Max Yoga
Member
Introduction and Proposal Owner
I'd like to take some time to introduce myself, our team and our project.
I am Andreiko ('Drako') Kerdemelidis and have been involved with crypto for over 5 years now starting with Bitcoin before moving into the altcoin ecosystem. More recently I have been involved with Dash. I feel that the Dash DAO is unique in the world of cryptocurrencies and aim to help bring the benefits of Dash to as many people as possible.
To this end, me and my colleagues James Saruchera and Steve August (Bio's below) have been working on developing a service to launch Dash in Zimbabwe, where there is presently a cash crisis and a current demand for alternative means to store value and make payments. This service will be called "Kuvacash".
We would love to know your feedback on our pre-proposal prior to posting it as a full proposal. We will also be running a webinar (provisional date is 23rd September 2017) to give MNO stakeholders and interested people an overview of the work we have done so far. This includes full financials, operating model, in-country insight (qualitative interviews in Harare) and our broader vision for Kuvacash to land Dash in an economy that desperately needs a new, secure and fair way for people and businesses to pay and get paid.
We feel that the time is right to launch this service; Dash is the only cryptocurrency that can be used to make day-to-day instant payments for individuals and businesses and we have a team that can make this happen. By providing the right infrastructure and an easy-to-use app/wallet locally in Harare and wider Zimbabwe, it is possible to land Dash as a true alternative to physical fiat payments.
Our bio's are below, together with links to our Linkedin profiles.
Summary and Goal
This project proposes to launch a Dash-based cryptocurrency service in Zimbabwe, to allow individuals and businesses an easier way to trade while addressing the current cash crisis in Zimbabwe. Following this, we intend to expand Kuvacash to the wider African continent as an inexpensive and convenient digital-cash service for day-to-day trading and payments.
Background
The current cash crisis in Zimbabwe has proven to be difficult to resolve. Ballooning inflation has led to a collapse of the national currency, forcing the government to issue USD tethered bonds as a stopgap measure:
https://www.economist.com/news/midd...es-and-insists-they-are-worth-much-us-dollars
Although the formal economy is worth $4 Billion USD, there is $7 Billion USD in cash currently circulating in the informal economy. Currently, relatively expensive centralised mobile payments comprise more than 82% of all transactions in Zimbabwe. The remainder of trade and payments are made in cash (USD). Because the cash circulates without being replaced, it drives a lucrative trade in providing fresh/cleaned banknotes for a premium of between 10-20%.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co/2017/05/root-causes-fiscal-monetary-crisis-zimbabwe/ https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/06/20/cash-crisis-continue/ https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2017/04/21/cash-crisis-a-nightmare-zimra http://ewn.co.za/2017/04/18/zimbabwe-marks-37-years-of-independence http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-38130-Cash+crisis+continues+to+cripple+Zimbabwe/news.aspx
We believe Dash is a perfect alternative for making payments in Zimbabwe. Kuvacash aims to provide a digital payment platform (Dash to Dash) and facilitates payments both in and out of USD fiat. It has the potential to be an extremely popular service for both the Zimbabwean public as well as local businesses. The people of Zimbabwe have seen their savings dwindle during several cycles of ultra-inflation, and will benefit hugely by the security in owning a cryptocurrency that is tradable internationally, with trust-less issuance and supply rules. Dash is also the only cryptocurrency that allows instant transactions, which is necessary for rapid day-to-day trading.
To facilitate mainstream adoption, we will provide both ATM Services and a network of Service Agents to securely facilitate transactions in and out of Dash and into USD. We will demonstrate this model in the proposal webinar (date TBD following full proposal posting).
Kuvacash Team
The team leading this project has experience in software development and technical operations, trade development, regulated currency exchanges and international payments solutions, consumer insight, branding, and business strategy.
James Saruchera – Managing Director
A creative change expert with more than 10 years’ experience in marketing and digital transformation. James is a National Arts Merit Award nominee and holder of two patents with hands-on experience across three continents building world-class challenger brands from the ground up in extremely competitive sectors. He uses the benefits of technology to compete with larger competitors and has developed brands such as: Diageo, Budweiser, 3M, Topshop, Accenture and more.
Andreiko Kerdemelidis – Finance and Technology Director
Andreiko (Drako) is a New Zealand-born digital entrepreneur who connects insight, technology and business strategy to build optimal brand, product and service experiences for people.
