Everex at the Blockchain Future Conference 2017, Tokyo

On the 15th November 2017, Everex presented their socially inclusive financial services to the Japanese community at the Toshi Center Hotel in Tokyo. This was the starting point of Everex’s epic Far East roadshow.

The private event was attended by 400 people from across multiple industries, and the live feed was watched online by thousands more globally. Featuring talks from other blockchain-based enterprises Agrello, Monetha, Binance, and Lexit, Everex kicked off the evening with a one-hour presentation including a Q&A session at the end.

COO Evgeni Mitkov began by commenting on his experience with expensive, inefficient banking systems; in particular, Citibank. Up until 2014, Citibank had offered Evgeni free transactions. He could access his money at ATMs in New York, Tokyo, or anywhere else with a deliverable currency, and he would only be charged an exchange fee. However, in 2014, Citibank decided it would start helping itself to a bit more of Evgeni’s money by adding a 3% transaction fee to all transactions, and a charge of $3-$5 for using a non-Citibank ATM.

How’s that for a customer retention strategy?

During the talk, CEO Alexi Lane and COO Evgeni Mitkov went on to discuss how traditional financial institutions charge fees for money leaving the bank and more fees when the money arrives into the recipient’s account. Not only does that make life difficult for consumers, but many businesses struggle to make up the costs of these fees.

The team further went on to explain how Everex’s system eliminates high transaction fees and lengthy delays as money is moved between institutions. By tokenizing money using ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, Everex creates a true ‘Money Without Borders’ system and, since the tokens are not dependent on the Everex wallet, they can be moved around on other platforms.

During the Q&A, Evgeni and Alexi were asked questions from the audience. When asked about the potential for money laundering, Alexi explained that the legal framework had to be firmly in place to tackle precisely that issue, and that Everex’s robust KYC procedures were more than adequate.

The team was further asked what their plans were for expansion into the retail sector. Alexi was quick to acknowledge that besides online retailers accepting Bitcoin, retail applications on the blockchain simply haven’t been done before. Everex is ready to bridge that gap.

After the event, Evgeni stated that he “was first pleasantly surprised how in tune with the Everex business everyone was in the audience. It was as if they were all part of the business plan writing team.” He further said that

“People were coming to us before and after the presentation to express their support and desire to be part of our success. [They] made introductions and suggested potential partners to further the business of Everex. It was the dominant topic of conversation.”

Alexi was also suitably impressed by the welcome at the event. “The main point we made was we must introduce our technology to traditional financial markets. Japan is making its way to become a big cryptocurrency player by offering a friendly regulation of the industry along with massive cash liquidity. With the right technology and regulatory tools, we believe SMEs in Japan and globally will benefit from seamless cross-border transactions and access to capital in parallel with banking services.”

The reception from the audience was positively overwhelming, and our services were enthusiastically received by all.