This time we sat down with Michael Stollaire from Verge. For those who do not know what Verge is, it’s a decentralized cryptocurrency for people who value privacy. We love the depth of the answers we got and the potential of the project itself.

Let’s dig in and see what Michael had to say.

1. What is your story? How did the team end up together? Have you done some previous projects together as well?

VergeCurrency started off as a small project around 3 ½ years ago. Originally the project was founded by our core developer Sunerok, under the name DogeCoinDark. Sunerok was looking to create a cryptocurrency that was easy to use while offering a simple platform for people all around the world to be able to send and receive payments quickly, easily and anonymously. A short time after the project began and as our community began to grow, we as a community came to an agreement that a rebranding was needed in order for not only our competitors to take us seriously but also to reassure or user base that the project was real and the goals tangible. The rebranding was a great success.

Continuing down the timeline and as our currencies capabilities had time to solidify and grow, CryptoRekt – a long-standing member and contributor of the community took it upon himself to begin writing the beginnings of what is now known as They Verge Currency Black Paper. The Black Paper is effectively a white paper, but given our coins core fundamentals, beliefs and black sheep nature he felt it a good fit to use something that would set us apart. Shortly thereafter the first rendition of the paper was written, CryptoRekt set out on a mission to find talented marketing and graphic design professionals in the space to aid him in ensuring that Verge Currency began getting the respect and recognition it deserves.

2. From where the name “Verge” comes from?

The name Verge was agreed upon in our original IRC community. The name was chosen on the premise of “On the Verge of Greatness.”

3. The easiest way to explain Verge to a friend, who doesn’t understand technology?

This video, which was so effective, my Mom understood blockchain technology in less than one minute:

4. What are the biggest challenges and milestones for You in the next 12-months?

What’s firmly on our radar right now is the release of a major upgrade to Verge, called Wraith Protocol, which has several key features:

– Stealth Addressing: Both sender and receiver addresses are untraceable

– Transactions cannot be looked up using a typical blockchain explorer

– The IP addresses of both the sender and receiver are hidden (via i2P/Tor)

After that, we have to begin work on Wraith Protocol v2.0, and other strategic features we are seriously considering:

What’s Next?

Potential Strategic Developments:

Partnership with TenX, Monaco and Centra Debit/Credit Cards to Facilitate Mainstream Adoption of Verge (XVG)

Continued Development of Wraith Protocol™ for Improved Security and Privacy: addition of zk-SNARKs, a novel form of zero-knowledge cryptography.

Implementation of RSK Technology: Verge will be the first privacy-focused cryptocurrency with integrated smart contracts functionality.

Building on current momentum, getting Verge (XVG) added to more and more high-volume exchanges and distributed exchanges (DEXs) – (Bitthumb, Kraken, Poloniex, etc.) and popular wallets (Jaxx, Exodus, etc.)

Improvements to the UI/UX of the Core Wallets

Social Tipping (through user IDs to avoid long chains and to make it more user-friendly → user ID = deposit address)

Twitch (bot)

Facebook (chrome extension / wallet)

Reddit (chrome extension / wallet)

Vkontact (chrome extension / wallet)

YouTube / Dailymotion / Vimeo (chrome extension / wallet)

Slack (bot)

Telegram (bot) – COMPLETE

Discord (bot) – COMPLETE

Mobile Integrations:

IOS SDK

Android SDK

NodeJS

Internet:

Chrome plugin for tipping

Firefox plugin for tipping

Internet Explorer/Edge plugin for tipping

E-commerce Modules

Shopify, WordPress, Drupa, Joomla, Magento, NodeJs

Emerging Economy

Plugin for green industries

5. What’s the biggest achievement you’ll celebrate with the Verge team 3

years from now?

Hopefully, it will not take 3 years, but we want to be the premier privacy cryptocurrency and the first to achieve mainstream adoption.

Verge is ready to achieve these objectives and we are confident that it is only a matter of time.

6. What makes Verge a wise investment for a crypto investor?

It’s an internal policy of Verge not to discuss investment advice, the price of XVG, and so forth.

