Welcome everyone to the Live Telegram AMA for July 2019. This Ask Me Anything (AMA) is a monthly LocalCoinSwap initiative to give the LCS community and LCS traders the opportunity to ask any questions that matter to them. If you have a burning question to ask, the team will be available for one hour to assist! Thank you for your ongoing support and happy trading!
Michiel, [22.07.19 21:02]
I would like to know the amounth of signups over the last few months
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:03]
[In reply to Michiel]
Let me just check :) Average per day is anywhere from 10-50, it's rare to see lower or higher
Michiel, [22.07.19 21:05]
Is it growing month over month?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:05]
[In reply to Michiel]
Definitely. We had quite a slow start launching during a tough time in the market but week by week figures have been looking better
Michiel, [22.07.19 21:06]
👍
Hypatia, [22.07.19 21:05]
Other than BTC and LCS what is the next most popular coin traded on the site?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 21:07]
[In reply to Hypatia]
Ethereum is the next most traded crypto on the platform. This is likely because there is already a peer-to-peer ETH market outside LocalCoinSwap!
Steve, [22.07.19 21:07]
Are we still focusing on driving volume in LATAM, Africa and Russia?
Penelope - LCS Marketing Manager, [22.07.19 21:08]
[In reply to Steve]
Hey Steve, Yes, at the moment these are our primary regional targets.
Steve, [22.07.19 21:09]
There’s been talk about major developments to the platform. While they don’t have to be disclosed, do we have timelines of release of these features? From memory it was a couple months from the last dev talk?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 21:14]
[In reply to Steve]
The current features that are being worked on are very development heavy. ASo putting an accurate timeframe on these at this stage is not really possible. In the coming weeks we will be announcing these features and giving progress updates as they are being developed!
Steve, [22.07.19 21:21]
[In reply to Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO]
Thanks.
Taylor - LocalCoinSwap Blockchain Developer, [22.07.19 21:13]
Pre-submitted question: "Does LocalCoinSwap do any data quality checks?"
Taylor - LocalCoinSwap Blockchain Developer, [22.07.19 21:13]
I believe this question is relating this to data quality on the ads themselves i.e. are they fair prices, do they make sense, are ads out of date etc
To do so would be impractical due to self typed terms and the ambiguity of what is considered "good" or "fair". When searching through results users can sort by "popularity" which is ranked on how many successful trades the ad has resulted in among other things. Poor quality ads will rank low in "popularity" and assist in weeding them out.
Adam - LCS Community Manager, [22.07.19 21:14]
[In reply to Taylor - LocalCoinSwap Blockchain Developer]
this one was from earlier here on Telegram asked by @SGornick
Adam - LCS Community Manager, [22.07.19 21:19]
Pre-Submitted Question: Will LCS be delisting any other cryptocurrencies from the platform?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:20]
[In reply to Adam - LCS Community Manager]
Yes we will, for technical and volume reasons. There's no point spending money to host cryptocurrencies noone is interested in trading
Steve, [22.07.19 21:21]
[In reply to Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO]
where does the development decisions come from? Is it identifying gaps in market from your personal experiences or is it something that is developed from the feedback of experienced P2P traders?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:23]
[In reply to Steve]
We aim to develop requested features by traders on the platform as well as features the team thinks might drive volume. We balance these aims against our financial and technical capabilities
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:24]
There are always hundreds more features in the pipeline than we could ever hope to implement, so it's more a matter of how we prioritize
Steve, [22.07.19 21:27]
👍 I also noticed a few cryptocurrencies as payment methods. Is this the beginning of C2C trading being implemented?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:29]
[In reply to Steve]
As it's been requested a lot by the community we are taking some small steps to see how much use it garners
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:32]
[In reply to Steve]
The next dev talks update will most likely be tomorrow!
Abes, [22.07.19 21:29]
I remember there was a time last quarter when there were "whales " testing site resulting in eth trades of 100 plus and bitcoin of 10 plus in 1 shot. Was that a 1 time event because they don't seem to still be involved
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 21:32]
[In reply to Abes]
Those traders you are referencing are still on the platform, however, their trade patterns are reasonably sporadic. They have given us some valuable feedback on platform improvements!
