Another year in crypto and we have witnessed unprecedented ATHs of Bitcoin, another halving, and institutional acceptance that many have predicted from the early cypherpunk days of Bitcoin. These are exciting times for all involved and we are proud to be part of the biggest financial revolution of the decade (and century) alongside early adopters and new risk-averse users discovering the technology.
Whether you have recently heard of Plutus or are one of our community veterans, here is an overview of 2020.
What Has Plutus Accomplished in 2020?
1) Growth
Awareness
We have seen a huge uptick in awareness of the Plutus app, something that has snowballed over the year due to the organic nature of our marketing. This year, the number of website impressions in Q4 has increased by 749% compared to the year prior. Likewise, clicks have increased by 1,160% and some of our tight-knit community channels have jumped more than 10-fold.
User Base
Whilst Bitcoin climbed meteoric amounts in value from sub $5k up to new ATH’s of $28,000+; the team has seen similar growth to our user base. Over 26,000 Plutus Accounts have now been created, which is slightly higher than our forecasts shared in our roadmap. We expect to see this rise to 150,000 users by the end of next year, each using the app for everyday payments and the benefits of its native rewards token, Pluton (PLU).
2) Product
PlutusDEX On Mobile
It is easy to overlook the significance of this.
Typically, DEXs facilitate crypto-crypto transactions, and these exchanges are very rarely seen on mobile due to technical challenges.
Plutus has built potentially the first crypto-fiat DEX and integrated this into our mobile app so users can swap assets on-the-go.
As a result, over $2.75m in value has passed through the DEX, enabling seamless in-store or online payments utilising crypto.
Pluton Rewards
This year, Pluton Rewards became a reality and Premium/Pro members have been earning 3% in crypto on every single Plutus Card purchase.
Users quickly acquired over $100,000 worth of rewards since its arrival, all without obligatory staking. The majority of our users save significantly more in rewards than the incurred monthly subscription fee for a Premium account now priced at £/€ 9.99 per month.
There are a total of 20m PLU, out of which 1.85m Pluton reward tokens have already come into circulation, and the remaining tokens are locked away only to be distributed to Plutus Card users via our 3% crypto rewards feature over many decades.
Plutus Perks
In order to deliver more value to holders of our rewards token, we released Plutus Perks; a feature that offers additional rewards in both cash and crypto (up to 15%) to those who optionally stake PLU.
We now offer huge earnings at universally popular brands such as Amazon, Apple, Sky, Nike, and more. This is another step towards increasing the utility of PLU.
This programme has evolved over the year with the introduction of External Staking in a non-custodial manner, another rarely seen and innovative addition to Plutus’ feature set.
3) Operational
Pluton Liquidity Injection Programme (PLIP)
One of the biggest priorities of 2020 was increasing awareness of the Plutus app and accessibility of our native rewards token, Pluton (PLU). In September, we launched the Pluton Liquidity Injection Programme (PLIP), a plan approved by our community that involved numerous exchange listings and the reallocation of PLU.
PlutusDEX Sale
This commenced with a sale event on our own internal PlutusDEX where 100,000 PLU was pledged for by the general public and community members. This was oversubscribed within 48hrs and extended to accommodate the demand, whereby it was oversubscribed a second time before concluding.
Listings
At the start of this year, PLU was not available on any Tier 1 exchanges as the concept for our decentralised loyalty rewards system was still in development. Since it’s release, PLU has arrived on Bitfinex, BitMax, KuCoin, and several other well-known exchanges making it largely more accessible for people to obtain and use for its in-app benefits.
What’s to Come in 2021?
Pluton Liquidity Injection Programme (PLIP)
Although PLIP is set to conclude on Jan 11th once the minimum PLU price-floor is lifted, our awareness campaign will continue. We have several more exciting Tier 1 listings, partnerships, and co-branding plans in the pipeline.
We have also successfully increased the token utility in 2020 by providing multiple money saving-features for those that stake PLU. Making PLU readily available across both internal and external markets is an important progression for the product, something which is still underway.
Prior to PLIP, the monthly conversion limit of PLU was set at £/€ 200. Since then, it has risen to £/€ 700 per month, and the daily limit set at £/€ 30 to enable everyday purchases. We will continue to evaluate and raise both these limits in the new year as the transaction frequency grows in parallel to our user base.
