April 1, 2020
March 2020 was a long and difficult month for the entire world. A world that changed right before our eyes. Looking back just thirty-one days gives us a glimpse into a different way of life that we all crave now. That being said, there are plenty of positive notes to take away from these trials and tribulations. From YouHodler’s perspective, we learned valuable lessons about the strength of the crypto market, the resilience of our clients and developed some groundbreaking plans to help us all in the future.
Before the term “social distancing” became a household name, YouHodler started the month in Lausanne, Switzerland with something that would be unheard of right now. On March 4th, YouHodler presented a Crypto Valley Association event regarding the topic of KYC/AML solutions in the cryptocurrency/blockchain industries. This ultimately was the final physical Crypto Valley Association event before the lockdown and it was a highly productive group gathering.
As evidenced by the picture above, the event was a success, with many of Swiss and Europe’s top leaders in KYC/AML gathering for a day of intellectual discussion on how to combine crypto KYC/AML practices and business efficiency in an efficient and transparent manner. Little did we all know, an event such as this would soon become temporarily extinct.
YouHodler had a few days to celebrate the success of our first time hosting a Crypto Valley Association event. Many great relationships were formed that day and the company was inspired by grandiose plans for the future. Then, March 12th came. A day that shifted YouHodler into overdrive, speeding up all our processes and putting the platform to the live-test.
In roughly twenty-four hours. We saw the price of Bitcoin (BTC) drop from ~$8,000 to ~$4,000. At the same time, stock markets, gold prices, and oil prices were collapsing, signifying the end of a bullish era and feelings of severe panic throughout the world.
Despite the situation, YouHodler had no choice but to keep servicing our clients and provide the best possible experience. It was certainly a challenge for our systems. On this day, everyone in the market experienced massive financial losses (and gains for those who were quick enough to short their positions). For YouHodler, we never experienced volumes of that level in the company’s young history.
There were hundreds if not thousands of deals going on per second. All systems from our API, email, security and everything in between were at full capacity. Some of our HODLers experienced margin calls, which actually acted as a stop loss, preventing them from deep financial loss. At the end of that historic twenty-four hour period, essentially everyone came out hurting, but the important thing is we all survived and became stronger.
Despite the major burden on all our systems, YouHodler made it through that day. It was a big reason to celebrate as it proved our platform is reliable, sustainable and trustworthy. It also showed us the limits of our system so we could discover new ways to improve. Now, we have increased the capacity of the platform and it’s now faster and stronger than before. This ended up preparing us for the current situation we’re all in. Global lockdown.
There is no easy way to deal with the word “lockdown.” Of course, it’s not ideal and we all wish we could go back to the way things were. That being said, there is something productive we are learning from this situation. We are all adapting to a new life at home and adapting is something the human mind is incredibly good at.
We are in an age of content consumption. With everyone staying at home, content consumption is exploding. People are learning new hobbies, trying new products and exploring creative solutions to make money. This “intellectual renaissance” has inspired YouHodler to offer new outlets for the influx of new demands and innovation. One such example of this is with our MultiHODL feature.
After seeing the market drop so dramatically as it did in one day, YouHodler decided there should be a tool on its platform that helps people benefit from market drops in a similar fashion as short positions do. Hence, we created new “up” and “down” buttons that allow users to decide where they should direct their profit/risk levels depending on the market’s movement. At its core, YouHodler is still a crypto-backed lending company. Before this new feature, we lent fiat against crypto but now, we are lending crypto against fiat in order to let our users borrow crypto and sell it in order to benefit from market drops as well as market rises.
In addition to these buttons, YouHodler started several additional initiatives with the goal of making everything easier, more affordable and more efficient for our clients.
We tried to implement new features, that help HODLers to:
a) pay less
b) use more profitable risk-free instruments
c) get a chance to benefit from a turbulent time.
Here is a list of new features created in March:
Pay less:
More profitable risk free-instruments:
Tools to benefit from any of the market movements:
So, in these hot and complicated times of global crisis, YouHodler works productively in order to bring more value to the market and every single HODLer.
