After a decade of working in traditional finance in Luxembourg, Benoit Courtois decided to move to Spain where he co-founded AgoraBank, an all-around Web 3.0 crypto firm. Silicon Luxembourg caught up with him to learn more about the crypto startup and his vision for the future.
For some people, the idea for a startup comes at an ideation camp, for others, such as Benoit, it comes while trying to undercut the market price of a TV package by finding a shady guy willing to sell it to you for less in cryptocurrency.
“When I first used a crypto wallet to buy this TV package I was surprised how easy it all was and that’s when I really started thinking about the possibilities of cryptocurrencies and Web 3.0,” said Benoit Courtois, co-founder of AgoraBank.
Two years and a mountain of research later, Benoit co-founded AgoraBank in 2021 with the aim of being the first decentralised crypto exchange and introducing Web 3.0 to a wider audience.
AgoraBank differs from many other so-called crypto banks by being fully decentralised and built directly on the blockchain. This means that, unlike other exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, AgoraBank does not own the money of its users, making it a lot less risky to use.
Next to allowing users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, AgoraBank is also the only decentralised crypto exchange that allows its users to trade cryptocurrencies while benefiting from a range of services within a single app. “The only reason we can offer this extensive range of services without fund custody is because we are decentralised by nature,” explains Benoit.
“We are the only crypto platform we are aware of that is decentralized and gives users access to trading, buying, and selling tokens.”
Benoit Courtois
User engagement
AgoraBank recently launched its ICO with its AGO token (going for as little as $0.04) which is running natively on the BNB chain and the Etherum network. Users and holders of AGO tokens can participate in AgoraBank’s decentralised governance and thereby vote and participate in decisions concerning the development of the project.
“By owning tokens of the platform, users get to vote on matters such as application features, validation of the marketing budget as well as the release of reserves for optimal project development,” explains Benoit.
Access to unbanked people
While the platform is still in its early stages – it only has a couple of thousand users and trades a few million per month – Benoit has an ambitious long-term vision for it.
“My vision is to combine decentralised finance and telecommunication because then you get access to all the unbanked people around the world,” says Benoit, adding: “There are around 2 billion unbanked people in the world for whom Web 3.0 presents a massive opportunity to access more stable currencies. This is the greatest use case for AgoraBank.”
Before getting there, however, AgoraBank is focused on increasing its user base, building a community, and demystifying the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
“Many people still have no clue about Web 3.0 or crypto, which is why we have published guides on our website and social media channels to help them understand what it’s all about,” explains Benoit.
Although Benoit is well aware that crypto firms are no longer as trendy as they were two years ago, he is optimistic about the future of AgoraBank.
“We are the only crypto platform we are aware of that is decentralised and gives users access to trading, buying, and selling tokens. What we want to do is combine all services in one single place and if we succeed in doing that and giving unbanked people access to Web 3.0 then I am confident we will be successful,” explains Benoit.
