Coinberry is a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, offering trading against USD and CAD. The company raised $3 million in its ICO to help develop the platform intended for institutional investors. Coinberry COO Andrei Poliakov sat down with David Schatsky-Brodsky of Business Wire to discuss their recent launch into Canada’s capital market, regulatory challenges faced by crypto exchanges, and his long history as an entrepreneur.
Andrei Poliakov is the CEO and Co-Founder at Coinberry. Coinberry is a service that allows users to buy, sell, store, and spend cryptocurrencies. In this interview series, Andrei talks about how he started his company and what makes it unique.
Coinberry’s chief executive officer and co-founder is Andrei Poliakov. Coinberry is a Canadian digital asset trading platform that allows users to purchase and sell a variety of major cryptocurrencies in the simplest and safest method possible.
Could you tell us more about how you first discovered about Bitcoin while on a vacation to Florida with some friends?
On the penultimate day of the trip, we were attempting to settle accounts and ran into problems since Canadians couldn’t send eTransfers to Americans and Americans couldn’t make Venmo transactions to Canadians, and the sums we wanted to settle were more than what could be withdrawn at an ATM. Because he had some at the time, my current company partner and co-founder proposed we settle using crypto money. It worked and was incredibly simple to complete the transaction, much to my surprise. It was at this point that I recognized crypto was the way of the future. This is why, at Coinberry, we’ve created a simple platform to address these issues.
Could you go into more detail about Coinberry’s origins and why you believed it was vital to provide Canadians with a secure and compliant way to buy cryptocurrency?
We began as a gathering of crypto enthusiasts who met every few weeks to explore business potential in the area. We noticed a need for a safe and simple trading platform in Canada as a result of our interactions. For the long-term sustainability and scalability of crypto investors, it became clear that we needed to build a platform with an emphasis on compliance.
Could you describe the difference between a brokerage and an exchange, and why it is helpful to Canadians?
In simple words, investors trade their assets with other investors on an exchange, while investors purchase and sell directly with the brokerage on a brokerage. We feel that the convenience of being able to transact without having to wait for someone else’s transaction to be completed is an advantage for Canadian investors at Coinberry.
Coinberry opted to keep things tight and concentrate on building a real company rather than take the easy way out and raise money via an ICO. What was the prevailing thinking at the time?
We wanted to develop a compliant Canadian firm, and that’s exactly what we set out to do. We would have had to concentrate on our own structure and token sale if we had opted to seek money via an ICO rather than being able to focus just on being compliant with authorities. Our mission has always been to provide the safest and most convenient trading platform available in the Canadian market. We discovered that keeping a tight ship and avoiding an ICO was the best approach.
You’ve worked with a number of government institutions, like the municipality of Innisfil, Ontario, to help them accept bitcoin tax payments. What makes you think this is such a critical use case?
We feel that cryptocurrency adoption should be pushed to the mainstream in Canada. The municipality of Innisfil’s decision to accept Bitcoin for property taxes was a watershed moment in Bitcoin’s quest for legitimacy. Innisfil has been able to complete these transactions in a safe and simple way thanks to Coinberry.
What is the size of your existing user base?
Our safe and simple trading platform has over 200,000 Canadian users.
You earlier indicated that mastering and succeeding in the local market is the key to success, and that after that, worldwide growth may be considered. Do you think you’ve nailed the local market, and could you talk about Coinberry’s plans to expand internationally?
In the Canadian market, we still have a lot of work to do. We’re quickly becoming the most popular site for Canadians looking to build money quickly. We have a lot of new features planned for the future. We’ll set our eyes on the rest of the world after we’ve established ourselves as the platform I believe we can be in the next several years.
The Ontario Securities Commission just granted Coinberry regulatory clearance to trade crypto-assets in Canada (OSC). What does this mean for the company’s future success?
This enables Coinberry to continue functioning as a safe and easy way for Canadians to invest in the crypto market and develop their money. The registration is for the purpose of ensuring the long-term viability of functioning within a regulated framework. It will open up new channels that established firms take for granted, such as banking, insurance, and advertising, to name a few. We’re quite eager to take advantage of all of the new options that this registration will provide.
What do you think the future of cryptocurrencies in Canada will be in 5 or 10 years?
Over the next 5-10 years, cryptocurrency will become mainstream in Canada, with most Canadians having direct or indirect exposure to it via pension plans, etc… At Coinberry, we’re always searching for innovative methods to make it simpler for the millions of Canadians who are flocking to crypto to manage and develop their capital.
Is there anything more about Coinberry that you’d want to share?
As we continue to list additional assets, upgrade the platform, and roll out new products, stay tuned for a slew of exciting Coinberry news. We’re also aiming to go public before the end of the year. This is significant news for the crypto-landscape in Canada! This is on the horizon, however the specifics are still being kept under wraps.
Thank you for a fantastic interview; readers interested in learning more can go to Coinberry.
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