From a service website to a new cryptocurrency, an exciting adventure.
Discussion with Niamkey Kouamé, founder of the start up SERVICOO in Toulouse, France.
1.Can you talk about your website and more generally about your project?
So first thank you for interviewing me. I’m Niamkey, the founder of Servicoo. Our website was built in the beginning of 2018. And since then, we upgraded the website regularly during the time. Today we have a community of around 500 subscribers. What is so special about our website is that people are able to exchange services like home services, office services or whatever, in addition of that they can pay each other without any fees and receive the money instantly with tokens that we call Servicoins.
2. Do they pay only with Servicoins?
There are different options actually. They can pay with a credit card also, but when they pay with that, they can take like up to 9 percent fee on the payment. There is another option. People can come to the website and buy some tokens (Servicoins). At this step the website will take like 6 percent fee on the fact that they bought our Servicoins. After that, the person who holds the Servicoins will be able to use them on the platform without any fees on the transactions and the money is received instantly.
And I just want to precise that one Servicoin is equal to one cent of euro. So this is how we use our website to help people to match each other for any services like homemade services, babysitting, cleaning services. The last one is the service that we have the most.
3. Why did you start this project? What is the reason?
One day me and a friend were talking about helping people, having like different services for a while. We were thinking why not combining all our ideas? Trying to build something thanks to technology so that people can help each other by making money.
So that’s how we started building servicoo.com and it went further than that… We thought about what is the biggest option for this kind of platform? There is a payment issue: meaning people need secure and faster payments. And now we are able to do that ! There is another thing : people without bank account can’t use these kind of platforms because they need bank account, they need credit.
So we said why not building something that can help them. Our answer was to create the Servicoins to help people in paying each other without high fees, instantly.
And now we want to go even further. We want our tokens to become a cryptocurrency so that people around the world would be able to use different kind of platforms. So we are thinking to build a wallet on mobile phones and with this wallet people would be able to connect the wallet to different platforms with bank accounts or without bank accounts!
4. Ah ok so once it becomes a cryptocurrency we would use it on any websites?
Exactly. We can see how it works already on our website. Each person who subscribed to our website has instantly an digital wallet. On the dashboard we can see two currencies : euros and Servicoins. Servicoins are currently managed by our internal code and it’s not on the blockchain yet. So we are building different solution step by step to reach the point when our Servicoins will become a cryptocurrency. And we are looking for fundings to try to do it in a better way.
5. How do you create a cryptocurrency in a practical way? Cryptocurrencies work with expensive technologies to set up calculations, blockchains, mining processes involving ASIC (Application-specific integrated circuit) etc…
Yes of course we need fundings because it is a big project. The second thing you talk about is all the other stuff we need for that. Building a blockchain in theory is not something really complicated.
The first skill to master is cryptography. So we need someone with some skills in cryptography. The second is I.T. technology. And the third thing is an understanding how game theories work. So by combining the three sciences we can build a blockchain.
Technically, we need a system that will help you to decentralize decisions in different ledgers that would be immutable. That’s how we build the blockchain. Now we can go further, there is a number of different technologies and algorithms running in different directions so it’s more complex than that.
So yes we need fundings because you talk about ASICs and the calculations and whatever. That is a specific type of blockchain, when you speak about proof of work. Proof of work is an algorithm. This algorithm creates nodes, each person corresponding to a node. So these nodes, to be able to work on the network in order to validate transactions, need technologies like graphic cards which are used in the case of proof of work, also in some other cases but they are rarer than that. We also need a lot of computing power.
But note that our blockchain is based on a “delegated proof-of-stake” which is faster, more energy efficient and so environmentally friendly.
“Building a blockchain in theory is not something really complicated.”
6. You told me previously that actually you are thinking about creating 2 cryptocurrencies which will work together. Can you explain?
That’s what we are currently working on. We are working on a network that one named “Servichain” which is an economic and a democratic system using two cryptocurrencies.
The first cryptocurrency is called Virgo, it is an investment token, but people will have also a decision power on the network and that will enable them to have dividends in Servicoins. So by keeping the Virgos they can do what we call stakings. Each year an amount of Servicoins will be issued from the Virgos and so, the Servicoins will be a stable coin equal to one cent of euro. So why one cent of euro? Because Servicoins will be also useful for poor countries.
