Q1 2023 Progress Report
Dear Pundians,
Thank you for joining our Q1 2023 Progress Report. Those who couldn’t join it live can watch the video version by visiting our YouTube Channel.
XPOS development
Pundi X Chain Validators
The Pundi X Chain Validators run full nodes and participate in consensus by broadcasting votes that contain cryptographic signatures. The community has already participated in securing validators, and the DAO voting mechanism is now live on the Pundi X Chain. Validators will be able to vote on behalf of those who delegated their PUNDIX tokens to them, and the controlling power of Pundi X Chain is now in the hands of the community.
Binance Pay on XPOS
Pundi X has secured a partnership with Binance Pay, which allows users to pay and accept crypto payments on XPOS. It’s been a long discussion and a huge win for our merchants around the globe.
Pundi X Physical Stores
In South Africa, we have some exciting developments happening in terms of crypto payments. There is a new physical NFT art gallery that has started accepting crypto payments using XPOS, and we have more stores coming up in South Africa. The crypto payment activities in South Africa seem very active, and we hope to share more exciting news with you guys in Q2 and Q3.
We also have some physical exchanges opening up in Turkey, and you can check out the Pundi X Türkiye Twitter updates for more information. The new store opened on April 1, and it’s also very exciting news for us because these exchanges in shopping malls create a lot of transaction volume for XPOS.
Pundi X in Canada
We’ve just announced that Pundi X is now registered as a money service business with FINTRAC in Canada. This is a significant step for us to be able to offer services in Canada legally and officially, and we’re excited about it. Our legal team has put in a lot of efforts to make this happen, and it’s beneficial for our existing merchants in Canada so that we can continue offering service to them. If you’re in Canada, reach out to us so that we can introduce you to our distributor and allow you to buy and sell crypto in a physical location.
Statistics about XPOS transactions in Q1 2023
We also posted a quiz asking who the top five countries are that use crypto pay, and they are Türkiye, Uganda, Uruguay, South Africa, and Brazil. The top tokens used are USDT, PUNDIX, FX ETH, and BTC.
It’s interesting to note that from the Crypto Pay statistics, holders are selling their USDT into local fiat so that they can use it locally for necessities, especially in Türkiye, where there were recent crypto donations following the earthquake.
This is not only practical for local residents but also for tourists who can convert their cryptocurrency into fiat to use in the country. It’s great to see crypto being used for such important purposes.
USDT is on top because some of our markets convert their local fiat to US dollars in the form of USDT, seeing it as a way to protect their wealth.
For Crypto sales, which is the buying and selling of crypto, the top five countries are Türkiye, Uganda, Uruguay, Brazil, and Canada, with Türkiye leading the way. The top tokens for crypto sales are USDT, ETH, BTC, BNB, and PUNDIX.
PURSE Update
PURSE is the loyalty token in the Pundi X ecosystem and can be earned by delegating PUNDIX on Pundi X Chain as delegation rewards.
PURSE is now not only on Pancake Swap, but also on fxswap.io.
Aside from swapping, PURSE can also be used to redeem NFTs and participate in redemption campaigns. These campaigns aim to maximize the value of PURSE tokens for users.
In January, there was a redemption campaign for Amazon gift cards. Users could spend 1,000 $PURSE to get $10 worth of Amazon gift cards. In February, there was a League of Legends redemption campaign, and in March, a redemption campaign for Minecraft gift cards was held.
Let us know your suggestions for other gift cards you would like to redeem by following PURSE token on Twitter.
The circulating supply of PURSE can be viewed on www.pursetoken.com, where users can also stake their tokens and claim rewards by providing liquidity. After delegating PUNDIX tokens, it’s essential to make the best use of PURSE tokens for these campaigns.
Events
Pundi X in Mobile World Congress
We’ve been attending events for several years now, but unfortunately, COVID-19 disrupted our plans. Recently, we attended MWC in Barcelona, where we participated in a panel discussion with Coinbase and Bit2Me about cryptocurrency adoption. It was a great opportunity for us, and we’re excited to see what new opportunities may arise from it.
Crypto in Web3 panel in Indonesia
We also participate in events in Indonesia through our partnership with the Blockchain Association of Indonesia, of which Pundi X is one of the founding members.
In Indonesia, the Commodities Regulatory Board lists Pundi X Token as a tradable crypto asset on licensed exchanges, which shows our level of involvement and founding member with the Blockchain Association of Indonesia. This is just one example of the work we do in the country.
