Roger Ver Is Planning to Open His Own Cryptocurrency Exchange

Bitcoin cash evangelist Roger Ver – often playfully referred to as the “Bitcoin Jesus” – is considering opening his own cryptocurrency exchange.

Ver is the chief executive officer at Bitcoin.com. He earned his nickname after becoming one of the first individuals to invest in bitcoin, now dubbed the world’s “most popular virtual asset.” A longtime proponent of the coin, Ver was the subject of controversy in 2017 when his loyalties switched to the currency’s “love child” bitcoin cash, which arose in August of last year following a bitcoin hard fork.

Read: Roger Ver Profile

In a recent interview, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur and enthusiast explained that he’s currently seeking a partner to help him produce the new trading platform. He also says he’s considering building the exchange “internally,” though “ground up” remains a solid option. While discussing the firm’s early-stage plans, he commented:

“If we build it ourselves, we can do it real cheap, and we get exactly what we want, but we don’t have the security of a battle-tested exchange that’s been around for a while.”

How Will You Get Customers?

He further stated that he’s expected to tap into the traffic he’s already garnering from his website and expects boosts in services ranging from wallet operations to crypto-based news reports. He also hinted that he’s looking to boost the adoption of bitcoin cash, which he believes has “struggled” to gain traction since its inception last summer.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering Bitcoin.com, which once automatically defaulted to BTC wallets and transactions for its customers, switched over to bitcoin cash without informing anyone beforehand. Critics commented that the move was sure to incite confusion, particularly amongst new customers who performed bitcoin searches on Google. Bitcoin.com was likely to be listed in the number one spot yet promoted an entirely different cryptocurrency altogether.

The Competition Could Be Solid

Ver says bitcoin cash is now facing the potential of a hard split later in the year. While he remains a prominent figure in the crypto society, he’s likely to encounter some heavy competition from other digital asset exchanges that have been around longer and cemented their reputations as leading platforms.

Coinbase, one of the largest digital exchanges in the United States, was garnering over 100,000 new customers during the bitcoin craze of late 2017, while others like Bitfinex and Binance, though based abroad, also pose serious threats.

We Know What We’re Doing

Ver doesn’t appear worried, however. He’s confident that current and future customers will show their loyalty, explaining:

“The exchange will be posted to Bitcoin.com, so we’ll have thousands or tens of thousands of new users every single day.”

He claims that hosting the exchange through the site will give the platform “instant liquidity” due to its ongoing popularity. However, it’s unclear if users really desire bitcoin cash as a base currency, as it is rarely offered on other cryptocurrency exchanges – especially when compared to entities like bitcoin, Ethereum or even Litecoin.

Is Bitcoin Cash Really That Popular?

In fact, the only other major exchange to offer liquid markets dominated by BCH is CoinEx, though the platform offers what analysts say is a transaction fee mining model, which means its volumes cannot be viewed as reliable figures regarding general trader interest, markets or even trading pairs.

Read: Guide to Bitcoin Cash

At press time, one BCH token is valued at approximately $515. BCH also has a market cap of nearly $9 billion and a daily trading volume of about $382 million. It presently ranks as the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency. Despite its high position, BCH was trading for over $3,000 during the early portions of 2018, suggesting it’s lost well over 70 percent of its value in just the last nine months alone.

   

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