ICO Alert Report: Graft

Mike Finch

Published in

ICO Alert

8 min readDec 21, 2017

ICO Alert Quick Facts

Cryptocurrency payment processing
ICO: January 18, 2018
GRF token = $0.25
Zero Fee Transactions
Real time payment authorization, even with 2-minute block times

What is Graft?

GRAFT was born out of the desire to make cryptocurrency work at the point of sale as well as traditional methods of payment like cash or credit cards. Today, the procedure of accepting cryptocurrency at point of sale is quite cumbersome, involving setting up separate terminals, long transaction times, unpredictable and high fees, user paying the fee instead of a merchant, privacy issues, and a host of other issues. Coming out of the payment space, and having literally written a book on Point of Sale technology, as well as cryptocurrency, we had a very clear idea of how things work today and how they could work, should cryptocurrency be combined with traditional point of sale terminals. Our overarching goal is to unleash the pent up potential residing in cryptocurrency (almost $600 billion at the time of this writing) to further stimulate the economy, small business, and provide people with better experiences.
— The Graft Team

Q&A with the Graft Team

ICO Alert: How does the Graft token function within the platform and why is it needed?

GRAFT: GRAFT is a combination proof-of-work and proof-of-stake network, implementing a concept of Supernodes (functionality sitting on top of the miner). As such, the token functions both as an exchange medium, AND as a safeguard in a zero-knowledge proof system. Additionally the token provides extra overlay functionality, similar to smart contracts, for implementing things like loyalty programs, virtual private networks, etc.

ICO Alert: What makes Graft different than the other payment processing projects? What advantages does Graft have over the projects that have already run an ICO and are ahead of Graft’s progress?

GRAFT: While most other blockchain based payment platforms try to revolutionize the payment process, GRAFT is rather an evolution based on enormous experience gathered by the payment card industry during many years, which will allow a fast adoption by the payment mainstream, from both the merchant and buyer side.
Specifically, GRAFT focuses on removing adoption friction on the merchant side by leveraging existing infrastructure, staying consistent with existing procedures and processes, and requiring minimum retraining of the personnel.
It’s also obvious that most other projects have not spent much time in the industry and may be addressing some, but not all the friction points, whereas at GRAFT we believe in a comprehensive solution.

ICO Alert: Processing takes “only seconds” on the Graft platform. Is Graft developing a new blockchain or building on top of another blockchain? What transaction per second speed will/does that blockchain have today?

GRAFT: GRAFT is developing a new blockchain which is based on CryptoNote protocol. While TPS (transaction per second) speed of credit cards depends on the speed of the authorization servers, the TPS speed of typical blockchain depends on characteristics of mining process such as maximum block size, block interval, etc. GRAFT uses two-phase transaction processing similar to credit card processing, where transaction is first instantly authorized (using special real time authorization mechanism) and then settled (added to the blockchain). Therefore, the speed of Graft transaction is only limited by the power of the authorization supernodes, similar to credit cards, which makes it virtually unlimited. Nevertheless, unlike credit cards, the GRAFT settlement happens very fast as well (within minutes) thanks to unlimited block size and 2-minute block interval.

ICO Alert: How does the Graft “Supernode” function and why is it important to the platform? What is a “cryptocurrency broker”?

GRAFT: GRAFT supernode is the heart of the GRAFT Network platform. We call it supernode because it performs more functions than “traditional” network nodes, and there are different requirements for supernode owners. Although GRAFT Network is open and decentralized, and anyone is able to run a supernode, there are different levels of supernode and different conditions (and rewards) associated with each level.
Proxy Supernode is the “entry level” — everyone can install the supernode software and host a proxy supernode. Proxy supernode can be used as a trusted relay for those who have highest privacy requirements, so they can host their own “wallet server,” or for large merchants as a “store server” for even faster transaction processing.
Full Supernode is both miner and service provider. It cannot perform its instant authorization functions or service brokerage (credit card acceptance, for example) without mining.
Service broker is a powerful fundamental concept of the GRAFT Network and completes the GRAFT “Ecosystem.” Service brokers provide additional services to the network, such as payouts, exchanges, back office functions, applications, arbitrage, etc.
A set of cryptocurrency service brokers will be available for each major cryptocurrency listed oncoinmarketcap.com, starting from the top of “top 10” by market capitalization. The service brokers will boost liquidity of each cryptocurrency by enabling various payment options on both buyer’s and merchant’s sides of the transaction. The cryptocurrency service brokers will be implemented in collaboration with existing and/or newly created exchanges. Multiple choices for each cryptocurrency eventually will be available, so they could compete in order to provide better rates and services. The variety of services and automated sign up, selection, and execution processes will keep the decentralized character of the network.

ICO Alert: How does Graft plan to market and sell its platform to merchants who do not understand cryptocurrency or the need for transacting with it?

