Bitcoin Luminary Series: Jaron Lukasiewicz

The Bitcoin Luminary Series is an ongoing feature of Real Virtual Currency in which we reach out to the individuals who are making a splash in the digital currency pond. The purpose of the interview is to ask roughly 50% Bitcoin questions and 50% personal questions, and as such, the tagline of the Bitcoin Luminary Series is: “More interesting than Bitcoin itself, are the people it attracts.”

Today, we speak with Jaron Lukasiewicz, entrepreneur and CEO/Founder of Coinsetter, a US-based levered bitcoin trading platform. Jaron has recently been making well-informed and even-keeled appearances on Fox Business, and we thank him for joining us.

1) Tell me about your childhood, where you grew up, and what your hobbies were.

I grew up in Las Vegas, NV and recently moved to NYC after living in Houston, TX for the past eight years. Whichever part of the country I’m in (east coast, Texas or the west coast), I usually miss the other two parts. I have always been strongly interested in tech, economics and house music.

2) You seem to have a close relationship with your brother, Ardon. Tell us something embarrassing about him.

I’ll never tell! Just kidding, there actually are no embarrassing stories about Ardon. He’s the coolest guy I know.

3) What would you list as your 3 greatest strengths?

Extreme drive, high risk tolerance, detail oriented

4) What are your 3 greatest weaknesses?

I’d like to have better coding skills and I put others before myself too often

5) How has music impacted your life?

Hugely. I listen to music at least 12 hours per day.

6) You are fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. Do you get to use these languages often?

Less and less, unfortunately. I can’t wait to open Coinsetter’s Latin American arm so I can start using them again!

7) What makes an effective entrepreneur?

I think there are some basic qualities that all entrepreneurs need to have (determination, actually following through on your ideas, etc.) However, I think being an effective entrepreneur is more closely tied to what you don’t do. First time entrepreneurs make a lot of logical but misguided mistakes that you often have to learn the hard way. The most common one is focusing on creating a product and not solving a problem. Entrepreneurs need to create products that solve legitimate problems that real people have, rather than trying to fit a market into a cool sounding product.

8) When did you first hear about Bitcoin?

I first got into Bitcoin in mid-2012. My business partner, Yo, had been in it for years before that and was the person who first introduced me to it. I knew by November that I wanted to start a business around it (mind you, my friends still thought I was crazy at that time).

9) What goals do you wish to accomplish over the next 10 years?

I plan on building a large company that has true value to its customers. I’m extremely excited about the possibilities that Bitcoin and other emerging financial technologies bring to our generation.

10) How do you define "success?"

I define success by how empowered I feel. The fewer people that can bring you down, the better. And it all comes from within.

11) How is Coinsetter going to differentiate itself from the recent influx of new Bitcoin exchange players?

Coinsetter stands out from other options in many ways. First of all, whereas other exchanges and trading options were built logically by smart people, they were not optimized for financial trading and have substantial lag times. Whereas other platforms trade within in the second, ours performs within the millisecond. We also offer a better value proposition to customers by aggregating the feed of multiple exchanges, permitting us to always offer the most liquidity and the best price in the market. Finally, we have built our platform with customer usability in mind, and I believe anyone who uses our platform will see this.

12) What is your business philosophy?

Always take the moral high road. Always focus on quality over price.

13) What would have to happen for you to qualify the Bitcoin experiment as having gone "mainstream?"

Bitcoin will have gone mainstream when I am using it for non-trading purposes at least once a week.

14) What are your top 3 favorite properties of Bitcoin?

Irreversibility of transactions, freedom from outside control, and its robustness.

15) What are your top 3 concerns about Bitcoin?

Irreversibility of transactions, price volatility, and confirmation times.

16) Complete the sentence: For 1,000BTC I would _________ .

Let you hang out with me.

17) Try and predict the future. Will Bitcoin be used by your Grandmother at some point?

Heck no.

18) How do friends and family respond to your Bitcoin enthusiasm?

Mostly excitement. Lots of questions.

19) Tell us something about Jaron Lukasiewicz that people may not know, but find interesting.

I love music festivals.

Thank you for your time!