Cryptocurrency

Crypto Financial Services for Blockchain Innovators: Interview with Ryan Terribilini, CEO of Formosa Financial

Crypto Financial Services

Formosa Financial integrates cryptoassets, brokerage, and hedging services in one platform, making it easier for blockchain investors. The CEO Ryan Terribilini will be sharing more details with us in this interview.

Please tell us your name and about yourself?

My name is Ryan Terribilini and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Formosa Financial. I’ve spent my career working on projects that combine of technology, policy, and operations in some way. My formative years were passed at Google where I worked on teams developing the nascent Android hardware and software ecosystems by managing direct-to-consumer device support operations for the Nexus line of phones and creating and enforcing policies for Google Play – the world’s biggest mobile app marketplace. From there I landed at Ripple, where I was Head of Developer Relations and Platform Partnerships. In this role I had the opportunity to engage with financial institutions and FinTech entrepreneurs working to integrate blockchain-based systems with legacy payment rails. I’ve also spent time working in emerging markets as a few summers back I was based in Delhi to develop an accelerator program focused on building financial services for underserved populations in India. In early 2018, I identified Taiwan as an up and coming country for the blockchain industry, and decided to relocate there and set up Formosa Financial. I was recently appointed as an advisor to ABACA (Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association) and also have a research affiliation with the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs at my alma mater, the University of Oxford.

What is Formosa Financial ?

Formosa Financial aims to solve some of the major pain points companies feel when managing cryptoassets. Our platform is designed to act as a one-stop shop where clients can easily access mission critical services such as secure custody and brokerage. To support these functions we have opened requisite accounts with two crypto-friendly banks and multiple top exchanges that enable us to offer a seamless and fast brokerage experience. Our trading systems can tap into over 90% of the global crypto-fiat market liquidity so you don’t have to shop around for the best price when buying or selling. This can all be accessed through an easy-to-use web interface that we have built on top of our platform APIs.

 What is the technology behind Formosa Financial project and what problem are you solving?

The platform backend is written in Python and utilizes the Django framework. Our frontend uses React to send and receive API calls from the backend. Our custody service currently relies on an API integration with BitGo, which is in turn linked to numerous other blockchains that we support on our platform. 

This product will be initially available through a web app that helps you seamlessly send and receive cryptocurrencies and access best-in-class crypto exchanges to tap into their liquidity. 

Currently, users have to maintain accounts across multiple wallets and exchanges just to manage simple financial tasks involving cryptoassets. Formosa Financial is one of the few projects directly addressing this issue by building an integrated platform.

 What are the Major Features and Services that make Formosa Financial different from other cryptocurrencies?

Formosa Financial is the only platform tailored to blockchain projects, crypto funds and exchanges. It is also the only one-stop shop platform that directly connecting your hardware wallet to OTCs and exchanges. 

Our token, FMF, is used as an access token to our infrastructure.

Formosa Financial acts as a centralized hub for clients to easily access and manage their cryptoassets.

The platform combines access to global liquidity for crypto-to-fiat trading combined with the safe storage of cryptocurrencies through regulated trust companies. For the first time, cash settlement is integrated with trading operations to provide a complete solution for companies to manage their digital assets.

Our brokerage services connects liquidity from the entire crypto-to-fiat market, leveraging our advanced set of trading algorithms designed for different strategies to deliver the most value to clients. We also offer secure treasury management, secure asset custody and settlement, and trade reports to show transparency in our brokerage services.

Our Key Brokerage Services 

Formosa Financial offers clients end-to-end infrastructure for complete crypto-to-fiat trading solutions. 

Key Features: 

  1. Consolidated Order Book

Access to real-time full order depth from the global crypto to fiat market across multiple exchanges and order-books. The integrated orderbook offers a transparent snapshot of the market in terms of real liquidity at different price levels.

  1. Algorithmic Order Type

Market, Limit, Stop Loss, TWAP order type.

Our trading algorithms have been developed to meet the different brokerage strategies of our customers based on ICO projects, exchanges, funds, and large investor roles within the market.

  1. Transparent Trade Analysis

We show the detailed order filling information across exchanges to reflect best trade practices. The Formosa Financial business model is to make trades on behalf of our clients, receiving a fee for our performance. This aligns the incentives within our brokerage services compared to the standard OTC desk where the company is often trading against clients in nontransparent markets.

