Vladimir Kardapoltsev, CEO of PointPay, recently conducted an interview with Crypto Fanat. This is one of the largest Russian crypto communities on YouTube, with more than 70k subscribers. On Crypto Fanat’s channel, you can find news and reviews of some of the most interesting projects in the crypto industry. You can find the translation of the interview at PointPay’s blog.
Translation of Vladimir Kardapoltsev’s interview with Crypto Fanat
Crypto Fanat:
Vladimir, please tell us what kind of mechanism is used to generate passive income on the PointPay platform?
Vladimir:
Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to this interview. Without going into too much detail, I can say that our tokenomics is clearly and accurately calculated, which allows us to offer current products and launch new ones.
This allows our users to make deposits and earn interest on their assets. Moreover, staking is implemented on the PointPay platform, which provides additional revenue.
When we talk about the revenues of the project itself, I will not surprise anyone by saying that the majority of our profits comes from the commissions. There are commissions for the exchange itself, as well as for withdrawals and deposits. We work with partners thus earn commissions as well. When projects are listed on the exchange, they also pay commissions.
We can be considered as a custodian bank because we are engaged in the conservative reinvestment of funds.
Crypto Fanat:
Yes, this approach is indeed more reliable and easier to understand for beginners. Besides, the interest rates on deposits at PointPay are quite reasonable and realistic. On savings accounts for popular stablecoins you get 6% per year, for Bitcoin — 4%, for Ethereum — 2.6%. In addition, there is also the most profitable option — staking your own PXP token, which brings a return of 10% per year.
But I have the impression that many users want even more profitable instruments, even if they are riskier. For example, investing in two currencies or DeFi farming. Also, there are many custody platforms that claim to offer such services.
Vladimir, are you planning to integrate new passive income mechanisms into PointPay in the near future? If yes, which ones, if not, why not?
Vladimir:
This year we are launching our own launchboard. A demo version has already appeared on our website. Soon our users will be able to invest in new crypto projects. Now we are actively looking for projects to be launched on our lanuchpad. The launch of the launchboard is a great success for PointPay. We are confident that this will be a progressive source of passive income for our community.
Another area we want to develop is margin trading. We will also provide crypto loans on more favourable terms and expand the range of banking products.
Crypto Fanat:
Yes, that sounds reasonable. But in addition to all the above, PointPay allows you to earn in many other ways. For example, here, you can trade on the internal exchange. All popular and liquid cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRX, and so on are listed here and various DeFi tokens. There are several advanced order options, and you can also trade borrowed funds that you’ve lent from a crypto bank for interest.
But as I studied the list of available assets on the PointPay exchange, both on the advanced and classic interfaces, I had a few questions. Why does the exchange not list its own PXP token traded on many other popular platforms? And why is there no support for trading BNB coins, which are very popular these days?
Vladimir:
Yes, this is a logical question. But everything is very simple: we sold our PXP token on our own exchange at the time of the ICO. As soon as the ICO ended, we removed PXP. That has to do with price control.
Excluding the direct purchase of a token is normal market practice. We will be able to add PXP to the PointPay exchange immediately after listing it on the Tier1 platform.
We plan to do this by the end of this year and are currently negotiating with several exchanges.
In the meantime, PXP can be purchased on international platforms: WhiteBit, Bitrix, Bitrue, Bitglobal.
We will trade BNB as soon as we get approval from Binance; we are currently in negotiations.
Crypto Fanat:
OK, understood. And after that, one more question. The PointPay roadmap has items on the introduction of margin, options, and futures trading that is not scheduled to come out until Q2 and Q3 of this year. I have been wondering about that for a long time: why do many trading platforms introduce spot market first and margin and futures trading only after a long time? As someone in the industry, could you explain this point? Are futures and margin exchanges really more challenging to implement than simple spot trading?
Vladimir:
Yes, this order has its own logic. The matching mechanism for spot trading is simple and almost risk-free. Margin trading is built on the foundation of spot trading. At the same time, it involves higher risks, and the way it works is more complicated. Moreover, you need users who trust the platform, to give out their funds for margin trading. For this, the platform needs a good reputation, awareness, and security. These are the results of not just one day but years of work.
In short, it is an extension of spot trading, which is much more difficult to implement. Futures are also traded based on spot trading. And here, too, the implementation is more complex and involves more risks.
PointPay now has a risk department that deals with these issues.
Crypto Fanat:
And the last question is on a completely different topic. Recently, you posted an announcement on your website about the PointPay crypto debit card launch. This topic is exciting and is in demand by many users of cryptocurrencies, especially for the people in Russia. And indeed, it is possible to issue a card for the Russian Federation. I have concerns about introducing such a feature now when the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are already on the verge of introducing total control over cryptocurrencies and perhaps even banning them altogether.
Is there a risk that PointPay crypto cards will encounter difficulties in dealing with Russian regulators?
Vladimir:
You must understand that we are not a Russian company and belong to a different legal system. Also, only 5% of our users are Russian speakers. PointPay is an international company.
I am sure that there should be no difficulties in using cards on any territory, and I am certain that they will be as accessible to Russian users as well. I agree that it is difficult to predict the actions of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank in our, so to speak, “historical time”, but we comply with their instructions, as we strive to make PointPay a universal and accessible platform for as many users from different countries as possible.
We do not see any big risks here, because cryptocurrency is a growing industry with millions of users in Russia. I am sure that everything will be fine.
Crypto Fanat:
Thanks again for your response, Vladimir, and special thanks for agreeing to do this interview. I hope that it was interesting for our viewers. If so, make sure you like the channel and subscribe to it.
You can watch the full video on YouTube here.