Drako has an engineering background and has built B2B currency exchanges (www.currencycart.com, www.regentfx.com), online consumer insight businesses (www.visionslive.com, www.teragence.com ), that service top-tier insight brands (GfK, IPSOS, YouGov, Havas). Drako is actively developing strategies and technologies for major blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, with a focus on the field of instant payments, exchange propositions, and smart contracts.
His work spans across several industries such as Banking and Finance (Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Currencycart.com/Regent Foreign Exchange), Telecommunications (Teragence Ltd) and Consumer Insight (Visionslive Ltd).
Steve August – Executive Advisory
Steve is a serial entrepreneur, creative technologist and founders’ coach. From 2006 until 2014, he was Founder and CEO of Revelation, a market research software company that he took from idea stage to a multi-million dollar exit. He has taken a lap around the C-Suite and boardrooms in private equity backed companies, serving as CEO, CMO and Chief Innovation Officer. Over the course of is career his companies have served a myriad of world class clients including Facebook, Twitter, Proctor & Gamble, Pfizer, Phillips and many others.You can find his writings on Medium and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Bios are included below:
www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-saruchera-7590912 (James)
www.linkedin.com/in/onlineresearch (Andreiko)
www.linkedin.com/in/steve-august (Steve)
Project Details
This project will be implemented across several stages to minimise risks to the funding derived from the network and other investment partners.
Regulatory environment
Zimbabwe has strict financial regulation in place for all forms of currency services, including mobile payments and money transmission. The key to the success of Kuvacash is to align with these regulations. We are engaged with the regulator to operate as an Authorised Dealer with Limited Authority (ADLA) for the purpose of making money remittances on a peer-to-peer basis, including fiat (USD) cash-out. Collateral must be posted with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe of between $50,000.00 USD (Tier 1, early phase) and $100,000.00 USD (Tier 2, full launch) in order to commence operations.
Business Structure
A holding company based in Delaware, United States, will hold and license intellectual property. A Swiss-based operations company will run technical and exchange operations and license this accordingly to the Kuvacash-regulated entity based in Zimbabwe. The IP holding and licensing company providing technical services will be 100% owned by both James and Andreiko together with additional investors that may be brought on board. This provisional business structure and jurisdiction is subject to more detailed legal advice and ongoing discussions with the regulator.
Technology
To allow for rapid adoption and ease of use for the Zimbabwean market, we will develop a cryptocurrency wallet (based on Copay wallet for Android) that allows peer-to-peer transfers using cryptocurrency network methodologies. We will also provide for payments to be made directly via phone-number-based messaging. It will allow Dash to be bought with cash, and cash to be booked and withdrawn from our ATM infrastructure - a critical factor to drive adoption of the cryptocurrency in the market. Our app will allow users to invite others to download the App and get paid as part of our member-get-member strategy. We have been in discussions with a major ATM supplier and identified cash-in-transit and storage suppliers. We have developed a cash replenishment model, including an automated cryptocurrency exchange float management method.
These technologies will be fully implemented in the course of the project according to the stages indicated in the Kuvacash business summary document (this will be posted following full proposal submission).
Smartphone penetration
Currently, most people in Zimbabwe (94.8%[1]) have a mobile phone, 43% of which are smartphones[2]. Internet penetration is at 40%. An increasing number of users are able to use Apps in order to make payments if such a service was available. As a part of this proposal we are developing an application (App) based on a customised build of a ‘Copay’ code-base Android Dash wallet to allow for simple phone-number based currency transactions, similar to what the local market is accustomed to.
Marketing and local adoption
The executive team has deep experience across finance, consumer insight, analytics and marketing. The Kuvacash team has already implemented in-field insight in Harare, covering both agents and customers. This insight shows there is affinity with a new and economical mobile-payments system, based on a ‘safe’ cryptocurrency (which is not subject to interference from a third party, and can be used to store and transfer value). The average payment values and frequencies are known, as well as the reasons for making mobile payments. A unique member-get-member strategy has also been developed, which we believe can drive very rapid adoption while allowing us to control and manage growth.
Financing
The full project launch schedule runs for 7 to 8 months, and costs $550,000.00 USD (excluding collateral payments and full cash float required to start operations which we estimate to be $200,000.00 USD at this stage). Network funding is critical, since given the risks, institutional private investment for such a project is very difficult to obtain. Although there may be further network funding and potentially private investment to cover additional or unforeseen costs, we are aiming to become cash-flow-positive as soon as is possible.
