I’m Bobby Lee, founder and CEO of BTCC. Ask me anything!

[bobbyclee]

Hi All,

I founded BTCC, the longest-running bitcoin exchange. I strongly believe that crypto-currencies will be the basis of finance in the near future — this is why I’m in this business. We’re already seeing the shift towards wider adoption of cryptocurrencies: bitcoin and blockchain technologies now top the agendas of financial institutions, major corporations and mainstream media outlets, and this trend will continue as more people become interested in using digital currencies.

BTCC’s growth confirms the upward trend of bitcoin use. When we started, we were only three people running an exchange from a home office, but we are now the leading bitcoin financial platform offering the most comprehensive, secure and transparent set of cryptocurrency services, including a bitcoin exchange, mining pool, payment processing, and blockchain and wallet services.

We are not content with resting on our laurels, however, and will continue to innovate. On Friday, we launched BlockPriority, a free service that expedites blockchain confirmations for our users. Expect more pioneering technologies and services from us as we lead the path to a cryptocurrency future.

Bitcoin and blockchain technologies are changing mankind and society as a whole, and I firmly believe that everyone will use bitcoin in the near future.

Ask me anything!

[rbtkhn]

Hi Bobby, thanks for participating in this AMA. Are you and the other leaders of the bitcoin industry in China working to promote bitcoin as a long-term investment for mainstream Chinese investors? If yes, please tell us about your strategy for achieving this, how much success you have had, and your predictions for the future adoption of bitcoin as a long-term investment for Chinese citizens. To casual outside observers of Chinese bitcoin exchanges it seems like the Chinese interest in bitcoin is primarily because its extreme volatility attracts hardcore traders and gamblers, but I would like you share your thoughts on bitcoin as a long-term investment in China.

[ronnieb]

Bobby, thanks for all you do in this realm.

Questions:

1. What have been the biggest legal challenges to setting up and running a Bitcoin Exchange in China?
2. If you did it over, what would you do differently?
3. You have your hands full with the exchange... What would you like to see the community focused on most aggressively? Adoption? Wallet software? Promotion? What say you.
4. If you were to start another exchange in a new country, which country would you choose? Which country is a plus to start a Bitcoin Exchange in your opinion?
5. Besides running an exchange are you doing anything else to further the Bitcoin Movement?
6. What are your greatest fears or worries against Bitcoin?

[rogerver]

Hi Bobby, Thanks for being a pioneer in the Bitcoin space!

1. Why do you think Chinese based exchanges have gravitated towards zero fee models, while the rest of the world has not?
Is this a cultural thing, or some other reason?

2. Aside from the scaling issues, what aspect of bitcoin do you think needs improvement the most?

[arnoudk]

Hi. Thank you very much for doing this AMA.

I would like to focus on block size issues. We can clearly see that blocks are filling up and that transactions will get delayed (or worse) when legitimate transaction volume exceeds capacity.

Your BlockPriority offering can, I think, be seen in this light.

1.
Do you want to wait for 'consensus' (whatever that means) from Scaling Bitcoin? Do you think there is time, as one of the SB goals is to NOT make any decisions? Would you support BIP101 (to my knowledge the only tested solution that can be implemented today) if SB does not meet a clear deliverable, and what would that deliverable be?

2.
I expect other companies to also implement BlockPriority type solutions. I also expect companies to collaborate and include each other's blocks first. So no per transaction fee market, but a contract processing market. Do you agree? Do you think this leads to more centralization? If so, do you think that small blocks lead to centralization and large blocks to decentralization?

Thanks!

[Skin_in_the_game]

Hello Bobby,

I was re-reading Antifragile by iconoclast thinker Nassim Taleb recently. He writes

"Never ask anyone for their opinion [...] Just ask them what they have -or don't have- in their portfolio"

Having met or read about a few people in the bitcoin community, I have come to think it's a very relevant question and you can better weight their opinions having an idea of how many Bitcoins they hold (or do not hold.)

I'm now asking every participants the same question:

- Do you mind to tell us which percentage of your net worth and/or liquid assets you hold in Bitcoins ?

[Bossman]

When will BTCC open it's litecoin mining pool ?

https://pool.btcc.com/

[Evander Smart]

Hi, Bobby, thanks for the insight. From a western view, it seems that China is the engine moving the Bitcoin economy right now.

