Liquid CAD: Canadian dollar payments on the Liquid Sidechain
Making the Canadian Dollar Bleed Into Bitcoin
Building the infrastructure for the Bitcoin Standard in Canada before the collapse of fiat currencies is the critical mission objective that drives innovation at Bull Bitcoin.
We are very excited to announce an important milestone in fulfilling this duty: the public release of Liquid CAD, our newest product designed to accelerate and facilitate the adoption of Bitcoin.
Liquid CAD is a non-custodial prepaid payment system denominated in Canadian dollars. Units of Liquid CAD (L-CAD) consist of vouchers issued on the Liquid Network as confidential bearer assets that can be transacted peer-to-peer using a Liquid wallet.
Users acquire Liquid CAD by withdrawing their account balance out of Bull Bitcoin, by purchasing Liquid CAD with Bitcoin on Bull Bitcoin, by using the Liquid CAD withdrawal method on other Bitcoin liquidity providers such as Aquanow or by accepting L-CAD as method of payment.
L-CAD assets can only be redeemed for Bitcoin. They cannot be redeemed for a fiat currency payment.
Liquid CAD is a unique project rethinking the concept of fiat-pegged assets, avoiding the banking business model of “fiatcoin” (aka stablecoins) in favor of a prepaid payments model entirely centred around Bitcoin on-ramp and off-ramp. Liquid CAD is not a currency, nor is it a security: it is a prepaid card.
Importantly, the business model of Liquid CAD is not to collect interest on funds in our custody, unlike fiatcoins, but rather to drive the sales of Bitcoin from which we derive our revenue and we benefit from Liquid CAD assets being cashed out and thus removed from our balance sheet. Bull Bitcoin does not get any revenue from interest.
Every time an L-CAD token is purchased by a user, the amount of dollars deposited on Bull Bitcoin is guaranteed to one day be used by someone to purchase Bitcoin. It’s a one-way street: once a unit of fiat is tokenized as L-CAD, it’s never going back to its off-chain fiat form and will ultimately result in a buy order on a Bitcoin trading platform.
The Liquid CAD logo is a drop of blood because our objective is to accelerate “fiat bleed”, a phenomenon best described by Pierre Rochard in his magnificent essay Speculative Attack:
“Bitcoin will not be eagerly adopted by the mainstream, it will be forced upon them. Forced, as in “compelled by economic reality”. People will be forced to pay with bitcoins, not because of ‘the technology’, but because no one will accept their worthless fiat for payments. Contrary to popular belief, good money drives out bad. This “driving out” has started as a small fiat bleed. It will rapidly escalate into Class IV hemorrhaging due to speculative attacks on weak fiat currencies. The end result will be hyperbitcoinization, i.e. “your money is no good here. Bitcoins are not just good money, they are the best money. The Bitcoin network has the best monetary policy and the best brand. We should therefore expect that bitcoins will drive out bad, weak currencies. My own prediction is that slow bleed has been accelerating and is only the first step. The second step will be speculative attacks that use bitcoins as a platform. The third and final step will be hyperbitcoinization.”
Different representations of Canadian dollars compete to be used as payment methods (cash, bank balances, PayPal balances, closed-loop prepaid cards, open-loop prepaid cards, etc.) and that the winner will be the one that has the best Bitcoin saleability, i.e. which can be most easily sold for Bitcoin at a moment’s notice.
We’re very proud to provide this alternative payment method to Canadians in a time where the banking system is falling deeper into crisis, especially as the Canadian dollar is demonstrating itself to be one of the most pointless and weakest currencies that nobody really wants to hold.
Finally, we’re very happy to be partnering with Aquanow, our recommended institutional liquidity provider for high-volume BTC-CAD trading. They will accept Liquid CAD deposits and withdrawals as being interchangeable with Canadian dollars. We hope that Liquid CAD will become the standard representation of Canadian dollar value among Canadian Bitcoin users.
Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) integration
In addition to Liquid CAD, Bull Bitcoin is also announcing that Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) payments are now supported interchangeably with Bitcoin transactions for all Bull Bitcoin services. This means that our users can buy, sell and spend L-BTC instead of BTC.
Canadian Bitcoin traders can purchase L-BTC from BullBitcoin.com and fund their international trading accounts with L-BTC using ultra fast and cheap confidential transactions. They can also cash-out their Bitcoin balance as L-BTC from these platforms and sell those L-BTC for fiat on Bylls.com, avoiding risky and expensive international wire transfers to unknown and untrusted foreign banks.