Stage Planning
To adequately control risks and track milestones, a 5-point stage plan has been developed spanning;
1. Initial development of the business structure, legal framework and regulatory operating environment
2. Software and technical operations development phase
3. Operations implementation and controlled launch
4. Full launch and initial scaling
5. Scaling phase (local expansion and planning/pilot of new regions/countries)
Communications
We believe in full transparency. Given the nature of the Kuvacash project this is key to maintaining ongoing support from the network and wider stakeholders. Prior to the full proposal passing, we will hold a web conference for interested parties and will endeavour to answer any questions you may have. We will hold a quarterly briefing via web conference that anyone can request to join, and other briefings at stage-gate milestones.
Benefits to the Dash DAO and network
If Kuvacash can bring mainstream local adoption of Dash cryptocurrency to the Zimbabwe economy, this would be a world first and would bring considerable media coverage and interest to the cryptocurrency. Dash would see its footprint widened in terms of users, and increase its circulation and transaction volumes.
Our Vision
Our current focus is on providing a rigorous approach and solution to the Zimbabwean cash crisis; we aim to build a highly scalable peer-to-peer payments system that provides opportunity for unbanked populations to more easily participate in the economy. We want to prove that a Dash-based cryptocurrency platform can be established, to learn from the experience and use this as a launch pad into as much of the African continent as possible.
Funding Schedule
550K USD = 1692 Dash @325 USD/Dash + 5 Dash proposal fee
TOTAL 1697 Dash
Treasury payments over 3 months;
Month 1 : 565.67 Dash
Month 2 : 565.67 Dash
Month 3 : 565.67 Dash
Feedback for full proposal
Please let us know what you think of our pre-proposal, so that we can consider any necessary adjustments prior to posting as a full proposal, also if you have any questions in the meantime we'll be more than happy to address these here and in our webinar (Pending us posting as full proposal)
Thank you for your time and we hope you will help us to move forward with this exciting project!
---------------------------------
James - Drako - Steve
[1] http://www.technomag.co.zw/2017/03/08/mobile-penetration-94-8percent-2016/
[2] http://www.technomag.co.zw/2014/07/16/zimbabwe-mobile-penetration-full-report-now-at-106-4/
I'd like to take some time to introduce myself, our team and our project.
I am Andreiko ('Drako') Kerdemelidis and have been involved with crypto for over 5 years now starting with Bitcoin before moving into the altcoin ecosystem. More recently I have been involved with Dash. I feel that the Dash DAO is unique in the world of cryptocurrencies and aim to help bring the benefits of Dash to as many people as possible.
To this end, me and my colleagues James Saruchera and Steve August (Bio's below) have been working on developing a service to launch Dash in Zimbabwe, where there is presently a cash crisis and a current demand for alternative means to store value and make payments. This service will be called "Kuvacash".
We would love to know your feedback on our pre-proposal prior to posting it as a full proposal. We will also be running a webinar (provisional date is 23rd September 2017) to give MNO stakeholders and interested people an overview of the work we have done so far. This includes full financials, operating model, in-country insight (qualitative interviews in Harare) and our broader vision for Kuvacash to land Dash in an economy that desperately needs a new, secure and fair way for people and businesses to pay and get paid.
We feel that the time is right to launch this service; Dash is the only cryptocurrency that can be used to make day-to-day instant payments for individuals and businesses and we have a team that can make this happen. By providing the right infrastructure and an easy-to-use app/wallet locally in Harare and wider Zimbabwe, it is possible to land Dash as a true alternative to physical fiat payments.
Our bio's are below, together with links to our Linkedin profiles.
Summary and Goal
This project proposes to launch a Dash-based cryptocurrency service in Zimbabwe, to allow individuals and businesses an easier way to trade while addressing the current cash crisis in Zimbabwe. Following this, we intend to expand Kuvacash to the wider African continent as an inexpensive and convenient digital-cash service for day-to-day trading and payments.
