MinePlex CEO on VTV Channel Report: Journalists Were Supposed To Check Facts
On March 9, a major Vietnamese channel issued a news report on the Singapore-registered blockchain company titled “The electronic bank self-proclaimed as Mineplex operates illegally”. MinePlex has answered with an official letter to the TV channel to clarify the situation with a lawyer, accusing the channel of spreading false information, and hence causing reputational damage. We invited the MinePlex CEO to discuss the issue and how it impacts the company and the blockchain sector.
What parts of the VTV report did you find false or grounds for the defamation case?
When VTV Channel issued material with this outrageous title that damages our reputation in the market suggesting that MinePlex is no more than a Ponzi scheme operating illegally, we were truly disappointed because journalists did not verify the facts. In new or traditional markets, journalists were supposed to check the facts.
For example, they called us a “self-proclaimed” bank but we never claimed to be a traditional bank. To provide our users with access to such banking services as payment cards, we partnered with traditional banks and relied on those banks to provide customers with such services. For example, this year we announced a strategic partnership with a Brazilian bank. Actually, this operation model is a standard practice used by neobanks or digital-only banks all over the world.
As for operating illegally, it is an even more serious accusation that takes a couple of minutes to bust. It is publicly available information that we are a Singapore-registered company that abides by all laws and regulations. Otherwise, we would lose our legal permits to operate. We successfully passed all security checks by the most reliable security firms. Of course, all our documents have always been published on our website.
Why did the VTV Channel compare MinePlex to a Ponzi scheme?
Since 2020, we have working services launched in the market, and for those, we received recognition in global media outlets. We are ranked among the top 3 blockchain projects in 2023 by Nasdaq journalists, and earlier received plausible rankings by International Business Times or Seeking Alpha.
MinePlex is an ecosystem of cryptocurrency-friendly services for everyday use. It is based on its own blockchain that uses a mathematical algorithm that can not be interrupted by anyone in the company. The uniqueness of the MinePlex blockchain is based on the work of two tokens, one of which is employed for mining the other. However, in order to start staking, a user is not required to delegate his tokens directly, but solely delegates the associated address, thus maintaining unrestricted access to his tokens at all times. The company cannot interfere in this process in any manner. The security of the company's blockchain underwent comprehensive testing and was accredited with an international security certificate. Moreover, the company has obtained a legal opinion from BCAS, a reputable regulatory consulting firm.
The code of blockchain is of course publicly available on GitHub, while all transactions are transparent. The features are in detail described in the publicly available whitepaper.
Honestly speaking, we do not know why VTV channel has chosen to suggest that we are operating a Ponzi scheme. It would be speculation from our side to examine the reasons behind this.
Tell us more about the products that are already available?
There are already a bunch of functioning services both for the B2C and B2B sectors, as well as a strong community of users that exchange their experiences. MinePlex has its own unique technologies and payment gateway, ready-made solutions for enterprises and businesses, from cards processing, tokenization of banking services to fully integrated acquiring services for payment cards, POS terminals and self-service terminals.
The Mineplex website serves as an entry point into the whole ecosystem of products.
First of all, it is a MinePlex Wallet for storing and managing major digital coins such as BTC, USDT, in one click. Our Wallet has two mobile versions, for iOS and Android devices and is available in AppStore and Google Play. That means that our apps had passed a thorough check before they were added to the stores. The new-generation CrossFi mobile financial platform MinePlex.Finance offers full-fledged banking services in both cryptocurrencies and fiat in a partnership with a traditional Brazilian bank. Users will be able to open accounts, make payments and order cards, which support both cryptocurrencies and fiat. Currently, the platform is being updated, but in the summer all these features will be available to users. As part of an ecosystem, we also launched an analytical module Explorer that helps get blockchain-related information.
For entrepreneurs, we developed the crypto payment gateway called MinePlex Payment with a bunch of instruments for successfully accepting payments in cryptocurrencies for businesses of all sizes. So, entrepreneurs who are looking for a fast and easy way to offer additional methods of payment to their clients are offered a handful of ready-to-use tools, such as payment buttons for accepting online payments both in fiat and cryptocurrency or POS terminals or tools for creating payment pages.
Moreover, we are constantly working on further collaborations and expanding our horizons: for example, in February we announced a potential collaboration with M-Pesa in the African market. From a technical side, a new release with enhanced functionality is expected in the fall of this year.
What are your next steps regarding the scandal?
We have issued an official letter to the VTV channel asking them to work with us and our lawyer on finding a common ground. We have presented the facts and evidence, and we invited the journalists to examine it and correct the errors.
Of course, our reputation suffers from the VTV publication. But the most important thing is that in the future, blockchain or actually any project would receive fair and professional treatment in the media. In the blockchain industry, it is crucial to have an impeccable reputation and we are continuously working on it by being open and transparent. But sometimes journalists ignore the facts or present something to feed their story.
For example, it has been a common practice to take phrases out of context and present them in a bad light as happened with the speech of our CFO. Our CFO is a banking expert with 27 years of experience and the reportage shows him talking about price estimations without presenting the context when it is very clear that no investment promises were and could have been made.
That is simply unacceptable but we hope that it is going to be resolved. So far, we have not received any response from the VTV channel.
How did the scandal affect MinePlex?
From a technical side, we are robust and all operations remain intact but our reputation suffers from wrongful accusations. We see that the VTV publication has caused a stir in our community. We understand that a national TV report might cause our users to ask questions. That is why we contacted the law firm. It is simply unacceptable to spread false information.
We also share community concerns that some projects earn illegally and wrongfully in the blockchain market and we regularly hold seminars and conferences on financial literacy and blockchain market operations. We aim to educate newbies to help them detect scam projects.
Also, we as always are open to answering all questions about our MinePlex and its ecosystem. Transparency and security have always been our priorities.
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