Mike Rozhko of CoinLoan: “Cryptocurrencies today are similar to the Internet 20 years ago”

Mike Rozhko, Chief Growth Officer of CoinLoan, a crypto lending platform, at its helm has driven the company to a big success. And guess where? In Estonia! “We’ve chosen to be regulated by the Estonian Law because this North European country has one of the world’s most crypto-friendly environments,” Mike Rozhko told The Baltic Times Magazine.

But speaking of the company’s success, he is humble: “It is the result of our teamwork – we have strong developers, creative marketers, and founders with a great understanding of the crypto market and the company's prospects. For my part, I aim to understand clients' needs and always strive to find the most client-oriented solution to increase client or partner loyalty towards CoinLoan.”

I've read that the price of one bitcoin in US dollars quadrupled last year, gaining over 160% in the last quarter of last year. Did CoinLoan feel the frenzy and the robust demand?

Positive trends in the cryptocurrency market always have a positive impact on the overall market sentiment. However, while we saw a rise in demand for CoinLoan services during the BTC rally, the primary source of growth is the users' trust. We saw a significant inflow of customers in early 2020, long before the recent bull-run. The number of new registrations is steadily high every day, while the average check on the platform is also growing because users are borrowing more or depositing larger amounts.

What trends is CoinLoan seeing lately?

We see a trend towards the legalization of digital assets. Governments worldwide are looking into the future issue of state digital currencies. This will inevitably lead to large corporations, investment funds, and banks entering the crypto market en masse. Consequently, further growth in the capitalization of major currencies, primarily bitcoin, is expected.

Do you just lend the crypto?

Users who have registered and verified their details according to AML policy get access to all CoinLoan services: instant loans, deposits with interest, crypto exchange at favourable rates.

Can you talk of tokenisation of real estate payments at CoinLoan?

At the moment, I think it is premature to talk about this, we do not accept such assets as collateral, and we do not see sufficient demand in the market. There is no doubt that the situation will change over the next 2-3 years.

There is much brouhaha about cryptocurrencies and just as many caveats. Do you believe the future belongs to cryptocurrencies?

We believe that cryptocurrency, or more broadly, digital assets, have been in our lives for a long time. The involvement of government agencies and large corporations confirms that crypto is becoming a separate market. While it is still very small relative to the traditional financial sector, it is actively growing. Cryptocurrencies today are similar to the Internet 20 years ago – the World Wide Web has already been actively developing despite a modest number of users.

In 5-10 years, cryptocurrencies will become a part of the everyday life of the economically active world community.

Where does bitcoin, the most known cryptocurrency, clearly beat the euro or the US dollar kept in the traditional bank around the corner?

So far, it's too early to compare fiat and bitcoin. From my perspective, they will continue to develop in parallel in the next few years because BTC cannot fully replace traditional money.

Many payment platforms such as BitPay, Square and PayPal have started accepting payments in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Is this a good sign for bitcoin? What is next for crypto and CoinLoan?

Yes, it certainly had a positive impact. BTC's exchange rate grew, the use of cryptocurrency has expanded. However, BTC is more of an investment and speculation vehicle than money.

Furthermore, the interest in stable coins is growing. We expect them to become the main means of payment due to the stability of the exchange rate.

Are you on good terms with watchdogs of local financial sectors?

As a licensed company, we strictly comply with the regulator's requirements and try to do even more than necessary to comply with Estonian and European financial laws.

Are the Baltics crypto-friendly? What would you expect from the local authorities to ease the life of crypto?

We've been in the market since 2017 and are generally satisfied with the Estonian legislative framework towards crypto. At the same time, we do not have any particular expectations or wishes.

Finally, you're not only a bitcoin activist, but also an eco-activist. Can you please talk about the latter?

I have been engaged in waste sorting for many years and tell people why it is important to be as environmentally responsible as possible, from separating household waste to consientious consumption. I am convinced that we as humans have only two mutually exclusive options: to continue destroying the planet's ecosystem and living out our lives, constantly coping with environmental disasters or re-inventing our production and consumption system by becoming more responsible and environmentally friendly.

The digitalization of production and the introduction of advanced technologies (including blockchain technology) will help impose control over the resources we consume and hold us accountable for our actions.