The transactional benefits of L-BTC are very potent:
- Transaction amounts are hidden, in compliance with Canada’s strict privacy protection laws
- Observers cannot tell whether the transaction is L-BTC or any other asset
- Confirmation times are 1 minute
- Transaction fees are very low (< 0.05$)
Disclaimer: Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) is not the same as Bitcoin (BTC). L-BTC Liquid Network assets are IOUs for Bitcoin held in a multisignature contract by the Liquid Network federation. The custody of the underlying Bitcoin is managed by a decentralized network of 15 members which process transactions and withdrawals from the multisignature contract according to the Liquid Federation protocol rules.
Liquid CAD detailed overview
Peer-to-peer prepaid payments by Bull Bitcoin
Liquid CAD is a non-custodial prepaid payment system denominated in Canadian dollars. Units of Liquid CAD (L-CAD) consist of vouchers issued on the Liquid Network as confidential bearer assets that can be transacted peer-to-peer using a Liquid wallet. Users acquire Liquid CAD by withdrawing their account balance out of the Bull Bitcoin, by purchasing Liquid CAD with Bitcoin on Bull Bitcoin, by using the Liquid CAD withdrawal method on other Bitcoin liquidity providers such as Aquanow or by accepting L-CAD as method of payment.
A new payment method in Canada
Liquid CAD can be used by anyone to send and receive payments denominated in Canadian dollars. Because of the permissionless nature of the Liquid Network, Bull Bitcoin cannot prevent Liquid CAD from being traded on secondary markets. Merchants, individuals and institutions must accept that only Bull Bitcoin can guarantee redemption of the L-CAD and that this redemption will be exclusively paid out in Bitcoin. Accepting Liquid CAD as payment is, in effect, the same as accepting gift cards as payment. However, Bitcoin being the most liquid commodity on the market, it can be transformed into any other currency easily for example using services such a Bylls which allow Canadians to pay all their utility bills, send bank transfers to third parties or sell Bitcoin to their bank account.
Making Canadian dollars bleed into Bitcoin
The purpose of Liquid CAD is to facilitate the transfer fiat in the context of the purchase and sale of Bitcoin and providing innovative new services that help Bitcoin users hedge the value of Canadian dollars against Bitcoin in the context of their commercial transactions. Our goal is to create a payment method that is specifically targeting Bitcoin users that wish to liquidate Canadian dollar payments for Bitcoin. Our mission is to accelerate the phenomenon known as “fiat bleed” whereby Canadians will gradually abandon inferior money (such as the Canadian dollar) for the superior Bitcoin alternative. Every Liquid CAD issued will ultimately be exchanged into Bitcoin. We are excited for the day Liquid CAD will be made obsolete by the inevitable hyperbitcoinization of the Canadian economy.
Regulation: is Liquid CAD a stablecoin?
Liquid CAD is not a general-purpose “stablecoin”. It is a closed-loop Bitcoin prepaid card. It can exclusively be redeemed for Bitcoin on the Bull Bitcoin platform (or at affiliated merchants). Bull Bitcoin is the only counterparty, and it cannot be redeemed for a canadian dollar payment. It is substantively the same as Canadian Tire money. Unlike stablecoins, Bull Bitcoin makes money with L-CAD by driving the sales of Bitcoin on its platform, and doesn’t collect interest on the deposits of Liquid CAD users.
The purchase of Liquid CAD with Canadian dollars is regulated in the Province of Quebec as a prepaid card under the Consumer Protection Act and the Regulation respecting the application of the Consumer Protection Act Consumer Protection Act which define a prepaid card as “a certificate, card or other medium of exchange that is paid in advance and allows the consumer to acquire goods or services from one or more merchants”.
The purchase of Bitcoin using Liquid CAD is regulated in Canada by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (S.C. 2000, c. 17).
Counterparty risk
Like all other closed-loop prepaid instruments, Liquid CAD has counterparty risk. The owners are trusting that they will eventually be able to use Liquid CAD as a payment method on the Bull Bitcoin platform to fund their account and purchase Bitcoin. When a Bull Bitcoin user withdraws his Bull Bitcoin account balance as an L-CAD token, the Canadian dollars he used to fund this balance remains in our possession in the same manner as regular Bull Bitcoin vouchers. These funds are used to execute Bitcoin purchases when L-CAD owners decide to redeem their L-CAD for Bitcoin. In essence, each L-CAD is “backed” by the Canadian dollar deposit of the user that withdraws it from the platform in the first place.