Two questions:

1. Do you think Chinese capital controls have been the main factor spurring recent Bitcoin value and transaction volume?

2. Do you think the Chinese government will maintain their current laissez-faire approach to Bitcoin in the mainstream over the long run? It is said that the government is very controlling of Internet use there, and therefore Bitcoin use can also be controlled. Is the Chinese government becoming more or less oppressive over the last ten years, or over the next ten years? Which way are the winds blowing over there?

[LiteCoinGuy]

Hi Bobby,

thanks for doing this AMA.

Some questions:

1. When did you first hear about bitcoin? Did your brother told you about it?

2. While some people are still cautious about bitcoins future (like Nathaniel Popper), you are very bullish. When did you start to be that optimistic about bitcoins future ?

3. What do you think about the "private blockchains" that banks are working on?

4. In the western world we have nearly zero insight into the chinese bitcoin world and culture. What about the idea that you write a blog post once a month about the asia/chinese bitcoin market?
You can add/link that on your website too.



LiteCoinGuy

[bobbyclee]

Hi Bobby, thanks for participating in this AMA. Are you and the other leaders of the bitcoin industry in China working to promote bitcoin as a long-term investment for mainstream Chinese investors? If yes, please tell us about your strategy for achieving this, how much success you have had, and your predictions for the future adoption of bitcoin as a long-term investment for Chinese citizens. To casual outside observers of Chinese bitcoin exchanges it seems like the Chinese interest in bitcoin is primarily because its extreme volatility attracts hardcore traders and gamblers, but I would like you share your thoughts on bitcoin as a long-term investment in China.

This is a great topic; thanks for asking the question! I have always viewed the increasing adoption of bitcoin as an extremely important development, as it’s the first time the world has had a viable digital currency that is being shared and used by everyone. I’ve repeated this everywhere I go, from personal conversations, media interviews, public speaking events, and also while talking to investors, the financial community and government officials. The Chinese community has heard this from me multiple times; directly, and through translations of international media coverage. However, it is also true that Chinese like to trade on bitcoin prices, and see its volatility and price movements as an additional way to make money. (This behavior is not unique to the Chinese, and obviously, bitcoin is not the only asset class being speculated on.) I firmly believe that the Chinese community strongly grasps the full potential of bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and understands the long term price potential of bitcoin, but that doesn’t mean that they will all just voluntarily sit on their bitcoins, and hold it regardless of its daily and monthly price movements. As the expression goes: To each his own!

My views on bitcoin as a long-term investment: Today, all of bitcoin is worth under USD $5 billion, which is less than USD $1 per person in the world. I fully believe in a future where bitcoin is a main part of the world financial order, easily accepted worldwide, online and offline, because of its fundamental value and ease-of-use. When we arrive at that future, it’ll be much, much more than USD $1 per capita. By comparison, gold, which people are calling antiquated today, is valued at around USD $1,000 per capita. How high can bitcoin go; how much $ per capita? Only the future will tell. Regardless, my opinion is that the better way to measure bitcoin prices is to use the “price per capita” method, which allows it to be compared to all of the other asset classes.

[bobbyclee]

Bobby, thanks for all you do in this realm.

Questions:

1. What have been the biggest legal challenges to setting up and running a Bitcoin Exchange in China?
2. If you did it over, what would you do differently?
3. You have your hands full with the exchange... What would you like to see the community focused on most aggressively? Adoption? Wallet software? Promotion? What say you.
4. If you were to start another exchange in a new country, which country would you choose? Which country is a plus to start a Bitcoin Exchange in your opinion?
5. Besides running an exchange are you doing anything else to further the Bitcoin Movement?
6. What are your greatest fears or worries against Bitcoin?

Hi,

Thanks for your questions.

With the current regulatory climate in China, there are no specific legal challenges in setting up a bitcoin exchange. We are still in the “pre-regulatory” age for bitcoin exchanges in China.

The industry and our company evolved organically. For this reason, it’s not clear how we would have done things differently if we could do it over again.

The most important task for the bitcoin community is to get the word out, and to help everyone better understand bitcoin and the full potential of a decentralized digital currency, and how its frictionless payment system is actually faster, better, and cheaper than the current options. More education will naturally bring in more adoption, which would lead to success.

