Good day!
I was able to chat with
Apytioh and post this interview.
Apytioh has interesting experience in crypto business in Kazakhstan.
Enjoy reading!
Tell us about yourself?“I am from Kazakhstan, I am 34 years old. From 21 and the next 5 years I worked in 3 different and rather large alcohol companies, later I had experience in a bank, a football club and a bookmaker's office. As a rule, these are positions in sales, marketing and PR.
So I got a lot of experience by the age of 26.
But the problem is that all this quickly bored me and I lost interest in work. Work from paycheck to paycheck did not suit me. Therefore, in 2013, I began to develop personal projects, tried different directions, made a lot of mistakes, but gained good experience. My friends often laughed at the fact that I was doing everything that can be. And in 2017, I heard about bitcoin, began to study information about it and I really liked it. This is my 4th year in the crypto market. "
Tell us why you decided to go into cryptocurrency business?"I liked the fact that there is a lot of money in this market and everyone can come here. Nobody will let you into the oil, gas and gold market, and bitcoin's doors are open to every user. And if you have the desire, the right approach, knowledge, you can make a good profit.
At the same time, various activities can be carried out on the crypto market. You can make money from market volatility, trade on stock exchanges, engage in crypto exchange, you can trade equipment such as ASICs, components, mining containers, and even cheap electricity. If you have experience repairing computer equipment, you can find a job repairing ASICs, but in most cases you need analytical thinking to develop in this business, so I stayed here, it suits me. "
What were the difficulties at the beginning of work?"The main difficulty was financial. At that time I did not have the money to fully enter this business and earn money myself. The second problem was a small amount of knowledge and no experience, but I had enough time to read, study and watch video materials about cryptocurrencies and blockchain in general.
Well, the most common problem is scammers and swindlers. There are always a lot of them, but at that time I was somehow lucky and at the initial stage I rarely came across them, and if I did, these meetings did not bring me much harm. "
Tell us about your first successful projects?“I can't say that I have many successful projects, but the market in Kazakhstan knows me as one of the most reliable and low-margin crypto exchangers. I buy and sell cryptocurrencies from different people and do it with honest commissions. So I got into the Bit2cash team (one from the very first crypto exchanges in Kazakhstan)
By the way, I appeared on this forum precisely because we needed to gain the trust of people on the network and list our service in the bestchange. The exchanger has established itself quite well in Kazakhstan and offers excellent service to this day, but I have already left this project and now I work alone.
I can also tell you about my Bit4bet project. As a former bettor who knows what it is, I decided to become a partner of one large bookmaker. They gave me an affiliate program, since I have an active telegram channel about cryptocurrencies with my audience. I registered all my betting friends and give them 100% of my referral charges back, in Bitcoin. Thus, people who always do not have enough money to buy crypto get it for free from me. I also have 2 more projects that I am going to implement in the near future on my own, I will tell you about them later. In this forum I try to write about the most important aspects in my work, changes, life stories, and also share my thoughts. "
How do crypto exchanges work in Kazakhstan? How are their activities regulated and how are law enforcement oversight carried out?"In general, the workflow is not much different from what it looks like in Russia and Ukraine, everything is the same. But exchangers are different, there is online, there is only offline for verified clients, and there are exchangers that combine all of the above.
Supervision and regulation is a very sad topic. You can talk a lot about this, but there is no regulation, although many already themselves are almost begging the tax service to come up with a regulation so that each exchanger knows how to submit reports, how much to pay taxes, etc. But the supervision is now the strictest. They check everyone who is involved in crypto exchanges. The police react quickly enough to allegations of fraud, and if you deceive people, then you will be wanted. Nobody wants to help us, but many government organizations want to create problems for us.
Crypto exchangers often try to cheat, there are many attempts to fraudulently seize cryptocurrency. Therefore, all honest online exchangers in the first place now request full identity verification.
But there are still a lot of scammers from OLX (online classifieds platform) and other different platforms. Offline, you are unlikely to be able to buy or sell cryptocurrency, if no one knows you, the money changers will not want to meet with you. You need to have friends or guarantors to exchange cryptocurrencies. "
Have you and your partners ever faced scams?“Repeatedly. At least once a year, we lost money, the schemes of deception were different. But we tried with dignity to go through all the difficulties and treated these incidents as buying experience. After each such incident, we grew and developed. The truth is they say, such situations temper and develop character.
