Your Questions Answered — Part 1: Ivy Project.
Thank you to the community for submitting your questions to us over the past few weeks. Ivy values its community and is looking forward to bringing you on the journey together as we target bringing Ivy to the world to revolutionize the future of money.
As we are a new business with a revolutionary concept, it is important that our community and the wider public understand our vision and how we are seeking to change the world. We have broken up your questions into two parts; This blog covers your questions around Ivy as a business & project, Part 2 covers some of the more tech-oriented questions.
We have attempted to answer as many of the questions as we could with as much detail we could publicly share but understand that there are many more. Over the next few weeks and months, we will be rolling out much deeper engagement with our team, including profiles, biographies and interviews. We will soon be scheduling an AMA with the core team on Reddit in the last week of May to answer any further questions, so keep an eye on our Reddit Subreddit for more specifics.
Tokens
Why were there 1.6 billion tokens distributed at TGE rather than the estimated 1.5 billion in the white paper? What was the reasoning to increase by 100 million? Are you concerned that investors will feel the diminished value of their coins?
Our White Paper was based on a best estimate of demand in the market for a target raise of $15 million. When we opened participation in the pre-sale, we were overwhelmed with demand. Although it may have been much simpler to fund our project via alternative methods, we listened to the Ivy and crypto community and made sure there was an opportunity for those who could participate to do so.
Despite scaling the pre-sale and following a ballot process, the team considered it appropriate to take an additional amount in our raise given the level of feedback that was received and to satisfy the wishes of the wider community so that they could participate. True to our White Paper, the ratios and splits between the different categories of tokens has remained exactly the same.
We consider that the final structure of the pre-sale, consistent with the White Paper, will help us to create value in a more effective manner and therefore will help us achieve our goals more rapidly.
Once no longer subject to escrow holding, I note that one option is to burn tokens. Is this simply at the discretion of the Company and what conditions might persuade the Company to effect a burn?
Our token structure has a fixed supply. It is not contemplated that tokens will be burned under current and planned business conditions. The broad level of circulating tokens is what our technical team considers to be a level of liquidity to ensure future functionality of Ivy’s products as it is rolled out for future use cases.
With 46% being held by the company, are you concerned about a similar situation with the community occuring with Ivy that happened with Ripple in which they had to lock some XRP away and do a slow-release over years to allay concerns about large dumping and price control?
Ivy has implemented a number of instruments, including milestone mechanisms and vesting schedules in place for management and other large holders of tokens. It has also received indications from all large supporter groups who hold strategic allocations that they do not considering selling tokens until Ivy has achieved certain major milestones. At such a point, it is expected that Ivy’s success will facilitate such liquidity so as to negate any negative effects of large holdings, and accordingly. Ivy does not consider there to be a need to further lock up tokens or implement a fixed liquidity policy.
The Team
The team seems to quite diversified in location. Is it working well for the company? Can you provide some details on how you make that work? Any plans to expand the team in the near future?
Ivy is a project for the world, and we retain talent from a number of jurisdictions who can create and add value wherever they may be. So far, we are happy to report that our teams are working well. However, Southern California is anticipated to be where the core team will be centralized as we grow and exapnd.
Remember that at our core, Ivy is a tech company and so holding meetings on a regular basis using sophisticated videoconferencing and meeting services is not foreign to us or our staff.
We are glad to report that we are currently in the process of expanding the team we have several roles we hope to have filled soon, including a Community Manager & some East Coast based roles to help us have a better ongoing dialog with Financial Institutions based there.
Gary, you’re the President of Ivy, what is your background and to what extent has it been involved with the cryptocurrency space. Also what are your contributions to the project?
Thanks for the question — I was delighted to be asked to become Ivy’s President. This is because the team sees the future of Ivy first and foremost to be an institutional banking product, harnessing the decentralization, immutability and security potential of the blockchain, rather than a chain or crypto technology in and of itself.
