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Meet the Boss – Exclusive Interview with CommerceBlock CEO Nicholas Gregory

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CommerceBlock CEO Nicholas Gregory Interview

CommerceBlock is the world’s first platform that enables trades all across the world in a secure, private, and efficient manner on public blockchains.

This is achieved by moving all assets and trades to a public blockchain, where transparency is second to none and intermediaries who do nothing but negatively affect processes are removed completely. Unlike other startups, CommerceBlock already has several notable clients using its services such as OTC and hip.property, with the list of clients expected to be growing faster than ever as time goes on. They do this offering a suite of services which are easy to use and versatile in ways that even small businesses can benefit from. Thus, CommerceBlock positions itself to become the platform of choice for future commerce – a telling sign of the platform’s potential and capabilities.

We recently sat down with Nicholas Gregory, the CEO of CommerceBlock to have a chat with him about the project as well as finding out his thoughts and insights.

Hi, Nicholas. Thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us more about yourself and CommerceBlock?

I am a from a software engineering background.
Got into finance about 10 years ago working for Merrill Lynch then JPMorgan. Starting learning about bitcoin in 2012. Around 2015 made it a full time in cryptocurrency.

First off, why did you decide to use the blockchain in building CommerceBlock? What was your thought process behind it?

I was already working in the bitcoin community before the idea of CommerceBlock. CommerceBlock was always about making cryptocurrencies more applicable to mainstream business.

Tell us about how you came up with the idea of CommerceBlock.Did you face a problem within the industry or do you think there is a gap in the market for CommerceBlock to fill?

I was working for a boutique OTC software house in the bitcoin space when I met people who wanted to do Trade Finance with bitcoin. The technologies employed became what CommerceBlock is now.

Crypto currencies are bringing about great change in the world

What do you think is the biggest problem CommerceBlock will solve and why is the problem important to solve?

Bring Businesses to use cryptocurrencies. With BIP 175 much of that is possible. It allows for the binding of private data to crypto payments in a contractual fashion.

Can you tell us more about the peer-review nature of CommerceBlock?

While other startups talk about transparency, CommerceBlock is one of the few that that actually takes transparency to a whole new level by ensuring that all codes are peer-reviewed. What is the reasoning behind this and how much will this play a part in how clients’ view the platform? Cryptocurrencies is money. Its irresponsible to propose infrastructure around finance to not have the approach peer reviewed. Also, bitcoin has and always will be community driven. To bypass a community approach to developing software in crypto is strange.

Let’s talk about BIP175. What is it and what are the benefits it brings to platform users? At the same time, how does the technology work in ensuring that only clients can see details stored on the blockchain? Isn’t everything on the blockchain transparent, hence the term decentralized?

BIP 175 is based on the pay-to-contract protocol. Cryptocurrencies are wonderful decentralized approaches to payments. However, once you have to do commerce you back to using centralized entities. Once the solution to solve that is to bind contractual data to transactions.

On the back of the recent backing by Global Advisor and CoinShares, would you mind explaining more on what all of you are working together on? How will this blooming partnership assist the platform moving forward?

If you read our blog post, https://blog.commerceblock.com/commerceblock-network-fund-management-a268269d4e8f So see how we describe how funds could run on the commerce block network. Global Advisors are experienced commodities traders so you can see the synergy. You can see a future where commodities are traded on the Commerce Block network.

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Editors Pick: CommerceBlock ICO

CommerceBlock – The World’s First Public Blockchain Infrastructure For Commerce

Posted: December 8, 2017

The fiat banking system has served us well but it can’t be denied that change is severely needed in the industry. The lack of liquidity, transparency, and accountability in traditional financial institutions are just a list of problems plaguing the industry which in turn, hinders the market from reaching its

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For small businesses, the prospect of using something foreign to them like the blockchain is a daunting task. How does CommerceBlock approach adoption among the non-technical or businesses who want to use the blockchain but don’t know anything about it? Do you have onboarding processes specially created for these?

Yes. The is is no fintech layer for cryptocurrencies. This is the vision of Commerce Block.

What has been your happiest moment so far working on CommerceBlock? On the flipside, what has been the most painful, or perhaps the most regretful decision you’ve made with CommerceBlock?

Bitcoin / Cryptocurrencies started off as a hobby. What can you ask for more in life than to make a living doing a hobby? As an engineering team perhaps we have tried to build too much ourselves.

Is CommerceBlock already working with notable businesses or firms? Are there any future partnerships in the process? If yes, can you explain briefly about it?

Yes, Hip.properties and CG Blockchain. And of course the new partnership with Global Advisors.

Tell us more about CBT. What is its function on the platform and what can token-holders expect from it in the future?

We are building a network. It’s a network token. As the network grows CBT will be the key component in the token.

What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle CommerceBlock will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?

It’s all about timing. Cryptocurrencies are bringing about great change in the world. Is CommerceBlock too early or too late, that is the obstacle.

Moving on to more personal stuff, what does a typical day in your life look like?

We a global team. Me being based in London means its an early start as my co-founder is in London and a late day as we have partners in the US. I try to make sure I still have time during the day to stay abreast of the new technology development in bitcoin. Outside of that is being a bridge between our clients and technologist. As CEO its really about doing the stuff nobody wants in the team.

Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.

Its a working model of globalism.

Finally, what other personal goals (besides your career) do you have in life? Is there anything else in life you want to achieve?

I used to be a martial arts instructor. My motto was “it’s about the journey”. So I guess not..

That concludes our Interview with Nicholas Gregory

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More Interviews to come

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.
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