Over time, we understood in which cases it is better to abandon the deal and where we made mistakes. By the way, I described one situation here on the forum, how an unknown forum member from Bitcointalk almost deceived us with 7 or 8 bitcoins, but he failed to finish the deception. "
How did you ensure the security of large cash exchanges?“Over time, we came to the conclusion that our colleague who transfers cryptocurrency or accepts payments should not be in the same room with clients. It’s calmer. Next, it is important to clarify with the client whether he understands what he is buying and whether he buys cryptocurrency for himself There are different cases, so these questions are by no means superfluous if the person is new. Also, we will definitely conduct the first trial transaction for a small amount to the client's wallet to confirm the address, in order to avoid situations "you sent to the wrong address, give my money back ".
And last year we turned down large deals with unfamiliar customers. But even if there is a familiar and trusted client, we will now conduct this transaction in a bank branch, in a cash collection room. (In Russia, Kazakhstan, banks provide such a service for their clients) "
How much money have you invested in this business?"I still have not invested any money. I started making the first exchanges as an ordinary intermediary and had my own interest from this. At first I just spent all the money on my needs, then when there were more and more clients, I spent only part of the money on my With reaching a new level, I increased my cryptocurrency portfolio, I spent more on my own needs. Then new profitable projects appeared, for example, reselling discount coupons from Bitmain, selling ASICs and other non-permanent side jobs.
But the main activity has always been a crypto exchange, which developed due to my acquaintance with miners.
My partners are my old friends, so I brought all my clients to their office. After a year of such cooperation, we decided that I would be on their team, since I have the skills, free time, the necessary knowledge, my own client base and the ability to add our exchanger to the large monitors of exchange offices. I also have extensive experience in creating and developing sites. This is how I develop every year without initial capital, while steadily improving my life and increasing my crypto portfolio. It is worth noting here that the main factor, in my opinion, is my reputation. Those who work with me are not afraid to pay first, because I will not disappear with their money and will not cheat. The next important factor in my development and scaling was the fact that I decided to become public, I do not hide my face and hide behind other people's avatars or strange nicknames. This made people trust me even more. "
How is mining developing in Kazakhstan?"It is developing with rapid steps. Now the government has very competent people in key positions. First of all, I believe, this is the merit of the Minister of Digital Development - Bagdat Musin and the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. They are very active in the digitalization of our state and did not pass past mining.
We produce a lot of electricity in our country, we are the 9th largest territory in the world and we have many factories, hydroelectric power plants, thermal power plants, nuclear power plants.
The country's highest electricity tariff is less than $ 0.05 per kilowatt. In some regions there are rates of $ 0.03-0.04, influential people are able to get a price of $ 0.02. That is why, a year ago, Stanford University, at the end of its large research, came to the conclusion that our country ranks 4th in Bitcoin mining in the world. We are second only to China and the United States, and we caught up with Russia last year. But considering how much equipment has been launched over the past six months, I would not be surprised if we are already in third place in the world, overtaking Russia.
A strong catalyst was the fact that the aforementioned Musin and Tokayev announced to the whole country that our state plans to develop data centers and sets itself the task of attracting more than $ 700 million of foreign investment in cryptocurrency mining in the next couple of years. I think this is a cool idea, because these foreigners will bring money to our country, create jobs, pay huge electricity bills, and as a result, Kazakhstan will have a lot of cryptocurrency.
It is a pity that the implementation of the stated goals is moving slowly, since there is a huge queue of foreigners wishing to invest their money, but in fact only a few are engaged in mining in Kazakhstan, but these are quite large players in the market.
Europeans, Americans, Russians, Japanese, Koreans and even Chinese are looking for sites with cheap electricity all over Kazakhstan. The Arabs also want to cooperate. Our country is a paradise for miners from other countries, and we have a real opportunity to become the mining capital of the world, but so far this is all only in theory. "
What do you do in the mining industry?"My friends are now building luxury containers for mining. This is a product that allows you to connect your miners to the network and not worry about technical conditions, these containers are of higher quality compared to Bitmain products. At the same time, our containers are much cheaper, for comparison one ASIC-place in the Bitmein container costs about $ 90, and a place in the B2C mining container costs $ 60. It is also important that the production time is 2 times less, the electrics inside the container are of higher quality.