GRAFT: Getting to the merchants will require education. One of the very compelling benefits of introducing a new cryptocurrency blockchain is that it provides a new set of incentives to the market. We’re leveraging these incentives, for example, to create stimuli for the crypto-savvy folks to educate and enlist merchants. Look for the CryptoFinder application which is coming out in the next few weeks — it will make the process of enlisting the merchants who want to accept cryptocurrency compelling and rewarding to the crypto users and members of GRAFT community.

ICO Alert: Is there a revenue model inherent to Graft? Does the platform take fees of any kind?

GRAFT: Graft itself is running as a non-profit organization. We have made a decision not to siphon off the fees from the network. All the funds needed for engineering, marketing, and business development come from initial coin premining. Some of those coins will be released at the ICO, and some will remain in reserve for secondary offerings.

ICO Alert: Has Graft secured any partnerships that will further the adoption of the platform? Are there any other announcements that the team would like to make at this time?

GRAFT: We are working closely with the top three payment terminal manufacturers and believe it to be the key for successful adoption. These manufacturers have different business models, but the good news is that Graft aligns well with all of them. To the credit of terminal manufacturers, most of them have built formidable software/hardware platforms which allow deploying new functionality and methods of payment without requiring a hardware update. Once we’re through with the integration phase, the terminal platform customers will be able to deploy GRAFT on their existing terminals quickly.

ICO Alert: How far along is the project today and when can contributors expect to use the platform? What does the full roadmap look like for the rest of 2017 and 2018?

GRAFT: Currently, we are focused on development of the GRAFT RTA (Real Time Authorization) mechanism, as well as the tasks related to launching the mainnet. We are planning to launch the mainnet just before the ICO. The full roadmap includes a lot of features for both merchants and buyers, such as free fund transfers between the wallets for authenticated users, merchant tokens, vchains, instant payouts, spending card, and much more. Those features will make GRAFT an extremely convenient and inexpensive platform for both sides of the payment transaction.

ICO Alert: As a non-Gifto question we like to ask for unique predictions for the ICO and cryptocurrency space in the future. Where do you see both in the next 3–5 years?

GRAFT: We see cryptocurrency going mainstream and becoming one of the primary methods of payment. Just for frame of reference, today there are around 255 million credit card transactions happening every day worldwide. Given its efficiencies, universality, and cross-border nature, we think cryptocurrency has the potential to grow to at least 25%-50% of that volume, but also replace cash transactions, which represent over 80% of all the transaction volume world-wide. It’s a very exciting times we live in!

ICO Information
The Graft ICO begins on January 18, 2018. There is currently a registration that can be completed in order to be whitelisted for the ICO. The registration requires contributors to complete some minor KYC/AML processes.

The price per Graft token (GRF) is $0.25 and there is a hard cap of $10,000,000 during the ICO. The price has been adjusted up from $0.11 based on increases in the overall cryptocurrency market. There is a minimum purchase amount of 5,000 GRF. There is a bonus of 10% during the first 48 hours of the ICO.

For further information on how Graft priced their token, please read this document.

Token Distribution Information
There are a total of 1,844,674,400 Graft tokens being created, with 55% of them allocated towards mining. The allocation of tokens is as follows:

Main emission through mining: 55%|
Reserves: 27%
Founders and tokens: 8%
Public token sale: 5%
Go-to-market promotion: 4%
Presale: 1%

Use of ICO Proceeds
40%: Marketing and business development
30%: Engineering
30%: General administrative costs and amortization

Team

Slava Gomzin | Founder | LinkedIn

Slava is an author in the cryptocurrency space and has been working in payment processing and security across multiple businesses. He is currently the VP of Information Security and Technology at Pieces Technologies, a start-up in the Dallas, Texas area. He was a security and payments technologist at HP and spent almost a decade working for Retalix, a retail focused IT company.

Dan Itkis MsETM-MBA, CISSP | Co-founder | LinkedIn

Before Graft, Dan co-founded and ran Biomio, a frictionless authentication solution based out of Portland, Oregon. He was a solution architect, team lead and product manager at Cisco and has worked in c-level or director positions prior to his time at Graft. He has his master’s degree in engineering and technology management, as well as his MBA from Portland State University.

Brad Gleeson | Business Development Director and Advisor | LinkedIn

Brad is the managing partner for TargetPath LLC, an independent consulting firm specializing in digital signage and out-of-home media for various industries. In addition to his advisory role at Graft, he will be the business development director, where he can leverage his various experience as a COO, vice president and CEO.

Kate Vasylenko | Chief Marketing Officer| LinkedIn

In addition to her role as CMO of Graft, Kate is also the managing partner and CEO at 42 Digital Marketing. She has held various c-level roles including CBDO, CEO and new business director. She also has her master’s degree in applied mathematics from the National Technical University of Ukraine.

Roadmap