I would only start a new bitcoin exchange in a jurisdiction that I live in myself, and I will openly share this with any new entrepreneur who wants to do that. The reason is simple: running a bitcoin exchange is extremely difficult and time consuming, so it’s very hard to run it from abroad. The demand is everywhere, in every single continent that is inhabited.

Even though BTCC started as a bitcoin exchange in 2011, that is no longer our sole mission. Today, we offer a variety of products, servicing the bitcoin ecosystem, including wallets, merchant processing, mining pool, and blockchain technologies like Forever and BlockPriority.

My greatest fear and worry for bitcoin is for people to pre-judge it without understanding what it truly is. There’s the complex technical system that underpins bitcoin, and there’s also the very complicated use-cases and impact on society. In other words, even for many of the old hands in the bitcoin community, it took a long time for us to fully understand and grasp the revolutionary nature of bitcoin. In comparison, 20 years ago, understanding the full potential of the Internet was quite a bit easier.

[Floesh]

Thank you for doing this AMA and your contribution in the Bitcoin ecosystem!

Will BTCC focus more on Europe and open an European office?
If so when and where?

[bobbyclee]

Hi Bobby, Thanks for being a pioneer in the Bitcoin space!

1. Why do you think Chinese based exchanges have gravitated towards zero fee models, while the rest of the world has not?
Is this a cultural thing, or some other reason?

2. Aside from the scaling issues, what aspect of bitcoin do you think needs improvement the most?

Hi Roger, great questions! Thanks again for having me participate in your AMA!

I think the Chinese-based exchanges went with a zero-fee model because competition is fierce in this market. As it’s not regulated, the barrier-to-entry is also low. So it’s natural to use pricing as a competitive advantage to undercut based on price. Foreseeing this trend, we decided in September of 2013 to take the plunge, and eliminated trading commissions from BTCChina. So it’s not a cultural thing, but rather caused by the local business environment. I predict that there will be other markets that also gravitate to zero-fees, especially if those markets have low barriers to entry, and have low regulatory hurdles.

In terms of bitcoin improvements, I think one aspect that still needs a lot of work is the management of private keys. This is not often talked about. Bitcoin technology essentially also solves the digital identity problem; whoever has the private keys, should be that real person / account-holder. And likewise, that real person should be the only one to have and sign with the private key, and nobody else! However, today, it’s still way too complicated for any average user to hold and manage their own private keys. That’s why the digital identity issue is still not yet solved. I look forward to that day, when more elegant and user-friendly solutions come to market, where even my mother can fully participate without any assistance.

[nyeko_12]

Hi bobby!

What is your opinion regarding LN-network,BIP 100 & 101?
Do you think this block-size issue can be resolved by December(thinking of Combining the LN-network with BIP 100)?
Will you release a Bitcoin debit Card/Litecoin debit card(Litecoin to Yuan card)(bitcoin to Yuan card) internationally and domestically?
What do you think of bitcoin and litecoin future?

Thank you!

[ParkerLewis]

Hi Bobby,
Thanks for doing this. Your Brother mentioned in his AMA that the two of you would plan some stuff regarding Litecoin Promotion in China. He also mentioned that he would also like to do a AMA and get in contact with the community there in December.Any news on that?

Thank you

[bobbyclee]

Hi. Thank you very much for doing this AMA.

I would like to focus on block size issues. We can clearly see that blocks are filling up and that transactions will get delayed (or worse) when legitimate transaction volume exceeds capacity.

Your BlockPriority offering can, I think, be seen in this light.

1.
Do you want to wait for 'consensus' (whatever that means) from Scaling Bitcoin? Do you think there is time, as one of the SB goals is to NOT make any decisions? Would you support BIP101 (to my knowledge the only tested solution that can be implemented today) if SB does not meet a clear deliverable, and what would that deliverable be?

2.
I expect other companies to also implement BlockPriority type solutions. I also expect companies to collaborate and include each other's blocks first. So no per transaction fee market, but a contract processing market. Do you agree? Do you think this leads to more centralization? If so, do you think that small blocks lead to centralization and large blocks to decentralization?

Thanks!

Thank you for your question about the block sizes debate.

I am looking forward to attending the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong next month. I think it’s good for the community to come together to discuss these really important topics. I hope that decisions do get made, or at least that all parties get to voice their opinions and concerns.

In terms of the BIP 100 vs 101 debate, our preference is for BIP 100. Of course, that depends on the viability of it being implemented. I haven’t caught up with the latest in terms of which solutions are ready for deployment. Regardless, I firmly believe that the community will come together behind a solution and upgrade the network to overcome this blocksize issue.

