CoinFox meets the creators of the iCoinSoft company - Julia and Alexander Yuriev, the first startuppers in Russia to offer a packaged solution for blockchain asset exchanges.

Vendors are still very rare on the blockchain technology market – principally, due to the fact that outside the cryptocurrency world blockchain assets are rather an exception than a rule. iCoinSoft, created with the support of the Business Incubator at the Higher School of Economics, is one of the three companies in this market niche that started working for the future to come.

Please tell us what is a “packaged solution” and how it works.

A packaged solution is a pre-integrated software product that allows the client to create their own exchange to trade blockchain assets (for most customers these days it means cryptocurrencies) and enter the market within 2-3 weeks. In our case, the customer only pays for the product itself, not for its development from scratch by a team of programmers, architects and testers. The idea of the startup emerged when we were tweaking a blockchain assets exchange in Hong Kong and saw the problems it was facing – when, for example, the system began to fail because of a rush of customers. What iCoinSoft offers to the user is a modular structure that allows for quick scaling of modules as the functionality and client base are growing, adding new servers to the core and increasing the platform’s capacity.

Who else offers solutions like this?

We have a vendor competitor in New York, the team includes a lot of guys from the CIS countries. Their software is fast, secure and very expensive. There are colleagues in India, but all they have to offer for exchange creation is a web-site based on the unpopular PHP. However, due to the low price they have more than 100 implementations.

What makes your product stand out?

We have paid serious attention, first, to speed and second, to security, as we remember the sad example of Mt. Gox and Сryptsy. We believe that, if there is a risk of a hack, one must consider from the very beginning, not when the money is already stolen. While major exchanges still can patch the holes due to their high fees, it is not something everyone can afford. That's why we have in our team network security experts, bank information security specialists and programmers with a long-time experience in developing corporate software with the high level of security. 

How many of you are in the team?

There are five of us. The team in its current form has been around for more than three years. Previously, we did various blockchain-based freelance projects, for example, a blockchain asset pool, name shortening service and the exchange in Hong Kong we have already mentioned.

What does the HSE Business Incubator give you?

Most startupers come to the incubator with nothing but an idea that still needs development and implementation, while we came here with a technical solution ready to work. But we have been taught to do business, introduced to the market; we have gained an important skill – to find the ways to the client without having millions on advertising. In September, there will be some sort of a “graduation day” after which we will start actively looking for new customers.

Do you have clients now?

Yes, the client we have made a pilot project for is abroad and engaged in cryptocurrency trade. We are currently working on conjoining the platform’s functionality with the client’s website. But of course, blockchain assets are not limited to cryptocurrencies. It is also property rights, for example, - concerning a car, land, real estate etc. And here the potential is immense, be it in Russia or in any other country.

What are your plans for the future?

Many banks are now getting interested in blockchains but still do not know how and where to implement them. We have a nearly completed system for blockchain bonus exchange. We have got this idea that bonuses from various companies can be “put” into a special blockchain and put up for sale or exchange, for a person who, for example, lacks Aeroflot “miles” to make a flight, to be able to get them in exchange for MTS bonuses and so on. We have one bank ready to sign a memorandum on the bonus program, and in autumn we start looking for partners, say, among the members of the future [Russian blockchain] consortium.

Ludmila Brus