Interview with Gabriele Musella, Founder and CEO of Coinrule
Dear Gabriele Musella, thanks for taking the time to join me in this interview to educate our community on Coinrule.
Can you give us a brief introduction to you? What is your story, dating back as far as you wish?
I’m passionate about user experience and everything design, and after an international career at MIT, UBS, Vodafone, and Lloyds Banking Group I got the startup bug. I define myself as a Design-driven Entrepreneur. Design first, to turn data into product and serve people.
That’s amazing, Gabriele. Now can you give us an introduction to Coinrule and its history?
After having bought and sold my first bitcoin in 2012, I started again playing a lot with crypto currency tools like Blockfolio in 2016 and started having many ideas for new products, fascinated by the potential of those new assets and the world of decentralised finance (DeFi) being built around them. Then, Inspired by a former colleague, I opened an account on IG Index in order to run some scripts and take advantage of market opportunities in some more traditional markets, although that interface was complicated and the automated script required way too much coding to make it work. I quickly realised there is nothing on the market that serve this specific needs for normal — hobbyist- traders like me, and that is when I opened my note book and started sketching the first version of Coinrule. Right after that I moved on to Figma putting together the first wireframes and met Oleg and Zdenek to bounce ideas and to begin this exciting journey. Zdenek was a hero, he made the first MVP in only 4 weeks.
Why did you get involved in the cryptocurrency industry, and where do you think the industry will be in 5–10 years?
Today’s financial system is built for insiders and professionals who have spent years perfecting their techniques and who rely on advanced trading systems. The system is exclusive and expensive and therefore only available to a small elite. Try using a Bloomberg terminal and you will understand. My Mission since I started working in finance has been to help the “normals” access financial freedom. At the same time, the vision that drives the team is based on the belief that Decentralized Finance will be the answer to the growing financial exclusion of millennials from the modern financial system. The ability of the richest parts of society to access financial products that are not available to any other group is one of the key drivers of growing wealth inequality worldwide. Today, 3 out of 5 Millennials do not invest in stocks and the holdings of the other 2 are lower relative to the previous generation.
So how did you get started with Coinrule and why? Early on, did you see an opportunity to fill a void in the market?
We started Coinrule to prevent the new world of Decentralized Finance to be taken over by the professionals once again. The retail investment market needs access to advanced instruments in the hands of users, not fund managers, to be able to retain its fair share of financial opportunities. By providing extremely easy to use tools for trading as well as guidance and help along the way, Coinrule is the platform that once again levels the playing field between retail and professional traders.
What has been the biggest challenges for you and Coinrule since you started the company?
Two main challenges:
One related to the users and their learning curve, In fact, active Trading is difficult and requires significant time. Professional traders are able to code algorithmic bots and use sophisticated trading tools while regular retail traders do not have access to these tools. For the typical millennial investor the only available opportunities to invest are usually in passive investment funds. Switching this paradigm is the key for the success of Coinrule.
The second is more entrepreneurial: balancing the fundraising work with the product management and the coordination of the team is the key for a good outcome. At the same time while you are juggling those three important factors, you are also required to be calm enough to be able to recognize what is a good deal and which of the investors fits your company culture better. Ultimately a firm decision has to be taken by the cofounders, therefore, it is wise to keep some energy for that. A serene state of mind at the end of the fundraise means you did the right move.
Understood. Now what has been your greatest achievement thus far, personally or in the history of the company?
we are proud that the 67% of all funds invested through Coinrule is actually on profit, despite the market crash derived by Covid 19 affecting the world economy.
Our users are winning. That in itself is a positive signal for the team vision, and it is wood for our fiery mission.
What is the next step for Coinrule in the next 1–2 years?
Coinrule is right on track to become the link between the old world of finance and the new, offering automated trading across all crypto and non-crypto platforms. Hiding financial transaction data from the public, having automated dark pools with better prices for institutional investors that penalise ‘normal’ investors, and imposing high trading fees is something from the 90s. The new world of finance requires levelling the play field between these two groups.
Where can people support your business? Other than that, thank you for your time — any final words?
In September 2020 we are giving the opportunity to all hobbyist investors to buy shares of Coinrule.
It is something we have wanted to do for a while; opening up our cap table to the Coinrule users, to the crypto community, as well as to new friends that believe in our vision for financial inclusion in the trading space. Join us on in this journey via Seedrs.
Source: The Capital.
