Jay is the founder of
Coinabul.com, the premiere Bitcoin gold and silver bullion store. In an effort to learn more about this treasure-hoarding Bitcoiner, I caught up with him on Skype where he was forced to choose between answering my questions or
walking the plank! Fortunately for him, he chose to answer my questions.
BT: One thing I like to ask members of the community is how they first heard about Bitcoin. What's your story?
CB: I heard about Bitcoin in very early 2010, around January or Febuary if memory serves. I've had to develop a lot of e-commerce type applications for USD-based websites and Bitcoin is much nicer to work with, so it caught my interest pretty quickly.
BT: Wow, so you've been involved almost since the genesis block was created. Was Coinabul your first project? When was it launched?
CB: Heh, I guess it was pretty early in the Bitcoin project's life. Coinabul is my first major Bitcoin project so far. We opened our doors publicly on 10-10-2011. I've quietly developed a good many things behind the scenes but never really launched any publicly. Although I can't remember where I originally heard about it, one of the things that piqued my interest about Bitcoin early on was automated trading. I spent a majority of my coding-time on trade-bots up until Coinabul became my full-time project.
BT: So, were you previously a gold and silver dealer?
CB: I've never been a dealer before Coinabul, just a long time fan of precious metal. I can remember asking my parents to help me invest in palladium when I was just a young teen: it's a natural fit.
BT: So, hypothetically, I'm a gold or silver bug and I have several options when it comes to buying bullion online. Why should I do business with Coinabul vs. another dealer, like Kitco, for example?
CB: It's an incredibly difficult process to convert Bitcoins into precious metal, frankly. I was speaking with a Coinabul client today, and he was describing the issues he had with turning fiat money into Bitcoins and vice versa. In essence, we're cutting out half of the difficulty he experienced for everyone who'd be doing the same in order to hold precious metal. Not to mention the big problem for most would-be metal holders: the long latency period between selling Bitcoins and being able to use fiat to purchase gold.
BT: Would you say, then, that your primary clients are miners, or merchants who are looking to reduce their Bitcoin holdings but still hedge themselves against fiat-currency risk?
CB: My goal with the Coinabul product offering is to reach as large of a client-base as possible so there really isn't a barrier to entry. Clients could be miners, merchants, successful traders, early adopters, service operators, et cetera. Some of the products in our silver marketplace are going for as little as 5 BTC, so nearly anyone can participate in metal based asset diversification.
BT: Clearly, your business model makes sense, as you aren't the only member of the Bitcoin community with precious metal offerings. I can see how someone who is looking to invest in Bitcoin would be the same type of person who would be interested in investing in PMs (you're looking at one). Do you mind telling us about some of your other projects that you have on the go?
CB: Well, Coinabul is really my primary focus at the moment. There are a ton of things that I want to do with the business, but mainly I'd like to grow to the point of being the industry standard for Bitcoin-PM exchange. A service offering like we've developed is based on trust and reputability, so my goal at present is to really build our community awareness as well as gain the collective Bitcoin user's trust. I should mention that we've had quite a few rave reviews, and repeat customers...so it seems like we're well on the way!
BT: Any Bitcoin-related predictions for 2012?
CB: Nothing too prophetic, aside from an inevitable scarcity-driven bull market. To what degree of extremeism I have no idea, but I wouldn't be that surprised to see a slow crawl back up to $10 within the next 3-6 months. The market 'bottomed out' and has been creeping up since, so I think that trend will probably hold for a while.
BT: Last question: who's that Jon guy?
CB: Jon is my head of marketing, and he's a sharp fellow. I'm happy to have him on my team!
BT: Thanks for taking my questions, Jay. Good luck with the business!
Jay joined us via Skype from his secret island pirate hideout, though he can often be found on IRC in #bitcoin under the alias "coingenuity."
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