Vedran Kajic has been a long-time veteran in the Crypto space and one of the Bitcoin pioneers in his home country Croatia where he installed and operated the first Bitcoin ATM in his home town Zagreb.
In 2016 he also contributed to write a little piece of “Bitcoin history” in Vietnam, when he became one of the investors in the country’s first-ever installed Bitcoin ATM. Why he became involved with Vietnam and what he has been up to lately – he has been telling us in the following interview with him.
Q1: Hey Vedran! Thanks for taking the time to share your views and insights with our readers.
First of all, the standard question – when did you discover Bitcoin the first time and what was the moment it “clicked” for you?
VK: I read an article in IEEE in 2012 I believe. It clicked for me then and there, when I understood how it works technically. I found the concept beautiful. I was also attracted by the social implications of having a decentralized financial system. On top of that, it seemed to be even more than just abstract ideology, but rather something that can provide means of supporting oneself.
Q2: You have written a little Bitcoin history in Vietnam by being one of the investors in the first-ever Bitcoin ATM placed in the country in summer 2016. How did you come to chose Vietnam as a location and why did you decide to work with the team of BitcoinVN as your operations partner back in the day?
VK: Haha, yes…Well I had a BTC ATM at that time in Croatia and it was going quite well. So I was looking for other countries that weren’t saturated with BTMs, and also had the
potential for growth. As I was touring Vietnam at that time, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to meet people from the crypto space. You guys from BitcoinVN really made it work though, as installing a BTM is one thing, but persisting in keeping the operation running and providing support, marketing, etc. is really the crucial part.
Q3: As an investor into Bitcoin ATM‘s – is it an experience you would recommend and what should other possible investors be on the lookout for?
VK: Well, I don’t consider BTM business to be my primary focus, I consider myself primarily a programmer and at the moment I am more focused on smart contracts. But it can be a great opportunity for
someone if they are passionate about it. I would say understanding the legal landscape and having a good and reliable location is the key.
Q4: Vietnam. For many people still stereotypes portrayed in various 80’s war movies seem to dominate the impression people have about
this rising nation of a hundred million people in South East Asia. When did you come the first time to Vietnam, what surprised you the most to learn
upon visiting and how do you see the path and opportunities into the future here in Vietnam?
VK: I visited Vietnam for the first time in 2012. I don’t think I had some significant stereotypes, as I like geography, history, economics, etc. But not speaking the language and not understanding what was going on at times definitely led to some weird situations haha.
Q5: Besides investing in Bitcoin ATM operations, you are also pretty active in general in the space and involve with various projects. What are you working on these days and what should we be on the lookout for?
VK: I am primarily working on CryptoTask project, a decentralized freelancing market: https://www.cryptotask.org/ We already had a smart contract solution for a while on Ethereum but it is quite cumbersome to use for a mainstream user. Now we are developing a hybrid platform, that is as easy to use as a centralized platform but still has all the key features decentralized (such as escrow and dispute resolution). Here is the demo version in development: https://dev.cryptotask.org/ (bugs plentiful).
Q6: And last but not least: What excites you the most about the current developments in the Bitcoin space and where do you see it going in the next 1-2 years?
I am not excited about Bitcoin in particular, but crypto in general, or what could be called decentralized consensus systems. It doesn’t need to be Bitcoin, nor even blockchain-based. I am excited about solutions to scalability issues, I find this to be one of the major obstacles to mainstream adoption.
Bio:
VEDRAN KAJIC, Ph.D., Cardiff University UK, research interests include blockchain technology and artificial intelligence.
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Author of the first decentralized strategy game, Etherization. Cofounder of CryptoTask, a decentralized freelancing market. Co-owner of a number of crypto ATMs worldwide.
