SBC Barcelona and the future of online payments. Interview with Alex Volk, BDM Betatransfer Kassa
Last week the market was buzzing – SBC Barcelona is one of the biggest events in the world of iGaming. Our company was an exhibitor in the exhibition area. We managed to see and communicate with many of our partners and clients – future and current. A lot of emotions, new acquaintances and useful information. We decided to ask Alex Volk, BDM of Betatransfer Kassa, about the event.
– Alex, share your emotions. How was it?
There are a lot of emotions after the event and, frankly speaking, all positive. Everyone is as open, friendly and ready to communicate as possible. I met a lot of our already friends from partner companies and made new ones. To tell the truth, I had to recover from these three days for a few days, as they were as intense as possible. And certainly effective.
– Speaking of efficiency, what is the result of the event?
It is too early to talk about the final results. The period after the event is a negotiation period. There are already new clients, new partners, and after a month there will definitely be more. Therefore, the results are excellent, but we are waiting for space results.
– What was talked about at the event? What are the most promising geos right now?
Everyone is now looking towards Asia and Africa. These markets are the least regulated and at the same time have great potential. We already have a number of solutions for different countries for iGaming companies. We never lag behind promising areas, moreover, we offer our current clients opportunities for development in new markets with our solutions.
– Tell us about the future of the payments world. What was discussed at SBC Barcelona and how do you see it?
At SBC Barcelona, a separate panel was dedicated to payment solutions. We discussed a lot of things and in particular how to create the most comfortable environment for the payer. When several solutions are gathered in one usable interface. Solutions should be not just convenient, but local, understandable in each particular country. This is what our company is working on right now. We are constantly improving our solutions, expanding the list of accepted fiat and cryptocurrencies, watching how our service works on client sites so that the interface is as simple, understandable and convertible as possible.
As for the global view of the market, at the moment the payments world is divided into 2 parts. The first is old money, clumsy banking systems, white collars and constant restrictions. The second is blockchain, decentralization, moving away from pathos to maximum efficiency. But this division is actually very arbitrary. Since all life boils just between these two worlds, namely in the sphere of P2P payments.
Cryptocurrencies are a very promising niche that will only grow, which is already obvious to everyone. And yet at the moment it is impossible to own only cryptocurrency, bypassing fiat. Regulators in the form of authorities, the system of buying cryptocurrency as such – so far it is impossible to do without fiat currencies. And here we come back to the world of P2P payments.
The old system resists this as much as it can, introducing restrictions on the number of transactions and so on. But users have learned to circumvent the restrictions. And if earlier on average each person had one bank card, now they have three. And in 5 years, there will already be 5-7. That is why it is difficult to regulate the sphere of P2P payments. Bankers turn a blind eye to this because they are interested in the movement of money. Thus, many factors indicate that in the future this sphere will grow by leaps and bounds, and companies like ours, which realize this already now, will win. And already now they have solutions for P2P transfers on a system basis with full analytics for more than 10000 details and 10000000 payments. And these numbers are only going to grow.
I have already said that local solutions are especially valuable in the world of payments. They are mostly those based on P2P payments. Automation and scaling of such solutions is our main specialization and right now we are looking for partners, namely operators of local P2P solutions. We are ready to buy and invest in such projects and this is one of the main directions we are developing now.
– What are your plans for the future? Where can I meet you in the near future?
In the very near future at the Future Blockchain Summit Event and SBC Summit Tbilisi 2023 conferences. In addition, we are now launching a series of educational webinars for our clients, iGaming market players, and those who are just looking at the industry. And of course, our company will be a participant of Sigma.Europe, which will be held in November in Malta. I will be glad to see everyone and get acquainted!
