An Interview with John Speigner: Decentralisation Implies Inherent Security

@ Sergeenkov Andrey Sergeenkov Cryptocurrency investor and trader

I had the opportunity of interviewing Coin.Space’s CEO and founder, John Speigner. During the interview session, Jonathan discussed the challenges of leading the charge in the crypto security sector, among other things. Jonathan Speigner, has built Coin Wallet from the ground up and immensely contributed to the crypto mainstream narrative at large. Below is an excerpt from the enlightening conversation I had with the security expert.

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Can you introduce your background to our readers, especially on how you started out as an entrepreneur?

In the early days of the internet I started a ISP to provide business with Internet access, that company was later sold to ATT, that experience set me on the path to becoming a serial entrepreneur. The next company was a streaming radio station in 1998. Unfortunately I was 10 years ahead of my time with that venture. The Day I heard about Bitcoin was life changing. I immediately knew I needed to get start mining and from there it evolved into starting Coin Wallet in 2013

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Seeing that you have tried your hands on other projects, what spurred you to make the switch to the crypto industry.

From the start I was fascinated by the technology and the design and the P2P architecture of blockchain. Later I began to understand how it actually could be used to change the way people, particularly the unbanked could use this new means of borderless payments.

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How have you and your company been able to maintain a credible reputation in the crypto security sector?

This is one of the biggest challenges we face, and I think its the same for any one else trying to build a company today that is in anyway Tagged as a Crypto business. All it takes is one wallet user to have a slow bitcoin transaction and take to reddit so scream scam. The history of crypto scam has everyone on edge and can lead to over reacting. We really have focused on providing fast friendly support and offer support channels like Facebook and twitter as well as email so we can address concerns or issues before they escalate.

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I am sure that you must have had people second guess the chances of Coin.Space in the competitive crypto wallet market. In hindsight, did you think Coin.Space would have achieved this much in so little time?

I never listen to the negative talk, I learned that a long time ago. For a long time we were not a big wallet provider, we just kept our heads down and tried to just keep building the simplest to use wallet so no one really paid much attention to what we were building. 6 years later it's pretty hard to second guess what Coin Wallet has grown into.

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What business model do you think helped Coin.Space to establish itself at the top echelon of the crypto security market?

The business model has always been very simple, simple fiat to crypto conversions at a low cost as well as exchanges between cryptos.

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Can you give us your views on the current state of security in the crypto industry? What must be done to eradicate the prevailing notion that investing or owning digital assets poses a security threat?

Complex security measures, mean that users do not use them. We have made it simple and very secure when it comes to owning and storing crypto in the Coin wallet.

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While researching Coin Wallet, I found some security features implemented to protect users from security threats. For the sake of our readers, can you please expatiate the security measures available on Coin Wallet?

We actually do not share specifics on what tools we use to protect our infrastructure but we have invested heavily in this area. Whether security measures are built into the actual applications or the backend systems we are are using some of the most modern security tooling available today.

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Do you think that the crypto industry has to forego decentralization for the chance of establishing resilient security systems? If not, what is Coin.Space doing to help propel a blockchain narrative where security and decentralization go hand-in-hand?

This will affect other wallets and exchanges more than it will ever affect Coin Wallet. We designed from the start to be non custodial so everything we do is directly on the blockchain so much more secure and never a change of a compromise to any wallet controlled by us. Decentralized actually comes with more inherent security so I hope more services will get away from holding users funds and keeping it on the blockchain.

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How has your team been able to cope with growth of the community, considering that it is imperative to incorporate flexible infrastructures that can adapt to the increase in demand for wallet services?

We learned some very hard lessons about infrastructure and scaling early on. It was painful for us and very frustrating for our user base. So 2 years ago we underwent a major architectural review and made a shift to a more modern and scalable infrastructure. It was costly but we can now grow the user base without any issues.

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Some crypto participants believe that crypto wallets designed to secure only one type of coin are more viable than multi-coins wallets. What is your thought on this sentiment, seeing that Coin Wallet falls under the latter category?

Bitcoin is still king and probably will remain that for some time, but there are so many more useful tokens when it comes to P2P payments. So as wallet service we want to give our users the option to pay with whatever token they prefer or what the vendor they are buying from offers. Why install a wallet for each token when you can open and pay in many different payment types all from one App.

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What is Coin.Space’s long-term approach to doing business in the crypto space? Is there a possibility that the company will diversify its business model and branch out to other crypto niches?

Never say never but today we are focused on delivering the simplest most secure crypto wallet.

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Crypto custodial services have begun to deliver on some of their promises. How does this development impact the future of the crypto wallet market?

I think there is a place for these custodial service for long term storage but that's a different set of requirements than for a wallet service like Coin that's designed to be used on a day to day basis for sending and receiving small payments. We will continue to take feedback from customers and adapt our wallet service like we always have.

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I, for one, take no chances when it comes to securing my crypto holdings. Since you are the expert, can you give our readers one or two pointers on how to prevent crypto theft?

I’ll keep it simple. Not your keys not your Crypto. Do not trust anyone or any 3rd party with your private keys. Keep them safe.

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What are we to expect from the Coin.Space ecosystem in 2020?

We are spending a lot of time and resources on expanding into new countries and bring crypto to the unbanked. Expect to see major improvements usability and speed from us.

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As the CEO of one of the fastest-growing brands in the crypto space, what is your advice to entrepreneurs who are on the verge of launching their crypto projects?

Do not get distracted or discouraged, crypto and blockchain is just getting started. The companies you start building today will be the leaders in this space over the next few years. It takes time be patiant.

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