Packaging the Experience: Kin Ecosystem Upcoming Version Release

“Today, other than buying and selling crypto tokens, blockchain applications are clunky and hard to use…When entrepreneurs figure out how to package up blockchain applications so that they are fun and easy to use, I think we will see them take off…It is one thing to develop a technology that is superior to the current offerings, but entirely another thing to make it usable by most people.”

— Fred Wilson

The Kin Ecosystem SDK will be one of the first to enable users to use cryptocurrency in real time, on blockchain. There’s no service today that offers users a blockchain experience like this–especially while simultaneously allowing developers to experiment with main-net transactions and tokens in a seamless, no-friction way.

Our next task is to take the leap and bridge the transition from raw technology to the next phase–in which we’ll introduce new ways of using Kin (at scale) to everyday users.

So, where are we now in this process?

There are two joint efforts we have worked on this quarter. Successful merging both endeavors is helping us reach our goals:

1. Wrapping the blockchain complexity (account creation, transactions) in a compelling package and offering digital services an easy way to integrate crypto experiences without the hassle of dealing with blockchain directly.
2. Building a user experience that will expose users to the Kin token and allow them to earn and spend from the moment they enter the ecosystem.

In short — we are packaging the experience as a service so it’s easy for developers to integrate and easy for users to engage with. (Look out for an upcoming post from Yohay, our Technical Domain Owner, that will explain our technical challenges and solutions along the way.)

A developer site is also in the works and will be announced soon for our partners to review tutorials and technical documentation.

Kin’s next major release will take place at the end of Q1, and will see the completion of the “5-minute” Ecosystem SDK (with integrated on-boarding and marketplace experiences).

We have discussed the problems that we are trying to solve for Kin’s product vision in previous posts. Now that we are almost ready with our latest version, it’s a good opportunity to pause review both where we are, and where we are going, with the development and rollout of each of the five following areas of the product in ongoing development (and prioritized based on research and feedback).

• 5-minute SDK Marketplace for “out-of-the-box” earn/spend
• Native APIs for earn/spend or P2P transactions
• A gradual growth of active users within digital service partners and supporting large scalability
• Additional earn/spend marketplace experiences
• Advanced wallet functionality (backup, transfers)

Q1 Review: Let’s sum it all up

The question that has been guiding us during the last few sprints is:

What do we need to build in order to test our hypothesis in the market, with real users and using real time main-net blockchain transactions?

When planning this version, we worked closely with the Kin partnership, community, and development teams to identify the places where there’s an opportunity to innovate and provide a unique solution. We have added new experiences for earn and spend and adjusted the product to support larger transactions at scale.

We believe that going to the market with a new uploaded version as fast as possible will allow us to move much more quickly towards our goal. This also helps us see our Kin Ecosystem SDK product vision truly come to life!

Integrating the Ecosystem SDK in Kik

The SDK we are releasing for Kik at the end of March is the first iteration of the product that will run on Stellar’s blockchain. The scope of the test is to learn users’ behavior, test the technical integration flow (in order to optimize it for the next partner), and confirm our assumptions.

Our target as a development team working in short sprints is to start a feedback loop as soon as possible. We develop and release new versions, monitor performance in production, and optimize the next release version.

The stages we follow in the Kin Ecosystem project:

1. Defining the problem/solution fit. We have conducted research with users and digital services, and we studied the learnings from Kik Points and IPLV1 in order to define the best solution possible. With all of this information we have concluded that the first Stellar SDK will include an on-boarding service and out of the box earn and spend opportunities. It’s the first critical step in getting everyday users to start earning and spending with Kin.
2. Establishing a product/market fit. This will be our biggest challenge upon completing successful integration with Kik. We need to evaluate the data and usage metrics. We also need to understand customer behaviour and how or if we’re providing the value we aimed to deliver. Did we solve the problem or prove our assumptions? Do we have a fit? Are we ready to scale?
3. Scaling the use of Kin functionality. Once we have studied all the data and adjusted the product, we will tackle the next task (and we will keep you posted as we progress). We will achieve this by improving the infrastructure, growing the offerings on the marketplace, and working closely with our digital service partners on the best native experiences for their users (earn, spend, and P2P) all by using the Ecosystem SDK.

As the product gains high adoption rates and a widespread network affect we will continue to innovate, learn, and evolve in order to maintain and grow the Kin Ecosystem.