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Blockchain.info is and has for a while been the Mecca of Bitcoin transactions. Making networking information and data easily viewable. Not only that, the service offers a wildly popular online wallet feature in use by tens of thousands.
Such a well-oiled machine, it seems, and as such, I was interested in getting more information about the service. Blockchain.info investor Roger Ver took some time to answer a few of my questions. I am posting them here as I consider them to be share-worthy.
Eric: Can you tell me a little about the inception of Blockchain.info?
Roger: It was conceived, designed and created by one man in the UK. Initially he just wanted a way to visualize what was happening in the blockchain, and the site grew and grew from there.
Eric: What were the goals in setting up the service?
Roger: I believe the creator is just motivated by working on interesting things. It is truly amazing that one man created it all. Now we are a growing team. My goal and vision is to provide everyone on the planet an easy to use Bitcoin wallet, that is secure from the prying eyes of both hackers and governments.
Eric: Did you ever think about how successful Blockchain.info would become?
Roger: I had high hopes from it from day one. I don’t know if the creator expected it to be as popular as it is.
Currently we have over 700,000 users and adding more at the rate of about 10,000 per day!
Eric: Is it still a one-man operation?
Roger: Currently there are 5 of us full time, and we are looking to hire more as soon as we find the right people.
It was one man up until a few months ago.
Eric: What’s web traffic like on Blockchain.info?
Roger: Hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per day, with millions of page views per day.
We are currently the most popular bitcoin site in the world.
Eric: How many BTC does Blockchain hold for its users at any given point?
Roger: Because of the way the site is designed, it is impossible for us to know this exact answer, but an educated guess is around 1 million BTC total, worth more than $1 billion USD.
Eric: What would you say the online wallet function of Blockchain.info has in terms of edge over other online wallet providers?
Roger: Blockchain.info/wallet is the only online wallet that I am aware of in which the user maintains %100 control over the private keys. It would be impossible for Blockchain to freeze a users account, or steal their bitcoins in some way. This is fundamentally different from other online wallets like Coinbase or Mt.Gox. Those companies control the bitcoins, and can freeze a user’s account at any time if directed to do so.
Eric: Anything exciting planned for Blockchain.info in the near future?
Roger: Lots more great tools will be coming. Currently we are offering coinjoin for free in all of the wallets. It makes it easy and free to use bitcoin with additional privacy.
I’d like to thank Roger for taking time to answer my questions. If you enjoyed this, take a second to like and follow our new Facebook and Twitter accounts for more just like it.
