CryptoSlate recently had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan Leong, the CEO and co-founder of cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BTSE.
BTSE was recently in the news for announcing it will move its operations from Dubai to the British Virgin Islands because of ongoing regulatory uncertainty.
Over the past 6 years, Leong has built many successful ventures by fusing his deep knowledge of technology with business opportunities. A coder since the age of 15, Leong believes cryptocurrency will transform the way we do business, live, work and play.
Interview with Jonathan Leong, BTSE CEO & Co-Founder
What about the “All In One” order book makes it unique from other crypto exchanges?
BTSE’s All-In-One Order Book is the first in the space that’s fully inclusive of crypto, fiat, and stablecoins, meaning you can freely switch quote currencies choosing from all available currencies on the BTSE Exchange. This is very useful in a couple of ways.
For one, by directly trading your assets for the currency you want to settle in, you skip the mid-step of converting to your account’s base currency first and then from your base currency to the currency you want to acquire. This will become even more convenient as BTSE adds more assets to the exchange. You can now trade any currency with any other currency in one step and save time as well as trading fees.
Another benefit of the All-In-One Order Book is that by combining all trading pairs on the same order book, we are also combining the liquidity of those trading pairs. That means our traders now see much higher liquidity in their trades. And not only that: if you’re trading a smaller pair, for example, XMR/SGD, you still see the same liquidity as if you were trading larger pairs such as XMR/USD or XMR/BTC. This way, we can offer our users fair pricing even for small pairs.
What upcoming features are you most excited about rolling out?
2020 is a big year for BTSE. Besides the launch of our native exchange token that is also the first exchange token to be issued on the Liquid Network, we are working around the clock to make our vision of deploying a suite of financial services enhanced by Bitcoin technologies a reality.
Our exchange users can look forward to more altcoin spot and futures listings, BTSE Pro Traders which is a program we’re designing to give back more benefits to our users, and even more fiat gateways for easy on-boarding.
To complement our exchange operations and offer more to our customers, we will also be launching services in other sectors of personal and institutional finance, including a crypto-enabled debit card that we’re very excited about, as well a few other projects that are just as exciting, but that I can’t disclose just yet.
What other projects and/or blockchain developments are you most excited about?
Since we operate an exchange, of course, I always keep an eye on the developments in the crypto exchange sphere as a whole. It is great to see the space maturing in real-time, with exchanges becoming increasingly better at security measures and the variety of products and features offered to traders.
From a higher level, I’m excited about the developments in Bitcoin specifically. A lot of work is going into Lightning, and we’re seeing promising applications being built to lend further utility to the Lightning Network. Then, as a launch partner, of course, I can’t leave out the Liquid Network either which I see as one of the most promising scaling solutions for Bitcoin aside from Lightning.
Liquid is perfect for traders and exchanges, and I can’t wait to see the network unfold its real potential in the next bull run. Because when the Bitcoin Network gets busy, that’s where Liquid can really shine.
Do you have any blockchain and/or crypto predictions for 2020 and beyond?
I believe we will see more state-level involvement in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In fact, we’re already seeing it. You can love it or hate it, but governments becoming aware of the massive potential of Bitcoin is a clear indicator of the direction we’re headed. The Bitcoin Network is growing in user numbers and in stability and security every day, and we’re still at the very beginning of this fascinating journey.
I expect governments to focus on Central Bank digital currencies this year rather than Bitcoin, but as these developments take place, we will see more awareness of and involvement in Bitcoin as well.
What are the biggest obstacles for mainstream adoption of crypto?
A key factor that anyone operating a crypto business is all too familiar with is the lack of regulatory clarity and frameworks. Any cryptocurrency company wants to evolve with the regulations that are being established, but for that, we need clear regulations to be established.
One reason why there have been many incidents of exchanges moving jurisdictions is because countries that looked to be ahead in the issuance of regulatory frameworks ended up not moving fast enough for the rapidly developing crypto ecosystem. At BTSE, we do communicate closely with regulators to help drive developments in the right direction.
And then, the other factor that I think cannot be underestimated is simply time. We look at Bitcoin and think, “Hey, it’s been only ten years, and look at how far we’ve come!” But the jump to real adoption, however you may define it, is a completely different caliber. Some of the smartest minds in the world are working on Bitcoin or building products and services for various purposes. There will be more people joining in on these developments. But what is needed most of all is time. And personally, I like to use that time to do my part and build.
