On the Record with David Galica

DeKALB – David Galica is a local expert on currency – not dollars and cents – but a different kind of currency in a different kind of wallet: cryptocurrency.

Galica is the owner and CEO of Armor, 105 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb. At Armor, people can purchase cryptocurrency through LibertyX, America’s largest network of Bitcoin ATMs, cashiers and kiosks.

Galica met with MidWeek reporter Katrina Milton to discuss cryptocurrency and how it’s used, traded and valued.

Milton: What is cryptocurrency?

Galica: It is a form of currency. What is a dollar bill? It’s money. It has the value the U.S. government says it has. It’s closely tied to the economy and market trade. Cryptocurrency is a form of decentralized money. Its value is based on current market trade that operates on a blockchain [network].

Milton: What do you need to purchase cryptocurrency?

Galica: You need a wallet, which can be an app or website like CoinBase.com, and the internet. Without the internet, you wouldn’t be able to use cryptocurrency. The wallet has keys associated with it on the blockchain. The blockchain resides in a network of global miners. Each cryptocurrency has a limited amount of coins available on the chain. For instance, Bitcoin has about 21 million coins. That’s the maximum amount that can be mined, and it’s not fully mined yet. When you’re purchasing Bitcoin, it’s a very small percentage of a coin, almost like cents of a dollar. The smaller coin of Bitcoin is a Satoshi, named after one of the original people who started Bitcoin.

Milton: What is a miner?

Galica: Cryptocurrency relies on miners to process blocks of data. Coins attach themselves to blockchains, and some coins operate off of other blockchains. Miners carry a lot of the data. To authenticate transactions, miners reach out to other databases to verify information.

Milton: What is cryptocurrency worth?

Galica: Bitcoin is worth about $40,000 per coin. When I first started getting interested in cryptocurrency, I mined 10 coins and sold each for about $700. Sometimes I think about how much money those coins would have been worth today.

Milton: How is cryptocurrency used?

Galica: Right now, it’s mainly used as an investment platform. It’s not mainstream enough yet to be used like most currencies to purchase items at the grocery store. Cryptocurrency is a great way to invest because it’s very secure. The value of cryptocurrency is tied into the market value and trade. If too many people sell, its value dips, acts almost like a stock.

Milton: Is cryptocurrency used for nefarious purposes?

Galica: Because it is decentralized currency, not tied to any one country, it’s sometimes easier to use cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is more convenient and outside of the banking world, which is why it might be used for illegal purposes. However, blockchain and trade is traceable. Your data and wallet information is out there.

Milton: What makes cryptocurrency so secure?

Galica: What makes it secure is that multiple blockchain sources are needed to store data and transactions. There are six or more locations where the information is stored and mined. The miners are randomly chosen, and there are millions of miners globally. Those miners are almost like data centers. You can have one or two or hundreds and thousands. However, it takes a lot of energy and money to keep them running.

Milton: What happens if you lose your wallet’s password?

Galica: Because your wallet is encrypted, if you lose your password, you lose everything. Some people have lost fortunes, millions of dollars, because they forgot or lost their password.

Milton: How do you cash out cryptocurrency?

Galica: It’s all through your wallet. You can transfer it to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay. There’s also cash apps or Venmo. Most of the commerce is digital, not really using a bank or check. A lot of people use it as a way to send money to family overseas or in other countries.