Absorbing the complexity of crypto through copy trading: an interview with Billium’s founder

New entrants are often distracted and seduced by green figures and attractive charts in the increasingly volatile crypto industry. A new coin does 10X; should i risk my life savings with it? My friend at FTX likes Decentraland; shall I flock with them? New traders are expected to keep up with the speed, technical stack and flow of crypto trading and investing. That necessitated the demand for tools to replicate what already works – a winning strategy used by professional investors. Billium seeks a similar goal – a new cryptocurrency trading platform that connects beginners with professional traders, allowing them to replicate the records, statistics and strategies of their trading in real time.

Billium’s founder and CTO, Iliam Angelov, shared details about their vision, his view on the future of crypto trading and their latest funding from investors.

It is a pleasure to meet you, Ilia. Can you tell us more about your background and what led you to Billium? Why did you decide to build Billium, and especially why trading crypto?

Ilia: Thank you. I am a 36 year old professional trader who has always traded and managed risk all my life. Growing up, I was surrounded by geeks and risk-takers, thus building that ability to test boundaries since childhood. My desire to expand the boundaries of economic and technological possibilities led me to the field of neural networks and artificial

intelligence. In 2012 I decided to start a financial trading school where we teach and guide amateurs and professional traders in stock trading. The school has grown to become a respected training institute, maintaining both scale and reputation by graduating more than 15,000 students.

Having built an empire that has positively impacted the Middle East market spanning several decades, I felt the time was right to build something at the center, for the global market of course. I spent months looking and researching many industries for potential opportunities. Moved by the crypto gloom and boom, I turned my attention to this emerging and growing ecosystem. For someone with a financial background, I saw the need to make cryptocurrency more inclusive through crypto trading. The characteristics of the existing trading platforms are multiple traders, with little attention to copy trading. Many cryptocurrency trading platforms, there are many retail users and hungry investors, but not an easy mechanism for amateur traders to copy the trading strategies of successful traders. Not much time to educate them. It felt like a challenge waiting to be solved; then I went in with Billium. It’s crazy, you know. I am amazed at the speed and scope of Billium. Do you know how Netflix brought TV shows and movies to ordinary people on the street? My goal is to bring the benefits of blockchain and cryptocurrency to everyone.

You said you were a successful investor and professional trader. I always find it impressive when people like you jump into the crypto space. Can you summarize your time as a professional stock trader?

Ilia: There are similarities between trading crypto and stocks. But there are also differences. Big differences. For example, both industries have proven that investing in digital or traditional assets is not just for the rich. We had people aged 17-19 at our share trading school, others over 70. Stocks and cryptos create an investment opportunity for a wide range of people, regardless of who they are or where they are. But one thing is exceptional about crypto and that is security and transparency. Although volatile, it is a market that never sleeps. My belief is that it will overturn the conventional financial system. It’s easy to buy stocks or trade crypto on your mobile phone, but we’re introducing new dimensions to it

the crypto market. The use case is also a big difference. Some digital assets are tied to a specific function in a blockchain ecosystem. Blockchain also provides security and transparency. These are important factors that drive experimentation in this industry. I think there will be many iterations and use cases.

We did amazing things with our finance school, but I didn’t want to limit our boundaries to a small wall. The global stock trading industry is big in both scope and size, but I think crypto is bigger. Buying and selling stocks is now easier, as is crypto trading. I am confident that my financial expertise as a professional stock trader will give Billium a sense of legitimacy and energize the cultural foil of our team building and leadership – like how I ran my training school.

The global cryptocurrency trading industry provides new potential, accelerates crypto adoption and offers new opportunities as an investment vehicle. At the same time, politicians and regulators frustrate these efforts. What do you think is the biggest obstacle for the industry?

There are many outstanding obstacles, but the issue of regulation tops the list. Unfortunately, the problem had been brewing for a long time before it finally emerged. Investors want to be protected in a notoriously volatile market like crypto. Unfortunately, the regulatory bodies in different countries are fragmented and often characterized by overlapping jurisdictions and conflicting market authorities. Transparency from regulatory oversight will provide more security and transparency in the industry. We’ve seen this play out in DeFi in the midst of crypto winter due to the sector’s on-chain transparency. The road has not been smooth, but strict regulatory clarity will help prevent a potential crypto meltdown in the future.

Many people embraced cryptocurrency to take advantage of its promises, but found that they lack the technical understanding required in the industry. Some reports also linked people’s frustration to poor user interfaces. What is Billium doing to solve these problems?

Ilia: Thank you for asking this question. I think we need to make crypto “easier” for new players in the industry. Over the past few years, a changing group of players and founders in the crypto industry have tackled different problems. At Billium, we want to focus on what matters – I mean the reasons for crypto resistance, especially among retail investors. While other crypto trading platforms address different issues, Billium has emphasized the need to embrace copy trading. In the process, we will decentralize access to crypto trading and create a new asset class.

The series of interviews is about copy trading in crypto. Can you tell us more about this?

Ilia: I don’t think the asset trading industry has a harder job than the crypto trader and investor. Whether in volatility, novelty or complexity, the crypto industry is a unique test for even the most savvy traders. This means that the average crypto trader must understand a variety of technical languages ​​spread across traditional finance, modern economics (token economics) and other economic theories. They have to think fast while surrounded by thousands of coins that are supposed to be the future of crypto. If even professionals are torn between conducting extensive research and studying charts to make investment decisions, do amateurs stand a chance? This is one of my concerns. How can we ease the journey for those who believe in crypto and are ready to be a part of the crypto economy? This is the reason for copy trading – one of our pitches at Billium. It allows anyone to automatically copy the exact winning strategies and trades of successful crypto investors. Beginners do not need to spend unnecessary hours studying the markets. Everything is automated for them – follow proven investors, copy their top performing trades and replicate their trading in your portfolio.

Are there incentives for experienced traders and investors whose trading strategies are copied on Billium?

Surely. We have developed fantastic incentives for our professional investors. We want to help them build their online financial presence. Each time they are copied, they will be paid. It’s a great way to turn your trading skills into a passive income. These incentives are rated and designed to encourage our successful traders and convince our community of a more responsible and safer investment decision. That’s not all; we will launch an educational hub where our community members will be exposed to the latest trends in cryptocurrency. Overall, the aim is to continuously attract new users and expand our markets beyond the UAE.

Are there any other features on Billium?

We’re rolling out a constellation of features that make commerce easier and easier for our community. We are determined to be a pioneer in crypto trading in the UAE and beyond, providing margin and spot trading products. We also have a liquid order book that can eliminate various slips. Our platform is built with super powerful and ultra fast algorithms that can process trade orders instantly so that no copy trader misses an update from the professionals they copy trades from. Overall, we are positioned to expand our offerings and these features over time. They give us great flexibility to scale and innovate from within.

You just raised $4 million from investors. What is your plan with this funding going forward?

Ilia: At its core, Billium is focused on removing technical details and complexities for our end users. To simplify these economic convolutions, we need assurance from the market and support from our investors. Our recent funding demonstrates the scale of our progress and will allow us to focus on our long-term goals while achieving our short-term goals. A portion of the funds will be used to build a diverse pool of talent and accelerate our obsessive devotion to creating standards. That we have hired people like Dauda Sulaimon Abiola, who is a respected leader in the Web3 space, shows the depth of experience in the team. Also, we will use part of the funding as rocket fuel to operationalize our growth and fill the gaps in critical areas we currently lack.

Do you have any final comments for your readers?

Ilia: Crypto is the future… and the future is NOW. Join the train in motion; It’s not too late.

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