February 2019: End of month wrap-up
This month has been all about putting plans — finally — into action. After spending more than a year talking about our vision for intimate.io, now we get to show you what we’ve been working so hard to build.
No doubt the crypto winter has got you feeling like a grizzly bear. But there’s one sure way to turn that frown upside down… Head over to our launch site and spend your ITM, your ETH, and your ERC-20’s on a Smile Maker vibrator!
Please check out our checkout! We’d love to hear what you think!
VIBRATORS! GET YA VIBRATORS! Go to CRYPTOSMILES.STORE now!
ITM token holder Justin Campbell, who also wrote this article titled ‘Blockchain + Sex’ for Quilette Magazine, recorded a video of himself purchasing products with ITM tokens via the intimate.io checkout.
It’s a handy guide if you too are a first-timer to buying stuff with crypto (and it includes a special shoutout to our friends at Trust Wallet).
PRODUCT LIVE: CRYPTO CHECKOUT
The intimate.io crypto payment gateway has been officially launched. Read about it here and buy a vibrator with crypto at our dedicated microsite.
We have recently added more ERC-20 tokens to the crypto checkout so you can opt to pay with ITM, BNB, FUN, WAX, OMG, SPANK and of course, ETH. BTC is on track to be added by end of March 2019.
As friends of intimate.io, we’d be so grateful to hear your feedback on the virgin release of our crypto checkout. Your honest thoughts and advice will help us build a better product for our merchants and their customers.
LCB NAMED XBIZ COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR 2019
intimate.io co-founder and Chief Impact Officer, Leah Callon-Butler, has been named one of three new XBIZ Community Ambassadors for 2019.
Read all about LCB’s new title here.
AUSSIE ROADSHOW. TICK!
From Seattle to Sydney, we recently wrapped up one of our biggest speaking tours yet, connecting with intimate.io partners and supporters along the way.
At Pause Fest 2019, LCB spoke on the event main stage to deliver a keynote titled ‘The Future of Trust’ to a woke audience of entrepreneurs, tech leaders and creative professionals (see the ‘teaser’ for her talk here).
Dubbed Australasia’s SXSW, Pause Fest is a future-focussed business event held annually at Melbourne’s Federation Square. Somewhat serendipitously, the conference theme this year just happened to be: The Future is Intimate.
LCB also joined the discussion panel at an official Pause Fest side event exploring ‘The Future of Bitcoin’ with Craig Wright’s business partner, Jimmy Nguyen. As expected, much of the speakers’ conversation — as well as audience Q&A time — was dominated by debate about the Bitcoin SV fork.
You can watch a video recording of the event here.
In Melbourne, Leah and Nathan were joined by intimate.io CTO Pat Roberts, which was a real treat since we don’t get to spend much time in-person with Pat, given he lives in Sydney and the rest of us are mostly in the Philippines.
It was awesome having Pat join us at the events as he has a solid history with the local blockchain scene, having been involved with the roll-out of the first Bitcoin ATMs in Australia back in 2014.
Never a fence-sitter, Pat is a super intelligent and knowledgable guy who won’t hesitate to get stuck into a good debate. You might not hear from Pat too often (he’s usually behind-the-scenes designing our trust technologies) but Jimmy certainly copped an earful when we went out for dinner that night…
Just before leaving Melbourne, we chucked a little lunch get-together for friends of intimate.io and we were stoked to see the likes of Rachel Payne from Eros Association, Stephanie Palmer-Derrien from SmartCompany, Caleb Hawk from Thorne Harbour Health, Andrew Thompson from ABC News and Jessica Yang from Bittrex show up for a Friday beer or two.
Back in Sydney, we attended Adriana Belotti’s Blockchain Professionals Meet Up at Sydney Startup Hub, with renowned Australian blockchain lawyer Michael Bacina leading the panel discussion on blockchain trends for 2019.
This really wasn’t your average crypto event. Bacina was absolutely on fire, cracking jokes and encouraging Leah to dish out a doozy of deliciously dirty double-entendres. The other panelists were equally rascally, with Brenda Saveluc of BlackGold Legal, Luke Anderson of Sigma Prime and George Samman of Sammantics commanding the cheeky banter.
Adriana’s meet ups have been running in Sydney for years. Pat remembers when they used to be held at The Old Fitzroy and you could buy a beer with Bitcoin. LCB remembers sitting right up the back, quietly soaking up the discussion. She says it was pretty surreal to be on the other side this time, sharing her own experiences with the crowd. It was a very special moment and Adriana has been a wonderful supporter of intimate.io.
At Adriana’s meet up, we had a table set up with Smile Makers vibrators on display, available for purchase with crypto, credit card or cash. Perhaps ironically, Square blocked our account mid-event, so we announced our dilemma to the crowd (cue raucous laughter) and continued on unscathed, albeit with credit card scratched off the list of payment options.
IN THE MEDIA
LCB wrote another opinion piece for StartupSmart, this time looking at the complicated relationship between trust and privacy in the world of online dating. The article was conveniently published just hours before her talk on The Future of Trust at Pause Fest. Read it here.
StartupSmart also reported on the release of the intimate.io crypto payment gateway to celebrate Valentines Day. They even slipped in a sneaky mention about Square blocking the intimate.io account so we couldn’t accept credit card payments in return for vibrators anymore. Read it here.
XBIZ made an announcement about our product release too. Read it here.
Jessica Klein at Breaker Mag also gave us a Valentines Day shout-out, making special mention to our partners at Smile Makers and their ethical approach to designing and distributing sexual wellness products. Read it here.
Respected Australian blockchain lawyer and old friend of intimate.io, Michael Bacina, wrote a fantastic article about us on LinkedIn. LCB gifted him a Smile Maker, paying for it out of her own stash of ITM, for which he was obviously impressed. Read it here or see the screenshot below.
LCB also recorded podcast interviews with 2SER, Digital Noir and the Blockchain Pro Podcast by Adriana Belotti. Those recordings haven’t been released yet, but we’ll let you know when they do.
Until next month, lovers xxx
