ANSWERING THE CALL OF CRYPTO

ALAN AND JANINE GRAINGER ARE THE SIBLINGS BEHIND THE FAST GROWING DIGITAL CURRENCY RETAILER EASY CRYPTO – THE COMPANY DEMYSTIFYING CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR CONSUMERS OF ALL AGES.

Alan and Janine Grainger are the brother and sister team behind the fast-growing digital currency retailer Easy Crypto – and demystifying cryptocurrency for consumers of all ages.

M ost people are familiar with the somewhat crazy and controversial world of cryptocurrencies – digital currencies that can be quickly and securely traded online independent from traditional banks. Bitcoin is the most recognised brand.

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay and lawmakers worldwide have been scrambling to legislate for them. At the time of writing the US government was holding hearings on Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra – seen as another step forward to mainstreaming the technology and establishing a robust global regulatory framework for the wider crypto market.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, where there is a passionate cohort of cryptocurrency developers, two siblings have been quietly going about building a booming digital currency business of their own. Easy Crypto aims to “make it safe and easy for anyone to get into the growing cryptocurrency market, no matter what their level of experience.”

In April this year, Alan and Janine Grainger’s Easy Crypto had clocked up more than $10 million in turnover – taking just 14 months. At the time of writing, Janine estimated that they’ll have clocked up their second $10 million by August – all fuelled by their highly competitive fees and full end-to-end service for newcomers.

NZBusiness caught up with the siblings at a café in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter – with Alan skyping in from Kuala Lumper – his chosen base for “the next little while”. Easy Crypto is, of course, a virtual business with team members across different countries.

To understand why these two went into business together you first need to understand their special relationship. For Janine, growing up in the Grainger household with two older brothers had its livelier moments – she remembers one particular morning, aged around eight, waking up to find a toilet dumped in her bedroom!

They both describe their home life as “tech heavy”. There was loads of natural talent in the genes. Their parents ran a computer business during their childhood. PC’s and games were a regular feature of their life growing up. Alan, despite not qualifying for university and having no formal computer training, still managed to secure desktop support and IT admin jobs, and go on to become IT manager for companies such as Sanitarium and L’Oréal.

Their parents regarded university degrees as a “nice to have”, but not imperative to career success. Janine, having dropped out of high school after the fifth form, delayed her university studies (finance and economics) until age 20 and describes her career path as “rambling” – rising through local government, banking and consulting. Today her day job is at Air New Zealand.

Meanwhile Alan, a self-described “digital nomad”, has been travelling extensively and managing Easy Crypto remotely – setting up wherever he feels it’s a nice place to live.

MUTUAL ADMIRATION

So what’s the secret to successfully managing a business with your sibling? Janine and Alan both agree that it comes down to complementary skillsets. “Basically, everything I’m awful at, Janine is incredible at,” laughs Alan.

The feeling’s clearly mutual. “Alan’s a genius on the technical development side,” says Janine, “on customer experience, security, automation, everything to do with the site.

“He’s the ideas and execution person – whereas my strengths are in the legal aspects, regulations, compliance, banking, finance, tax, accounting, stakeholder engagement and strategy.”

She says strategy has been pivotal to Easy Crypto’s success – setting annual targets and 90- day goals and consistently meeting them.

As for Alan, who’s self-taught in software development and programming, he’s freakishly fast when it comes to output – having whipped up the prototype for Easy Crypto in a single weekend. He’s not motivated by making money – for him, it’s all about improving the user experience and customer offering.

Getting the business to where it is today has provided unusual challenges, says Janine. “A lot of doors are closed to us – things related to the fundamental basics of running a business – for example, banking, insurance and advertising.” This is mostly due to poor understanding around the crypto product – it took a while to convince a bank to open an account for them, she says, and marketing has largely been through word of mouth.

“But already things are improving as rules start to relax and people become used to the benefits that digital assets and currencies can bring,” explains Janine, “and understand how decentralised offerings provide additional value to the market.”

THE NEW ASSET CLASS

It’s still early days for cryptocurrencies – Alan reckons the industry is now where the Internet was around the beginning of 1999. The potential for its application around the world in regards to payments, transfer of value and the decentralisation of trust is enormous.

It’s also a global equaliser – it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, there’re no exchange rates, no barriers to entry, and the value of the digital asset is the same whether you live in Zurich or Zimbabwe.

Digital currency is the latest in a long line of tradable investments – and, surprisingly, while millennial males remain the key customer base, demand from baby boomers and female customers is growing rapidly.

“In the past two months sign-ups from those aged over 55 were 40 percent, almost double compared to the previous period’s percentage,” Alan reports. “Many are using Easy Crypto to help them diversify their retirement savings. They see it as an asset class with long-term value.”

Janine knows of one woman in her sixties who purchased a hardware wallet (a device for storing cryptocurrency) for each of her grandchildren. “It’s her little investment nest-egg to help the next generation.”

Older customers appreciate the easy processes of Easy Crypto and its ability to detect fraud and educate customers on cryptocurrency usage and developments.

Looking back on their business journey, Janine and Alan remember the first six months as being particularly stressful, owing to the volatility and precariousness of the industry. But now, with their systems, processes and security in place, and their 100 percent fund safety guarantee, they sleep much better at night.

“If anything happens – if, for example we were hacked – it’s never going to be the customer who loses. We’ll always take the hit ourselves,” says Janine.

Digital currencies impact the entire business spectrum. Janine and Alan’s advice to business owners is to school up now; get on the front foot. Soon it won’t be about speculation, it will be about driving value, making payments without intermediaries, and having your entire financial life fully self-contained.

For the two siblings it’s exciting to be at the coalface of such a total revolution.