7. It will be possible to exchange the amount of stakings with Virgos ?
The minimum to start the staking process with your coins is one hundred thousand Virgos. From these stakings for the first year a person will have 100% dividends, corresponding to one hundred thousand Servicoins generated from the staking.
We are planning to decrease by two points each year the amount of gains from stakings. Because we believe that Virgo is a good investment, the price will increase during the time, it will take more value. At the end people will use different services online in a transparent, safe and reliable economy.
Why I say that? Our blockchain is kind of special because we are building a hybrid blockchain. A hybrid blockchain is a combination between a private blockchain and a public blockchain.
They are 3 importants points about that :
First is the safety of the data, meaning we can keep the most sensitive data in a private blockchain, we keep them safe because they are cut from the network.
Secondly, we can make faster transactions.
And thirdly, some data are protected offline (cold storage) and can’t be accessible without permission.
By showing or registering the transactions on the public blockchain, we can watch all the network and how the money is managed. So at the end the target is to build a new reliable and sustainable economy for everyone and so people will be able to take profit from the online economy without any hindrances.
“At the end people will use different services online in a transparent, safe and reliable economy.”
8. It’s interesting because normally a state doesn’t have any control on cryptocurrencies. Before the state had a monopoly on fiat money. But now in some countries like Turkey or Venezuela created their own cryptocurrency. Do you think in the future this freedom to create cryptocurrencies will end and the states will take over again?
I believe that cryptocurrencie’s end is not now. They will stay a longer. The thing is that it’s gonna evolve. So we don’t know what will be the next blockchain. People are already talking about DAG (Directed acyclic graph). That’s the another thing I would like to explore, to make some research and that is another kind of blockchain. Or IOTA, a cryptocurrency based on Tangle, it is about machines communicating and making transfers with each other. Crazy stuffs are already coming.
According to how economy, politics and education is today I’m not sure that states will be able to catch up with this. It’s going too fast and they’re taking too long to make decisions. In Europe even if things are becoming better and it’s going a bit faster the decision process is still too long.
I wrote a thesis about how e-economy is different according to different continents. That’s why I’m talking about that. I think governments have to solve some problems in order to go faster if they want to catch up with that because it’s going too fast.But I think even if they catch up with it, they cannot stop it you know.
Let’s take an example. You have three solutions when you’re in front of something that you don’t want.
The first thing is that you kill that thing. And we can see it didn’t succeed to kill the Bitcoin. They tried.
The second thing is that this thing can kill you.
But there is a third option. It is that you match with this thing and both of you will become one entity. So I think that’s what is happening. States or banks are trying to catch and match with new technologies.
“According to how economy, politics and education is today I’m not sure that states will be able to catch up with this.”
9. The law is not really precise about cryptocurrencies there is no clear definition so how do you inform yourself?
You know I’m a risk taker. There is a big gap in the legislation. But this gap is becoming smaller and smaller. So that’s how we create innovation. Sometimes law can stop innovation, but also law can create an ecosystem for future innovations.
So I think people will be able to take the benefits from these new technologies. Cryptocurrency are opening a new financial system for people.
10. What is the next step in your project?
We are launching the second version of our platform (www.servicoo.com) with new features and some improved features like the P to P payment system.Also, this new version will bring more information about the Servicoin development and Servichain network, so our community will have more and more news about how we are evolving with our development.
And currently we are working very hard to build a sustainable tokenomics, a reel economy based on our tokens and we are looking to raise funds.
11. How many people are working on this project?
Today we are a team of five persons. There is Quentin Miranda, who takes care of all the operations, Teiki Larochaix who takes care of all the marketing. Kevin takes care of the I.T. part. “Nafiou” is the chief developer who is doing all this heavy stuff. Kévin and Nafiou take care of the I.T part.
By the way, if Nafiou read the interview : thank you Nafiou ! Thank you to all the team because they are doing a great job and I’m proud of them.
“And currently we are working very hard to build a sustainable tokenomics, a reel economy based on our tokens and we are looking to raise funds.”
