HOLD’s 1st Telegram AMA Recap
We held our first Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on our Telegram channel earlier this week on Tuesday, September 4th. Our CEO Priyanka Lilaramani and CTO Guilherme Almeida were online answering questions from our community. There were excellent questions and comments. We’ve grouped the themes and provided edited highlights below.
HOLD’s business model
Several asked about how we are building the business model outlined in our whitepaper. In addition to answering the questions shown below, we gave information about our token modeling work. We are modeling different scenarios and what impact they would have on HOLD’s financial position, in order to determine a fair and balanced system. During the AMA, we also discussed how the cash advance service is envisioned to work.
Have you a backup plan if there are not enough lenders?
Priyanka: Good question, yes we do. We are working on building multiple sources of capital. Individual lenders are the first in our roadmap. Bridging the gap between the fiat and crypto communities is a focus for us.
Does Hold require a banking license? If so, just one for the whole of Europe or for every single country?
Priyanka: No, HOLD does not require a banking license but it does require an online lending license. This license is per country / jurisdiction.
Another question that I have. It is probably one you get a lot but I’m struggling to understand how it will work. What if I deposit 1 Bitcoin, which is worth $7000. I spend cash of the same value, and one year from now Bitcoin is worth $3500. How will this type of situation be handled?
Priyanka: The cash advance is a % of the BTC value. So in your example, if 1 BTC was $7000, you will receive an advance of up to ~$4200. The exact numbers will be published as part of our Beta launch.
— Follow Up: If I use the $4200, and the value of Bitcoin drops to $1000?
Guilherme: This is where technology comes in at HOLD’s core: we’re building what we’ve called the HALT algorithm, a very sophisticated engine applying Machine learning and optimization techniques that analysis risk and determines if and when crypto liquidation occurs.
The HOLD card
We were asked about what differentiates our proposition from similar peer-to-peer lending competitors. The underlying technology, a flexibility of our service and the provision of cash advances via a card are key components. We are working towards the first release of our waiting list apps by the end of September and our beta launch in December.
Any news about the Visionary card?
Priyanka: Our early ICO contributors are on the top of the list for this. Although our waitlist app will have ways of moving up on the list. Look out for details on how to move up the list and qualify for the visionary card.
Also, the card is going to be plastic or metal? Metal is very cool
This card should be metal :) I invested in the pre-ICO I think Iʼll get the special card
Priyanka: A metal card will be nice. We will explore options with our card issuance partner!
Since the card is crucial for the whole project, have you saved a contract with a provider?
Priyanka: Securing a card provide is a lengthy and complex process — it requires HOLD to clear several due diligence checks by the provider, VISA, MasterCard etc.
We are progressing well in this process and so far have cleared the expected checks
We will share further details once the contract is signed.
Has the app NFC functionality?
Priyanka: Interesting question — NFC is very prevalent in Asia.
Not so much in Europe. But we are exploring different ways of mobile payments e.g. Apple Pay so there will be multiple channels available in the long run.
We received further questions on our marketing plans and planned partnerships. Stay tuned for more updates on these topics in our next monthly community announcement.
We really enjoyed the direct feedback given in our AMA and we plan to run more. Join our Telegram community, follow us on Twitter and Medium to find out when the next one runs and feel free to ask us questions.
Thanks
-HOLD Team
