by Maria Zae
Seven years after planting the first cannabis plants in his basement at HEXO Corp, a Gatineau-based company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Adam Miron now wants to make cryptocurrency his new hobbyhorse.
The 36-year-old businessman — who last summer stepped down as director of the company he co-founded with Sébastien St-Louis — is now betting on convincing Canadian banks to embrace bitcoin and other digital currencies through a technology developed by Brane Capital, the Ottawa-based start-up he chairs.
"We have met with the six major banks in Canada and their feedback has been very good. They're all very curious and they know that cryptocurrency is a part of the economy in which they will all have to participate one day," says the Chairman of the Board. According to Miron, the panic in the stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic adds to the case for cryptocurrency. "I think everybody should diversify their portfolio to get a little bit of digital, so if people start doing that then it raises the question of how to do it," he says.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, what's that all about ?
It was created in 2009 by an anonymous person or group by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Unlike a currency managed by a central bank, the number of Bitcoins will never change. It will always be 21 million units. Its scarcity makes it a target for speculation and a source of instability both up and down.
When it was launched in 2009, the currency was worth 5¢, whereas early Thursday morning, a Bitcoin was valued at about US$860. All transactions are done through virtual portfolios and the price of the Bitcoin varies according to supply and demand.
Evolving in cryptocurrency trading can be difficult but not impossible. Indeed, you can find a guide to cryptocurrency trading on the internet to test and review hundreds of cryptocurrency top brokers. There are a lot of cryptocurrency trading offers, proficient platforms and also fair fees for those who want to begin this journey too. What's better to begin working on this with expert advice to follow the path of Adam Miron? With all the coins and different payment forms, everybody can find what he's looking for.
About Brane Capital
Founded three years ago by Patrick McLaughlin, Brane Capital's board of directors includes former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. The fledgling company has since invested $3 million in research and development and is about to inject another $1.5 million to develop a technology that acts as a third-party custodian between financial institutions and digital asset managers.
"When my 3, 5 and 7-year-old daughters ask me what I do, I tell them, 'Daddy is building a bank,'" he exclaims. Brane will be able to keep the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency securely and guaranteed, and that's just the beginning," Miron says.
The Ottawa-based company, he says, does not, however, produce cryptocurrency, but rather seeks to provide a more secure solution in this emerging sector of the economy, which still carries risks such as liquidity, volatility and money laundering.
"I'm a builder and I like to create companies. » – Adam Miron
Although Adam Miron continues to sit on the HEXO board of directors and chair HEXO MED, the company's Greek subsidiary, he says his decision to step down a year ago as a director of the billion-plus company was not an easy one.
"It was a very difficult decision, but professional maturity is to be able to recognize and appreciate emotions, but not let them drive your decisions," he says.
Serial Entrepreneur
Miron describes himself more as a "serial entrepreneur," having helped create some 20 businesses, including the online newspaper iPolitic. He says it was time for him to take on new challenges.
"I'm a builder and I like to create companies," he says. "There's a lot of excitement in being in a start-up and doing a lot of things in a day," he says. "When HEXO became the size it was, then it was something else. I'm very proud of that, but it also became clear to me that it was time to take some time with my family and see what I would do next," adds the man who shortly after leaving HEXO joined Brane Capital.
