The affiliate networks fall in love with crypto and blockchain

How and when did you decide to make such a conference? What was the driver?

Pavel: Well, some months ago a sudden idea came to me. Just entered the office, and — voila! “We need to do something like this”.

Let’s make it clear: office — what’s the link?

Yes, I’m a founder of Faunus company, we’re in the affiliate marketing business, and we’ve got two offices in Prague and St.Petersburg. So, at that moment I realized that there’s a lot of buzz around cryptocurrency, but no one is bold enough to bring everybody together, to make some massive promo. Especially those, who’s got the resources. To make it clear and simple to the common people, with common language.

How common might that be? Who’s the audience?

There’s a lot of conferences devoted to blockchain tech. But a certain lack of such niche events like we do. For affiliates, for example. We discussed the idea with my colleagues and started doing it. Yes, we have seen the opportunity — and here we are.

So, it seems, you’re the pioneers?

Yes, the first of it’s kind.

How long did it take to get prepared for the event?

Two months.

What about the location? It’s clear, that you’ve got the office here in Prague, but why not St. Petersburg?

You see, making conference in Prague empowers, boosts such kind of events. I’ll explain, why. In my opinion, Prague is the crypto-capital of Europe. Simple fact: there are eight bitcoin ATM’s here already.

Stacey: You can pay for your coffee in bitcoins here. A great number of people and companies are engaged in cryptocurrency business here.

So the choice of this place is not a coincidence?

Yes, everything is thought over. One can get here easily from every point of Europe, by plane, by car. We have established our office here purposefully.

Thank you for the explanation. A question concerning tech: how the blockchain will change the affiliate business? What will happen to those who ignore the innovation?

Pavel: It’s a young industry. Not a mass-market yet. But certainly, the companies who look this way will be the winners eventually. It’s clearly understandable that who sees the opportunity — will make some benefit after all.

Stacey: There’s a nuance with blockchain: you should understand the technology from A to Z, absolutely everything. It might be some sort of a trap — if you catch a hype and think: “oh, great, we will make millions now” — no way, it won’t happen. Generally, our event is devoted to making this more transparent, to clarify everything. It’s clearly understandable that the affiliates are looking for more profit. And that’s why there is a lot of speakers at our conference who can provide the detailed information.

It’s good that you tell it the practical way. Can you voice some concerns and problems in these related industries?

Pavel: Yes. Crypto is a high-risk industry. Firstly, it’s about cyber-security, the protection of data. Despite that everything is based on encryption algorithms, we see that there are a lot of hacks, frauds, scams. Fake sites and pages appear. It’s hard to deal with now. But the positive signal is that the big companies engaged in security started looking this way. The audit companies also started the ICO evaluations. So, I’m sure that the industry will develop and the affiliates will win in the end. The risk correlates to the potential profit.

When will it systematize? Working in full capacity, with minimum risk?

I think, everything starts with the improvement of cryptocurrency exchange technologies, P2P. It’s the most actual in here.

According to the high interest of the participants, the conference wouldn’t be the one-time event. Do you plan to repeat, maybe in a regular way?

Certainly. It’s obvious that we hit the spot. But the next one — I won’t tell you right now, stay tuned for the news.

Well, just specify, how often do you plan to promote such events? Maybe once a year, biennale?

Once in a half-year. The interest in cryptocurrency is on its peak. So if there’s a high interest — you see action, money, etc. We should act intensively.  

What kind of a celebrity speaker would you like to announce for the next time?

You know, we have invited the founder of NEM cryptocurrency, but unfortunately he didn’t manage to be here this time. I hope we’ll enjoy his presence in future. It’s cool to listen to him, we’re the crypto-fans ourselves!

Pavel, is there any other project you would like to speak about?

I suppose the conference will lead to something new. If we manage to convey the idea of the project — we’ll let you know for sure. Right now I feel like an official of some sort. Giving an interview *smiles*.

That’s great, so till next time, then! Always waiting for some good news from you.

The interview by Daria GONCHARENKO