Trevor Koverko is a leading Canadian Web3 innovator with a fascinating life story. With a command of hockey pucks and security tokens alike, he’s achieved a record of excellence in both business and in sports. Recently he sat down with Exeleon Magazine for a wide-ranging conversation, partially reprinted below.
Q: In a short time, you’ve founded, co-founded or invested in several cryptocurrency startups. Would you call yourself a serial entrepreneur?
Trevor Koverko: Well, I not only love to start tech companies from scratch, but also hang out with founders, although I’d say I learn more from them than they do from me. I’ve come to realize there’s nothing harder – or lonelier – than being a founder. I have great respect and empathy for others going through the daily struggle of building tech companies.
You might say I’ve actually become addicted to the thrill of being a founder; telling a new story, assembling a team, and racing to PMF as fast as humanly possible. My present focus is on a new venture called Matador Gold Technologies, but I’ve also been closely involved in the launches of a pioneering security tokens firm called Polymath, a metaverse company called Tokens.com, and a project that introduces NFT’s to the “carbon credits” space called MintCarbon. Other companies I have founded or invested in include ShapeShift, eProf, Skyline Capital, Block.One, Hashgraph, and an early Oculus Rift-based project that became one of the world’s first VR exits.
Q: Matador Gold Technologies seems like a departure. Is it a cryptocurrency company?
Trevor Koverko: It is. By applying the advanced technological benefits of the
blockchain, we are revolutionizing the buying and selling of the world’s oldest surviving currency. We are bringing transparency, value, security and stability to this market. The retail realm of the gold industry is ripe for disruption. The options for ordinary people to buy real, bullion gold in a modern format are lacking. Buying from a traditional brick-and-mortar dealer feels antiquated, while using a mainstream bank comes with a cocktail of fees and surcharges. Worst of all is the Wild West of “buy gold online” websites where a user is bombarded with conspiracy theories and guided to a 1980s- style shopping cart.
The entire buying and selling process is stuck in the past and is in desperate need of a refresh. I see a future where buying bullion gold is as seamless as buying a stock: a user simply makes a download from the app store, sets up a profile, and then safely makes a low-commission transaction in seconds.
Q: Is gold a hedge against crypto?
Trevor Koverko: I wouldn’t put it that way. I’m incredibly bullish on cryptocurrencies. It’s the way forward to an exciting future of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and many more innovations that will transform the way we save, invest, do business, and even live our lives. We should also recognize the time-tested advantages of gold. There’s the matter of scale, as well. As of early this year, the entire market capitalization of the crypto market stands at roughly $1 trillion. That is a drop in a bucket compared with global gold which stands at a staggering $12 trillion.
Q: Tell us a bit about how you launched Matador, and what your plans for the future are.
Trevor Koverko: During the pandemic, when economic activity was at a standstill, I partnered with my close friend and gold industry veteran Donato Sferra to lay the groundwork for a modern gold trading platform. Industry heavyweights such as Osisko
Mining, Kitco, and Hive Blockchain soon got on board as strategic partners.
I assembled an engineering team which soon created a feature-rich beta version of the Matador app which gives users access to a suite of modern tools such as buy-now-pay-later plans, transparent pricing, low fees, and a first-of-its-kind loyalty plan where users can earn real gold. In the near future, we plan to launch in the U.S. and offer ESG gold. We further plan to introduce an industry-first “perpetual royalty.” We have a parallel goal to integrate additional “Web 3” technology into our app by using gold-tethered, non-fungible tokens, which will inject collectable value into this new asset class.
Q: We definitely can’t end our interview without asking you about your compelling life story. How did you arrive at this place, at the frontier of the cryptocurrency industry?
Trevor Koverko: It’s true that my success in cryptocurrency can be traced to the lowest point in my life. I was six years into my professional hockey career when my car collided with a loaded transport trailer. I almost died. Many painful months of rehabilitation followed, but I began to view my misfortune as a challenge. I resolved to come back stronger than before.
While recovering, I enrolled and graduated from business school and started to explore the exciting new technology called “blockchain,” which was really in its infancy at the time. In 2011 I bought my first bitcoin on eBay, and soon I was hooked. I’d like to say I’ve never looked back, but the reality is that I frequently do look back to that day. It’s a painful memory, and it reminds me to take nothing for granted. For me, the accident was an extraordinary moment of renewal, the point where my old life ended, and a new future began.
