Our guest this week is Richard Bensberg, a long time Beijinger and the newly appointed Director of Sales and Integrations at Blockstream where he is focused on their Liquid product. Richard got his start in Bitcoin in the early days of OkCoin where he was managing compliance before leaving in 2015 to found Remitsy, a money transfer business using Bitcoin that was later acquired by Wyre. Richard then ran Wyre’s Asia business before recently joining Blockstream, still out of Beijing. We cover topics including the early days of Bitcoin in Beijing, OkCoin company culture, founding a Bitcoin company out of Beijing, the benefits of building a team that is aligned ideologically on the importance of Bitcoin, and the current state of Bitcoin in China.

Richard on twitter @richardbensberg

Blockstream on twitter @blockstream

Timestamps:

00:00 – Running a Regtech company out of Asia and finding Bitcoin
9:00 – Deciding to pursue Bitcoin commercially, connecting with OkCoin and moving back to China full time, Bitcoin scene in Beijing (2014)
13:00 – Working at an early Bitcoin company in China and the Beijing Bitcoin meetup
17:00 – Managing compliance at OkCoin, competitive landscape of Bitcoin exchanges in China at the time
21:00 – Star Xu as a CEO, OkCoin Mafia, and the company culture
28:00 – Context for CCP involvement in tech companies and OkCoin at the time
34:00 – Leaving OkCoin to start Remitsy, development of Richard’s thinking about Bitcoin
41:00 – The business of Remitsy and running a company with an aligned view of Bitcoin, current thoughts on use cases for Bitcoin
45:00 – Decision and process of Remitsy’s Acquisition by Wyre
49:00 – Running Wyre’s Asia business
52:00 – Joining Blockstream, the current focus
57:00 – Thoughts on the current state of Bitcoin in China
1:01:00 – Beijing Recommendation, getting in touch

Dominik Weil and Bao-Phuong (Paige) Nguyen are cofounders of Bitcoin Vietnam and Vietnam’s Bitcoin meetup Bitcoin Saigon. Bitcoin Vietnam (https://www.bitcoinvn.io/) was founded as an exchange service in Ho Chi Minh in 2013 and it's business lines now also include an expanding ATM network, inbound remittance services, and payments services. We walk through the history of the Bitcoin market and community in Vietnam from 2013 through today. Insights around operating inside the Vietnamese market abound.

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Follow Dominik on Twitter @DominikWeil

Follow Bitcoin Vietnam @Bitcoin_Vietnam and Bitcoin Saigon at @BitcoinSaigon on Twitter. 

Timing:

00:00 Finding Bitcoin in Germany and decided to go all-in in Vietnam (2012-2013)

11:00 Founding Bitcoin Vietnam – first product offerings and strategy, Bitcoin scene in Vietnam at the time (2013)

15:00 Founding Bitcoin Saigon (first Bitcoin Meetup in Vietnam)

18:00 Business lines of Bitcoin Vietnam

22:00 Remittance market and competitive landscape (2014)

25:00 Focusing on building the Bitcoin ecosystem in Vietnam vs Asia more broadly

30:00 Lobbying regulators and realities of opening a financial services business in Vietnam

38:00 Bull market and navigating the excesses and consequences of the ICO market in Vietnam (2017-2018)

45:00 Regulatory developments since 2018

Our guest this week is Constance Yuan, currently the founder and CEO of financial services company unbanking.io out of Shanghai.

Constance is an early Bitcoiner in China whose background combines five years of working in and founding Bitcoin businesses including time at the first Bitcoin exchange in China, BTCC.

We cover:

• The experience of being an early bitcoin startup founder in China and the atmosphere/support system in China for startups generally;
• The experience dealing directly with regulators and central bankers in China in the context of operating Bitcoin businesses;
• The mining ecosystem in China and the need for tailored financial services for operators.

Social

• Constance on WeChat - “littlebuddhasoup.”
• John Riggins on Twitter as @Distriggs

Minute Marks:

1:00 - Finding Bitcoin for the purpose of moving money cross border and starting money transfer business BitNexo

6:00 - Operating as a bitcoin startup out of Shanghai and the general startup environment in China (2014-15)

14:00 - BTCC - Competitive landscape of the exchange business in China (2015-17), compliance process and experience dealing with regulators and central bankers

40:00 - Mining industry in China and the need for tailored financial services

Our guest for this inaugural episode is Jack Huang, Founder and Managing Partner at One Block Capital. We cover:

• Jack’s current “elevator pitch” for Bitcoin
• Experience in traditional finance at Rothschild and the World Bank Group
• China Central Bank’s digital currency initiative and Libra
• Jack’s commercial entry into the world of crypto, why ICOs took off in Asia and how early Bitcoiners in Asia reacted
• How Jack’s thinking about Bitcoin evolved through peak ICO mania to today, his current investment thesis
• Competitive landscape of Bitcoin businesses in Asia, what is working

Resources:

• http://oneblockcapital.com/

• https://twitter.com/oneblockcapital

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/oneblock

Hosted by BTC Media's John Riggins, Bitcoin in Asia gives listeners insight into the minds of the leading experts in the Asia cryptocurrency scene. For beginners and experts, each episode tackles the complex and significant topics facing the current state of Bitcoin in Asia, bridging the information gap between the East and West.