Ep. 45: The Evolution of the Crypto Ecosystem with Sebastian Serrano of Ripio Credit Network

Relentless. When we met Sebastian Serrano in 2013, he was the quintessential tenacious founder, attending any and every industry event and becoming a part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem—before it was called the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Sebastian’s interest in the space began in 2012. Inflation in Argentina was on the rise, and the government was making it more and more difficult to move money. Bitcoin appeared to be the answer, and Sebastian set out to help build the infrastructure necessary to give people access to the network. He created a payment processor called Bitpagos and had success in bringing Bitcoin to Argentina. The problem was that people were not buying that Bitcoin, so Sebastian built an exchange called Ripio. As he got more interested in the consumer side of cryptocurrency, he developed a passion for banking the unbanked, providing a full suite of financial services to users in established and emerging markets. Ripio evolved to become Ripio Credit Network, a peer-to-peer global credit network protocol. Today Sebastian joins us to share his journey down the crypto rabbit hole, explaining how his background in programming and computer science led to an interest in the space. We discuss the evolution of the ecosystem from 2012 to 2018, and Sebastian offers insight on the legitimization of Bitcoin via government regulation. Listen in and learn Sebastian’s take on current needs in the cryptocurrency space and how RCN built a community through its token sale.