YouHodler, as are the majority of companies in the distributed ledger technology industry, has a distributed team structure. While we have physical locations in Europe, our team has always followed a remote structure. Therefore, YouHodler was well prepared for this global crisis and we continue to operate at full force without any significant changes. Our team of experienced engineers and market professionals continue to provide the same excellent (or even better) service.
No one has the key to the future. We can’t say this global crisis will stop tomorrow or next week or next month. That being said, as each day goes by, we are closer to the end compared to the day before. The future will be a positive one. We are not blind to the reality of this situation. It’s not good but even in the darkest of times, there is light to be found.
The positive effects of these lockdown months will be undeniable. Families are bonding in ways we haven’t seen in decades. Human compassion, creativity, and adaptability are all experiencing revolutions. Washing hands vigorously and being conscious about hygiene will be a new societal norm everyone in the world practices.
From a technological point of view, the digital age is exploding. With people at home, digital services are taking charge to deliver services to a brand new market of people. This will unlikely disappear once the lockdown is over. Tech developments will be stronger, remote working will become commonplace and the global population will migrate to digital solutions more than ever before. As for the crypto market, that too will see positive results from his event.
In terms of economics, Gresham’s Law states that “bad money drives out the good.” Right now, we are seeing central banks pump enormous amounts of fiat money into circulation as a tool to stimulate the economy and prevent complete economic failure. In their minds, this will help flight deflation but in reality, it will only increase it. Consumers and businesses will not take this stimulus money and spend it in the economy. Instead, they will hoard it, increasing the supply and lowering the demand.
The economy is in for a long, slow recovery and who knows if it will ever bounce back to the way it was. This presents a massive opportunity for cryptocurrency. Aside from being a germ-free way of doing business, cryptocurrency is remaining relatively stable in these tough times and recovering much faster than traditional markets. We may be witnessing the transfer of value from fiat to cryptocurrency as we speak since precious metals are simply not a convenient option for transactions.
There a lot of theories and “what ifs” going around right now and even the experts are scratching their heads as to what the future holds. The most important word to keep in mind right now is “positivity.” We must stay positive, keep our heads up and look towards a brighter, healthier future. Be strong for your friends and family and do your best to help those in need. The end will come sooner than we think and we’ll look back at this time as a monumental fulcrum that leveraged a new way of life.
Lastly, it’s important to realize times of crisis are filled with opportunities. Opportunities we can all take advantage of. From the financial point of view, YouHodler can help you capitalize on these opportunities right now. We have a full suite of innovative features to help you build your portfolio and there is no better time than now. When the market recovers, make sure you are the one who is benefiting and not regretting. So to properly prepare your financial future, visit YouHodler.com today.
Stay positive, stay safe and we’ll do our best to bring more positive news for the industry and all HODLers in April.
Ilya Volkov is the CEO and Co-founder of YouHodler. Connect with him about Blockchain, FinTech and sailing.
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YouHodler is regulated in the EU (Italy) and Switzerland, and does not have a regulated UK entity. YouHodler is NOT regulated by the FCA, and protections offered under UK law do not apply.
YouHodler promotions are not targeted at UK investors, and bonuses or loyalty programs like the rewards programme or sign-up offers will not be available to residents of the UK. You can learn more about the services offered to UK customers here.
Do not invest with YouHodler unless you’re prepared to lose all your money or tokens invested. Crypto Currency is considered as a speculative and high‑risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2min to learn more about risks.
YouHodler is regulated in the EU (Italy) and Switzerland, and does not have a regulated UK entity. YouHodler is NOT regulated by the FCA, and protections offered under UK law do not apply.
YouHodler promotions are not targeted at UK investors, and bonuses or loyalty programs like the rewards programme or sign-up offers will not be available to residents of the UK. You can learn more about the services offered to UK customers here.
Do not invest with YouHodler unless you’re prepared to lose all your money or tokens invested. Crypto Currency is considered as a speculative and high‑risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2min to learn more about risks.