By Carlo Versano

Erik Finman, the 20-year-old crypto millionaire who made a fortune as one of the first (and youngest) investors in bitcoin, is launching a new tool that he says will revolutionize the still-nascent world of cryptocurrencies.

Coinbits is Finman's new app that uses a investment strategy known as dollar-cost averaging and applies it to bitcoin investing. Users can round up their everyday purchases to the nearest dollar and automatically invest the change in fractions of a bitcoin. The micro-investment app solves one of the main problems of the crypto markets, Finman said: it's still too difficult and complicated for regular people to get in.

"This just allows people to get their feet wet, and that's the most important thing," Finman told Cheddar in an interview Wednesday as part of the launch of the app.

Finman ー who at age 12 took a $1,000 investment from his grandmother and grew it into a bitcoin holding currently worth around $3.6 million ーremains bullish on the flagship cryptocurrency but said it must overcome a handful of problems in order to grow into a true digital currency that could rival the fiat currencies of the world.

Those issues include the high transaction fees, speed, the infighting culture, and the lack of an "easy onramp" ー the problem Finman said he is now helping to fix with Coinbits.

For now, the best use cases for bitcoin remain as "digital gold" or for emergencies, according to Finman. He pointed to reports that Venezuelans were adopting cryptocurrencies as a way to transact amid the collapse of that country's economy.

"I think it's better as a hedge against bad things happening in the world," he said.

Blockchain remains among the most promising technologies around, in Finman's view. "If you know how to code it, you can become a billionaire in the next 10 years, and I firmly believe that," he said.

"It's like the first 10 years of the internet ー actually maybe even better."

For full interview click here.