Benefits of using and accepting Liquid CAD for payments
Irreversible, non-custodial and no bank required
Liquid CAD payments cannot be charged back, cancelled, delayed or frozen. There is no intermediary between the sender and the recipient. It is a bearer asset: whoever owns the keys owns the coins. It is a perfect way to accept payments or transact securely without depending on banks and payment processors. Canadians can use Liquid CAD to purchase Bitcoin and then use Bylls.com to pay billers, personal payees or simply sell Bitcoin to their bank account.
Fast transaction and cheap fees
Liquid Network transactions are sent and received instantly and require 1 minute for settlement. Transaction fees paid using Liquid Bitcoin can be as low as 300 satoshis per transaction (a few cents). In order to benefit from these cheap fees, make sure to download the latest version of the Elements software and ensure that the minimum transaction fee is set at 100 satoshis per kilobye. It only takes a few minutes to set up a free Liquid Network wallet, such a Green Wallet by blockstream.
Confidential transactions
Unlike Bitcoin, transactions between the sender and the recipient are encrypted. It is impossible for third parties observing Liquid CAD transactions on a block explorer to determine the amount of the transaction. In addition, it’s also impossible to even know you are using Liquid CAD, since the data identifying the asset itself is also encrypted!
What are the use-cases of Liquid CAD?
Buying and selling Bitcoin
The primary use-case of Liquid CAD is to make it easier to buy and sell Bitcoin on the Bull Bitcoin platform. By withdrawing their balance from Bull Bitcoin, users are reducing some (but not all) of the custody risk associated with keeping fiat currency on an exchange. For example, use Liquid CAD to create your own non-custodial dollar-cost-averaging schedule!
Onboarding new Bitcoin users
New users can be overwhelmed by the experience of dealing with banks to buy Bitcoin (and the heavier KYC process of account funding). You may be tempted to buy Bitcoin for them, but that will impose a lot of burdens on you. It’s much easier to set them up with a Green wallet, send them Liquid CAD and show them how to use Bull Bitcoin! They decide when is the right time for them to invest, with a lower KYC burden.
Hedging Bitcoin price
You may believe the price of Bitcoin will go down in the short term, but you still want to hold Bitcoin in the long term. Normally you have two options: short the Bitcoin price (very risky!) or sell your Bitcoin and receive Canadian dollars in your bank account (inconvenient!). By selling your Bitcoin for Liquid CAD, you can lock in the value of Bitcoin right now and buy them back later without needing to use your bank account or taking risks with leverage.
Accepting payments
As a merchant, you want to receive the settlement of payments in Bitcoin. But this imposes a burden on your customers, which have to deal with the Bitcoin price volatility when they are paying you. Ask your clients to pay you with Liquid CAD, and you can get the settlement with Bitcoin on your own terms.
Payroll and suppliers
What if your staff or suppliers want to get paid in Bitcoin? It can be very difficult, because this means you are effectively buying Bitcoin on their behalf. Instead, you can pay them in Liquid CAD and let them deal with the process of choosing the exchange rate and using their own wallet. Let them deal with the tax burden, exchange rates and Bitcoin wallet security.
List of Bull Bitcoin Liquid Network features
Withdraw account balance as L-CAD
This is conceptually the same as “buying” Liquid CAD with your account balance. We call it “Withdrawing L-CAD” because on the Bull Bitcoin platform, we consider L-CAD and CAD to be interchangeable and fungible.
Fund account balance with L-CAD
To redeem Liquid CAD for Bitcoin, users need to first fund their account by selecting the “Deposit L-CAD” payment method. Bull Bitcoin users must always fund their account first before buying Bitcoin, and then purchase Bitcoin with their account balances. Reminder: account balances cannot be withdraw as fiat payments, but can later be withdrawn again as L-CAD.
Sell Bitcoin for L-CAD
You can sell Bitcoin and receive Liquid CAD payments instead of a bill payment, personal payee payment or bank payment. As soon as the Bitcoin transaction is confirmed, the Liquid CAD transaction is sent to the address you provided.
Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) and Bitcoin interchangeability
For every service which involves a Bitcoin payment, the user can substitute traditional Bitcoin payments for Liquid Bitcoin payments. This includes:
- Buy Bitcoin using L-BTC
- Pay bills using L-BTC
- Pay personal payees using L-BTC
- Sell L-BTC for CAD in your bank account
- Buy L-CAD with L-BTC
- Buy gift cards with L-BTC
