How to make cryptography simple, smart and reliable with Ulli Spankowski

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Confidence in cryptocurrency has grown over the past few years, but there is still a long way to go in educating people about it.

Over the past couple of years, new apps and organizations have been talking more about crypto, bringing the conversation into the public space and educating people about it. One of these organizations is Brse Stuttgart Group, the second largest German stock exchange.

In this episode of Disruption Talks, we chatted with Ulli Spankowski, Chief Digital Officer at Brse Stuttgart, about crypto, the BISON app, blockchain, and more.

Fintechs at the forefront of cryptocurrency

Several fintechs and trading apps have been launched over the past two years, making Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies more accessible.

Brse Stuttgart Group has developed BISON, a crypto trading app that seeks to make crypto simple, reliable and more accessible. The hope is that apps like BISON and other crypto trading platforms will help educate consumers and businesses to consider crypto as safe as any other stock.

Filip Sobiecki: Can you tell us what an average day looks like as Chief Digital Officer?

Ulli Spankowski: My day usually consists of a few board meetings and work on growing the marketing side. On the B2B side, I also work on the growth of new partnerships and the analysis of the KPIs that were in progress. It’s all about growth, growth, growth! The team was also growing, so there are a lot of new faces to work with.

On the B2C side, we were working on an app called BISON, where we are trying to allow the general public to enter crypto in a smooth and easy way.

How did you personally get involved in crypto and blockchain?

I was quite late for the party. I founded my company in 2013, which was designed to do predictive data analytics. We used AI, social media, and unstructured data sources to extract relevant information for trading. My co-founders were from Slovenia, where crypto and Bitcoin are bigger business.

In 2014, I was in a meeting with my CTO, and we were talking about product strategy. He mentioned that we should explore the crypto and Bitcoin space. I was like, wait, what? I had never heard of it, but that’s how I started.

We quickly designed our algorithms to analyze relevant data on Twitter and other sources of crypto and Bitcoin. I was particularly interested in blockchain because I saw that it had the potential to completely change the market infrastructure in the financial realm.

Can you tell us more about the BISON app?

When we first designed the digital strategy, our main goal was to create a complete ecosystem of digital assets, starting from tokenization. We decided to test it first with the B2C side.

One of the biggest gaps I saw with Bitcoin and crypto was that people didn’t really care. In 2016-17, only a small group of people understood what Bitcoin and blockchain were. It was super complicated to bring technical complexity to mass advertising, which is why we first created a mobile application. Our unique selling proposition is that it is a simple, smart, and reliable way to enter the crypto space.

Can you tell us what the early successes with BISON looked like?

We were very proud to have succeeded in setting up the digital ecosystem. We also created the Brse Stuttgart Digital Exchange, which is the first European regulated MTF for crypto that you can enter as a retailer or B2B customer. This allows them to trade cryptos in a regulated environment.

What are the most exciting and important challenges facing you right now?

Regulation is an important part of the business models that we put in place. With that, there is always a certain degree of insecurity about the next step. I underestimated the time it really takes to get the regulations passed.

Which is difficult, especially if you look at Germany, the legal basis for trading security tokens at the secondary market level in a regulated space does not exist.

However, the German government recently proposed a new law that allows this to be done. Equity trading is not yet possible, but we are moving in the right direction. Regulations are catching up.

How do you feel about bitcoin versus altcoin, and what factors should be taken into account when it comes to mining them?

About 60% of what people hold is Bitcoin, and then the rest is divided among altcoins. I think it will be super interesting to see what the second layer solutions look like and what alternatives to Bitcoin emerge.

But there’s an industry-wide problem with power consumption. If you look at the amount of mining capacity, I think 70% of Bitcoin mining is already in ecological space, so via wind and water. However, you still see headlines that Bitcoin consumes as much energy as the Netherlands.

We are only at the beginning of the technology development cycle, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

What do you think will be the consequences of Bitcoin becoming an established asset class?

I think were there already. I don’t really think bitcoin or altcoins are going to go away. Bitcoin will probably never go away because it is already an interesting asset class. If you look at inflation on other assets, I think Bitcoin is a great way to add diversification to your portfolio.

Looking at other parts of the world, Bitcoin is considered the safe haven when it comes to price stability. For example, in El Salvador, Bitcoin is an offering of money, and you can pay for everyday items with it. I think over 20% of the population has already downloaded the government app to pay with it.

Having said that, one of my biggest fears around Bitcoin is that there is no national sovereignty. There is not a party or a country that controls it. So it’s considered a little scary for governments. If Bitcoin becomes this important, it could even be a threat to national sovereignty.

What is your decision-making framework?

I think for us it depends on the setup and the structure of the team. When we started it was like an upside down pyramid. We had three or four guys at the top doing everything, with managers and team leaders below them.

It’s all about clear communication and developing a good open communication strategy within your teams.

Suppose you wave a magic wand and can give every 12 year old in the world new knowledge or wisdom. What would that be?

Be yourself and be open-minded. Everyone has a particular set of skills and talents, and I think it’s very important that kids understand that they have to build on that. There is no right or wrong, so it’s just about having fun and doing what you do best.

This discussion is part of our Disruption Talks recordings, where we invite experts to share their perspectives on winning innovation strategies, the next generation of disruptors, and scaling digital products. To get unlimited access to this interview and many more, register here: www.netguru.com/disruption/talks

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