Steve, [22.07.19 21:34]
[In reply to Penelope - LCS Marketing Manager]
Thanks Penny - are we looking at implementing e-comms strategy at all given the email is the only bit of data acquired? The only time I hear from LCS is during trade activity. Hope you’re well!
Penelope - LCS Marketing Manager, [22.07.19 21:39]
[In reply to Steve]
Yes! We have a number of platform ecom strategies that we are continuing to plan for. With the platform developments underway, we need to hold off on some of the these changes to the site until the new platform changes are finalised by the dev team, but the one thing that the dev guys will tell you is that I am very good at hassling them to make important site changes that benefit the platform from an ecommerce and general marketing perspective. I know that you work heavily in digital marketing, so if you have any specific suggestions that you think would be beneficial, it would be great to get your recommendations in private or via the feedback form.
Abes, [22.07.19 21:35]
With all the buzz of new fatf regulations how will that positively or negatively influence the exchange?
Taylor - LocalCoinSwap Blockchain Developer, [22.07.19 21:46]
[In reply to Abes]
It is always hard to predict the effects of new regulations on the market and by extension the exchange. The changes could drive new users to the platform or alternatively force the us to invest time into changing the platform to remain complaint, or alternatively move the company to friendly region (which could provide benefits via easier banking relationships). We are constantly keeping up to date with what our obligations are and adjusting to ensure we are compliant.
Krl, [22.07.19 21:35]
How much money was spent from ico's $12 million so far?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:37]
[In reply to Krl]
We raised 12 million at the time of sale during a heavy market decline, so we didn't end the ICO holding anywhere near that much actual funds. The majority of funds have been spent on platform development, marketing, and security, as outlined in the whitepaper
Krl, [22.07.19 21:38]
[In reply to Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO]
Yes, but how much is left?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:38]
[In reply to Krl]
For competitive reasons we can't reveal our exact runway and burnrate
Steve, [22.07.19 21:40]
[In reply to Penelope - LCS Marketing Manager]
Ok great. Yes happy to provide suggestions/feedback. One thing I don’t receive is SMS notifications 😕
Penelope - LCS Marketing Manager, [22.07.19 21:41]
[In reply to Steve]
If you aren't receiving any SMS notifications when trading, send me a pm after this and I will bug it to the team. The guys fixed a bug related to this about a month ago, but if you are still experiencing this, we can look into it as a high priority.
James Kay, [22.07.19 21:41]
[In reply to Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO]
Does that mean shareholders will not be given a financial report for the last financial year?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:45]
[In reply to James Kay]
We will still provide all financial reports, and with some upcoming developments we will likely be providing even more indepth reports than before
James Kay, [22.07.19 21:47]
[In reply to Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO]
Thanks Nathan look forward to seeing it do you have a timeline on it being available?
Krl, [22.07.19 21:41]
What are the biggest mistakes so far team made?
Nathan - LocalCoinSwap CTO, [22.07.19 21:43]
[In reply to Krl]
- Focusing too much on implementing additional cryptocurrencies people don't want to trade
- Being too transparent about new feature development which allowed competitors to copy us first
- Waiting too long to localize the site into different languages
Krl, [22.07.19 21:47]
How can community ask for a vote when team consider it as irrelevant or unimportant matter?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 21:47]
[In reply to Krl]
Any token holders that want to propose a vote, can submit the proposal directly to the team via the support portal or through the feedback sheet.
If there is enough appetite for a specific issue, then it can be put to a vote. It is important to keep in mind that although some individuals may feel strongly about a specific topic, it does not make sense to take it to a vote if there is not adequate appetite for it. Voting is costly in terms of staff time (development and operational staff), as well as transaction costs etc.
Topics that people would like to vote on can also be discussed in the community forums like Telegram!
Krl, [22.07.19 21:49]
[In reply to Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO]
Lately people were being banned at the end of such discussions
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 21:51]
[In reply to Krl]
People have not been banned for discussing topics to be voted on. They have been banned for breaking the community chat rules that can be seen in the pinned post. We welcome discussions about things project related, so long as they are done in a respectful fashion!
