An Interview with Jonathan Dharmapalan, eCurrency Mint Limited Founder: ‘We Enable Central Banks to Authorize and Issue Digital Fiat Currency’

The Silicon Review

“We have developed our product offering by working with and understanding the specific needs and requirements of central banks for a digital fiat currency.”

The widely noted rise of bitcoin and other privately issued electronic monies could have profound impacts on financial systems and on the practices of the central banks. Will paper currency ever become obsolete? Will bitcoin and its siblings replace the dollar or the euro or the yen? Should central banks issue their own digital currencies? What opportunities do digital currencies present?

eCurrency Mint Limited develops and provides technology that enables central banks to issue digital fiat currency, called eCurrency. It is an end-to-end solution that combines hardware, software, and cryptographic security protocols to enable a country’s central bank to fully manage its operation.

The company was established in 2011 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

Jonathan Dharmapalan, eCurrency Mint Limited Founder, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Rewind: Taking Flight

eCurrency was set up to address the growing need for a secure and efficient way to transact digitally and to solve the challenges posed by the proliferation of privately issued electronic monies. We have developed our product offering by working with and understanding the specific needs and requirements of central banks for a digital fiat currency.

From the very outset, I have been confident in the talented and dedicated team that we assembled to achieve the mission we set out for ourselves. We have been true to our core values to enable a secure, interoperable, and efficient method of transacting digitally.

Technology: In Full Swing

eCurrency is a pioneer in the idea of a digital fiat currency as well as the technology solution. We have worked with over 30 central banks over the years and incorporated what we have learned – in the solution we provide.

eCurrency Mint Limited: Converting Challenges into Advantages

The key challenge is to align everybody’s conviction and energy in an organization towards a vision. This alignment and drive is very strong at eCurrency. It is also important to create an open culture of feedback and collaboration in order to achieve team motivation to succeed.

Moreover, we encourage an open discourse with all our partners and key stakeholders that allows us to be responsive to the market needs.

eCurrency Mint Limited: Taking Pride in its Culture

I believe that a company’s culture and behavior through its people is the most important success factor. Ideas, technology, products and services are sooner or later imitated by others. The one sustainable competitive edge you can build is how the organization behaves, deals with set-backs and challenges; how it understands its markets and customers, and how it takes innovation in products and services to market.

Products: To be Launched

Our products are continually evolving and being enhanced with new capabilities and applications.

Future Arrangements: Sky’s the Limit

As central banks become more comfortable with the idea of a digital fiat currency, the demand for the product will grow. As we are pulled into new markets we will continue to structure our business in a way that best meets the needs of our clients.

Jonathan Dharmapalan: A Brief Background

Jonathan Dharmapalan is the founder of eCurrency™ where he invented and pioneered the method to create a central bank issued digital fiat currency. He is the recognized expert in this space, with an expansive knowledge of central bank requirements for digital fiat currency issuance and distribution. Jonathan is regularly engaged in speaking opportunities on the topic especially in central bank as well as Fintech industry forums. Jonathan’s vision to enable central banks to empower every citizen with digital financial services in the digital economy is being fulfilled by eCurrency.

Prior to establishing eCurrency, Jonathan was the head of Ernst & Young’s Global Telecommunications Practice and Chair of its Mobile Money Office. Before joining EY, he was a Partner at Deloitte where he led the Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Consulting Practice and held several other leadership roles including heading up their Silicon Valley Technology office. Jonathan has over 30 years of related technology and business experience.

Jonathan began his career developing advanced technology solutions at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Mr.Dharmapalan holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from North-eastern University and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).