  1. Low Slippage Cost

Through our trading algorithms, we take large trade orders and separate these across several hundred smaller trades on multiple exchanges in order to maintain price stability when moving large volumes. On average, our platform can save 50 bps slippage in $1Million trade compared to single exchange. 

  1. Unique Settlement Hub

For the first time, a crypto-to-fiat brokerage platform is integrated into secure custody and cash management services. Through our unique settlement hub, we are able to instantly settle trades in either cryptoassets or fiat through our U.S. banking network.

What is the market gap and demand for the Formosa project?

Blockchain projects and crypto funds handle numerous trades and transactions on a day to day basis, and without a single solution available, they would need to login to multiple websites and numerous accounts. Formosa Financial’s platform will eliminate this and vastly improve the efficiency for clients to conduct their transactions, thereby allowing them to focus on what’s important.

We refer to ourselves as a market infrastructure company that makes the fragmented and complex crypto market easy to access and manage at a professional, institutional grade level. Formosa Financial works on behalf of clients, enabling access to industry leading infrastructure which have until now been only enjoyed by the largest companies in this space.

Do you have any major partners or investors you will like to share with us, is there any investment and partnership opportunities available at Formosa Financial?

Formosa Financial is partnered with BitGo and CoolbitX to provide regulated custody through a trust company and or self custody through managing your own hardware wallet. Formosa Financial is also integrating with Compound, so users can lend and borrow ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and yield interest from it. 

At what stage of development is the Formosa Financial project and what is next on your roadmap?

Recently, we launched the Formosa Financial treasury management app in Alpha version. In this version, users can try out the Formosa Custody with tETH, tBTC and tFMF token. There will be no potential loss for actual cryptoassets.

Alpha by definition is feature-complete where the set of features implemented are not necessarily feature-rich, but feature-lean. There may be (some potentially serious) bugs, such as crashes and data corruption. The Alpha version of the treasury management app is currently under internal examination, with the supervision from the tech team to debug some serious interruptions that occur while going through the app.Formosa Financial’s next step will be sooner release the functions in the Beta, as well as the timeline of the upcoming Beta app.  

Could you tell us about your team and customer support?

Our core team comes from backgrounds in fintech, corporate banking, and UI/UX development. We have a tech team with decades of combined experience along with some very sharp quantitative analysts who are continually assessing market structure and condition. This along with our business development acumen and international contacts in the space makes Formosa well positioned to compete in this constantly evolving industry.

How Safe is Formosa Financial , would you like to talk about your legal and security measures?

Formosa Financial sets the standard in global compliance and industry best practices for security measures, anti money laundering, and KYC requirements for crypto-to-fiat brokerage services.

We are partnered with the global industry leaders to provide clients with the best security, compliance, and custody solutions. Our custody providers are qualified custodians, offering institutional-grade security under stringent regulatory frameworks – with transactions over US$20 billion per month. For additional protection we also offer insurance protection offered by Lloyd’s of London for cryptoassets up to US$100 million due to theft or loss of keys.

As a third-party provider of cryptoasset infrastructure, we take security as our primary concern. Through the use of multi-signature wallets and hot and cold storage solutions, our clients can configure their policy controls for appropriate corporate governance.

Legally, Formosa Financial has acquired an Offshore Virtual Currency Exchange license which enables us to offer fiat account access and crypto to fiat trading. This license offered by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) enables us as a Company to be under a clear regulatory framework to serve as a wallet provider and custodian of assets.

Do you have more information for our readers?

Formosa Financial is the first and only company based in Taiwan holding a principal Financial Technology Solutions and Offshore Virtual Currency License CEZA license. This license enables us to sponsor the regular licenses of exchange operators who are seeking to operate under the regulated jurisdiction of CEZA. This February, CEZA published a new set of rules governing the issuance of new token types such as security and asset backed tokens by collaborating with ABACA – the self-regulatory organization within CEZA. Through our engagement here we are working diligently to bring some much needed transparency and stability through developing straightforward regulatory frameworks that can enable new waves of technology innovation.

For more information, visit: https://www.formosa.financial/.

Join the discussion on Telegram: https://t.me/formosafinancial

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