Firm Title: Azteco
Founders: Alexander Fernandes and Paul Ferguson
Date of Institution: 2014
Headquarters location: Santa Monica, California
Quantity of Bitcoin within the treasury: Not revealed
Variety of Workers: 12
web site: https://azte.co/
Public or non-public? non-public
When Alexander “Akin” Fernandez first conceived the idea of Azteco greater than a decade in the past, he merely needed to make Bitcoin simpler to acquire. He needed individuals to have the ability to purchase Bitcoin as seamlessly as they have been capable of purchase a present card, so he developed a system the place individuals might purchase pay as you go Bitcoin vouchers for as little as $10, redeemable in a minute.
Azteco coupons are actually obtainable in over 190 nations and might be bought on-line or with money from distributors in particular person. The principle benefit of buying BTC by way of Azteco Vouchers is the truth that you do not want to disclose your identification to take action, to not point out that the voucher buying course of is fast and straightforward. Azteco provides on-chain and Lightning capabilities, giving customers the choice to redeem their BTC on both the Bitcoin important chain or the Lightning Community, a second-layer funds community constructed on high of the Bitcoin blockchain.
By Fernandez’s estimate, greater than 1 million individuals have already bought Azteco vouchers. However his aspirations go far past the already staggering variety of vouchers offered on this method: he has his sights set on Azteco serving a buyer base greater than 30 occasions that, whereas Azteco does its half to “normalize” Bitcoin.
Beneath is a transcript of our dialog, which has been edited for size and readability.
Frank Curva: The place did the inspiration for Azteco come from?
Akin Fernandes: This got here from my very own expertise once I discovered that getting Bitcoin may be very troublesome. I noticed it did not should be this manner. We are able to use a well-known system like a top-up voucher, which billions of individuals use to high up their cell phones, and apply this course of to acquire Bitcoin. All we’ve got to do is construct a program, put the distribution into place, after which it ought to work. And so it’s.
Curva: Did you may have a particular buyer base in thoughts whenever you designed Azteco?
Fernandez: Sure, I used to be considering to myself. I needed to have the ability to get Bitcoin with out having to place in any form of fuss or effort to take action. I needed to have the ability to go to the grocery store and purchase $20 price of Bitcoin and put it instantly in my pockets. And I am not distinctive. I can assume that there are different individuals like me who can perceive the suggestion and ease of use and who will take to it like a duck to water.
You discover that with innovations, they usually come about as a result of individuals resolve issues for themselves, not as a approach to get wealthy or for any motive aside from fixing their very own issues. As a result of individuals are related, they resolve different individuals’s issues, too.
Curva: Speak about your individual expertise. I learn that you have not banked for some time. Is that this true and may you broaden on it, if that’s the case?
Fernandez: Effectively, I grew to become unbanked for a motive I do not know to at the present time. I went to “my” financial institution to money the examine, and so they could not discover my account within the system. I’ve not obtained any communication from them in writing or in any type. All of the sudden, I did not have a checking account. So, for a few years after that, I had no entry to bank cards or something that others within the West take without any consideration.
This taught me a really large lesson about how troublesome it’s to do something within the twenty first century if you do not have entry to banking amenities. You’ll be able to neglect about on-line purchasing. You’ll be able to neglect about any form of comfort of going to the shop and paying with a card. All of it disappears.
So, once I was engaged on Azteco, it was made clear how highly effective this software is, as a result of with Bitcoin, no third celebration can deny you banking providers. You have got management over your artificial cash.
Curva: I’ve heard you utilize the time period “artificial cash” earlier than, and also you mentioned how we should not consult with Bitcoin as precise cash. Why is it essential to do that?
Fernandez: It is essential as a result of it is true. Bitcoin just isn’t cash, it’s a database. Can it’s used as cash? naturally. It may be used as excellent cash. It’s a good simulator for cash. Nevertheless it does not should be cash to be helpful.
Additionally, if you happen to come into contact with Bitcoin cash, all of the laws imposed by the state on precise cash might be inappropriately imposed or ignored on Bitcoin, making it troublesome to make use of and slower to unfold. Due to this fact, it is extremely essential to inform the reality about Bitcoin. It has taken a very long time for Bitcoin to succeed in each nook and nook as a result of there’s a misunderstanding of it as cash.
WhatsApp has reached 1 billion individuals in 4 and a half years. That is the form of proliferation we might anticipate in individuals’s telephones if the paths to Bitcoin have been seamless, simply as they’re with WhatsApp.
The truth that Bitcoin has not reached this variety of individuals means that there’s something fallacious with the best way individuals give it some thought, so it is crucial for us to consider it correctly.
Curva: How many individuals does Azteco attain? In different phrases, what number of coupons did Azteco promote in Q3 or This autumn of 2023?
Fernandez: The precise numbers will not be at my disposal since I’m the CEO and never the CFO. However we had our greatest month ever final month. I used to be instructed this yesterday. The variety of coupons we’re promoting is growing, and this can be a direct results of our elevated distribution in addition to altering sentiment in direction of Bitcoin on a world scale.
We’re the simplest approach to get Bitcoin. When individuals uncover us, they are saying two issues: “First, why cannot all the pieces be really easy?” and “How have I by no means heard of this earlier than?”