My work experience has been in the traditional commercial and retail banking space, focusing on North America and to a lesser extent, Asia. Before I joined Ivy, I was running a consumer lending group that had a $1 billion portfolio. I’ve also had experience leading the strategy function of a FDIC insured institution where I was responsible for the execution of fin-tech initiatives including exploration into the block chain crypto space.
My day to day responsibility includes running business development, representing the company at conferences/speaking engagements, general operations, and making key decisions to push the company forward. Based on feedback to date from the banks that I talk to, I am very excited about Ivy’s potential and looking forward to working with our tech team to tailor our product in conjunction with bank feedback as we work together to better understand the banks’ needs and how Ivy’s technology can assist to unlock this vast store of value in digital currencies.
What is a Peter Clare’s role given he is now no longer on the website as an advisor? If he is still providing his advice and experience, why the need to remove him from the website, along with the other people previously listed as advisors?
Peter Clare was instrumental in the foundation of Ivy and in assisting the company progress to a stage where it was sufficiently funded to achieve our goals. The core team have been in very deep strategic discussions over many weeks and considered that it would be better to streamline our advisory Board to those who were able to commit substantial amounts of time and effort into helping Ivy achieve our vision. This will allow us to make room for, and allow future advisors who are committed to our cause in a significant capacity.
However, we remain in contact with our previous advisors and will work with them where appropriate to create better value on a case-by-case basis rather than involving them in all of our decisions. This creates better and more streamlined efficiencies.
In Peter’s case, we are very glad that he will remain involved in Ivy through his position as Chair of the Board at Change Financial. We think the website should provide a clearer picture of those who are considered part of our core team and advisors.
Partners & Exchanges
Without naming any specific partners etc, do you have any goals/targets that you expect to reach? For example, number of partner banks by end of 2018?
There are definitely a significant number of internal targets and milestones that we hold ourselves accountable to. Again, we are unable to comment on banks specifically at the moment, but are committed to, and will be making announcements via our communications channels when appropriate.
How and when Ivy will announce the banks they are working with, the roadmap for bank partnerships?
This is part of the internal strategy of the company and we are unable to share specific details at this time. There is a plan that we believe will create the best impact for the company that our team members are following, whilst also preserving our flexibility to remain dynamic and work with as many bank partners as possible as we move through to MPV and beyond.
Ash Shilkin mentioned at a roadshow that an American bank has already agreed to trial Ivy. Is this bank still on board? How many other banks to date have agreed to trial Ivy? What discussions have been made with Australian banks, in particular the Big 4?
Yes. This US-based bank is still on board and our agreement remains in place. Unfortunately, we have been requested to keep the identity of this bank confidential until such time as they agree for their identity to be disclosed which will largely depend on the progress of our trials and development, given the significant external attention this is expected to bring based on our shared vision of disrupting the international payment system and digital currency world. However, we will attempt to disclose as many non-identifying aspects of our foundational banking partner at the appropriate time. Of course, we value the relationship and will respect our partners’ wishes absolutely.
On additional banks, we can confirm we are speaking to some of the world’s leading banks and via the appropriate channels at senior levels. However, these banking giants do not move quickly and we caution observers that the development of such relationships will take time. This is why we have a multi-channel bank partner strategy running in parallel, to maximise the prospects of success. When we are ready to announce, this information will come out through our standard communication channels.
Discussions with Australian Banks have occurred including representatives from the Big 4.
Does the rumoured ‘current’ bank have some apprehension about being the first to work with Ivy?
Not that has been communicated to us. Simply, there is a desire to support Ivy in our vision but to maximise the potential value that we may bring. Given Ivy hopes to be a significant competitive advantage for banks that work with us, they prefer their involvement to remain private until such time as it is appropriate to announce.
In regards to Bank adoption, what are Ivy’s short term, medium term and long term prospects?
We are unable to speak specifically about our current bank prospects. In general, we are always increasing the number of banks and other financial institutions we are in open discussions with. There will be a time in the future when we are able to announce who has agreed to engage with us on developing our technology. Again, bank partnerships do take time as there is significant work to be completed on understanding Ivy’s vision, technology and integration.
