FinanceFeeds had the opportunity to speak with CoinFlip’s Rory Herriman about Olliv and the goal of propelling mass adoption with the self-custodial crypto platform.
Consensus 2023 by CoinDesk, which took place on April 26-28 in Austin, Texas, once again brought together all sides of DeFi, blockchain, Web3, and the metaverse to one of the world’s longest-running crypto, blockchain, and Web3 events.
This year’s conference included world-class speakers from fintech, blockchain, and TradFi, as well as regulatory and lawmaking bodies, such as Circle’s Jeremy Allaire, Custodia Bank’s Caitlin Long, CFTC’s Christy Romero, Yuga Labs CEO Daniel Alegre, Edward Snowden, and even William Shatner.
“Self-custody is what crypto was born on”
Consensus 2023 was announced by CoinDesk as a call to action for developers, investors, founders, policymakers, brands, and others to come together and find solutions to crypto’s thorniest challenges and finally deliver on the technology’s transformative potential. The event came in the wake of the most tumultuous year in crypto history and served as an opportunity to reflect and rebuild.
For example, the collapse of FTX once again exposed the vulnerabilities of centralized exchanges (CEX) and triggered the largest move toward self-custody, which removes the uncertainty of unknown third-party custodians.
CoinFlip, the established crypto ATM network operating in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Australia, wants to lead the way to self-custody with the launch of its proprietary crypto platform, Olliv.
Rory Herriman, Chief Technology, Digital, and Strategy Officer at CoinFlip, attended Consensus 2023 and FinanceFeeds Editor-in-Chief Nikolai Isayev had the opportunity to speak with him to learn more about Olliv, and its quest to break down the exclusivity barrier of cryptocurrency with a self-custodial crypto platform for the masses.
“Self-custody is what crypto was born on and what is required to get new people into the ecosystem. Sophisticated institutions that have a brand of trust can offer custodial services, but the majority of consumers want to control. Self-custody is the model. For the rest of the world, if they’re not offering a self-custody solution it’s going to be difficult to succeed,” Herriman stated.
We’ve reached a low in trust, but regulation seems to be finally coming – namely in the European Union and the United Kingdom. Herriman praised the European Union for its great job setting forth a progressive framework that individual states can look at and determine what works best for them. “We know now what Europe is expecting and we can operate within that. We’ll see what happens on the local adoption. I think consistently countries outside the US are being far more progressive about this.” The United States could eventually use EU’s MiCA regulatory framework as a blueprint to bring clarity forward.
“Olliv is built for people that never experienced crypto before”
CoinFlip attended Consensus 2023 to announce the launch of the Olliv platform, which provides a frictionless way for consumers to buy, sell, send, receive, and swap assets securely stored on a self-custodial wallet. The platform leverages CoinFlip’s existing network of crypto ATMs to bridge the gap between physical and digital investing. The goal is to onboard new users and propell mass adoption.
“In regard to CoinFlip’s Olliv, it’s a first of its kind crypto solution that is specifically built for people that have never experienced crypto before. We’re firm believers in the ethos that crypto was predicated on the concept that it should be accessible for everyone but the industry is tech-led and tech-focused, which scares consumers.” Enter Olliv, built for the masses and focused on simplicity, safety, security, with a seamless service. “That’s what Olliv is all about: a familiar product delivered in an unique way.”
The launch of Olliv couldn’t have come at a better time. A recent Standard Chartered report called the end of the ‘crypto winter’ and suggested a bullish prediction of Bitcoin at $100,000 by end of 2024.
“We are seeing more movement across the markets, volume increase, more adoption, more people coming in. We are seeing that starting to happen. It’s probably a year out before it recovers fully, depending on macroeconomic factors,” Herriman said, while praising developers for hunkering down and come up with “some really cool stuff” across Web3, blockchain, roll ups, etc. It shows the increased focus in utility rather than speculation in the crypto space.
“The promise of crypto is frictionless utility. We’re seeing that. We’re building that into our products. It’s not just a place where you can buy and sell – utility is there.
We’re seeing maturation in [Bitcoin’s layer 2 Lightning Network] making the promise of Bitcoin as utility coming to light along with phenomenal work in layer 2 on Ethereum. The tech is there for consumable products for everyone.”
Rory Herriman also commented on the Crypto Travel Rule (FATF Recommendation #16), which requires VASPs to obtain, hold and transmit required originator and beneficiary information, immediately and securely, when conducting VA (Virtual Asset) transfers, therefore helping to prevent criminal and terrorist misuse. “It is not exactly clear how it’s going to be implemented. Eventually it will have an impact and yet another regulation that operators will have to follow. We think we’re prepared for that.”
CoinFlip expanding Crypto ATM business across the globe
To finish up the interview, FinanceFeeds Nikolai inquired about CoinFlip’s main business, Crypto ATMs, and if there’s still room for market growth. “Cash on ramps and off ramps remain strong. I don’t see a significant decline. The US market has begun to level off and […] may even contract. I see this across even traditional ATMs,” he said in the context that the constant interest rate hikes are taking a toll on the US economy.
CoinFlip is a crypto ATM market leader in the United States, with saturation there starting to occur, but the firm still has plenty of room to grow by expanding across the globe. “Appetite is global. We just entered Australia, we are in Canada and we’re looking at LATAM and mainland Europe. There’s a lot of opportunities in that particular segment. The need for cash on-ramps is an important part of any economy.”
The company’s 2022 revenue exceeded $100 million and its team is projected to grow by 23% by the end of 2023.
