Everyone is talking about San Francisco as the epicentre of everything in crypto. Well, I wanted to shed lights on Europe and how exciting the ecosystem is. This section aims to give the opportunity to present some of the best 🇪🇺 founders. Most people love their products but don’t know who are behind them.
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Hi , many people in crypto are fan of Diar but don’t know much about who is behind it., Can you share a bit about your background?
Sure. I was born and raised in Greece from Lebanese parents and went to a British School. I continued my studies in Southern California, worked for a bit and moved back to Greece. But the recession hit Athens hard, I started a new company, an art gallery focused platform that failed within the year. I was then given the opportunity to work in Cyprus, where I live now.
How did you get into the and industry?
Diar is modelled after a 65-year-old institutional oil & gas publication where I’ve been the Managing Director of for 7 years now. Just before the boom in 2017, a friend of mine had said to me that crypto is going to boom but there is no data-driven weekly publication dedicated to the space. I took a deep-dive for months after he installed Jaxx on my laptop and send me some . The transaction blew me away.
At first Diar was supposed to be started by both of us but he had found a different opportunity. But I had loved the space and the idea so I pushed on and started it on my own by hiring only one other person in October 2017 to kick off the first issue.
What is the vision of Diar? What makes it special compared to other publications?
The vision of Diar is to continue what it has so far achieved in providing the industry with a source of analysis based on data that provides a macro view as well as a forward-outlook on the direction of the space. In its very format, structure and attention the full picture, Diar stands out on its content. Its why we have a high-quality, loyal readership.
As you are one of the few data-driven research, is there any data you are looking for?
We’re always looking for interesting data. More insight into the Lightning Network, Privacy Coins and the flows of new supply coming from inflation are still very much a grey area. Staking economics will be interesting with Cosmos now online and other new platforms soon to be released.
What are you thoughts on the crypto European ecosystem?
I think you have some very solid teams coming out of Europe, but are much more toned down in their voice than the US counterparts. Melonport, Neufund, Quanterium, Argent, Ramp, Aragon. There are regulatory problems still though as these are serious projects looking to develop long-term decentralized applications that will not come under fire. Crowdfunding laws in Europe remain far behind the US leaving Neufund in a bit of a pickle to raise capital from non-accredited investors. Melonport is far far ahead of its time and needs quality assets found on traditional markets to come onchain. Quanterium is a small quiet OTC project but has found clientele from the biggest exchanges in the world, but still has to tie things up with regulators.
There is hope, it’s just going to take a little bit more time. The good things is — decentralized apps in Europe are ready to go when the regulators get their act together.
Anything to add?
The space is very intriguing and will continue to be so as it involves of value. The boom petered out after saying it was going to destroy banks because it was addressing only one dimension — the tech. What we are in the midst of now is a parallel financial body. But it’s not going to dethrone the banking industry by any stretch of the imagination. It has though planted a seed and understanding for real ownership of assets, as well as the ethos of making access to financial markets easy, rather than what we see today with banks and brokers.
Revolut and eToro have seen great success in onboarding users as its easy. And so, Goldman Sachs launched Marcus that was an immediate success for them. JPMorgan has made investing through their phone app very easy too. Competition will not fold their arms and give up. They will adapt for the masses. What they can’t provide is what people currently in the space love — censorship resistance.
A year ago DeFi was not an acronym that existed. Today its heavily focused on. Tomorrow, who know how things will transpire and in what direction. It will move, and move faster than we’ve seen before. The space will continue to be an experiment, until it’s not perceived as one. That will take more time than people might estimate.
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Published at Sun, 05 May 2019 13:40:18 +0000
