Prior to the cryptocurrency revolution, Ronny Boesing worked as a sales executive and general manager within the music industry for over 25 years. The Internet disrupted his music publishing business but the silver lining was that these events inspired him to continue researching and innovating.
At the beginning of 2014, Ronny Boesing was approached by an international investment group – a member of which was a good friend of his from back in the 90’s. The group had long had its eyes on Denmark due to the liberal and open regulatory framework.
Boesing readily embraced this opportunity,
creating Crypto Coins Exchange Denmark ApS (CCEDK ApS) on March 20, 2014. Boesing became the founder of the very first cryptocurrency exchange of its kind in Denmark, which
went live on May 26 2014.
Choosing not to focus on Bitcoin alone, CEO Ronny Boesing researched other cryptocurrencies,
selecting NXT and a handful of others to trade on his platform. In addition to the recently added Blackcoin and Nubits, Boesing plans to keep adding other promising coins, which he gauges by the level of community support, to CCEDK by the end of this year.
CCEDK is the first Danish online exchange for digital currencies such as Bitcoin as well as for altcoins including Peercoin and Litecoin and second generation crytpocurrencies such as NXT and Blackcoin.
- Ronny Boesing, CEO CCEDK ApS
“I would characterise myself as a realistic optimist. I tend to say yes, when others decline. I also believe in the good in people, but once let down, I do have a tendency not to forgive that easily,” says Boesing. “I don’t see myself as naive, as I stay away from any projects I don’t have a gut instinct about.”
We got a chance to ask Ronny about the recent launch of Nubits, his forward-thinking approach to altcoins and 2.0 cryptocurrencies, and the state of Bitcoin in one of the most prosperous and progressive countries in the world, Denmark.
CoinTelegraph: Your exchange CCEDK just introduced NuBits for trading. Could you explain what are NuBits and how did the first day of trading go?
Ronny Boesing: Nubits is a lot more than just a cryptocurrency. Provided all works out as head developer Jordan Lee is expecting, as mentioned in his
interview, this currency could well
turn out to be the world’s first stable digital cryptocurrency. I could explain a lot about the various possibilities Nubits offers, however, it does seem to be a lot to bring to the table in a short interview.
I guess for any of us using crypto as part of a long term business plan considering cryptocurrencies a potential alternative to real money, the simple knowledge that one Nubit equals 1 USD is all you really need to remember.
Based on this information, suddenly the whole world is open, as who doesn’t want speedy ways of transferring money at literally no cost. I am thinking [the] great possibilities for expatriates needing to send money home to their loved ones is a major breakthrough, or go down to nearest coffee house or café to buy a cup of coffee paying for this cup of coffee the same as you did yesterday, as the day before and so on… One cup of coffee would be 1.57 NBT, and only inflation might change this to 1.58 NBT the year after! What a great world that could be!
My first day with Nubits trading on September 23 went beyond expectations. I had hoped for high figures, but not knowing really what to expect, it turned out to be one of those crazy days you will remember with great pleasure.
We did the equivalent to some US$200,000 within 24 hours of trading, bringing us right up among the big exchanges worldwide, and Nubits placed 7th as the best selling currency, so it was really a great first 24 hours. We have in the first 3 days done more than 500K in volume when it comes to Nubits, which as you know is equivalent to some US$500,000.
It is really an interesting start for this currency, and I would call it the first days of a baby born, and the next months [are] of great importance in terms of making sure it is growing up in the right environment!
- Screenshot first week currency pair NBT/PPC
CT: You have also recently launched Blackcoin on your exchange. In addition with other 2.0 coins such as NXT, why are you embracing next generation currencies while many other exchanges are mostly focusing on BTC? What other altcoins are you considering to add?
RB: With the addition of Blackcoin to CCEDK exchange I feel I have managed to add a complementary competitor to NXT, and I liked the way you guys wrote this previous article called
Race to the Moon, which made me think it could be a great step to invite the two for another race on our exchange.
What was important to me also was the way their community is built and organized in order to make things happen, when you decide it’s time, and the fact that both currencies believe in the saying “action speaks louder than words.” I consider both of them very important players in the future cryptocurrency landscape and see them both as potential contenders to the crown of 2.0 Generation cryptocurrencies.
With Nubits and Blackcoin added this month, I have still some 4 coins to go to reach my goal of 10 currencies within the first 6 months active as an exchange, and I do have another two in the works for launch in October, and considering some 6 alternatives for the additional two for launch in November.
I have made out a criteria sheet for selecting the right currencies for my exchange; it is therefore not the necessary top 10 currencies on Coinmarketcap I am aiming at, but rather a combination of well established currencies, runner ups, newcomers with great potential as well as bubbles. What they all have in common, and what is a must if I should take them onto the exchange, is a well formed community being able to back up the efforts for constant development internally as well as externally.