Background
The current cash crisis in Zimbabwe has proven to be difficult to resolve. Ballooning inflation has led to a collapse of the national currency, forcing the government to issue USD tethered bonds as a stopgap measure:
https://www.economist.com/news/midd...es-and-insists-they-are-worth-much-us-dollars
Although the formal economy is worth $4 Billion USD, there is $7 Billion USD in cash currently circulating in the informal economy. Currently, relatively expensive centralised mobile payments comprise more than 82% of all transactions in Zimbabwe. The remainder of trade and payments are made in cash (USD). Because the cash circulates without being replaced, it drives a lucrative trade in providing fresh/cleaned banknotes for a premium of between 10-20%.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co/2017/05/root-causes-fiscal-monetary-crisis-zimbabwe/ https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/06/20/cash-crisis-continue/ https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2017/04/21/cash-crisis-a-nightmare-zimra http://ewn.co.za/2017/04/18/zimbabwe-marks-37-years-of-independence http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-38130-Cash+crisis+continues+to+cripple+Zimbabwe/news.aspx
We believe Dash is a perfect alternative for making payments in Zimbabwe. Kuvacash aims to provide a digital payment platform (Dash to Dash) and facilitates payments both in and out of USD fiat. It has the potential to be an extremely popular service for both the Zimbabwean public as well as local businesses. The people of Zimbabwe have seen their savings dwindle during several cycles of ultra-inflation, and will benefit hugely by the security in owning a cryptocurrency that is tradable internationally, with trust-less issuance and supply rules. Dash is also the only cryptocurrency that allows instant transactions, which is necessary for rapid day-to-day trading.
To facilitate mainstream adoption, we will provide both ATM Services and a network of Service Agents to securely facilitate transactions in and out of Dash and into USD. We will demonstrate this model in the proposal webinar (date TBD following full proposal posting).
Kuvacash Team
The team leading this project has experience in software development and technical operations, trade development, regulated currency exchanges and international payments solutions, consumer insight, branding, and business strategy.
James Saruchera – Managing Director
A creative change expert with more than 10 years’ experience in marketing and digital transformation. James is a National Arts Merit Award nominee and holder of two patents with hands-on experience across three continents building world-class challenger brands from the ground up in extremely competitive sectors. He uses the benefits of technology to compete with larger competitors and has developed brands such as: Diageo, Budweiser, 3M, Topshop, Accenture and more.
Andreiko Kerdemelidis – Finance and Technology Director
Andreiko (Drako) is a New Zealand-born digital entrepreneur who connects insight, technology and business strategy to build optimal brand, product and service experiences for people.
Drako has an engineering background and has built B2B currency exchanges (www.currencycart.com, www.regentfx.com), online consumer insight businesses (www.visionslive.com, www.teragence.com ), that service top-tier insight brands (GfK, IPSOS, YouGov, Havas). Drako is actively developing strategies and technologies for major blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, with a focus on the field of instant payments, exchange propositions, and smart contracts.
His work spans across several industries such as Banking and Finance (Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Currencycart.com/Regent Foreign Exchange), Telecommunications (Teragence Ltd) and Consumer Insight (Visionslive Ltd).
Steve August – Executive Advisory
Steve is a serial entrepreneur, creative technologist and founders’ coach. From 2006 until 2014, he was Founder and CEO of Revelation, a market research software company that he took from idea stage to a multi-million dollar exit. He has taken a lap around the C-Suite and boardrooms in private equity backed companies, serving as CEO, CMO and Chief Innovation Officer. Over the course of is career his companies have served a myriad of world class clients including Facebook, Twitter, Proctor & Gamble, Pfizer, Phillips and many others.You can find his writings on Medium and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Bios are included below:
www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-saruchera-7590912 (James)
www.linkedin.com/in/onlineresearch (Andreiko)
www.linkedin.com/in/steve-august (Steve)
Project Details
This project will be implemented across several stages to minimise risks to the funding derived from the network and other investment partners.
Regulatory environment
Zimbabwe has strict financial regulation in place for all forms of currency services, including mobile payments and money transmission. The key to the success of Kuvacash is to align with these regulations. We are engaged with the regulator to operate as an Authorised Dealer with Limited Authority (ADLA) for the purpose of making money remittances on a peer-to-peer basis, including fiat (USD) cash-out. Collateral must be posted with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe of between $50,000.00 USD (Tier 1, early phase) and $100,000.00 USD (Tier 2, full launch) in order to commence operations.
Business Structure
A holding company based in Delaware, United States, will hold and license intellectual property. A Swiss-based operations company will run technical and exchange operations and license this accordingly to the Kuvacash-regulated entity based in Zimbabwe. The IP holding and licensing company providing technical services will be 100% owned by both James and Andreiko together with additional investors that may be brought on board. This provisional business structure and jurisdiction is subject to more detailed legal advice and ongoing discussions with the regulator.
