Behind The Startup: Talking Crypto with Narek Gevorgyan
Ishan Pandey: Hi Narek, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the story behind CoinStats?
Narek Gevorgyan: Thank you for having me! It started when a bunch of my friends and I first started investing in crypto. This was 2017, and I did all my calculations in spreadsheets. Needless to say, it took a lot of work. So, as they say, if you need a product, create it. My friends and I wrote a simple app to keep track of our holdings, and soon it turned out that a lot of people needed something similar. Our users have really been the drivers of our growth. It was all organic from the get-go. Now CoinStats has grown into so much more than a tracker. It’s shaping up to be our users’ go-to destination for all things crypto and DeFi. We’re working very hard to make that happen.
Ishan Pandey: Bitcoin could be about to confront a new round of criticism for its harmful environmental impact. How can the industry significantly reduce bitcoin’s harsh impact on the environment at large?
Narek Gevorgyan: For Bitcoin, the use of energy is the primary means of securing the network. Other consensus mechanisms, such as Proof of Stake, have yet to prove themselves in terms of achieving the level of security the Bitcoin network currently provides. The public criticism of Bitcoin’s energy consumption does not consider that renewable sources generate a huge part of this energy. Bitcoin mining is now the main driving force for innovations in energy technology. Besides, if you count that all the banks worldwide use and add the cost of all the wars waged for fiat, Bitcoin’s spending may seem dismal. In any case, the crypto ecosystem has hundreds of intelligent and hard-working people working relentlessly to address the energy consumption issue of cryptocurrencies and new energy-efficient networks are popping up almost every day.
Ishan Pandey: President Joe Biden has presented his budget proposal for 2023. It includes a provision to reform regulations governing digital assets, which his government claims will earn an added $11 billion in income by 2032. What will be the global impact of the new crypto rules which also aim to reduce misuse of crypto?
Narek Gevorgyan: The tone of the Executive order seems to be signalling a welcoming and development-oriented approach rather than an obstructive “crackdown” strategy, and as we can see, the market hasn’t reacted negatively. If we look at the bigger picture, beyond month-to-month price volatility, government regulation has had little to no impact on the long-term growth of Bitcoin, which is evidence of Bitcoin’s success in doing without the need for the government’s trust. Putting that aside, Bitcoin is fundamentally a trustless public ledger technology. Apart from the pseudonymous nature of transactions on the network, we believe there are advantages to fighting illicit activity on the Bitcoin network.
Ishan Pandey: Please tell us a little bit about the platform and how it aims at becoming the front page of crypto.
Narek Gevorgyan: We know that our users like to use multiple wallets and exchanges, and the crypto world is so new and diverse that that’s probably always going to be the case. So, our vision is to become the one spot where you can go to manage all your crypto, DeFi, and NFTs. You can not only track them, but buy crypto with fiat, swap on multiple chains without additional fees, and very soon, you’ll even be able to earn a yield on your crypto. The launch of CoinStats Wallet in 2021 and the addition of NFT tracking were important milestones for us, and there are so many other updates coming up. We’re working to incorporate a personalized investment advice system, a rewards program, and even an NFT marketplace aggregator. It’s truly going to be the only page you need to navigate the world of DeFi and take control of your crypto game.
Ishan Pandey: Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two most popular proof-of-work coins within the crypto space at the moment. What is your take on Ethereum’s proposed transition from a proof of work-based consensus protocol to proof-of-stake protocol?
Narek Gevorgyan: We have to applaud the tremendous effort the Ethereum foundation has been putting to deliver on its commitment to scaling the network. The Merge is a stepping stone for achieving scalability. In such cutting-edge areas of innovation, it is tough to predict outcomes. Still, we trust the Ethereum foundation’s ability to deliver on its vision of a scalable network, hopefully without too many compromises in other areas of the scalability triad.
Ishan Pandey: What does the roadmap ahead look like for CoinStats and the blockchain industry as a whole?
Narek Gevorgyan: The blockchain industry, and DeFi specifically, looks primed for amazing growth. Whether it’s eth2 or the other equally growing scalable L1s and L2s, the crypto ecosystem’s push for scalability is coming to fruition – big DeFi brands are expanding cross-chain, and the buzz of NFTs is ushering people into a new world of finance and the platform plans to sit right at the centre of it all.
So, I have to say I’m excited for the rest of the year to unfold on the platform’s side of things. We have several amazing updates that I personally can’t wait to try out. We’re about to unveil the CoinStats Launchpad, which will serve as the ideal platform for launching DeFi projects with tons of potential. Then we have the much-discussed Earn function, which will let our users put their crypto to work and earn about 20% instead of just hodling. Then we have the idea of a unified NFT marketplace, where our users can easily compare prices on different markets and buy and sell NFTs. Ultimately, we aim to shape an environment where everyone can get personalized investment advice and grow their assets faster.
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