Expanding Internationally
Plutus has established a strong foothold in the UK/EEA market and we plan to rapidly expand our user-base within these regions. We will also be breaking into Asia and Latin America where we have seen considerable interest.
Banking License Pursuit
Obtaining a banking license and overcoming the multitude of legal red tape is a lengthy process, and Plutus has already commenced with the first steps. 2021 will involve jumping through numerous challenging hoops before reaching our long-term goal of becoming a non-custodial crypto bank the following year.
Plutus 3.0
Plutus has never been shy of delivering world-first features, and next year you can look forward to plenty of exciting ones! Here is what we plan to deliver in the first few months of 2021:
Product Features
An iteration of our current app but with a more streamlined UX and a design overhaul to support new features.
Bitcoin-Fiat DEX
Whilst ERC-20 DEX’s are commonplace, Bitcoin integration would be another rare feature to become available to all Plutus members on both the web and mobile app. Although originally planned for December, the highly anticipated Bitcoin-Fiat DEX will now be arriving in Q1.
Plutus Wallet Extension
We will be releasing our very own wallet extension. Think of this as Plutus’ very own MetaMask but with the addition of Bitcoin.
Altcoin Accessibility
Alternative blockchains other than Bitcoin and Ethereum will be connectable to the Plutus Card.
PlutusDEX Pool & Earn
Staying true to the original concept of the Plutus white paper, the PlutusDEX will enable our members to pool together to become liquidity providers and earn a percentage back in rewards.
Free EOY Gift! No Action Required
As a thank you to everyone who has joined the Plutus wave, we are sharing some free gifts. These don’t require any action from you, just sit back and enjoy the additional savings knowing you are one of the early contributors.
PlutusDEX Participation Bonus Reward
As a sign of appreciation to everyone who participated in the PlutusDEX token sale, we are giving away the equivalent of 3% of the 100,000 PLU sold this October as a gift from Plutus Development Fund. 3,000 PLU will be distributed on a pro-rata basis to the Pluton Rewards section of your dashboard where it will be staked for 90-days to unlock Plutus Perks benefits before moving to ‘Available’ for withdrawal or external staking.
You will receive a proportion of this 3,000 PLU bonus PLU based on how much you pledged for during the 2020 PlutusDEX sale. Only those with a Plutus account will be eligible for these rewards in the near-term.
Double-December Rewards
We haven’t forgotten about our early supporters and card holders. Any PLU that our Premium/Pro members have validly earned for everyday spending via the 3% Pluton Rewards feature for the month of December (01–31st Dec 2020) will be doubled.
Rookie January Rewards
For members that have recently received their cards but are yet to make a deposit, we’ll match your first card deposit of up to £/€ 30 in PLU and add it to your ‘Pending’ balance. Members have until 10th Jan 2021 at 23:59 pm GMT to make their first Plutus Card top-up in order to be eligible.
Important Notes
- All bonus rewards will be awarded before 23:59 pm GMT on 11th January 2021.
- All bonus rewards will arrive in ‘Pending’ section of your PLU Rewards balance for 90-days before being moved to ‘Available’.
- All awarded bonus PLU will count towards staking to unlock the additional benefits of Plutus Perks.
- For regions that Plutus is scheduled to launch in (i.e. Asia and Latin America regions), your share of the above benefits will become available at a later date.
- Regions that are not supported by the Plutus app will not be eligible for the above-mentioned bonus rewards.
Amazon Promotion Extension
We recently unveiled a promotional Christmas offer allowing those who stake 600 PLU to earn 10% crypto rewards on all Amazon purchases. This Perk was set to finish on 31st December but it will now be extended to the 31st January to benefit holders of the token.
Full details and terms can be found here: https://medium.com/plutus/bonus-perk-10-rewards-on-all-amazon-purchases-christmas-2020-bf2ffa67e05b
Thank you/Stay Tuned!
Our lean team of 12 has grown to 18 this year and we will certainly be keeping the momentum going. This year has been successful in putting Plutus on the map, and we cannot stress enough how grateful we are for those who have joined us on the journey.
Thank you and stay tuned for a big year ahead!
The Plutus Team
To remain in-the-know about some incredibly exciting prospects brewing behind-the-scenes, follow us across our various channels.
- Website: https://plutus.it/
- Blog: https://medium.com/plutus
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/plutus
- Telegram: https://t.me/plutus_group
- Discord: https://discord.com/invite/JRzs7YQ
