptowallet users, the introduction of an ultimate one-stop-shop for all things crypto, integrated into a single system, would make other cryptowallets virtually obsolete overnight. By planning and building far beyond conventional cryptowallet functionality, OWNR is set to make their wallet a genuine must-have for all crypto traders.