The world of investment and market predictions provides significant potential for profit but has long been accessible to only a select few. Blockchain technology is now being used to change this and make it possible for more amateur investors to participate in the prediction market, without having to risk the loss of large sums of money.
Marcin Zduniak, CTO at CloseCross, has recently attended the Webit.Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria and we had the chance to chat with him about the prediction market and his company.
Marcin is a blockchain and smart contract guru who most recently ran his own practice helping start-ups in the fintech space. He holds two Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Digital Currency.
CloseCross is a decentralised prediction market platform that leverages patented blockchain technology to allow users to engage in multi-party trades on a range of financial benchmarks and events. CloseCross drives collective and democratic participation by significantly reducing the cost and complexities associated with traditional financial markets, and by allowing users to view the predictions that others are making in real-time.
LR: Hi, Marcin, and thank you for joining us today. First of all, what is CloseCross and what is unique about it?
Marcin: CloseCross is a decentralised platform for prediction markets that leverages patented blockchain technology to allow users to engage in multi-party trades on a range of financial benchmarks and events. The CloseCross platform drives collective and democratic participation by significantly reducing the cost and complexities associated with traditional prediction markets. We are unique in that we allow users to view the decisions that others are making in real-time so users can make more informed decisions.
LR: How safe is it to trust a trading prediction?
Marcin: A prediction always carries a certain level of risk due to its very nature; contemplating something that has not yet happened and indeed, may never happen. However, CloseCross aims to give its users the greatest level of transparency possible before officially making a prediction. This is not a novel concept – we are all able to see the odds before placing a bet at a bookkeeper’s, which reflects the predictions of others who might be far more informed than we are. By enabling our users to see how others have predicted, we aim to increase visibility and inform our users, while never hiding the fact that making a trading prediction is in no way a guaranteed profit.
LR: Tell us more about the development of the CloseCross platform.
Marcin: CloseCross is working with regulators to ensure our platform is entirely compliant before we launch our mainnet, which we are aiming to do later this year. We’re currently active in test net mode and are working with our users and community members to ensure that the UX is entirely intuitive and that the platform itself is as slick as possible prior to launch. We’re very excited about what is in the pipeline for CloseCross.
LR: In your opinion, which were the three most exciting innovations during this year’s Webit festival?
Marcin: I was positively surprised by the variety and high calibre of industries and technological disciplines represented at the event, including AI, robotics, healthcare, farming, and marketing. It was great to see how these technologies can be applied such as AI being used to combat money laundering, for example. As our focus is on fintech and blockchain, we were mainly paying attention to projects in that area but overall, it was great to see the variety and vibrance of the ecosystem, and to see how far it’s come in recent years.
LR: Bitcoin’s price is going crazy right now – what are your predictions for the BTC price?
Marcin: It’s great to see that we are building a solid base for the next phase up. The narrow trading range along with small, upward steps is a great way to fill the technical gaps that were prevalent in the market during the last leg up in 2017. Increasing mainstream adoption of Bitcoin at various, well known global brands is helping to improve sentiment at an accelerated pace. I believe we will see bitcoin hit the 10k mark before Q3 is over.