Technology
To allow for rapid adoption and ease of use for the Zimbabwean market, we will develop a cryptocurrency wallet (based on Copay wallet for Android) that allows peer-to-peer transfers using cryptocurrency network methodologies. We will also provide for payments to be made directly via phone-number-based messaging. It will allow Dash to be bought with cash, and cash to be booked and withdrawn from our ATM infrastructure - a critical factor to drive adoption of the cryptocurrency in the market. Our app will allow users to invite others to download the App and get paid as part of our member-get-member strategy. We have been in discussions with a major ATM supplier and identified cash-in-transit and storage suppliers. We have developed a cash replenishment model, including an automated cryptocurrency exchange float management method.
These technologies will be fully implemented in the course of the project according to the stages indicated in the Kuvacash business summary document (this will be posted following full proposal submission).
Smartphone penetration
Currently, most people in Zimbabwe (94.8%[1]) have a mobile phone, 43% of which are smartphones[2]. Internet penetration is at 40%. An increasing number of users are able to use Apps in order to make payments if such a service was available. As a part of this proposal we are developing an application (App) based on a customised build of a ‘Copay’ code-base Android Dash wallet to allow for simple phone-number based currency transactions, similar to what the local market is accustomed to.
Marketing and local adoption
The executive team has deep experience across finance, consumer insight, analytics and marketing. The Kuvacash team has already implemented in-field insight in Harare, covering both agents and customers. This insight shows there is affinity with a new and economical mobile-payments system, based on a ‘safe’ cryptocurrency (which is not subject to interference from a third party, and can be used to store and transfer value). The average payment values and frequencies are known, as well as the reasons for making mobile payments. A unique member-get-member strategy has also been developed, which we believe can drive very rapid adoption while allowing us to control and manage growth.
Financing
The full project launch schedule runs for 7 to 8 months, and costs $550,000.00 USD (excluding collateral payments and full cash float required to start operations which we estimate to be $200,000.00 USD at this stage). Network funding is critical, since given the risks, institutional private investment for such a project is very difficult to obtain. Although there may be further network funding and potentially private investment to cover additional or unforeseen costs, we are aiming to become cash-flow-positive as soon as is possible.
Stage Planning
To adequately control risks and track milestones, a 5-point stage plan has been developed spanning;
1. Initial development of the business structure, legal framework and regulatory operating environment
2. Software and technical operations development phase
3. Operations implementation and controlled launch
4. Full launch and initial scaling
5. Scaling phase (local expansion and planning/pilot of new regions/countries)
Communications
We believe in full transparency. Given the nature of the Kuvacash project this is key to maintaining ongoing support from the network and wider stakeholders. Prior to the full proposal passing, we will hold a web conference for interested parties and will endeavour to answer any questions you may have. We will hold a quarterly briefing via web conference that anyone can request to join, and other briefings at stage-gate milestones.
Benefits to the Dash DAO and network
If Kuvacash can bring mainstream local adoption of Dash cryptocurrency to the Zimbabwe economy, this would be a world first and would bring considerable media coverage and interest to the cryptocurrency. Dash would see its footprint widened in terms of users, and increase its circulation and transaction volumes.
Our Vision
Our current focus is on providing a rigorous approach and solution to the Zimbabwean cash crisis; we aim to build a highly scalable peer-to-peer payments system that provides opportunity for unbanked populations to more easily participate in the economy. We want to prove that a Dash-based cryptocurrency platform can be established, to learn from the experience and use this as a launch pad into as much of the African continent as possible.
Funding Schedule
550K USD = 1692 Dash @325 USD/Dash + 5 Dash proposal fee
TOTAL 1697 Dash
Treasury payments over 3 months;
Month 1 : 565.67 Dash
Month 2 : 565.67 Dash
Month 3 : 565.67 Dash
Feedback for full proposal
Please let us know what you think of our pre-proposal, so that we can consider any necessary adjustments prior to posting as a full proposal, also if you have any questions in the meantime we'll be more than happy to address these here and in our webinar (Pending us posting as full proposal)
Thank you for your time and we hope you will help us to move forward with this exciting project!
---------------------------------
James - Drako - Steve
[1] http://www.technomag.co.zw/2017/03/08/mobile-penetration-94-8percent-2016/
[2] http://www.technomag.co.zw/2014/07/16/zimbabwe-mobile-penetration-full-report-now-at-106-4/
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