Hello Polkadot community!
This is a proposal from Electrocoin team to discuss our new idea regarding mobile payment wallet.
Hope you’ll find it interesting and worth your attention.
Basic info
Point of contact: Nikola Škorić
email: [email protected]
telegram: @nikolaskoric
Duration: 18 months
Requested amount: 334,000 USDT
Next, you can read our executive summary, while the complete proposal explained in detail will be at the end of the post.
Executive summary
Opportunity
Payment wallets are one of the fastest growing industries within the fintech ecosystem. The global mobile wallet market was valued at USD 7.42 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 28.3% from 2023 to 2030.
Problem statement
Most mobile payment wallets currently penetrating the market are based on the tradfi infrastructure: electronic money institution (EMI) licence + deep integration with VISA/MasterCard networks. This makes entering the market complex, expensive and time-consuming.
Proposed solution
Instead of building a wallet by acquiring an EMI licence and integrating with tradfi payment systems, we use existing crypto building blocks, including stablecoins, a crypto payment processor, and fiat on/off ramps. By connecting these building blocks, a brand-new mobile payment wallet can be shipped in a very short time.
Competitors
We are currently aware of only three projects doing this: airtm.com and Decaf in the US, littio.co in LatAm and stables.money in Australia. Each of them has its drawbacks, and only Airtm and Decaf have fiat on/off ramp capability in the EU. None of them operate in the Polkadot ecosystem.
Electrocoin’s solution
Electrocoin is a crypto/fiat on/off ramp from Zagreb, Croatia. We have existed for over 10 years, with a team of 30 people, and this year we processed €60M. We have the building blocks available:
- mobile crypto wallet app - in development, currently seeking a grant
- an EUR stablecoin with EMI licence - currently 3 existing: EURC, EUROe and EURe
- crypto/bank on/off ramp - our own Electrocoin Trade (https://electrocoin.eu/en) with 40,000 users
- crypto/cash on/off ramp - our partner network (https://electrocoin.eu/en/cash-locations)
- crypto payment processor - our own PayCek (https://paycek.io) with 3,500 locations
- physical card - currently integrating with HolyHeld’s onchain debit card (MasterCard)
Key features
- Instant Onboarding: Users can send and receive funds before completing KYC, streamlining the user experience.
- Seamless Payments: Users can make payments at over 3,500 points of sale, as well as peer-to-peer transactions, with minimal fees.
- Fiat and Cash Connectivity: KWIT integrates with Electrocoin's existing infrastructure, providing easy bank transfers, card top-ups, and cash withdrawals.
Product launch strategy
Electrocoin has existing relationships with all the biggest mobile payment wallet user bases in Croatia: shops (retail chains, web shops), cash locations (kiosks, petrol stations), gambling industry (casinos, bookmakers). From day one, wallet can be used on more than 3,500 points of sale to buy virtually anything in Croatia. Electrocoin on its own has 40,000 existing brokerage users and 500 merchants with 3,500 locations.
Benefits for Polkadot ecosystem
- Real-world Adoption: KWIT will drive the use of Polkadot for everyday payments, increasing transaction volume and network activity.
- Technological Showcase: KWIT demonstrates the power and versatility of the Polkadot blockchain for real-world applications.
- EUR Stablecoin Integration: KWIT will facilitate the introduction of a compliant EUR stablecoin to the Polkadot ecosystem.
- Brand Awareness: KWIT's marketing campaign will highlight its "powered by Polkadot" status, increasing visibility and recognition.
We encourage you to check our full grant proposal content with in detail described examples and explanations.
Thank you for reading. We look forward to your feedback and are open to answer all your questions.
Echoing the comment made by Mario @MarioSchraepen . Referendum 493 proposed to create a service remittance called Litesend
https://litesend.com/
in addition to a marketing campaign with 55k USD (28% of the proposal cost) as well as the acquisition of new partners and new jurisdictions to operate in 88k USD (45% of proposal cost). Reporting these items should be encouraged before creating a new referendum. The status of these two integrations which combined are 73% of the previously approved referendum should be reported to OpenGov (referendum 493 on OGTracker doesn’t include the new jurisdictions and new partners integration https://app.ogtracker.io/mediumSpender/493?tab=progress OGTracker).
These Items that seem missing and the lack of a Polkadot or Litesend appearance on the previously announced conference or Electrocoin panelists on “Money Motion 2024”
https://2024.money-motion.eu/speakers-2024/
or in the startup stage
https://2024.money-motion.eu/startups/
is something that should be properly explained.
Our emphasis for now is on reports about the new jurisdiction and partner acquisition which seems completely missing from referendum 493 and detailed reports of these marketing efforts which have not been produced or reported to the extent expected. There are other items that caught our attention like the lack of integration of USDC/T on Assethub on the Electrocoin site as well
https://electrocoin.eu/en
something that the treasure didn't pay for but also something that doesn't show much interest in the ecosystem as a whole from our perspective.
For those reasons we will vote and remain NAY.