BitcoinVOX had the chance to interview, Mr David Ripley, CEO and Co-Founder of the Bitcoin Wallet Glidera.Glidera aims to provide consumers and businesses a secure, easy to use online wallet that leverages Bitcoin’s multi-signature architecture to provide transparency and user control.David reveals his plans for Glidera and also some key analysis of the Bitcoin Industry and perspectives.How did you choose to involve yourself in the Bitcoin Industry?David Ripley - We are incredibly excited about Bitcoin and decentralized applications for multiple reasons.
Bitcoin offers substantial benefits relative to existing financial system stemming from the removal of the need for trusted third parties. Instead, Bitcoin relies on cryptography and the consensus of the network participants themselves to secure the network and validate ownership and transactions.Efficiencies in the form of greater security, speed, and lower cost offer compelling benefits for users. More importantly Bitcoin is the first open and global network that allows value to be stored and transferred anywhere in the world. Similar to many others, my co-founder and I saw the growth of the Internet that grew based on a similar open protocol.Bitcoin can do for value transfer what the Internet did for data and information transfer.
Furthermore, given Bitcoin’s open nature, we are particularly interested in its potential to level the playing field and provide equal access to financial services for all people.How did the Glidera venture start?David Ripley - My co-founder, Michael Xakellis, and I both share the same enthusiasm for Bitcoin’s potential and its ability to positively impact individuals. We started discussing Bitcoin back in the middle of 2013 and our interest just continued to grow. Growing the Bitcoin ecosystem will require a significant amount of work. As a community, we need to continue building easier to use and more secure services with meaningful benefits.
Furthermore, Bitcoin also needs to become more accessible. Several obstacles exist, but we do not see any of them as insurmountable. We decided to dive into the industry to help solve some of these challenges.What is your business model?David Ripley - At Glidera, we are focused on building the on-ramp into the Bitcoin ecosystem. We provide a service that allows individuals the ability to easily buy (and sell) Bitcoin via a connected bank account.
What are the innovative features of the Glidera wallet?David Ripley - We have actually decided to embrace the openness of the Bitcoin ecosystem and encourage individuals to use whatever Bitcoin wallet they chose. As we look around, we see an array of different Bitcoin wallets that offer varying and interesting features. Some offer highly secure solutions for storing large amounts of Bitcoin.While others offer easy to use mobile applications with integrated maps and location based services. We’re also particularly interested to see Bitcoin wallets embedded in other applications such as social networks, marketplaces, etc.
In all cases, we believe that Glidera can augment these offerings by providing an easy way for users to obtain bitcoin.Do you plan to diversify towards an Exchange?David Ripley - We do not offer a typical exchange with an order book, clearing house, and enhanced trading tools. Rather, we provide a simple service where users can buy Bitcoin directly from Glidera. In this way, it’s more like a Bitcoin “store” than an exchange built for traders.Exchanges fulfill an important role in the ecosystem and we are quite happy that many exist. We’re just focused on providing a different service for users interested in a simpler solution.
What does the proliferation of Bitcoin ATMs mean for businesses?David Ripley - Bitcoin ATMs bring an interesting service to the industry given digital currency is by definition “digital”. The real question for these and any technology comes down to what are the use cases. Right now, many people in the U.S. and around the globe do not have bank accounts. These individuals conduct nearly all of their commerce using cash.
Bitcoin provides a low cost opportunity for these individuals to interact with money digitally.Their starting point is cash, thus Bitcoin ATMs provides one path for these individuals to actually move in and out of the Bitcoin ecosystem to maximize the value. Many individuals without bank accounts also remit money to family members in other parts of the world. The combination of Bitcoin and Bitcoin ATMs can combine to offer a remittance solution for these individuals.
We’re a long way away from this happening at scale, but the building blocks are beginning to emerge.What is your analysis on the current level of the bitcoin price?David Ripley - In the long run, if Bitcoin continues to grow and adoption reaches a point where it’s widely used as a form of exchange, the quantity theory of money would actually determine the price of Bitcoin. This formula takes into account the overall supply of money, velocity, and the real value of transactions or output of the economy. Right now however, the price is largely determined by speculation on whether we’ll actually reach these greater levels of adoption.
For this reason, we see real adoption as the key indicators of progress toward achieving the long term potential. Real adoption in terms of the number of users, merchants and businesses, real commerce transactions, all strengthen our view on the long term potential of Bitcoin and hence the price.We do however expect the price to increase in the medium term, 1+ years.What are the next steps for Glidera?David Ripley - We are looking forward to launching our service in the coming months. In the meantime, individuals can request an invite for early access via the Glidera website.