7. What is the biggest myth/misconception about Verge, if there is one?

The biggest would have to be that we have one developer and/or that Verge is what’s called a “pump and dump” coin, where large-scale investors (a.k.a., “whales”) control and manipulate the price of Verge to line their own wallets.

These points (and others) have been propagated by our competition and their surrogates. Crypto is quite a cutthroat industry, and it’s no holds barred.

The reality is that dozens of Verge developers exist overall, each contributing to the Verge project in their own unique way.

Verge is also not a pump and dump scheme of any kind. This is simply misinformation, propaganda, and lies. The price of Verge is fluctuating in a similar manner to other cryptocurrencies, previous to their popularity increasing.

8. Is there anyone who you specifically follow in the cryptocurrency

(investment) space?

There have been several excellent crypto news sources that have helped us immensely: Data Dash, Crypt0’s News, Crypto News, etc.

Of course, we are always keeping an eye on our competition as well. 😉

9. If you could borrow someone’s brain for a week, whose brain would it be?

Definitely Albert Einstein’s (or Stephen Hawking). He could forget in a day, what I could learn in a lifetime.

They both also had a unique view of the world and universe that surrounds us, and more importantly, how seemingly disparate, unrelated elements were, in fact, intimately related and contributed to the overall ecosystem.

Their scientific discoveries and perspective had a profound impact on me. I did observe the way things are and were from that point forth differently and questioned if reality had multiple dimensions to it, some of which were unseen and undiscovered… yet.

10. When it comes to cryptocurrencies, is there anything that needs to be said to the people that are just discovering what cryptocurrency actually is and what’s the buzz all about? Maybe something that isn’t easily understood at first?

Absolutely. Most people think the blockchain IS cryptocurrency, and more specifically Bitcoin or perhaps Ethereum.

The reality is that the blockchain is like a typical OS platform, and cryptocurrencies are a blockchain application.

Verge is a payment system application running on the blockchain, and with the eventual integration of smart contracts, an Ethereum/Neo competitor as well.

It’s my firm opinion that with the advent of blockchain technology, we are seeing the entire financial, legal, etc. systems being made obsolete.

Projects like Ethereum, I believe, will evolve into a decentralized internet 2.0.

The blockchain is the future. It’s coming and nothing can be done to stop it. It’s getting on the bandwagon, or watch it fade into the distance.

Hypocritically, and ironically, some of the largest critics of blockchain and cryptocurrency are the banks and bankers. However, at the same time, dozens of blockchain patents are being submitted by these same banks and bankers. They know it’s do or die.

One look at the cover of the September 1, 2017, issue of Fortune magazine says it all.

11. How is Verge different?

There are many cryptocurrencies out there and they are often very similar to each other. Here is what makes Verge unique:

● Identities and IP-addresses of users are untraceable.

● Mobile Privacy

● Verge has a public blockchain, which allows to see coin distribution, a number of users and other statistics, while keeping meta transaction data anonymous.

● Wraith Protocol makes it possible to easily hide transactions in the private ledger, if necessary, while leaving an option of transacting across publicly accessible ledger for those who value transparency and keeping records.

● With the future implementation of RSK technology, Verge will be the first privacy-focused cryptocurrency with integrated smart contracts functionality.

● Verge transactions are fast thanks to 30 seconds blocks.

● Verge is ready for mass adoption having developed multiple wallet applications for every OS, both desktop and mobile.

● Verge is an open source project driven by the dedicated development team and a strong talented community.

● Verge maximum supply is fixed and amounts to 16.5 billion coins. Such supply allows for fairer distribution, prevents market manipulation to a great extent and makes Verge suitable for regular payments.

● Verge employs multi-algorithm on its blockchain, making it possible to mine Verge with different types of mining devices.

● Verge did not have a pre-mine, nor it was an ICO.

12. If our readers want to read more about Verge, then where can they find information?

About Verge:

https://github.com/vergecurrency

https://vergecurrency.com/

https://github.com/vergecurrency/Verge-Blackpaper

Market Data:

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/verge/

Social:

https://www.facebook.com/VERGEcurrency/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vergecurrency/

https://t.me/VERGExvg

https://discordapp.com/invite/ehjyKQv

We thank Michael for the time and wish all the best and success for Verge. If you love reading those interviews, feel free to support us by making a small contribution here:

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