Community AMA Recap
I. Intro
Slavian: Hello and welcome to another “old-school” community AMA!
There will be 2 parts to the event:
- Popular questions we received (+updates, of course)
- Your live questions
Part 2 is interactive, so make sure you’re well prepared!
Without further delay, let’s get started. Robert, how’s it going?
Robert Sharratt: Hello everyone, thanks for joining us. Lots of building going on during the summer. No holidays here for our tech team.
We continue integrations on the CeFi side and the app is in early team testing. We are going to open to the testers from our community soon.
Slavian: Great! Let’s start with the questions, shall we?
II. Community Submitted Questions
1. How is the app progress going? Are things still looking good for an MVP release next month? Do you have any more sneak peaks of what it might look like?
Robert Sharratt:
Slavian: Oh wow😱
Robert Sharratt: The app development is going well. Here is a view of one of our Figma screens, the main dashboard.
It has been coded by the frontend team, in Flutter, and we are working on bugs from the backend.
Team is testing.
Community testing coming soon.
The biggest issue is really in the backend, connecting to CeFi. Such a challenge.
Slavian: The old world is like an anchor…
Robert Sharratt: However, you can see who will win in the long-term. Open, public blockchains are just such a superior technology.
Slavian: Looking great!
Robert Sharratt: We are starting with 4 core currencies.
Out of the 25 that we have the capability to offer.
At least to get going.
Cards are also coming. We are going to start with virtual cards, with physical cards later.
Starting with EUR and GBP.
Then CHF and USD.
Yes, MVP release expected in September. For the retail app.
We also have a web app coming maybe a bit earlier, with a particular focus on DeFi users. It is designed by Nic, who moved from the community to the core team.
Galina, our designer wanted to know how degens think … so she is doing a study of Nic !!
Web app looks like this. There is a DeFi / degen part of it that many of you will probably like. Amadeo, Nic, Galina and other team members are going to reveal it at the next AMA on 20 August.
Slavian: Awesome!
2. With the eventual release of the Cresco debit card, will it offer a tier system or cashback like what Crypto.com offers, or will it be more like the debit cards offered by traditional banks today?
Robert Sharratt: The cards will have tiers and will be very crypto focused. Tiers are like gold, platinum, etc with extra benefits. $wCRES shareholders will get the higher tiers by proving ownership by connecting their wallet.
We are working with Visa to allow spending directly from chain. Probably coming in the next 6 months.
Not like a traditional bank! But all of the benefits of a traditional bank, of course.
3. Can I find out if there is a new staking plan now that GYSR staking is over?
Robert Sharratt: We are going to announce details on 20 August. There is a new staking plan coming, not GYSR.
Here is one of the draft Onboarding screens for the retail app.
We are really looking for more community members to send in their photos, which we are going to use throughout the site and app.
If you are willing to participate, please send a high resolution photo to Cristina:
It needs to be relatively close up of your face, looking natural, not a pose, just hanging out.
She also wants people to do some poses! So, please contact her if you are willing to help. We are trying to give the message that we are not like a bank. We are a community-driven organisation.
And, remember from the IM, the end goal is the establishment of a DAO.
Slavian: Don’t miss this opportunity! We want our own people proudly representing us.
Let’s move on to the live questions now. I’m going to open the chat!
III. Live Questions
Slavian: Chat is open!
crispyboi: Thanks for the updates Robert! No doubt you’ve heard of the NFT craze happening right now with cryptopunks and artblocks putting in huge volume. Cresco advisor David Hoffman even bought a punk recently for his digital identity. Has Cresco explored ways to benefit customers with NFTs? Also, when are you getting a punk as your digital identity? 😏
Robert Sharratt: I’m not sure if I’m cool enough to have a punk as my digital ID, but that is where my heart is. The last page of the IM that I wrote back in November finished with a quote from Tim May, one of my heros, and a real cypher punk.
I’m also a Bankless supporter and love what David and Ryan do there. The younger people in the company talk to me all of the time about NFTs and this is definitely something that Cresco will do. Just need to finish the MVP first. It has been day and night working on the tech for the past 3 months since we moved everything in-house. We will have a tech show and tell type AMA next time, on 20 August.
