Profile: Andy Demetriades

“A lot of people do the right thing when people are looking but I built a team to do it even when no-one was. You are dealing with people’s money, their livelihoods, so you need to be beyond reproach.

“We were growing the business but then Covid came along and everything was shut down. People were not travelling overseas. International trade dried up and there’s not much call for foreign exchange when that happens.

“The business had to make some drastic decisions to keep afloat and we downsized by two-thirds just to make sure we survived. No-one knew what was going to happen so people were making decisions in real time.

“During Covid, another firm within the same area approached me and wanted me to help them convey their message and to make sure that clients were treated honestly and with respect. I did that before joining ONE.io just over a year ago.”

Andy's official job title at ONE.io is FX and Payment Partnerships Team Lead which goes back to his roots of collaboration and developing relationships.

Part of that work comes down to educating businesses about the world of digital currency and busting some of the myths about it.

“We can’t stop progress,” he said. “People look at digital currencies and they think it might be a fad – that’s not the case, it’s growing exponentially year-on-year.”

He says new digital currencies such as the USDT ‘stablecoin’ which is directly linked to the US Dollar are helping to change perceptions and have caused a fork in the road.

“There are still some out there who see this as a get-rich-quick asset class – buy low, sell high,” Andy said. “But on the other side of the fork is something a lot more interesting where people are looking at it as a digital Dollar. And the reason for that is, you can see every single person or institution who has handled that currency before. Imagine being able to pull out a £5 note and being able to see exactly where it had been spent.

“When you look at it through that lens, it is secure. You have a full audit trail.”

So where might businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire have a need to know about digital currency?

“Businesses all around the world are now using it every single day and you have to be able to understand what is happening,” Andy said.

“We want to give people the information in a clear, concise and actionable way where they can make their own decisions on when they are going to join the digital revolution, which is happening out there.

“Businesses that have supply chains around the world may have already been asked the question: can you accept USDT – stablecoin – for your goods and services?

“That might be because of transparency and the fact you can see everything on the blockchain. And, also the speed.

“As wonderful as the traditional banking sector is, it is slower to react due to the legacy infrastructure. Businesses have taken a second look and asked themselves, how can this help my business? That’s where we can help.”

He understands, however, that there is still a healthy scepticism. It’s human nature, he says.

“The example I use is the iPhone,” he reflects. “We’re now on iPhone 16. When it was launched in the early 2000s, who were the early adopters? The people who understood the technology and its capabilities. I didn’t get one until iPhone 3 because I am secondary adopter. I like to observe and to see that everything is working, that it’s a safe environment and I’ve had one ever since.

“Several generations after that, around iPhone 7, my mother then bought one! Change is not an event, it is a constant thing and the only constant thing in this world is change. If you look from a political perspective, an environmental perspective and a financial perspective, things will constantly change and evolve.

“I just want to give businesses the best possible understanding of how this can help them and then they can adopt it at whatever point they feel they need to.

“They can take that information away, contemplate it and then make an informed decision.

“Some businesses will flourish adopting this new world currency and some won’t. That’s just the nature of it. It’s an education as much as anything.”

Profile: Andy Demetriades

Married: Yes, 24 years to my childhood sweetheart

Children: Two sons, Zak, 21 and Harry, 18

Hobbies: Football (refereeing) and Golf (14 handicap)

Favourite Book: The Road Less Travelled by Scott Peck

Favourite Film: The Shawshank Redemption

Last Holiday: Bude, Cornwall

Andy says his moral code stems back from his early days in the City where he adopted the phrase ‘my word is my bond.’

This sense of fair play also guides him away from work where he has become a top non-league football referee and a mentor to younger officials making their way in the game.

“I had to give up football due to injury but I wanted to stay in the game so I coached my eldest son’s junior football team,” Andy said. “I was horrified by how grown men would turn up on a Sunday with a whistle and a tracksuit and ruin a young kids’ game by poor decisions because they were a parent of a player from one of the teams.

“I found it appalling so that motivated me to become a referee. I was put on an accelerated programme so within 18 months of qualifying I was doing semi-professional football which is unheard of.

“It usually takes around three years to reach that level but I did it in half the time and I operate at that semi-professional level of the game and I am proud to say that both my sons have followed in my footsteps and are both referees. It just stems from that sense of right and wrong. A fair game and abiding by the rules which is a motivating factor for me both as a professional and personally.”

Anyone wishing to find out more can contact Andy on LinkedIn.