Luxcore snaps up Hollywood star Ron Perlman to bring exposure to crypto space

Cryptocurrency wallet and solutions provider Luxcore has brought in Hollywood A-lister Ron Perlman to support the project and shed more light on the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The Sons of Anarchy star appeared on Luxcore’s social media feed last month, with the team posing for pictures alongside Perlman at a Los Angeles golf course.

In an exclusive interview with Coin Rivet, Guillaume Huot, chief of operations at Luxcore, said: “We had contact with someone close to Ron Perlman and his kids are really into cryptocurrencies, so that’s how it started.

“We didn’t want him to be a ‘shill’. He will just be wearing our gear and bringing a bit of awareness to the project.

“He showed interest in the project and invested in Luxcore. I also want him to get some Bitcoin and start using some as it will be great to show him how it works. Then I hope he can start talking more openly about crypto as it would be amazing to have a spokesperson outside of crypto Twitter.”

‘World’s first Proof-of-Stake web wallet’ and upcoming DEX

Huot claims that Luxcore was “one of the first to release a Proof-of-Stake web wallet”, but one of the company’s goals is “to create a truly decentralised exchange”.

He continued: “The word DEX is used a lot, but we want every trader on the platform to have their own node so that they retain full control of their assets.”

Formerly a graphic designer, Huot rose up through the ranks at Luxcore to eventually become the chief of operations. He oversaw the departure of Coin Rivet regular John McAfee, who was previously Luxcore’s CEO.

On the mutual decision for McAfee and Luxcore to part ways, Huot wrote: “Our priorities are different now than they were when John first came aboard. He was integral in helping us get to the point where our technology was finally ready for release. But now that we’re there, we need new leadership that can help us tackle the strategic marketing and business growth challenges ahead.”

Now the focus is firmly on creating a new decentralised exchange, which will see each trader on the platform “run their own node”.

This approach would see “every customer retain full control of their coins”.

“With DEXs now, you still have to deposit coins to the site, so if the site goes down you’re screwed,” he added.

Regulation

United States regulator the SEC has been clamping down on decentralised exchanges over the past year, issuing EtherDelta founder Zachary Coburn with penalties.

On the topic of being compliant with regulations, Huot said: “Adding KYC or things like that, it’s not really possible. Like with Binance, they blocked 28 or so countries, but this means it’s not really a DEX. So it’s not possible with the software we are creating.

“The SEC is good because there are a lot of scam exchanges out there. We probably need to look at them a little more because most of them don’t own all the money for cryptocurrencies on their platform, which on ours you have to because you’re trading directly with people. There’s no middleman.

“We will be doing alpha testing on the DEX at the end of June, and a full version should be ready by Q3 of this year.”

Difficulty running a business in a bear market

Coin Rivet interviewed the CEO of Pillar Project David Siegel in early 2019. He revealed that running a business in a bear market having raised funds in 2017 was incredibly difficult. Luxcore also raised funds in 2017, and Huot admitted that “it hasn’t been easy”.

“It’s very difficult to run a business in a bear market, but we kept the development going and we’re very proud of that. We worked on a number of decentralised projects and the bear market forced us to regroup and manage the company better. In the bull market, there’s tons of money coming in and it’s easy to spend. The bear market made us optimise a lot of things.

“In that way it brings good, as it made us optimise lots and cut costs, so hopefully the next bull run kicks off in the coming months.”

To see the Luxcore DEX alpha, click here. For details about the proof-of-stake web wallet, click here.