Argentine mogul Federico Abad about to disrupt Bitcoin tech company with a valuation of $100 million? You bet!
Among the Millenials, that is people who grew up in the previous decade, very few watch television. The interactive age is here, giving rise to a whole new generation whose social and entertainment habits are more mentally challenging than those of the passive watchers of traditional television broadcasts during the baby boom years. It could […]

Among the Millenials, that is people who grew up in the previous decade, very few watch television. The interactive age is here, giving rise to a whole new generation whose social and entertainment habits are more mentally challenging than those of the passive watchers of traditional television broadcasts during the baby boom years.
It could even be that in a few years, homes will not have a television at all, so great has been the switch to social media, and the burgeoning use of internet video to not only watch on demand but to participate in and publish within a second.
Netflix has dominated the migration from scheduled broadcasts to Video On Demand (VOD) and has experienced some spin-off companies, one of which is Popcorn Time, the brains behind which is Argentinian technology entrepreneur Federico Abad.
Mr. Abad openly admits to giving an ergonomic edge to piracy, therefore making it accessible to even the most technologically inexperienced users, and has become a sought after thought leader.
Goodbye Popcorn Time, hello Xapo.
Bitcoin technology provier Xapo is now able to benefit from Mr. Abad’s avantgarde thinking, a facet which is absolutely imperative in an industry which began as a fraternity and then attracted vast investments from venture capital funds to concentrate on the blockchain technology which, whilst inextricably tied to Bitcoin, has vast potential in other applications.
Argentina was one of the first countries in which Bitcoin became viewed as a genuine alternative to fiat currency, and as a result, prices of Bitcoin in Argentina two years ago rose to 30% higher than in neighboring Uruguay, due to President Kirchner’s draconian capital control laws which forced Argentinians to hand their dollars over in favor of worthless pesos.
Xapo is a Swiss cold storage wallet firm which is worth over $100 million, and was founded by Wences Cesares who is Argentinian.
Argentina’s Bitcoin advocacy is no doubt the bete noir of President Kirchner, however it is the only method that Argentina’s businesses can use to circumvent the rulings which result in Argentinian citizens suffering the 20% inflation of the peso, the corruption of the Argentinian central bank and the exhorbitant foreign exchange fees.
Mr. Abad made his foray into Bitcoin technology by hiring technology specialists, programmers and designers via social media such as Facebook and Twitter in order to design BitTorrent which took away the cumbersome nature of standard torrents, bringing downloading videos within the reach of the ordinary user.
This was quite some time ago, indeed in 2006 this service had already gained substantial popularity, however Mr. Abad’s facilitation of piracy came to an end as a result of Time Warner’s legal department which successfully managed to get Popcorn Time shut down in March this year.
The ‘simplicity perfected’ approach of Mr. Abad’s applications is now being carruied over into the Bitcoin arena, and he has vowed that he intends to improve the ergonomics of Bitcoin to the extent that his mother can use it when shopping.
Swiss commercial stability, organization and fiscal strength meets Argentinian entrepreneurism, will and ingenuity. A very good recipe indeed.