Anything about exchange strategy for IVY. Like (a) aiming for big reputable exchange straight away or (b) going to get listed on a smaller exchange more quickly. c)Likelihood of exchange listing before Q4 2018?
We have multiple options relating to different exchanges throughout the world. Requirements differ from exchange to exchange and there are some dependencies the company is currently considering. We plan to have key decisions made soon on this topic and will release news as soon as we have identified the best path forward for the company and our supporters. We plan to be on several exchanges as soon as appropriate (and well before Q4 as asked) and are confident we can share some news with you on this shortly.
Regulators
How are the meetings with regulators and what were the key takeaways?
Meetings with regulators have been positive — much more than expected as there is a genuine desire to try and understand the effect of digital currencies could have on the way in which the world does, and can do business. We consider that regulators are genuinely supportive of new and innovative ways of doing business and are simply concerned about the ability of such technologies to facilitate nefarious activities such as money laundering, drug and human trafficking and weapons trading to name a few. Ivy’s technology will present a perfect opportunity for regulators to work with as we seek to bring digital payments to the mainstream.
When appropriate, and as discussion with regulators advance, we will provide substantial updates to the market in this regard. Banks will take comfort in knowing that we are approaching this from each of a consumer, banking and regulatory perspectiveOur opinion is that the regulators are overall optimistic about the space and given the nature of governments to typically not be leading in innovation, are looking to companies like Ivy to lead the charge to help legitimate businesses take advantage of the benefits of blockchain technology.
What new direction/s needed to be taken as a result of discussions with US regulators?
Regulation in this industry will be key. In order for traditional institutions like banks and credit unions to participate in this space, it is clear that the regulators will need to be supportive, or at least accommodative. That is why it is so important for us to continue our ongoing dialog with regulators to help bring about the technology to bring more transparency and data to this space.
Ivy seeks to be the gap between the new and emerging world of digital currencies and the existing international financial system and lead banks into the future of money. Regulatory support would be substantial in accelerating such an outcome and so we have decided to dedicate resources to pursuing this stream.
The Industry & Market
What is the greatest challenge Ivy faces in the near future?
We see the greatest challenge as being two fold — the first is managing the ever changing landscape from a government and regulatory perspective. This is why Ivy is maintaining an open dialogue between bank prospects as well as the federal and global regulators, and is trying to maintain a dynamic team and product until we find the future together.
Second, is the sheer enormity of our task. We are seeking to fundamentally change the way money is used within the global financial system. This requires extreme vision, coordination, technical capability, banking buy-in, community support and of course time. Although the task ahead of us is enormous, so is the opportunity. We are all absolutely excited about what we are doing and the way in which we can change the world.
We believe that the initial target market is facilitation of global cross border payments. That’s estimated at $150 trillion per annum. What market share would you expect Ivy to capture within 5 years?
We’d rather not commit to figures five years from today. All we can say is that we are working hard to build our technology which will have the capability to handle such volumes with our goal being to become a leader in our space.
What is Ivy’s internal calculation of potential range of facilitated transaction volumes? What market cap (range) could be expected with that volume of transactions?
We are unable to share these types of details or speculate to what the market cap may be. We are working to diligently solve a real and significant market need but at the same time maximising the utility of our token.
How do you feel about being compared to Ripple so often? Some people say that Ivy is not competing against Ripple, but yet Ivy specifically calls out Ripple on the front of it’s website.
We will be the first to acknowledge the significant achievements of Ripple in working with mainstream financial institutions in the context of cryptocurrencies. While we operate in a similar space, we are looking to solve a different problem.
We believe there is value in comparing ourselves to Ripple given our respective product offerings and our shared vision to work within the global monetary system. However, our comparison on the website is to show differentiation between the two firms, and explain how we are not the same. We consider given the sheer size of global payments, together with the number of banks and financial institutions, there is more than enough space for both companies to be successful and help change the way the financial industry uses our products & services.