We launched BlockPriority as a service to BTCC customers to help prioritize their blockchain transactions when they use BTCC services. We have this amazing mining pool asset and we wanted to make more use of it -- BlockPriority is the result. Right now, I think it’s still too early to tell if this results in more centralization or more decentralization. I am still waiting to see how the overall market develops. Will the bitcoin ecosystem become more centralized over time? Or will it remain completely decentralized? BTCC is and will always be a centralized entity, as we are structured as a company. We strongly support the decentralized nature of bitcoin, but we are a centralized entity doing this. Smaller blocks lead to blocks being more contentious resources, and hence more centralization, and, likewise, larger blocks lead to more resources for everyone, and more decentralization. However, you can also show the opposite: larger blocks lead to vastly more resources to running a full node, and hence even more centralization for who will have the full resources to keep an up-to-date copy of the bitcoin ledger. This is all a healthy debate, but I still have not made up my mind about which direction leads to more or less centralization. All I know is that I love bitcoin because it is indeed decentralized, and that anyone can choose to participate in this ecosystem without needing prior permission.

[bobbyclee]

When will BTCC open it's litecoin mining pool ?

https://pool.btcc.com/

Wow, so many people are interested in a litecoin mining pool! Maybe we should do something soon!

[bobbyclee]

Hi, Bobby, thanks for the insight. From a western view, it seems that China is the engine moving the Bitcoin economy right now.

Two questions:

1. Do you think Chinese capital controls have been the main factor spurring recent Bitcoin value and transaction volume?

2. Do you think the Chinese government will maintain their current laissez-faire approach to Bitcoin in the mainstream over the long run? It is said that the government is very controlling of Internet use there, and therefore Bitcoin use can also be controlled. Is the Chinese government becoming more or less oppressive over the last ten years, or over the next ten years? Which way are the winds blowing over there?

Chinese capital controls have indeed been tighter here during the past few months; in fact, we probably now have the tightest capital controls in all of the nine years that I’ve been living in China.

However, I don’t think tight capital controls are behind the recent surge in bitcoin price and transaction volumes. The reason is a simple insight that only a few insiders understand: when people in China buy bitcoins, the CNY they use to do so actually does not leave the country! Instead, the seller of the bitcoins takes “possession” of the CNY that was used for the bitcoin purchase. The seller can withdraw the CNY from BTCC and do whatever they please with it. If the seller wants to exchange the CNY for foreign currency, he/she would still need to do that at a bank or bureau de change, which both enforce capital controls. So in the end, the CNY used to buy or sell bitcoin from our exchange stays within China, and we don’t directly move any Chinese money abroad.

To explain further, bitcoin is only recognized as a digital good in China, and is not considered a monetary instrument. As such, the exchange of CNY to bitcoin is not foreign currency conversion, and moving bitcoins abroad is not a flow of capital. It is no more different than buying Chinese tea with CNY and bringing that abroad: that wouldn’t be evading capital controls either.

I think that for the near term, the Chinese government will keep the same policies with regards to bitcoin. In the long term, I am sure the government will want to regulate it, just as it does for all of the other important asset classes and financial investments. People everywhere -- not just in China -- want to control bitcoin because it’s seen as a threat to the current world financial order. However, bitcoin is special precisely because it’s been designed from the ground up to be mostly immune to these types of controls. It will be very hard for any government, to fully control bitcoin, short of buying up all of the supply and running all the mining of bitcoins. Wouldn’t it be a crazy world if that were to happen!

[BitcoinXio]

Hi Bobby,

Thanks for doing this AMA! There are a ton of good questions already asked that I wanted to ask, so I'll ask something not so much related to Bitcoin.

My question is that I see you do a lot of public speaking, from events to tv interviews and you always are a great orator. What tips do you have for people who find public speaking challenging? How do you keep such a calm and cool composure and are able to speak so clearly?

Thanks!

[BTC_user]

What skill sets are most useful for bitcoin companies right now?

[bobbyclee]

Thank you for doing this AMA and your contribution in the Bitcoin ecosystem!

Will BTCC focus more on Europe and open an European office?
If so when and where?

Sorry, we don’t have anything ready to announce yet with regards to future expansion plans for BTCC.

