Ukraine has only had capitalism for 25 years, and unlike in Poland, its development was severely stunted by rent seeking, subsidies, and inertia. Everything is getting better, and it’s been a thrill to watch — from the breadth of goods and services offered, to the quality of customer service, to the reliability of deliveries (I love you, Nova Poshta).

Though you still have the feeling that if the market was more accessible, western businessmen would run circles around the local competition.

You can often tell whether a business is Ukrainian owned or Russian owned.

The UKRAINIAN OWNED businesses tend to be like incompetent families.

– Things don’t happen on time. — There are no processes — instead of one competent staff person helping you, the entire office will get involved in something that you can’t imagine isn’t a standardized, daily task. — They may try to hike prices for westerners. (They assume all westerners are millionaires.) — Customers are asked to accommodate the personal travails of the staff — they have to go next door to get change, they haven’t had time to update the prices on the menu, can they pay you later because they paid for their uncle’s dental surgery.

RUSSIAN OWNED businesses tend to be like the mafia. Everything revolves around rules and status. — The staff will demonstrate their authority by ignoring you. — There can never be enough vulgar attempts at sophistication: pleated curtains, lights, rhinestones, and Russian pop music. This, I think is byzantine style. More is better. There is no efficiency or functionality. Perhaps the mentality goes: everything sucks, so more is better. More wins. — There are rules. Forget the fact that all but one table in the entire place is empty. They are all reserved. The staff will flex their authority by telling you the table you sat beside is reserved, then watch you go to the next one so that they can get another status boost and doing it again. It’s not their fault, they insist. Those are the rules. — Authority trumps usability. Forget the fact this is the obviously the door to use. It may be the only door, and it won’t have any signs or barriers indicating any restriction. It will only have a grave, suited man standing beside it (not in front of it, but beside it), who say in a guff, irritated manner, as if it’s obvious, that the door is closed. Those are the rules.

https://www.facebook.com/andriy.chemes/videos/10206700277361776/

http://uadn.net/2015/09/16/snapchat-acquires-ukrainian-technology-looksery-to-let-users-reinvent-their-faces/

http://www.ucc.ca/2015/07/14/ucc-congratulates-canada-and-ukraine-on-signature-of-historic-trade-deal/

I think this is the first of many steps toward increasing Ukraine’s trade with the west.

Now is a great time to be laying the foundations of a manufacturing or export business from Ukraine.

(In Lviv.)

So there’s this great website which shows the USD to UAH “commercial” (read “black market”) rate: http://kurs.com.ua/ua/lvov.

So the official bank rate is 16.4 and the “commercial” rate is 20.8. A pathetic 79% of the actual rate.

But it gets worse. When I use Ukrainian ATM to draw from my American Bank account, the exchange rate is only 15.8! 76% of the actual rate.

http://n-ix.com/2015/01/14-top-ukrainian-game-developers-2014/

Power Point Presentation: Intro to Bitcoin Presentation – Oct 2014

I just returned from Ukraine’s first Bitcoin conference, and I’m still buzzing with a sense of endless possibility and a better future. It’s always very inspiring to meet so many people with big ideas.

The general speeches about Bitcoin — how it works, what it means, weren’t as brilliant as what you may get in the US. The thing that impressed me most was the individual talent in the room. I had great discussion about virtual property, mining, and decentralized exchanges. Someone told me the guys behind the famous mega-miner GHash.IO were there, but I didn’t meet them.

I met a very gentlemanly life-long entrepreneur-turned-VC who returned from New York City to his native Ukraine in the 1990s. He told me that OkCupid and WhatsApp are among the IT giants created by Ukrainians. I hadn’t known that.

Who will mine the next block???? Place your bets at http://bettingblocks.com/!

The official exchange rates posted by banks remain around 13 uah / 1 dollar, but no one has any. You cannot get dollars in Lviv.

I process two returns today. Quick, efficient, polite.

My friend who runs Ukraine’s retail bitcoin agency has been under DDOS attack, and now has had his Youtube channel terminated.

VIDEO PRODUCTION RELATIVE COSTS UKRAINE VS UK.

Studio for 2 hrs, 3 camera setup, two soft lights, backlights, chairs, desk, delivered as a rough edit: $300. Two videos $600. Same in London $3,000. Two videos $6,000 Yes. That’s right. Cost of 3 Nikon Cameras with standard lenses, three tripods, two box lights, back light, a few extension cords, and a hotel room to make it in… about 4K. Cost of using existing Mac/iMovie, zero. Joy of synchronizing three videos and sound, priceless. So you give that to the guys in Lviv to edit for you.

I love Ukraine.

I heard there was some type of bank bailout yesterday, hence another slide in the value of the hryvnia against the dollar. Not good.

ONLY ANGLO – GERMANIC BANKS

I swear to god that I will never, ever, no matter how inconvenient, no matter how much any one pleads with me, use another Russian or Ukrainian or Belorussian – for that matter, any non-anglo-german web site for the processing of credit card information, ever again, in my life, for any reason whatsoever. Period. End of story. Never again. I am just done with it. If a bank isn’t owned by someone whose language is in the germanic family, you just can’t count on them for anything, and no one else can either. Eastern Europe may not have our direct violence and crime, but it has far more indirect crime and corruption, and no one in this entire freaking longitude is competent to even understand the CONCEPT of trust.

NOTICE WHERE THE CAPITAL OF RUSSIA IS? NOTICE HOW RUSSIAN CORRUPTION SPREAD LIKE CANCER?