Blockcast.cc: Good day everyone. It is me again, Melody Chan, Managing Editor of Blockcast.cc. As promised to all our readers during our AMA last week, we have agreed to interview more people in the blockchain and crypto space. This week we have Esmond Hwee from Probit Exchange with us. He is Singaporean based in South Korea right now. I was also told that this is his very first interview.
Hi Esmond, can you tell us more about yourself.
Esmond: Thank you Blockcast for the interview. Hi Melody, my name is Esmond Hwee, Head of Sales at ProBit Exchange. I hold a Masters in Finance at LSE. After graduating in 2016, I joined ICH Group, a Singapore-based family office that was investing into blockchain. I was primarily in charge of deal sourcing and evaluation. It was at ICH where I started growing my network in this industry.
During my free time, I like to gym, do 10KM on treadmill because I find it mentally challenging, and play basketball.
Blockcast.cc: What is your role in ProBit? What excites you most at ProBit?
Esmond: I joined ProBit in Jan 2019. I grew from a Partnerships Manager to Head of Sales, leading a team of highly driven professionals. My role is to identify business goals, plan strategies and ensure the team execute in the most effective manner. Of course, I am still heavily involved in partnerships deals.
I am most excited about ProBit being a young, hungry and overachieving exchange. We are an efficient team of 30 with 7 different nationalities. While all of us come from different backgrounds, we walk into the same office everyday with one goal, and that is to grow our exchange to be bigger than it was yesterday. Over the next 12 months, we will continue to establish our ground as a dominant global exchange, while leading the industry with new products just as we did with the IEOs.
Blockcast.cc: We understand that you are a Singaporean. How is life in Korea? Have you fully acclimatized yourself to your new country?
Esmond: Life in Korea is amazing! I am getting used to 4 seasons and the food here. People are generally friendly and Korea has a lot to offer compared to Singapore in terms of lifestyle, things to do etc. I must admit I do spend a lot of time in the office though.
Blockcast.cc: Good to know you are enjoying yourself. For some of our interview segments, we invite friends, colleagues and industry guys to facilitate part of the interview. This week, we have Clive Aroskin, COO of Gaimin.io. I heard from Jenny Zheng, cofounder of Blockcast.cc that you met in South Korea and are ready to roll out their IEO on the 24th Feb. Ok, here he is connected to this Zoom call.
Clive: Hi Esmond, it’s great to be invited on to this call, my apologies, I was delayed by meetings with investors. Let me begin by asking you the following question:
You have seen ups and downs in the crypto market. What are your happiest and saddest moments?
Esmond: My happiest moment was when BTC rocketed to $20,000 and my saddest moment was when I did not sell any BTC at $20,000.
Clive: You have been involved in many IEOs. How do you feel about the IEO market now? Where do you see your company’s positioning after the IEO era? Or do you think that IEOs will last forever?
Esmond: We have done IEOs for more than 100 global projects. There have been many momentum shifts during this cycle. I would say we are now at a period where everyone has a better understanding of IEOs and what they represent. Markets have been picking up and so have been our IEOs. IEOs will continue to be an important channel for companies to raise funds. Nothing lasts forever but I would expect IEOs to evolve gradually. As a leading IEO platform, ProBit will be at the forefront of the evolution.
Clive: As you know, gaimin.io is very serious about its work in the gaming blockchain community. We are focused and committed on what we do which does not appear to be the case for the whole industry. In fact there is still quite a lot of bad publicity about the crypto market and many projects that are scams. Would you agree with me about this?
Esmond: I agree to a certain extent. There are bound to be scams with every new tech innovation or money making schemes we see today. There were a ton of scams and bad actors back in 2018. Dubious companies were raising fast and easy money through ICOs. Investors have matured and became more educated since. The industry has moved from ICOs to IEOs and now exchanges provide an essential layer of security to prevent such scams.
Clive: How do you see the crypto market in the next 3 years?
Esmond: I foresee the sway from trading cryptocurrencies to using cryptocurrencies. There will be a massive surge in cryptocurrencies adoption on all levels, led by well thought out frameworks and implementation of regulations by global government bodies. Regulations will play a big role in forming the landscape of the industry. In between, we will continue to see ups and downs, and hopefully we get to see BTC at $20,000 again.
Clive: What are the upcoming trends in the crypto market?
Esmond: BTC halving which is coming up this May. Derivatives and structured products emulating that of traditional financial markets. Regulations carving the way for institutional investors. Tech development of various blockchain solutions to improve scalability and usability for mass adoption.
Blockcast.cc Thanks Clive for the questions and being here. Esmond, please share with us an inspiring quote for our readers before we wrap up the interview.
Esmond: Here goes.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” I got this from my high school teacher.
Blockcast.cc: Thanks for taking time Esmond and Clive. We wish all the best to Probit Exchange and they have been doing a wonderful job in the IEO market. And yes, all the best to Clive and team Gaimin.io for their IEO with Probit starting on the 24th February 2020.
For more information:
Probit Exchange- www.probit.com
Gaimin Blockchain Gaming Platform- www.gaimin.io
IEO Page: https://www.probit.com/en-us/ieo/gmrx-round1/0
Original Source:
