hey everyone and welcome back to my
channel girl gone crypto
I have an awesome guest here with me
today mark Wittenberg, mark thank you so
much for joining me it is a pleasure and
thank you for having me
I'm honored last I feel honored I love
that well we had the opportunity to meet
at world crypto con back in October
because you guys actually interviewed me
for the blockchain business magazine
uh-huh and then I started to follow you
and just really realized how many things
you are involved in in the space which
is actually quite remarkable and so I'm
excited to dig into all of that and all
of the projects that you are involved in
so and we can even see a lot of those
logos behind you which is perfect so
maybe just start out I want to talk
about verge currency so you're on the
core team I'm doing business development
for them to start off can you just maybe
tell us what verge is verge is a privacy
by choice Digital payment so it's a
currency way back I think it started in
2014 so it's it's built off bit core so
it's a Bitcoin it's a Bitcoin currency
so it's built bit core I think it's bit
core 0.18 right now I believe but anyway
I'm not a tech guy I'm not a dev but and
it it's an option for privacy so it's
not full-time privacy but it's certainly
an option for transactions it's an
option to have be completely obscured
and it's fat and it's fast the
transaction times are fast and it's
quick it's a really quick way of
transacting so I want to look under the
hood a little bit more on that so you
mentioned that it's it's basically a
privacy coin but there's some kind of
degree or variation of that how like
what about it is private and what is in
it and what blockchain is or I guess you
said is built on bit core but anyway I
tell us a little bit more about kind of
like the tech specs on how that works
I'm not a tech guy but anyway I'm a
development I am NOT a tech anytime I
get a chat question it's like
let me get back to you on that I'm like
I'm like the motormouth guy but it's
privacy by choice so first of all we are
non I see all right none I see a non pre
mine so we're literally all volunteers
so we're we're so fortunate enough I
think we've got maybe two maybe the
third largest community in crypto six
hundred thousand followers I think so
we're fairly active and we're so blessed
to have such a huge community following
us and and and and supporting us and
being really active so being on a co
non-premium and of course you know what
that means we're all volunteer we're not
I'm not getting paid it was getting pay
we didn't get pre bags or anything else
like that that we can sell at the top or
pump it there's nothing we're just we're
we're here for the right reasons so and
why do you think that was important to
verge as they were starting out because
it that is actually fairly rare I would
say in the crypto space to not have an
ICO --- not have pre mine like I think
that we're trending more towards that
but back in 2014 you know when you're
they were starting out that's actually
that's got some great foresight there
mm-hmm
well Justin's a smart guy he's been
involved in many projects and I can't
really speak for him on why he chose
that way but I think he's he's just that
person he's not he's pretty private
he's a very pretty private person and I
think he just wanted to I think it was
just as idea so tell me a little bit
more about your kind of involvement with
them for verge so what what kind of does
that business development side of things
look like for you it looks like about 60
phone calls a week 3,000 cell phone
minutes a month telegram Twitter disk or
oh it's it's crazy I think I get up at
7:00 and I go to bed at 11:00 and but if
I've on a call to another time so it's
like 11:30 maybe 12 but what it looks
like it's just outreach right so I'm
trying to get some high-level
partnerships together and I usually like
our most recent one that you may know of
was the Manny Pacquiao foundation so we
announced that at the world while you're
at the year they
the world crypto con so you know stuff like
that so where it makes sense for us to
be integrated into somebody's platform
where maybe we can help them in the
marketing aspect of it so where can
people use their verge like what kind of
market adoption have you guys seen it's
been really good like I think we're
starting to tweet on it now every day
we're thanking our vendors but I think
we're like 200 vendors or something now
but when you when you look at 200
vendors I mean that's a drop in the
bucket but when we're when were 1% in a
1% world it's actually fairly large so
we can actually be used it you know
there's lots of settlement companies
that are that have a-- so any vendor
that wants to accept us online and can
accept us online that's up to them we
don't we're not pushing it's up to them
to accept us so what's what's kind of
coming down the pipeline for a verge
what sorts of things are you guys
working on right now oh boy the magic
question haha I can say hmm I can say
we're talking to people I can say I'm
talking to people I like to put it this
way for myself and I'm one of 20 core
members I myself like to always be
talking to you about six possible
partnerships or six possible
collaborations at all times so if one
falls off in communication I'll usually
pick up another one so I usually have
six or seven eight or nine going out
just on my side and I know Justin's
working on some stuff dude awesome well
we have lots of other fun projects that
I'm excited to talk with you about as
well that you are involved in so you
know I see the next banner behind you
there is excel pace so maybe we can chat
about that so from what I can see excel
trip is well actually okay so how is
Excel trip different than Excel pay can
you kind of explain what that is to
start out yeah excel trip is the booking
platform so I think there are over a
million now million 1/2 Rho 1.4 million
hotels and flight possibilities
Nations blahblah on their platform that
can be played with crypto so they're
settling I believe themselves so they're
actually they evident an exchange as
well so they actually own their own
exchange as well oh and that's different
than XcelPay .Xcelpay is the wallet
aspect of it so that's where you gonna
be doing your phone top ups and stuff
like that so Xcelpay is the wallet
portion where's coin geo is there I
believe it's going geo is their exchange
part in and Xceltrip is their booking
platform but what's interesting about
Xceltrip is they recently partnered
with the Tourism Board in Nepal so they
have a they have Xceltrip Nepal Wow
now yeah so what's interesting about
that is they don't Excel trip Nepal does
not accept crypto just because the
legislation but the founder of Excel
trip that guy that guy travels I'm gonna
get a map one day and just pin oh I try
to connect with this guy and he's like
in a different country every time I try
to and it seems like a day later so it's
like where are you oh I'm here well it
was yesterday that you're somewhere else
the guy the guy anyway the guys the guys
old-school crypto I think he seed funded
ripple hmm anyway so xceltrip is a
crazy booking but I don't know why more
people aren't using it I really don't
I'm not showing it I'm just I don't it's
a service I don't understand why us all
of us convention people and they've
actually got DD as a spokesperson I
think as well like from Bitcoin family
so I don't understand why more people
aren't using these platforms to go to
conferences when we're crypto people do
you think that it's maybe like an
awareness of the platform or do you
think maybe it's that people don't want
to spend their Bitcoin and they'd rather
hotle it or maybe a combination of those
things I'm thinking when the market
turns they'll be spending that's kind of
what I'm thinking people are gonna
loosen up when the market turns maybe
hailing most people the last two years I
hooking a trip with your crypto and
you're counting how much it might be
worth later I don't know but it's a cool
platform and I think you get cash back
too so they have their own token right
xlab and you get cash back when you book
with them so really hard-working team
really really really professional team
they're out there on Twitter every day
marketing but an absolute real deal
they're the real deal they're not
they're not in it to leave a month later
there they are real deal the guy's a
serial entrepreneur has been for many
many many years so I think what I'm
excited about with Xceltrip is kind of
like what you're mentioning like you
know when the kind of market turns and
we're in this next bull round I think
people really are going to be looking
for easy on Ramson way to actually use
their crypto in the real world and
travel is is a very clear use case for
being able to use your crypto directly
to buy your flights and your hotels and
I was actually I was really impressed
with the selection when I went on the
website so you mentioned that they have
their own token and you can be getting
cash back but what what cryptocurrencies
do they accept do they accept most major
currencies on the side as well yeah most
major ones I think Bitcoin ethereum like
coin I believe I believe they partner
with like coin foundation to that I
believe - Virge of course anyway and I
think they're always looking to add more
but it costs time and money for their
developers for integration right but
that being said if I can somehow talked
to mr. Dominic down at world crypto con
for 2020 and get them on board as the
official travel partner oh yeah and get
everybody to book through Excel trip to
go to the conference now that would be
kind of cool yeah no I think that's a
that's a great idea kind of on the
awareness side of things you know like
we were just talking about so well
that's super exciting and I really do
think that in the next few years we'll
see more kind of digital nomads that are
looking to fund their travels with
crypto
and so having those kind of resources
available for people is really cool
yeah so I want to chat about another
company that you're involved with pay
cent which I believe might be that third
banner behind she know the third banner
is actually le pal
oh it is okay I couldn't quite see what
it was so I I'm not with the team I but
I hey I got no problem but they're
putting their banner up there
awesome they're awesome I love Ally Paul
I'm actually interviewing them in a few
weeks so who are you getting from David
yes so awesome I can't wait for that one
that guy isn't bad guys awesome he works
really really and he's really genuine
works really hard and he's really
genuine oh that's awesome yeah I'm
actually I'm I have an L Apollo light
now and I I'm kind of been tinkering
around with his my first time like
really getting a cold storage rolla and
it's it's it's actually it's quite
robust and very impressive the you know
kind of craftsmanship and the design of
it also and very teachable very
teachable like Leger you're trying to
teach maybe your in-laws or something or
55 year old or 60 year old le pals very
teachable press press press you know
it's it's very teachable totally so
let's talk about pay cent which is again
another project that you kind of have
your hand in and our you know helping
with and so they are a crypto Fiat card
which looks really interesting to me
because it appears to be a really easy
way to be able to spend your crypto out
in the real world can you tell us what
pay cent is and how that works so I
first of all full disclosure I have one
in fact I have three I use mine I use
mine and ATMs I use - stores so as we
know so it's Union pay driven I guess
but as we know
you can't there's not a card out there
in the world right now where it's direct
like you can't you can't take verge or
something and go right to a bank machine
and take out your Virg there's always
gonna be an API and there's always gonna
be a swap over to to a stable coin so in
their app you take your crypto currency
swap it over to a stable coin and that
they call sips so you swap it over to
that once it's in two sips you load up
your card and I guess for all intents
purposes it's called preload right at
whatever but it's literally and you know
what people can call me out on this no
problem give me a message send me a text
I'll give you my phone number call me I
don't care it's the only worldwide
crypto card mmm and the adoption I think
there's 90,000 distributed across the
world it's on you can find videos all
over the world people are using it so
it's the only worldwide crypto card that
you can actually take your verge or
whatever take it over to sip steps over
to cash and then they have a staking
platform to do on their sticking option
on their app for their C thirties
further pyn C 37 so that's their native
token it's a BMD but off the bun at
Schoen so they you can stake that so if
you hold pyn they're gonna give you
money every month I'm average guy but
I'm I'm absolutely gonna take advantage
of staking if I can somebody wants to
give me free money I'm taking for your
money so what I'm doing is I'm staking
and actually spending my staked money I
don't touch my rich and all right what
what kind of like percentages and what
are you looking at for the I think it's
1% a month okay I don't I don't I don't
know the exact it should be on their
website but I don't really know the
exact I just think of it as free money
so I don't really care I just I just
literally the other day
yesterday Louis Vuitton takes Union pay
so I can spend my crypto at Louis
Vuitton oh I literally go take my verge
if I had that mini urge to buy a Louis
Vuitton and you're going to leave it on
swap it over my sip sip stun and then I
go buy my wife something really cheap
from Louie Vuitton with my anything
really cheap at Louis Vuitton that's the
question is walking through the door so
you mentioned so you're talking about
how it's the only worldwide one what
what makes you say that is it that other
cards at what makes a scent different
from other cards in the market and why
aren't those worldwide like maybe dig
into that a little bit I think pace cent
spent a whole lot of time and money on
solidifying relationships and their
partnerships with their their banking
partners or whatever they're they're
they're institutional partners that they
have so there's a lot there's some other
crypto credit cards or crypto cards out
there but they're certainly not
worldwide and I'm not too sure if the
models broken on some of them now
interesting there it's for their frugal
relationships unless you that unless
you've really paid to solidify them and
at the end of the day if you're
distributing say a UnionPay card at the
end of the day UnionPay can kind of go
we don't want this relationship anymore
unless you've really solidified it like
with my cards I've online banking for my
cards it's really cool I just log right
in deja and I've got literally a credit
card in Asia like I'm literally it's
it's awesome Wow is it a Visa card or
what type of card is Union it's Union
pay it's Union pay oh okay I got it
that's for that what a lot of people
don't know about Union pay is they're
they're like the largest in the world