Steve, [22.07.19 21:53]
Are there any new projects out there that you are looking at listing? Any that would suit a P2P trading environment specifically?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 21:57]
[In reply to Steve]
Not at the moment. P2P trading is currently focused around only a few major cryptos. This may change in the near future though so we are always looking at what currencies will appeal to the P2P audience.
If anyone has any in mind, please don’t hesitate to reach out and suggest it to the team though!
Abes, [22.07.19 21:55]
Sign ups are increasing. Why is it not resulting in volume increases?
Penelope - LCS Marketing Manager, [22.07.19 22:06]
[In reply to Abes]
Sign ups and volume increasing aren't necessarily a direct correlation however sign ups do give us the opportunity to do more educational marketing to our users though which is a huge benefit. We are also seeing volume increases. I.e. We have had a steady increase from Q1 to Q2 and the entire team continue to work dilligently towards increased volume in Q3. Getting P2P users to move to a new platform isn't a simple process but we are confident that we are moving in the right direction as we are getting a lot of recognition both online and in person when we speak with P2P traders. It's important to remember that even the largest platforms competing against LBC find it difficult to cut into their competitor's slice of the P2P market however we need to continue to prove to the P2P community that the LocalCoinSwap platform is trustworthy, with great features and we will see more and more traders move across with time. Furthermore, with additional regulations hitting some of the larger P2P platforms that are not as agile as us, we will see users move to try our P2P marketplace and this will also lead to increased volume.
Adam - LCS Community Manager, [22.07.19 21:59]
Only a couple of minutes remaining on this AMA if you have any questions left don't hesitate!
Krl, [22.07.19 22:00]
Didn't lcs change a little too much for a "family" business? We have here brothers, a supporting dad, friends of marketing manager etc... who are coming and going but not spending. No one knows what's actually going on with lcs and how many workers are there and what is their experience and how much money is spent. Isn't it little concerning? Not everything can hide behind "competitive reasons". Where is this promised clarity and openness from ico ?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 22:04]
[In reply to Krl]
Not much has really changed since the ICO. Nathan and I have always been brothers and parents generally always support their family. It is a great working environment when colleagues become friends too :). None of this changes the fact that we are operating in a competitive environment and need to act that way!
James Kay, [22.07.19 22:01]
Does LocalCoinSwap pay any ongoing fees to HotBit for the token listing or fake volume generation?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 22:04]
[In reply to James Kay]
No, LocalCoinSwap does not pay any ongoing fees to HotBit.
Krl, [22.07.19 22:04]
Is there any reason for removal ambassador program and what will come instead of it?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 22:08]
[In reply to Krl]
The ambassador program was put on pause due to the fact that the results we were getting weren’t reflective of the time/effort that was put in. Ambassador programs can definitely be a valuable tool and we are considering how we can launch a revamped and improved program in the future!
We would like to thank all the ambassadors (both official and unofficial) that have dedicated their time to helping the project. And hope that they continue to do so. Hopefully many of them will be part of any future program we run!
Adam - LCS Community Manager, [22.07.19 22:05]
Ok, the team are just going to finish up the remaining questions, as the time for this AMA has already gone over.
Krl, [22.07.19 22:05]
Will there be some independent audit?
Krl, [22.07.19 22:05]
Ahh...
Adam - LCS Community Manager, [22.07.19 21:45]
Pre-Submitted Question: If BNB is delisting and you don't have enough withdrawal for minimum or even fees, then where's that bnb going to go?
Daniel - LocalCoinSwap COO, [22.07.19 22:28]
[In reply to Adam - LCS Community Manager]
Just realized that we missed this one. Great question, we will be announcing an update on this in the devtalks later this week.
Thanks everyone for another great AMA 🙏
Adam - LCS Community Manager, [22.07.19 22:28]
Thank you to everyone for participating in this month's AMA! We appreciate everyone's contributions and we look forward to more opportunities to discuss the project in the near future.