“Massive crypto interest from our institutional clients”

LONDON, 22 August 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Business2community.com captured Bitstamp CEO Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux while vacationing in the south of Franceso we were especially pleased that he could take the time to talk to us.

Bitstamp is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, and most recognized exchanges in the crypto space, having been founded in 2011. Monday, August 22nd was actually the company’s 11th birthday.

So what better time for Bitstamp to launch a marketing campaign aimed at retail investors and its Q2 update Crypto Pulse Survey 2022, which will be released in full at the end of the month.

We started our discussion by asking JB, as his colleagues often call him, about the survey’s findings and the marketing push, before diving into a wide-ranging discussion of other crypto matters.

The full interview covered everything from stablecoins to regulation, the interest the firm earns on its sizable cash pile and among many other things, including whether Bitstamp will launch an NFT marketplace anytime soon and how to get a coin listed on the famously selective site exchange – and much more besides.

Below we reproduce some extracts from the interview with Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux

Preview data findings from Bitstamp Crypto Pulse Survey Q2 2022

What is very interesting from the survey is that confidence levels are still there from our last survey in Q1 across the UK market.

When it comes to crypto as a reliable investment, we had a figure of 52% in 2021 – which has dropped to around 42% in 2022. That’s a small drop, but it’s not dramatic.

Significantly, we continue to see a lack of knowledge and education as one of the main barriers among retail to investing in crypto – the proportion citing a lack of crypto education has increased from 45% in 2021 to 55% this year. Which means that we as an ecosystem must strengthen education.

On these three points – trust, education and risk – the data is fairly consistent across regions.

On Bitstamp’s new features announced in the Summer of Discovery

Yes, we are making it easier for retail customers to buy crypto on Bitstamp, so they can now buy crypto with, for example, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

We are also launching new assets on the platform at the end of August.

And we’re really excited to introduce 0% trading fees when customers trade up $1000 for a 30-day rolling period on all assets on the platform.

In crypto winter

Crypto winter for a company like Bitstamp is a good period for us to build our capabilities to prepare for the next bull run with new products and new features. We have a very active licensing journey across all regions – 10 ongoing globally.

Over the next couple of quarters, we will increase our regulatory footprint, so we are in a strong position to fully participate in the next bull run.

The second point is that we see a strong trend on the institutional side. Many institutional companies are looking to make their first foray into crypto – there is massive crypto interest from our institutional clients.

That interest rates are positive for Bitstamp’s business

I think for Bitstamp we have a cash level that is quite significant on our balance sheet. The interest rate increase therefore has a positive impact on our business. This was not the case before when interests were zero or negative. Since the end of July, we have observed a good return on our cash position.

About regulations

What we are experiencing today is not very smart Europe.

For example, if you want to run a crypto business, you need to register with each country separately as a virtual asset service provider. Each country has its own requirements.

So with MiCA coming in 18 to 24 months, it will be a game-changer because it will be a level playing field. There will be one country where you can establish your activities as MiCA compliant and then send the activities across the different European countries.

On stablecoins

In a nutshell, regulatory requirements are likely to increase for issuers and for the distribution of stablecoins.

The latest developments mean that if we want to regain the confidence of retail clients and the next wave of investors, transparency is very important, and this is my second point.

Revised stablecoins with a high level of transparency around their mechanisms and the protection they offer, risk management and controls etc will be key to the success of stablecoins to enable them to last in the ecosystem.

On DeFi hacks

We see players who are new to the game who may not have a high level of control, and that may be because they are focused on the business of commercial development.

This can make them more vulnerable to hacks. Nevertheless, it is very important for companies to succeed with DeFI. If we bring in security and smart regulation and transparency, I think these will combine to make DeFi very successful.

On NFTs and the metaverse

The key question is, will it last? I think it will, definitely. We will see NFTs in the metaverse. I’m a big fan of NFT communities, where you buy an NFT to become part of a community and you get some tools from the NFT ownership, for example in the sports area.

On the industry ripe for blockchain disruption?

When it comes to government applications – record management, identity management, voting in elections or even taxes, blockchain technology has a place in all these areas.

Also in big data, data storage and of course financial services. The next wave, however, I believe will be outside of financial services, in areas such as real estate.

About Bitstamp’s attitude to listings

We are extremely selective in the properties we list.

We also listen to our customers and what assets they want to see on our platform.

The most important thing, however, is liquidity. What we want to ensure is that when we carry an asset on our platform, we have sufficient liquidity to ensure that our customers can trade the assets without problems.

About the risk of crypto

An unregulated industry is probably the biggest risk. I think we see a good trend from a regulatory point of view, and we are continuously working with regulators.

Most regions and countries are looking at regulating crypto. The main risk here is to ensure that the regulations are smart and promote a level playing field.

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