Interview with Electroneum founder Richard Ells

Coinbeat has had the opportunity to interview Richard Ells, founder of one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency projects, ELectroneum. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

• In Layman’s terms, how would you briefly describe Electroneum? 

Electroneum is a mobile phone-based cryptocurrency that allows users to make global payments instantly. It is the only cryptocurrency that rewards it 3.3 million users in developing countries with up to US$3 in ETN. This incentivises people to learn and explore cryptocurrency and find out how easy and beneficial it is to use. This also helps spur mainstream adoption.

Electroneum highest priority is to help eradicate financial exclusion by providing instant access to billions of people that are unbanked and living in poverty to global digital economy. Our AnyTasks freelancer platform and our free eLearning element will help people in developing countries to learn new skills they can perform with a   smartphone or a laptop. The AnyTasks platform is scheduled for beta launch later this year.

As part of our push to help people in developing countries, we are currently working with non-governmental organisations. About a dozen NGOs are our trusted miners. They are organisations that have a proven track record of delivering long-term assistance to children and their families.

• I know you have been asked this before, but for the sake of our eager audience, what would you point out as the unique feature (name just one) of your platform? What inspired your team to incorporate this feature? Okay, if more features make you stand out in the crypto space, what would they be?

Our AnyTasks and free eLearning platform will be by far our most unique feature. But we have also enabled many of our users to top up mobile airtime and data. For now, this is available in South Africa, Turkey and Brazil and enables people to instantly send and receive ETN at no cost. Our vision is to help eradicate financial exclusion to bring greater prosperity to the world while unlocking a trillion-dollar opportunity. Electroneum is also the only cryptocurrency that is KYC/AML compliant. It is the greenest crypto in existence as mining ETN consumes electricity equivalent to just on a lightbulb. Electroneum today has one of the most secure crypto networks in existence after having launched its Moderated Blockchain, which added a layer of security unparallel in the crypto industry. We are one of the very few crypto projects creating a real-world utility. The co-inventor of blockchain praised Electroneum, saying we are a cryptocurrency that is actually solving real-world problems.

• How are you reaching out to people without smartphones? It is evident that you’re driving crypto adoption by focussing on the unbanked. That means a higher percentage of your target market is in the less developed countries. Unfortunately, folks in these regions may lack a smartphone or one that is decent enough to support your app. How are you dealing with this slight setback? 

The penetration of smartphones is huge. People all over the world, including those who are unbanked and living in hard to reach regions, own a smartphone and these are in fact their connection to the rest of the world. Statistics show 93% or more of unbanked people have a mobile phone. Smartphones are making their way further into society and according to a World Bank report, mobile phones and the internet have created new opportunities to provide financial services. They said smartphones provide a convenient way for people to make transactions. Our AnyTasks platform will enable our ETN users to sell their skills and get paid via their smartphone without requiring a bank account.

• On the same rationale, crypto literacy is one of the few underrated factors that deter the prevalence of most crypto projects. Although times are changing, a large portion of your potential clients may be entirely illiterate (not just crypto illiterate). Do you have any programs set to capture such an audience and make them aware of the benefits of this exciting technology?

Great question.  Cryptocurrency is not an easy thing to understand. Wallet addresses can be cumbersome and this, for instance, is a very difficult thing to explain in a way that anybody can understand. The same thing goes for mining crypto. There is no simple way to explain that as well.

Our approach is to make cryptocurrency as easily understandable as possible. Everything we develop needs to be as easy to read and understand as possible so that people can use it as easily as if it were cash.

The fact is we need to always be aware of everything we develop and every message we convey so that we digest it in a way that can be as easy to understand as possible and drive as much crypto adoption as we can.

• Is it true that your Mainnet has forked twice already? What prompted these forks? Aren’t you worried that forking would undermine your mainnet’s credibility?

It is important to understand that forks are upgrades. Our most recent upgrade’s objective was to implement our new Moderated Blockchain, powered by our proprietary Proof of Responsibility protocol. Sure, thousands of miners validating our network prior to this recent fork (July 2019) were not happy to be barred from mining ETN, but as a socially responsible cryptocurrency we could not continue to have 150,000 ASIC mining rigs validating our network as that was equivalent power to light 14 million light bulbs on a daily basis. The fork made us the greenest in existence as we reduced the electricity required to mine ETN by millions of times to only one lightbulb. After the fork, we are also one of the most secure cryptos in existence. It also enabled us to further our mission to help people in developing countries by bringing in the NGOs.

• Phone applications require constant updates because of the lesser specs of phones (Ram and Rom). Sometimes the updates can improve the app’s functionality, but also they could render the phone’s system susceptible to security attacks. How is your team making sure that such an instance doesn’t happen?

We prioritise security. Our network security has never been breached, and therefore those who access our systems via their smartphones are protected from hack attacks.

• Electroneum’s recent launch of ETN top-up for network providers in Turkey was an incredibly brilliant move for your platform’s mass adoption and for the whole cryptocurrency industry. Do you mind giving us a scoop of other use cases your community should expect from Electroneum? Is there anything you would wish to pass on to our audience about Electroneum?

Again, AnyTasks and the eLearning platform coupled with our marketing strategy to bring in thousands of merchants globally who will accept ETN as payment when they realise how beneficial it is as millions begin to make extra income by selling their skills on AnyTasks. AnyTasks and the eLearning platform will be free to use for those selling their skills. Buyers will be able to pay with a credit or debit card and the seller seamlessly receives payment in ETN. Another amazing feature is the translation software that will also seamlessly connect people that speak different languages. This means that a buyer who speaks English will be able to communicate seamlessly with somebody that speaks French, Spanish or 17 other different languages, including Asian idioms as well as Eastern European.

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