[bobbyclee]

Hi Bobby,

thanks for doing this AMA.

Some questions:

1. When did you first hear about bitcoin? Did your brother told you about it?

2. While some people are still cautious about bitcoins future (like Nathaniel Popper), you are very bullish. When did you start to be that optimistic about bitcoins future ?

3. What do you think about the "private blockchains" that banks are working on?

4. In the western world we have nearly zero insight into the chinese bitcoin world and culture. What about the idea that you write a blog post once a month about the asia/chinese bitcoin market?
You can add/link that on your website too.



LiteCoinGuy

Hi LiteCoinGuy. You’re not Charlie, are you?

Yes, I first heard about bitcoin through my brother, Charlie, in early 2011. At first, I was quite skeptical. I was concerned about many aspects of the technology and the platform, and questioned why it was necessary in the first place. The world already had useful currencies and virtual currencies, and Internet payment companies were already successful. I asked many questions, including why we needed bitcoin, how it was different, and how safe it was.

These are the same questions that newcomers ask today, and I bet that newcomers in the future will continue asking these questions. After several months, I got involved in GPU mining and finally learned enough about bitcoin to gain confidence in it. I then became truly optimistic about its future. This was in the summer of 2011.

I don’t think private blockchains bring more innovation. To me, the whole point of a blockchain is to have a public ledger where everything is public, including the ability to write into the ledger. In other words, membership is not required. The beauty of bitcoin and blockchain is that anyone can contribute to the building of the public blockchain without requiring prior permission from anyone, without needing to be appointed by any committee, and without being granted any power to do so. Private blockchains to me sound like another old-boys club, where only certain people/machines are allowed to participate in the building of the blockchain. Isn’t that just like a private database, owned and operated by the principals?

[bobbyclee]

Hi Bobby,
Thanks for doing this. Your Brother mentioned in his AMA that the two of you would plan some stuff regarding Litecoin Promotion in China. He also mentioned that he would also like to do a AMA and get in contact with the community there in December.Any news on that?

Thank you

Yes, Charlie will be visiting Shanghai ahead of the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong, and we plan to arrange some activities together from November 30 to December 4. We will announce the details through BTCC social media. Stay tuned!

[bobbyclee]

Hi Bobby,

Thanks for doing this AMA! There are a ton of good questions already asked that I wanted to ask, so I'll ask something not so much related to Bitcoin.

My question is that I see you do a lot of public speaking, from events to tv interviews and you always are a great orator. What tips do you have for people who find public speaking challenging? How do you keep such a calm and cool composure and are able to speak so clearly?

Thanks!

Great question indeed! In terms of public speaking, it’s all about practice and confidence. The more you do it and the more you practice, the better you will get. Along with that, comes confidence. I am fortunate that I got started in public speaking many years ago, in leadership roles at my prior companies.

The other important aspect to confidence is the subject matter: be sure to speak about a topic that you’re familiar with and knowledgeable in. Ideally, you’re passionate about it! That’s why speaking about bitcoin comes so naturally to me.

For you, public speaking can start as an extension to people management, when speaking to your team at work. Or, it could be in leadership roles in organizations, either at school or outside of work. Just find more chances to speak to an audience -- of whatever size!

[bagatur]

What do you think about Veritaseum?

[fairtrader]

Hi Bobby Lee:)

Alert: The funding rates on pro.btcc.com are frozen/static since several days,
driving market far off the real price:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1542782.0

And a general question about pro.btc.com (unrelated to the above):
Actually, why dont you hedige the market (or hardly)? (i believe running the spot exchange you would be set well to do so? - else you could offer a market maker incentive)

Thanks

[KingTylerVVS]

Thank you for helping to dethrone the banks and make bitcoin more liquid to the userbase, Bobby Lee.

And thank you for taking the time to post here.

What other bitcoin ventures have you invested into?

Also, are there any hobbies that bitcoin makes better for you?

[Rmcdermott927]

What are your plans for the future of BTCC Mint? What kind of coins do you have in the works for 2017? Do you have long terms goals in regards to coin production? Thanks!

[miffman]

What are some of the requirements that potential employees need to fulfill? Is knowledge about Bitcoin and or cryptocurrencies one of them?

[coin@coin]

How is the mint business going so far? It's been running for a few months with most of the issued coins being sold out.
Do you feel like you guys are going to continue producing physical btc for a long while?