Cracking The Code

Cryptocurrencies – everything you do not understand about money combined with everything you do not understand about computers. They, and the innovative technology that allows them to exist, have been around for almost a decade now, but it is only recently that they’ve become fashionable beyond the finance bros who will not shut up about it. We seek out the people of interest from Singapore and Malaysia to help make sense of the scene. 

- Yong Wei Jian & Anis Taufik

Julian Peh, Co-founder & CEO of Aditus Patrick Tan, Lawyer

Tell us about your involvement in the cryptocurrency scene. 

Julian Peh (JP): I have been an Internet entrepreneur since 1998, and have developed several products and platforms at the confluence of tech and luxury (such as Luxury-Insider.com) in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Some of my friends were mining Bitcoins a few years back. Having spent a long time in the “traditional” centralised world, I was fascinated by blockchain technology and got my first cryptocurrencies partly for fun. The growth in the crypto-market last year opened up many opportunities, and after meeting the first group of crypto-affluents at our yacht events from 2016, we realised that a big phenomenon was brewing and decided to create Aditus, the world’s first luxury access platform for crypto-affluents, by way of an ICO (initial coin offering). Patrick Tan (PT): I am a lawyer working in the Blockchain and Technology practice at Taylor Vinters Via LLC, one of the leading blockchain and ICO law firms in Singapore. My interest in cryptocurrencies started about five years ago – my brother lives and works in San Francisco, and when he heard about Bitcoin in 2012, he kept telling me to buy it. It was only when I read Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper on Bitcoin that I became hooked on all things blockchain and cryptocurrency. For me, it has been both an intellectually and financially rewarding journey.

What’s your take on the fervour surrounding the scene right now?