New Video of George Papageorgious, CEO of Neo & Bee, on ANT1 TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXhMzJLl02ADoes anybody that understands greek well know what they are talking about? I asked someone to help and they concluded something about 50,000 businesses at the end.
Rough transcript:
Commentator(C):
"...ahh, it is something that entered our lives, it is something that a lot of
people are familiar with' and with us we have mr George Papageorgiou, he is here
on behalf of Neo company. Can you tell us, what is this new thing that is coming
to our lives, how can someone acquire this bitcoin and how are transactions made?"
George Papageorgiou(GP):
"Good evening, lets start from the beginning, to follow up on the discussion your
previous guests had, that was quite interesting. Bitcoin is designed with a simple
philosophy in mind: you cannot solve a problem with the use of the same tools that
created the problem in the first place.
Bitcoin is a payment system, it is an asset exchange system.."
(C)"There is fertile ground for it, given the economic crisis and the way it..[inaudible]"
(GP)"Bitcoin is developed with these ideas in mind: it is corruption-proof, it is haircut-proof,
it allows every individual to acquire ownership of his/her own wealth without any third-party
dependencies, it enables a transaction between two individuals without any third-party intervention."
(C)"Allright. So, what is this bitcoin?"
(GP)"Bitcoin is the outcome of a technology that is being researched for -at least- the last thirty years.
The creation of a decentralised network in which two individuals can transact digitally and exchange
monetary values between them, without the need for supervision by a central authority.
This is the basis of it."
(C)"Ahh, ok.. This, ah, sounds kind of insecure, right? At least from what i hear, the internet, digital stuff,
without any supervising authority..."
(GP)"The supervising authority in this case is mathematics. You see, the bitcoin network is built on what is
called open source code. This means that all the transactions, the way with which the network operates,
the rules on which the network itself operates, area absolutely transparent and available to anyone for
scrutiny.
Someone cannot just "inject" a virus, or the wrong code, because rest of the network will simply reject
these transactions."
(C)"Allright. Let's see how can someone today in Cyprus, because after all now we can, can make a transaction
with this currency"
(GP)"Through our company, an individual can gain access to bitcoins, he can receive reliable information on both
the positive and negative aspects of it, as well as the challenges around it: because this is new technology,
a lot of people are not accustomed to the idea of digital money, neither the fact that they can manage it on
their own.
This is why we need to be informed on the risks and challenges involved"
(C)"So, let me get this straight. I will take a part of my money, if i want to buy something in Cyprus or worldwide,
am i right?"
(GP)"Yes, yes exactly"
(C)"I'll convert them to bitcoin through your company, i will tell the system ``i want to buy``, and ah..
Is there a rate for this, is there something..?"
(GP)"The rates fluctuate, they depend on supply and demand. The rate to Euro."
(C)"So i'll convert my money from Euro to bitcoin, and after that i'll just buy with bitcoin?"
(GP)"After that you can make an transaction anywhere in the world, instantly. This means that the merchant that
you will choose will receive his funds instantly, at no cost to you. Because there is noone interfering, the
transaction is frictionless. Same goes for merchants. Merchants in Cyprus that will be accepting bitcoins,
can have customers from all over the planet, with the transaction received in their electronic wallet, instantly,
without any third party intervention or delay. At the same time they can check with us and receive the corresponding
funds in Euro"
(C)"And the conversion rates to Euro are the same?"
(GP)That depends on the system application at the moment. If, for example, one comes and offers us bitcoin, and
we have never had a transaction with that individual, then we will move with market rates. But when it comes
to our merchant accounts we have made sure that they are protected from these rates fluctuations, and we will
buy their bitcoins at the rate they received them."
(C)"Alright. It is an innovative process in Cyprus. Where is it now, is there any merchant interest, or from the
general public?"
(GP)"People are interested. On the 24/25 of the previous month we held two merchant conferences, in Nicosia and Limassol,
that were attended by over 500 people in the industry. Most of them were interested in how the payments work in bitcoin.
We explained thoroughly the process to them, with the help of the University of Nicosia and we have already made some
strong alliances with merchants on the island so that in the coming weeks they will start moving forward and accept
bitcoin for their services"
(C)"Alright. I wanted to ask, how is the world market around it, does it have a big percentage of the market?"
(GP)"Internationally, there are approximately 50.000 businesses that accept bitcoin, they are mostly decentralised and mainly
they are enjoing the benefit of sending and receiving transactions instantly, from any part of the globe. Many of those
are internet-based but as time passes we have more and more physical establishments that accept it, like a hotel for example,
that is making business worldwide and it instantly exposed on an eight billion USD market."
(C)"Alright. This is new for our lives, we will see how things turn out. Thank you mr Papageorgiou and good luck on your endeavour."
(GP)"Thank you"
