As a London-based online trading company, First Global Credit is known for being the first to use Bitcoin as collateral in fund and stock trading. Recently, NewBTC had the opportunity to have a conversation with the company's CEO, Gavin Smith. This article records the conversation between NewBTC and Gavin. NewsBTC: Although First Global Credit has made a name for itself in the Bitcoin space, you seem to be quite calm about the block size debate this time. What do you think of the current debate? Gavin: I personally have a different view on this issue than Brian Armstrong. I think if the blockchain timeline remains unchanged, we should adopt the core developers' segregated witness solution, complete a lot of testing first, and then expand the block size in 2017. Since Armstrong's company has to complete a large number of small transactions, he focuses on the transaction fees and does not care much about Bitcoin's value storage function. Based on their use of Bitcoin, Armstrong believes that the block expansion should be realized quickly, but in my opinion and many of my peers, his proposal is rash. At this stage, we do not have enough time to test and cannot guarantee that Bitcoin transactions will remain effective and low-cost after the block expansion. First Global Credit is currently working to build a capital market around digital currencies, especially Bitcoin. We hope to conduct careful testing of hard forks to ensure that new changes will not negatively affect Bitcoin's value storage function, and we believe that the core team's proposal can achieve this goal. NewsBTC: Bitcoin has been questioned recently. Has the platform's trading volume also been affected and fluctuated? Gavin: The mainstream media's misrepresentation of Bitcoin's viability is a problem that has always existed. Now, some companies in the circle are starting to use the same technology to develop their businesses, but I think this is to be expected. From the first few weeks to now, these have not had any impact on the platform's business volume. Transaction fees have increased slightly, but there are always costs to do business, right? In addition, the company's focus has not changed. We are committed to providing a platform for Bitcoin holders to make it easier for them to earn income using their assets. NewsBTC: How is the company’s development going at present? Our clients have an advantage over other yield-seeking Bitcoin users, as they can use Bitcoin to trade stocks and futures while taking advantage of the currency spread. With this strategy, the company's user trading volume has been growing at around 50% quarter-on-quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the trading volume of stocks alone exceeded $4.5 million; in the first quarter of 2016, this number was broken again. We provide our clients with direct access to global stock and commodity markets, which gives us access to tighter markets and allows us to complete larger trading volumes than CFD providers who trade directly with clients and earn the difference. It is not difficult to understand why our platform is increasingly favored by our clients. NewsBTC: What are the company’s future plans? In two months, we will launch a new trading platform, and the company is currently doing the final finishing touches. This platform provides customers with more tradable products and also enables customers to visualize their platform status and manage it more conveniently. For us, it is exciting to develop this unique product with new partners, through which we will maintain our leading position in the competition of digital currencies. NewsBTC: What advantages do you think Bitcoin has in the stock trading market? Gavin: We all know that money is meant to be spent - no one wants to have a pile of cash lying around and use it as a mattress. However, many people have digital currency but cannot spend it. So we provide a platform for customers to use digital currency for their own needs. On the platform, whether the account is used for stock or futures trading, as long as the balance exceeds 10 Bitcoins, it can bring users a 2% return. Compared with traditional accounts that stopped returning interest on account margin a long time ago, our platform is very attractive. In addition, users can directly access most exchanges in the world through the platform. We are also committed to listening to the needs of our customers. This makes First Global stand out and is the choice of any digital currency investor who is serious about his or her trading. From: Shared Finance
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