Celsius’s Founder Alex Mashinsky: Interest Income Is Crypto’s Killer App

Feb 19, 2020

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Episode notes

Host Tom Shaughnessy talks to Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network. Alex discusses the impetus for creating MOIP (Money over IP) and Celsius Network, what has prevented blockchain from becoming mainstream thus far, and his predictions for the future of MOIP technology.

Key Points:

There is a high barrier to entry for new users of crypto and blockchain technology.
The shift for crypto becoming mainstream will be generational.
2020 will be a defining year for crypto adoption.

Quotes

“The main thing that I think is the killer app is the idea that you can do something that you could not do any other way with any other platform.” –Alex Mashinsky

“We need to grow the crypto community first before there’s enough demand for all of these products to start migrating from the traditional Wall Street and Main Street services to the crypto rails.” –Alex Mashinsky

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Episode Highlights:

Alex has raised over $1 billion in capital for several startups over the past 30 years and is one of the developers of VOIP technology.
It’s easy to get people to use VOIP, but much harder to get people to trust you with their money for new banking technology and MOIP.
Celsius Network creates interest-bearing accounts for people who hold crypto and lending with crypto.
There’s a high bar for involvement with Celsius Network because you have to understand crypto first.
The banking industry will not survive as is if crypto becomes mainstream; they would have to evolve their entire business structure dramatically.
When VOIP came about, it massively disrupted phone companies, who made most of their money off long distance call charges.
Children today don’t see digital currency as foreign because they already play games that use tokens as currency; what’s foreign to them is their parents writing checks.
The blockchain community has thus far failed to convince the average person that it’s something more than just a toy for techies.
Celsius has now raised the bar for other crypto and blockchain companies and many of them have started to offer interest on deposits, but none has better rates than Celsius does, on every service they offer.
What Celsius does is make services that in the mainstream are only available to the top 1%, available to everybody.
Celsius created their own token that they treat essentially as airline miles—something that incentivizes them to continue using the platform.
You can choose whether you want to earn interest in your stable currency or in the Cel token.

Resources Mentioned:

Chain Reaction Twitter: https://twitter.com/chainpodcast
Tom Shaughnessy Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shaughnessy119