In addition to the fact that my comrades build these containers, it is also possible to take your data center for further maintenance, if your consumption is from 5 MWh / hour or more.
I am engaged in sales if customers contact me. Mining containers are now a scarce commodity, prices have increased, there are no goods in stock, and dealers often turn out to be scammers. I have trusted and honest suppliers of ASICs, and this is now in great demand.
There are also big plans for mining for the future, but they are still at an early stage of development. "
How has COVID-19 affected your business?"Positively! Sales volumes increased, sometimes there were good commissions and extra profits. The crypto market itself was very volatile and there was a great demand for crypto exchange. Also, a positive moment was the fact that some of our competitors went bankrupt, not all survived the fall in cryptocurrency prices in March. 2020. Plus it all coincided with halving and the expected growth of the entire crypto market.
Therefore, my and partner crypto portfolios have grown in value. "
What is your general opinion about cryptocurrency? Is it a hype that will eventually pass or a new trend that will intensify every year?“At the beginning of 2017, I thought it was a hype, another global pyramid that would soon collapse. But in January 2018, I was clearly convinced that digital money and cryptocurrencies are the future.
Anyone who still thinks that cryptocurrencies and digital money is a scam or a pyramid scheme risks losing a lot or missing out on good profits. "
Where should a beginner start if he wants to start mining or organize a cryptocurrency exchanger?"I do not advise beginners to start mining now. The era of home farms has passed, and putting 1-2 ASICs at home is not the best idea. It is better to buy bitcoin with this money. According to my observations, it is best to start mining when it is not most profitable. But if I really want to be a miner, then it is better to give your equipment for the maintenance of some company. They have experience, cheap electricity and they will be responsible in the event of equipment breakdowns. And a beginner will certainly have situations that he never knew about.
As for the newbie exchanger - absolutely not. It's too late. A beginner will not have enough experience, knowledge, money, or luck to hold out in this competitive environment for at least six months. And this very line of business will soon change dramatically. I am sure that soon we will all be obliged to carry out all exchanges on official exchanges. Therefore, this business is not worth considering now. "
Are the borders in Kazakhstan open now for the import and export of goods?"As far as I know, yes. Borders are open, goods are brought in and taken away."
What do businessmen bring to Kazakhstan for sale and what do they take out from there for resale in other countries?"The list of our export products is small. Most often these are agricultural products and our minerals: fruits, vegetables and minerals such as oil, metals. Our land is extremely rich, we have a lot of minerals, but production is not developed.
Neighboring countries bring a lot of goods to our country. We are located between Russia and China, so we have a lot of imports in our country, ranging from Russian sausages, Belarusian sugar, to cars from Armenia and clothes and electronics from China. "
What places do you recommend visiting first of all to those who have not been to Kazakhstan?"In Almaty, be sure to visit our ski resorts" Chimbulak "and" Ak Bulak ", and it does not matter what time of year you arrive. Look at our Charyn canyon, this is not a great American canyon, but something similar and amazing. Further along the route there is of indescribable beauty of the place in the form of lakes Kolsai and Kaindy. We have a very beautiful and diverse nature. Be sure to come to the capital Nur-Sultan for the weekend, it is very beautiful there in the warm season. "
How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2021?"At the end of 2019, in a dispute with my friends, I called the price of bitcoin $ 27,777 at the end of the year 2020, and I was as close as possible, at that time of the dispute the price was about $ 8,000. Now I am sure that the price will reach at least 100,000 during this year for one bitcoin.
To be more precise, I think that the next high will come again at the end of the year and we will reach $ 150-200K for 1 bitcoin. Perhaps something will intervene in our lives again, as COVID did and the timing will be delayed a little, but we will see bitcoin at six-figure prices already in this cycle."
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Thanks
Apytioh for your time.
Hope readers enjoy the interview!
Feel free to ask questions for Apytioh here or via private messages.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes. Don't consider this material as investment advice!
This is a translation of the interview from Russian. If I am mistaken, write me a private message, I will correct the errors.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5313734
