I had the pleasure of interviewing Ofir Beigel, the founder of 99Bitcoins. 99Bitcoins has started out as a personal blog about Bitcoin and today is one of the largest online sources for cryptocurrency tutorials, reviews and guides with over 4m readers each month.
Gene: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Please give us a brief overview of your background and how you got started in this industry.
My pleasure Gene! I actually come from a marketing background, I have no technical background whatsoever. I read about Bitcoin initially on March 2013 and didn’t really understand the whole thing. But since I came from a marketing background I instantly saw the need to explain this complex technology is simple terms. So that’s why I started 99Bitcoins, initially to help me make sense of this whole “Bitcoin thing” and on the way to teach others.
Gene: Can you please tell us more about what your company does? I love learning about advancements in the crypto space, so please feel free to geek out with me on this.
Actually what we do is very simple — we explain Bitcoin in plain English. We are not a tech company, we are an educational company.
Gene: Who are your competitors in this space? What makes your company stand out?
There are many great sites that supply information about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, however I do feel that we do several things better. First, we avoid using any word that our grandmothers won’t understand. That’s why makes our guides so readable. Second, we put a lot of emphasis on video guides. I think people are more comfortable with a “lean back” learning experience than with a “lean in” experience.
Gene: What sort of traction have you guys gotten so far? Are you a well known brand? Still in the startup stage? Or somewhere in the middle?
I would say we’re getting nice traction lately, of course it always depends on Bitocin’s price 🙂 If the price is on the rise, then so is our traffic. Today we have about 4 million readers each month from around the world and we’re probably one of the top 20 informational sites about Bitcoin.
Gene: What is the most innovative project that you have ever worked on?Well, I don’t know if we have many innovative project but we do have fun projects! For example, our most popular section on the site is the Bitcoin Obituaries section where we track how many times Bitcoin was proclaimed “dead” by the media.
Gene: What are some up and coming coins that we should keep on our radar?
Personally, I don’t think any coin comes close to Bitcoin in terms of future promises so to speak. If I’d have to bet on an altcoin I’d go with one of the anonymous coins like Monero, Dash or Zcash.
Gene: What is your opinion on bitcoin? Is it still a good investment?
Of course! Perhaps the only good investment I’m willing to make. Personally I don’t hold any altcoins, only Bitcoin. People are getting too greedy in my opinion and are looking for 10,000X profits when they can make amazing 2X, 5X and even 10X profits with Bitcoin which in my opinion is much safer than any other altcoin out there.
Gene: What sort of regulations do you think we can expect to see in 2018? How will it impact the industry?
I’m assuming more countries will recognize Bitcoin as a form of payment and more regulation will step in. I actually think this will be good for the industry as it will accelerate adoption even more. People who were afraid to get involved until now will come into the market. Also, it will solve one of the biggest issues today which is how to liquidate your crypto back into your bank account without being regarded as a criminal. Overall I think regulation will be a good thing for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, even though it won’t look like it in the beginning.
Gene: Who is your hero (In your business or personal life)? How have they inspired you to become the person you are today.
I think Andreas Antonopoulos is the person I look up to in this industry. He has unmatched charisma, amazing knowledge and seems to be a great guy to hang out with overall. The work he has done for Bitcoin, even before he got paid for it, is priceless. I get a lot of my inspiration for my guides and talks from him.
Gene: If you could jump into a time machine, go back in time, and change one aspect of your past, what would it be, and why?
I guess I’d buy Bitcoin back in 2013. Not a lot of people know this, but even though I’ve known Bitcoin from March 2013 when it was worth $70 I started investing only in late 2016…..so much for moving fast 🙂
Gene: How will the work your team is doing impact humanity in the future? For example, bringing people closer together, creating more jobs, create killer robots that will destroy all of humanity (joking), etc.
The way I see it 99Bitcoins is helping people adopt this amazing decentralized technology we call Bitcoin. I don’t know if we have a major impact when you look at it from a planetary scale, but I do know we have made an impact on several individuals whom we’ve helped along the way. I see that in the emails we get daily from readers.
Gene: What are a your 5 tips that you would give to an inexperienced investor? Why?
- Never invest more than you can afford to lose
- Never invest in something you don’t understand well enough. How do you know if you understand it well enough? Try to explain it to your friend and see if he gets it.
- Never follow the price, follow the technology or value of the asset. Price is just a side effect of the value the asset brings with it.
- Be greedy, but ALWAYS be less greedy than anyone else around you. This way you’ll know to sell before it’s to late.
- Nothing rises in value forever, remember that. A lot of scams are evolving these days around cryptocurrencies. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Originally published at medium.com