Srdjan Mahmutovich, Founder of Kriptomat – Interview Series
As Originally Published on securities.io
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Srdjan Mahmutovich is a tech enthusiast and the founder of Kriptomat an exchange that is fundraising by offering a security token. Previously, he has built a successful B2B digital marketing agency with 40 employees and coworkers. He also worked as the head of web development at Telemach.
Antoine: When did Kriptomat first launch and why did you decide to launch a cryptocurrency exchange?
Srdjan: Kriptomat opened to the public on 15 July 2018. We identified the need for a service anyone could use (like our friends and family members). We are on a mission to bring crypto into every household and to do that we needed to create a simple yet powerful service anyone can use. This will enable complete beginners to enter the world of cryptocurrencies in an extremely simple, safe and quick manner.
Antoine: Which countries do you currently accept customers from?
Srdjan: We currently accept customers from 82 countries around the world. They are listed here: https://kriptomat.io/global/
Antoine: How many active customers do you currently have? Where do most of these users originate from?
Srdjan: We currently have more than 10k registered users and steady growth of 20%-25% month on month. The majority of the users come from Europe, but with the recent addition of more payment methods, we are seeing a gradual increase in customers from all over the world. Our next goal is the 100k registered user mark and we are hoping to achieve this by the end of 2019.
Antoine: Are there plans on accepting Non-European customers any time soon?
Srdjan: We already accept Non-European customers, but we are working on adding more payment options in order to provide true worldwide support. Currently, we support Skrill which is really global, but we will be adding new locally popular payment methods.
Antoine: What currencies can be purchased on the Kriptomat exchange?
Srdjan: You can buy 29 cryptocurrencies; they are listed here: https://kriptomat.io/price-of-cryptocurrencies/
Antoine: Can you tell us about your upcoming security token sale? What’s the soft-cap, the hard-cap, and what will be the benefits offered to investors?
Srdjan: We have come to a stage where we need capital to speed up our growth and take us to the next level. We have decided to do an STO because it’s an innovative way to raise capital that allows our existing users and community members who already believe in us to invest in our project. We’re not only looking to get an investment but also loyal users that will evangelize and use our service as well. It’s a win-win situation. If we’re successful, our investors will be successful and we feel we’re in a much better position to build something big if our investors are our users who actually use the service.
We are looking for an investment of 1.8 million euros. We offer our investors an 8% share of our revenue and 4% of our audited profit.
The soft cap is 1 million euros and we reserve the right to cancel the issuing of the token if we don’t reach that. Detailed information can be found in our Security Offering document which you can get in the crowdfunding platform Desico which is going to issue our security. To get there go to https://kriptomat.io/sto
Antoine: What will these funds be used for?
Srdjan: So far, we have been focused on building a product, relationships and proving the business model. With the new funds, we will focus on creating user acquisition mechanisms and improving the platform.
The orientation of spending of the funds raised during the STO:
– 60% Growth – Marketing, customer base growth
– 18% Product development
– 12% Security, compliance
– 10% Operations, support
One important thing to note here is that crypto market is in its early stage and things are moving fast. We have been maneuvering quite successfully so far and adapting to the sudden market changes and that’s what we plan to do in the future as well. If the market situation changes significantly, we will pivot and change direction if necessary.
Antoine: The market is beginning to become saturated with exchanges, how will you differentiate yourselves?
Srdjan: Because we are creating some awesome new products. We are integrating the next-generation Ethereum-based ERC-1155 tokens into our Kriptomat exchange. This adoption of blockchain-based virtual items is the first of its kind and it is being made with the purpose of gamifying user experience. In other words, it is a blockchain-based reward program that will boost loyalty, increase the customer lifetime value and speed up user acquisition.
We have recently launched a revolutionary ERC1155 Token Mint Portal, giving everyone in the world an opportunity to create their own customized tokens. The use cases are countless and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what can be done with such a powerful tool.
So it seems we are going more in the direction of supporting gamers and game developers. This means we as an exchange will appeal more to the gaming community and they might just be the first customer segment to completely adopt crypto.
Antoine: What are long-term plans for Kriptomat?
Srdjan: Our mission is to bring cryptocurrencies into every household. This can be in terms of giving people the best way to exchange digital currencies, or in terms of giving them a valuable product or use-case that utilizes blockchain and crypto. Whatever the case, we truly believe that this technology will be integrated into every pore of our lives, and just like the internet protocols, people won’t have to know exactly how it works in order to use it.
Antoine: Is there anything else that you would like to share about Kriptomat?
Srdjan: We are very transparent with our community and we welcome an open discussion on our social media channels. I invite everyone reading this to join our Telegram channel where you can talk directly with our team members. We know that it is often hard to maintain a personal relationship with the community when the number of users starts to grow exponentially, but we make a concerted effort to reply to every single message.
