![]() ![]() ![]() We get letters of no action before entering a new state and requiring KYC/AML for all of our customers. Crowdfund Insider: How have AML/KYC procedures and guidelines changed or evolved over the past five years since you’ve been in business (specifically as they apply to Bitcoin and crypto-assets)?ĭaniel Polotsky: CoinFlip has always been a compliance-focused company. A combination of decreased transaction fees and increased Bitcoin hype and notoriety enabled us to focus on scaling the company, ATMs, and employees, and built a foundation for CoinFlip to transform from a startup into a corporation. Then came the bear market of 2018, which allowed us to grow significantly. However, the high network fees and people calling us regarding slow confirmations really cut into our profit and overburdened our minimal staff. Since CoinFlip doesn’t take a position (we sell bitcoin and take a fee), the price drop in 2017 from nearly $20,000 to December 2017 didn’t directly affect us. This meant that our initial growth was slow, but since it’s a compounding effect, we are able to grow to the point we are at today with over 1,100 Bitcoin ATMs nationwide. We are completely bootstrapped and have never raised outside funding, so the money we made off one ATM was used for the next one and so on. Choosing the right people, who are now my current CTO and CMO, helped me navigate and grow the company even with a meager budget. Crowdfund Insider: What were your biggest challenges when starting a Bitcoin ATM business in 2014? And what were the issues you faced when the Bitcoin price dropped from nearly $20,000 in December 2017 to below $3,500 in December 2018? What did your company do during the extended bear market of 2018?ĭaniel Polotsky: Back in 2014, I was still a sophomore at Northwestern, so between school, CoinFlip, and my finance internships, there was a lot of balancing. It was clear to me that Bitcoin was going to be the future even though it wasn’t really well-established back then because even at that point, Bitcoin was big enough that no organization or government could stop it. ![]() When I did try to use an ATM back then, the experience was very non-intuitive, and fees were outrageous, so I decided to start CoinFlip. I realized that this was not scalable or safe and that ATMs could help scale these transactions while providing security. Crowdfund Insider: What inspired you to get into crypto and launch a Bitcoin ATM business back in late 2014? The digital currency and blockchain space was not really well-established at that time, so what gave you the confidence to get into the industry at such an early stage?ĭaniel Polotsky: Back in 2014, most people bought Bitcoin with cash through meetups facilitated by. ![]()
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