Why I joined Plutus?

Personal Background & Experience

My career has been a versatile one but for a long time I have been attracted to blockchain technology and the applicable use-cases. I graduated with an Economics degree and I am an alumni of the Blockchain Strategy Programme at Oxford University (Saïd Business School). As a nascent adopter of Bitcoin when price point was a mere £204, I am intrigued by its potential and continue to learn how emerging technologies could bring momentum and advancement to our existing socio-economy.

I have a diverse background across asset management, blockchain, product and tech having previously worked as a senior investment analyst for two family offices within legacy financial service; my focus was on global macro research, asset allocation and trading. I then transitioned from here into venture capital-backed products which really gravitated me towards my future career progression.

My last role was Senior Product Owner at a London-based digital asset exchange, BlockExMarkets, where I was responsible for building their blockchain-based tokenisation product and user acquisition. BlockExMarkets also had a Digital Bond Service that was selected for the 4th cohort of FCA regulatory sandbox. I am now part of another London, blockchain-based financial product that is Plutus.

Plutus 1.0

Plutus is a London based payments platform built on and enabled by blockchain. We bring financial mobility to the masses in a data and human-driven way. I feel excited to join Plutus at a point where they are scaling, and as an entity offer attributes essential to the cryptocurrency market that are yet to be achieved by anyone. This, to me, is an opportunity to be part of a team re-thinking the way digital currencies are used for everyday purposes.

We combine our payments system that integrates into an existing payment infrastructure, with a decentralised exchange (PlutusDEX) that facilitates crypto-fiat trading pairs in a non-custodial manner. Users can seamlessly convert crypto into a fiat bank balance and use converted funds for spending anywhere with a contactless payments terminal via the Plutus Debit Card or Plutus Tap & Pay mobile app. This bridges the two, increasingly overlapping, monetary systems and overcomes the time-consuming process of merchant adoption, a process necessary for cryptocurrencies to perform as an exchange of value.

The team has delivered amazingly well on their white paper, a very rare accomplishment within the crypto ecosystem with an uber lean team. I am looking forward to bringing product, financial domain knowledge and contributions materially to the delivery of this next product phase which will expand the platform for the benefit of our end users.

Plutus 2.0

BETA versions of our services were released last year, the team is now undergoing the process of iterating our current products to greatly improve the user experience.

The app was originally designed for liquidating cryptocurrencies into a usable fiat spending balance which can then be used for everyday payments. The PlutusDEX was designed purely for the trading of these cryptocurrencies as a way of providing liquidity for the Plutus Tap & Pay app users. The Plutus 2.0 overhaul will see us adding payment functionality and completely re-designing the UI for a more efficient and seamless user experience. This upgrade will also be integrating our loyalty rewards programme, users of the service will receive up to 3% of their deposits to a Plutus spending balance back in the form of Pluton (PLU), our native utility token. These can be converted and spent on anything using the Plutus platform.

This will all be achieved without Plutus being in custody of users’ crypto assets at any point, the user will be in complete control of their funds at all times; a hugely attractive security proposition.

I will be overseeing the latest Plutus 2.0 upgrade that will transition Plutus into a multi use-case platform, greatly widening our exposure to a worldwide audience.

Plutus will enable users to:

• Trade between BTC/ETH/PLU and GBP/EUR
• Withdraw funds instantly to a bank account using SEPA
• Pay at over 400 million merchants
• Earn a reward on the blockchain
• + More in the Pipeline (to be announced shortly)

My role will involve: defining and executing the founder’s vision until it becomes a solid reality, prioritizing product backlog, driving product technical delivery, overseeing product development lifecycle, setting up data learning loops to refine the product and speaking to our community to better deliver a product aligned with user needs. From time to time, I will also get involved with the tech team in evaluating new tech stacks such as zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) that might enhance our product privacy proposition. I incorporate a science-based approach towards building products — examples include constraints of foveal acuity, task orientation and gestalt perception. I believe the products we build make up the environment we live in and the more considered they are, the better off we will be as a collective.

I am excited to embark on this ambitious but very achievable product with the savvy founding team and to work with a team of competent colleagues who have accomplished a great deal so far. I hope to deliver on Danial’s vision of the first payments platform that stays true to the decentralised culture from which the crypto sector spawned from.

Semper prorsum 🚀