NFTs are definitely going to come, probably in the autumn!
Koploseus: What will be the referral plan ? For influencer to inboard people ?
Robert Sharratt: Yes, marketing includes a referral element. We are going to have a community call in early September about this.
Do Od: Thanks for the update, really interesting to hear the progress!
hyperex: Which country community members participate in the testing?
Robert Sharratt: We have a sign up list. Slavian, please put into the chat.
Slavian: https://forms.gle/x8ci4BMiPN7AFEjL8
hyperex: CrescoFin is competing an uphill battle here with established players like Crypto.com. What is CrescoFin edge?
Robert Sharratt: We see ourselves as competing with the global banking industry. The TAM is $60 trillion. A bit harder than crypto.com.
In comparison to crypto.com, we offer a full bank account with seamless access to DeFi. That is our edge.
The bridge is two way: we are going to bring real world financial assets to DeFi. We are also going to bring DeFi benefits into a traditional bank account, for normies. More details next AMA.
I like crypto.com but I don’t see them as a competitor.
Alex ✤ ∞: Thanks for the update. So looks like you will be competing with the likes of Revolut but more crypto focused
Robert Sharratt: I like Revolut and use it myself. We are like a merger of Revolut and DeFi.
There is a substantial difference between us and Revolut and other legacy banking firms: we are built on-chain. Our core banking ledger is on-chain. It has never been done before, but is the future of banking, in my view. That is what I wrote in my book and that is what we are building here at Cresco.
Do Od: If I remember correctly there was a financial audit planned and after that you would be able to share the current AuM. When will you be able to share the AuM?
Robert Sharratt: We are working on this and will release as soon as we can.
Do Od: Thanks for the update!
Jobiii: Thank you for showing us the progress of your work! Can’t wait to see it all ;)
JF: Hi Rob — great update and excited for the next few weeks.
Are you onboarding institutions right now and if so, what is the best way for them to get in touch
Robert Sharratt: Hi, thanks for your message. Just a bit overwhelmed with the tech this summer, to be honest. I’m very keen on institutions, the charities that we talked about, cards, etc. but I’ve directed the entire team to focus on the tech. We are working shifts between our teams in Europe, Russia, and elsewhere. Please let me get back to you and others about bus dev when I get the tech working well for the MVP. So, probably in September. I have so many people to get back to and I’m always sorry for the delay, but the focus at the moment is on the tech.
We are also hiring, if anyone is an experienced golang dev, please contact Amadeo.
We prefer to hire from the community!
JF: 👍👍 looking forward to seeing the MVP
Skinnjakka: Is the Web app for Institutions live yet, and can we expect it to get marketed When live?
Robert Sharratt: Yes, Derek has been overseeing this and it is live for selected institutions. Details to come.
Bar M: Just wanted to say that I absolutely love the colors and aesthetic direction in the retail app, big congrats on the progress and thanks for all of the updates!
Robert Sharratt: Thanks! It is all credit to our design team: Slavian, Galina, Damian Horner, Alexey, Tatsiana, Felix, Elsa.
FomoRomo: Just wanted to ask…what did you do to Derek! Haven’t seen him for a while!
Amazing updates guys! App design looks really cool. Great work!
Robert Sharratt:
Here is another Onboarding screen. You see we implement Damian Horner’s wording about our vision to be community-driven, not a bank. A bank alternative. The Bank Alternative is the branding.
We would really love you guys to send in some photos to Cristina and also work with her on some images. You can also reach her on Telegram on @cm_crescofin
But, photos need to be sent by email, as Telegram compresses them too much for the designers.
DK DK: Loving the look! Great updates also, thanks Robert.
Zach Davis: Nice
Slavian: And that, dear community, is all the time we have for today.
Thanks a lot for taking part in this AMA. Stay tuned for next time, on 20 August!
hyperex: thanks Robert and Slavian!
Amazon Prime Wolverine: Thanks for your time, app is looking great 😎
Simon Kaggwa Njala: Looks great. Much appreciated Robert and team
Robert Sharratt: Thanks to all of you for your support. I need to get back to building. I look forward to seeing you on 20 August AMA where we will have some important updates. It is an AMA that you need to attend!
