São Paulo – Three years and a half ago, two Portuguese started developing the project of a new cryptocurrency. The initiative resulted in the BestKoin, company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. But wait, if the founders are Portuguese, why choose the Arab country? “Several factors led us to choose Dubai to be our headquarters. I can highlight the most important ones: the emirate has a very advanced legislation in the cryptocurrency sector; Dubai is also a tourist destination for its own, and that fits [our] main goal. Dubai is extremely well-structured, objective, and cannot stand failure, which we appreciate because of our economic and financial assertiveness,” said BestKoin cofounder Pedro Ribeiro to ANBA.
The emirate is considered criptofriendly by the entrepreneurship because, according to him, it is already quite advanced in the work with virtual currency and its regulation. BestKoin was launched in October 2018. “We started the pre-ICO and have until the end of April to complete this phase, explains the founder about the acronym which stands for “Initial Coin Offering,” early offer of assets for a better price to attract investors.
The company is now preparing to offer their cryptocurrency as an official payment method in the cabin of one of the largest popular celebrations of the world, the Brazilian carnaval – this is unprecedent. More specifically, in the cabin Incentivo Brasil, during the parade of the samba schools in Rio de Janeiro. BestKoin will then implement their main ambition to become a currency for payments, not only speculation. “Other cryptocurrencies have 80% in speculation and 20% in effectiveness, and we want the opposite. Our main focus is its use as an actual, effective means of payment,” pondered the businessman.
According to the company, the partnership with the cabin in Sapucaí will also be in place at least for the next two years, and among the people present will be clients from Europe, Japan and Dubai. As one of the advantages to use the cryptocurrency as payment, the founder stresses that there is no need to pay the fees charged to buy different currencies in bureaus de change. The entrepreneurs chose this venture in Brazil because of its reference as a destination for European tourists. “And mainly because [the tourism niche in Brazil] is not been tapped as it should nor with the right partners,” Ribeiro believes.
There are two ways to use the cryptocurrency. One of them is the funds transfer from one wallet to another. For example, if the client buys a travel package, they simply have to transfer their Bestkoins online to the currency partner companies. Another option is the payment through cards that are also BestKoin partners. In Brazil, the company signed a deal with the Brazilian fintech Uzzo – a company associated to Mastercard, which will allow the conversion of Bestkoin in “real” currency and, therefore, allow the payment of purchases and services using a prepaid card fom the flag. According to Ribeiro, the projection is that it will be possible to purchase any ordinary thing from May 1st on. “We have a focus. But if you have reals and want to buy a purse in dollars, if the entity accepts the purchase in Bestkoins, it is OK. Yet our focus is tourism,” he said.
Another debut confirmed by the founder is with NetPDV, a Brazilian company that operates in festivals around the world. “It is a large cashless company from Latin America and Europe. And Bestkoin was the only cryptocurrency invited to be a payment method,” he revealed. The next major event where the currency will be a payment option is The BPM Festival, where the deal with BestKoin was also signed for the next two years. The next edition of the festival should occur next Summer in Portugal.
The cryptocurrency market
“We haven’t created any coin. It is an encrypted currency, a code. We don’t have the right to emit coins. It is not a legal term either because there is no regulation. Cryptocurrency is an asset. You cannot say more than that because there is nothing else to say until there is a regulation by the entities we know,” explained the founder of BestKoin, which now accumulates 400 million tokens – a kind of digital asset, usually created in an upper layer of cryptocurrency and facilitates the transactions between users.
So how did the company determine how much it has? “We looked where there was a problem with more potential and arrived at the tourism market, which had partners and clients demanding [cryptocurrency]. We conducted a market study on this niche and arrived at our ‘white paper’, which is like a birth certificate. It explains the reason why we should have that number of tokens. After the market and economic analysis, we found the problem in the online tourism that would amount to a USD 1.5 billion [demand]. We’ve identified the size of the problem, and then determined how many tokens and how much it would be valued so that we could assist in solving that problem,” he detailed.
And what about the guarantee, a constant doubt by who sees the market from outside, Ribeiro explains it does exist. It is just not what you expected to hear. “Our guarantee is our credibility. And what makes us have that credibility? I’m an expert in marketing and communication. The other founder comes from the financial market and is a very renowned person, and so is the rest of team. We also have a consultant council. That is mandatory for banks, while it is not for us, but we presented one for the sake of seriousness and credibility,” pointed Ribeiro.
He explains BestKoin wants to bring innovation. “Our idea is different. It is the use of the currency. The others are just for speculation, and that is what makes people say it is just a bubble ready to burst. We obviously want our asset to be valued but through its actual use for payments, for example,” concluded Pedro Ribeiro.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