“What is a must if I should take them onto the exchange, is a well formed community being able to back up the efforts for constant development internally as well as externally.”
- Ronny Boesing, CEO CCEDK
CT: Are fiat deposits already available? What currencies will be supported?
For Nubits, we have already the pairs NBT/PPC, NBT/BTC and NBT/USD available for trading, and a possible EUR pair is seriously considered as well. For Blackcoin, we offer BC ready for trading on BTC, EUR, USD and DKK. Apart from that, we offer cryptocurrencies BTC/PPC/NXT/LTC as pairs in any constellation, and all of them paired again to some 9 fiat currencies like EUR, USD, GBP, DKK, SEK, NOK, CHF, RUR and UAH.
CT: You have stated previously that you would welcome any legislation from the government. What kind of regulations, if any, would you like to see in the future? What do you expect to see?
RB: Honestly, I think it is always nice to know what the rules are to follow rather than trying to work according to what could be expected in the future. However, this is the way it is done in Denmark, and I try to work accordingly.
I can’t really say that I would like to see any regulations as such. I would prefer if our government came clean and said we will never regulate digital currencies, however, you don’t have success by being naïve, but rather by being proactive, and that is what we are trying to do.
In the end I expect Denmark to follow any final decision made by the EU, so I also feel that it is really not an issue for Denmark alone but for all EU and we will, of course, follow what is finally voted on.
CT: In March 2014, the Danish Tax Board declared that personal profits and losses from Bitcoin trading would not be taxed, although Bitcoin trading businesses would be taxed. Have you been satisfied with this stance and do you think it’s sufficient in fostering Bitcoin growth in Denmark?
RB: I think it’s okay to tax any kind of business, as long as it is clear what is being taxed and in which way, and this is something which I feel is still not really clear with that decision. Like any successful business, we will find solutions to any problem and keep up the pace towards something close to perfection.
CT: You previously noted that your exchange is exploring “many alternative ways of payment through integrated payment service providers.” Could we expect to see something like PayPal being used toward this end in light of their big announcement?
RB: Paypal has been a pain to many merchants, and impossible for exchanges due to the allowed chargebacks, and I am sure this will continue, so we will try to see if we can get Paypal for our withdrawal procedures and forget all about deposit, similar to credit cards, as they are also accepting chargebacks which is a potential killer for business. Everybody considers Paypal a big player in the market, and they are of course. It’s just that if we can’t use [it] 100%, and the fact that they have shown before that they are ready to freeze accounts if they deem it necessary, what is the purpose then?
Our hope is to make agreement with someone offering prepaid credit cards to give to users containing their withdrawals, we are planning to add
Egopay, Payeer, and similar payment systems as well, as long as they provide the need we are looking for on behalf of the users of our exchange.
“It’s just that if we can’t use [Paypal] 100%, and the fact that they have shown before that they are ready to freeze accounts if they deem it necessary, what is the purpose then?”
- Ronny Boesing, CEO CCEDK
CT: CCEDK was one of the first exchanges to begin offering direct deposits from more than 1000 banks in 10 Euro-zone countries via Sofort Banking. How has the response been so far and are you planning to add more banks?
RB: We had to drop Sofort as a partner, as they did not deliver up to expectations. Partly they could not offer UK, Spain, Italy, and France anyway. We have instead in the works a partnership with
Skrill Direct, which is basically working similar to Sofort.
The major differences are, however, that Skrill Direct is able to support instant payment in EUR from more than 3,600 (compared to Sofort’s 800) banks in the countries Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Austria so it’s a much better offer than what we had from Sofort, and we are very happy for this agreement to take place sometime in October.
CT: You take pride in basing your business on Danish values such as honesty, transparency and trust. How is this transparency achieved at CCEDK and do you have any plans to conduct an audit of your own in light of the recent audits conducted by several exchanges?
RB: I believe that being able to provide people with a face to go with the business and to present the exchange with passion and lots of energy would be the first step. The second step to document being registered in a stable country like Denmark and not being afraid of being out there representing the exchange just like any other business, makes me feel fully transparent.
In regards to an audit of course there will not be any problems with that. We do feel however, that we need to have some size of sales before it seems of any use really, so who knows? Maybe a good time is when we present our results for the first 6 months, expecting to prepare for future investors to join, which means end of November, start of December. A great way to make a nice Christmas present this year!
[Editor’s note: We have also received confirmation from CCEDK in regards to the expected list of cryptocurrencies to be added to the CCEDK exchange]
The cryptocurrencies that will be added include the following:
- BitsharesX (BTSX)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Reddcoin (RDD)
- Monero (XMR)
- Bitmark (BTM)
- FimKrypto (FimK)
Meanwhile, the following coins are being seriously considered:
- Exclusivecoin
- Noblecoin
- Vericoin
- Counterparty
- Mastercoin
- Storjcoin