Issues are coming collectively and coming collectively to get us to a degree the place we grow to be a world drive for good and to get Bitcoin to the individuals who want it most – individuals who do not have financial institution accounts, individuals who do not have entry to monetary rails or individuals who do not wish to be victims of economic obstacles. .
The old fashioned group of Bitcoin firms which were serving individuals for the previous 10 years consider that Bitcoin is cash and make it very troublesome to get an account. Everybody has gotten used to the concept of having a checking account or an account of any sort, whether or not it is e mail or one thing else. The rapid assumption is: “Effectively, in fact, I’ve to have an account to have the ability to use this service.”
Nevertheless, with Bitcoin, this isn’t true. No accounts vital. [Some] Pockets firms are doing it proper. One is Samourai Pockets and the opposite is Pockets of Satoshi the place you need not open an account to make use of your individual funds.
They are saying that you simply shouldn’t be ready to make use of Bitcoin with out having an account. That is what they’re making an attempt to do within the European Union.
Curva: We try this right here within the US with the Digital Property Anti-Cash Laundering Act (DAAMLA), too, a invoice authored by Elizabeth Warren.
Fernandez: These individuals are perjurers. They took an oath to defend and uphold the Structure, which ensures freedom of speech to each American. Bitcoin is speak. It’s a database the place speech is written, saved and transmitted from one particular person to a different.
Lest anybody suppose I am focusing on Democrats and never Republicans, Cynthia Loomis wrote a completely horrific invoice that I had quite a lot of enjoyable tearing aside on my weblog.
They don’t perceive what their position is as public servants. The slave doesn’t management his masters. The servant is obedient to the voters. It is not their enterprise to inform individuals they should “know your buyer” to make use of Bitcoin.
Curva: On the subject of America and KYC-free Bitcoin, are you seeing individuals utilizing Azteco as a result of they need KYC-free Bitcoin?
Fernandez: With the intention to penetrate the American market, the service should be defined. Individuals should be reprogrammed. They do not perceive that Bitcoin just isn’t a approach to make you earn extra fiat currencies.
Individuals must eliminate these unhealthy habits to point out them that there are literally higher methods to do issues. An ideal instance of that is WhatsApp.
Earlier than WhatsApp, individuals used to pay for SMS messages, however the thought of that’s now not a risk anymore. An identical course of ought to occur with Bitcoin the place you may ship cash to relations with out having to undergo a 3rd celebration, pay exorbitant charges, determine your self, or something like that.
With Bitcoin, you [also] Get different hidden advantages. Hyperinflation started to set in and other people started to comprehend that there was one thing fallacious with cash.
Individuals discover it very troublesome to get to the foundation reason for excessive costs at McDonald’s. Assuming they uncover the trigger, what can they do about it? They will go and get Bitcoin, but it surely takes a number of steps earlier than these individuals see Bitcoin as an answer.
Curva: I agree.
Fernandez: The present crop of firms – main gamers like Binance and Coinbase – are additionally synonymous with Bitcoin. Azteco needs to be synonymous with getting Bitcoin. The overwhelming majority of individuals on Earth will not be wealthy. They do not have $100,000 to spend on Bitcoin. They stay day-to-day.
Since these individuals are not traders and should not have spare cash to maintain in Bitcoin within the hope that it’ll rise – which in fact it would – they should have Bitcoin as each day cash for on a regular basis spending.
When you begin speaking about these items, alternatives and enterprise fashions begin to fall out of the dialog. All these Cynthia Loomises and Elizabeth Warrens are stopping these enterprise fashions from taking place as a result of they’re regulating one thing they are not regulating.
Curva: Talking of different firms, I’ve heard you say good issues about Machankura, a protocol that makes it simpler for Africans to make use of Bitcoin in a KYC method, which is a praise to Azteco. What different firms within the Bitcoin house are compliments of Azteco?
Fernandez: Moral Bitcoin wallets are a superb praise. By ethics, I imply the Samurai Pockets and the Satoshi Pockets. I do know some individuals do not like Pockets of Satoshi as a result of the structure on the backend does not attraction to them, however these individuals do not run a enterprise – they do not know how exhausting it’s to do these items.
The newest entrant into that is the Bitkey pockets. This Bitkey pockets is totally unbelievable. They considered this appropriately. UI and UX – It should make everybody change their taking part in type.
I have been saying for a very long time that somebody like Apple or Microsoft or another firm goes to get into Bitcoin and produce all of that consumer expertise into the method of utilizing Bitcoin. The present crop of firms have not considered consumer expertise.
Jack Dorsey’s Bitkey was a kick within the ass to lots of people who realized that we won’t preserve doing what we wish to do and simply anticipate individuals to just accept it – the concept that you must write down your reminiscence earlier than you obtain your first transaction. It is completely loopy.
If Apple develops its personal Bitcoin pockets or clones one of many Bitcoin wallets on the market, Bitcoin might be offered to individuals in a method that may be very straightforward to grasp, and really straightforward to devour. There might be a brand new technology of Bitcoin customers who view Bitcoin as utterly regular – not a menace, scaremongering or intimidation.
Curva: In the identical method that utilizing WhatsApp or Uber is now regular…
Fernandez: That is completely true. Bitcoin should grow to be boring.