huh let go look up Union paint see how
large they actually are it's just they
don't have their little stickers
everywhere they they did they should
have more stickers then people would
know
like 80 percent and a Canadian merchants
and ATMs take UnionPay
Wow a sense has a master cart - but it's
on hold
I've got it in my back pocket it's just
it looks good for now anyway and they're
a smart company - really really really
UnionPay a really smart company yeah
nope a cent patience very well ran
mm-hmm
licensed and regulated in Singapore I
believe Singapore in Dubai
okay mm-hmm so one last thing I want to
talk about is because this is how we met
is the blockchain business magazine and
so what is your involvement with them
and what tell us about the magazine and
what kind of content you guys like to
feature okay so I met Ross I don't know
when I met Ross but anyway I met Ross
and so we were very strict we do we do
our own research on the people that we
do articles on put it that way so we're
not pay to play
so we're regulated in Canada so we we
cannot we're not pay to play we can't be
paid to play because of the legislation
so when we do articles we choose our own
articles that we do we reach out to
companies you know so there's a lot of
companies I reach out to us of course
but we're gonna do our research so we
actually do have our own podcast because
we're partnered with David G from G
media so gotcha Time magazine yeah so we
have our own meat podcast blockchain
breakfast on Sunday is at 9:00 so it's
the three of us JAMA back and forth and
whoever comes on on the show but Ross is
a he runs his blockchain business
magazine very well - so he's got some
cool stuff I'm a Content Manager so you
know
I'm his right-hand man for most I think
I don't know this is gonna even though
he's got a left hand man I don't know
he's got some cool stuff coming down the
pipe too he's yeah he'll talk about it
later how about something that he had
acquired but he's gonna side rail
blockchain business magazine with
something else it's really cool and I
think we'll be down at the world cryptic
on this year for sure - but he's really
diligent Ross is a very smart business
person - very diligent very easy to talk
to and very level minded you know that
from talking to him done it oh yeah no
he's great you guys it was like really
such a pleasure to get to meet you guys
and hang out in your booth and you know
get to hear more about what you guys are
doing and then just stay in contact you
know afterwards and get to know you both
better it's been really fun and the
podcast I'm kind of curious about so
tell me a little bit more about the
Sunday morning like what kind of topics
do you guys talk about what kind of
stuff do you do well whoever wants to
come on come on let's go let's jam and
we just talk like these things are like
an hour hour and a half long man Wow and
we never have enough time like people
think that that's a long podcast but we
had casino coin on there we're just by
the way it was really cool casino coin
is full disclosure yes I have casino
coin but they're they're really really
really cool project Samson Williams was
on last week mmm that guy you watch that
one because you just sit there in your
leg I couldn't even speak I speechless
this guy's so filled with satellite
information and getting crypto up into
space and Wow guys filled with so much
information so anybody can come on
you're just message us and say hey I
want to be on your podcast we're not
we're not charging you to be on our
podcast it's not it's not how we're
wrong we just jam back and forth it's
just a cool conversation and I look at
it this way on our podcast adults can
have a disagreement and still keep
continuing with the podcast that's how
we look at David and I Ross we can
disagree all the time but we're going to
disagree professionally
and we're gonna get through that
disagreement it's not gonna turn into a
20 year old you know playground fight so
but anyway yeah I love blockchain
business magazine I love Ross I love I
love how he takes my 45 phone calls a
day well it has been so fun chatting
with you mark and just hearing I know
that we kind of stayed fairly high level
on all of it but you're just involved in
so many cool things I wanted to ask you
more about it and so thanks for giving
us just kind of this a high-level
overview of a bunch of great projects
that people can look into and I'll put
all the links below for those of you
watching so you can check it out
definitely follow mark on Twitter and
check out the podcast and all of the
good things so mark thank you again so
much for coming on the show girl it was
a pleasure I'm so blessed and you know
just to end it off I am definitely one
of those gentlemen that loves to empower
females in business my mom was a
business lady my wife is a business lady
and I absolutely I'm all for empowering
females in business I love to see I love
to see you guys getting treated equally
and I love I love where you're going all
right well we will end on that note I
love it thanks so much mark okay thank
you