Festivals in Japan
Our team in Japan is actively promoting Pundi X in events and educating people about Bitcoin through publications.
Pundi X Türkiye distributor promoted crypto donations to the earthquake victims
Unfortunately, there was an earthquake in Türkiye which affected not just the residents but also some of our merchants, but we are grateful for our distributor, who waived their transaction fees and promoted local charity organizations to help the country rebuild. Together with our distributor, we had a crypto donation activity in February. Though this donation event has ended, there are other charity projects going on, and we encourage the crypto community to support Türkiye during this difficult time.
Q2 2023 Outlook
In terms of our accomplishments, we were able to solve a challenge that allowed us to increase our transaction volume on XPOS. We also integrated a third-party crypto payment channel through Binance Pay, which allows users to spend crypto on XPOS using the Binance app. Additionally, we opened the public validator slots for Pundi X chain and encouraged users to help secure the chain.
Looking ahead to Q2, the presales of p(x)Card, a decentralized card for use on XPOS, is done, and we will continue improving the XPOS merchant portal. We also aim to make XPOS compatible with other third-party POS device models.
Lifpay BTC reward campaign
We have a new BTC reward campaign starting this Wednesday, April 12, 2023 for a week till the 18th in collaboration with LifPay, a custodial wallet operating on Bitcoin Lightning Network. XPOS merchants can register with us and receive a QR code for their customers to download LifPay wallet. Merchants will receive two USD worth of BTC sats for every new user registration, and there’s no limit to how many rewards they can get. Users can also receive BTC rewards if they deposit 50,000 sats to their LifPay wallets. We welcome feedback for this trial campaign and hope to have more campaigns in the future.
If you are a Pundi X merchant and you are interested in participating, please fill out this form to join: https://forms.gle/KN6DXSJzNL8QzPZL9
Q&A:
- What are the costs of building a store similar to (the ones) in Turkey?
A: It is suggested to drop an inquiry to us for more details. Our partners and distributors work with us to build stores in their local markets, and with the current banking crisis, we see an increase in transaction volume in our stores. This is an interesting sign that when banks reject online exchanges, people turn to offline venues like our exchange stores to acquire crypto. Despite the events of this year, it has unintentionally benefited our business of getting into offline stores and allowing people to buy, sell or spend crypto like buying a bottle of water. The physical location of our stores gives people the confidence to do crypto transactions, especially those who may not be tech-savvy. We offer various options for people to do crypto transactions in our stores, including support for Pundi XWallet, third-party blockchain wallets, and the Binance app.
2. Do you guys plan to offer additional service at these locations as you go forward?
A: The focus of our stores is to allow people to buy and sell crypto, with each store having a different specialization based on its location. We do not plan to offer additional services in these locations at this time.
3. Is it possible to convert people’s paychecks automatically through our services?
A: Yes. People can go to the store with cash or do a bank transfer, depending on the country’s payment channels. During the salary day of every month in the countries we serve, we see a pickup in people using the store. Take a photo of our stores in your respective countries.
4. How money service business is defined in Canada?
A: FINTRAK defines MSB as an organization offering services such as foreign exchange, remittance, virtual currency, etc. and has a place of business in Canada. This means that XPOS is able to conduct business in Canada.
5. Will you develop the mobile XPOS? And also will you do e-commerce API.
A: In Q1, we released the lab version of the mobile XPOS, and we’re collecting feedback from our distributors and merchants to improve its functionality. We haven’t added NFC features to interact with p(x)Cards or XPASS cards yet, but we plan to add more functionality in the near future and open it for public testing.
As for e-commerce, there is a demand from our distributors and merchants, and we’re estimating the demand before moving forward with the project. We want to build with the merchants in mind and focus on their needs.
6. Stacks is building on the top of Bitcoin to expand DeFi on the Bitcoin network. Have you guys thought about adding Stacks to XPOS?
A: As a team, we take careful consideration when integrating new solutions, particularly when it comes to the maturity and frequency of usage. We spent several years observing the growth of Lightning Network before integrating it, ensuring its reliability for mainstream users. We cannot afford mistakes or pending transactions. Thus, before launching any brand-new technology, we thoroughly test it to ensure its viability for our users. Rest assured that we will evaluate any new technology before launching it on our platform.
7. To develop on Pundi X Chain?
A: We are currently focused on improving Pundi X chain by integrating a governance voting system. Although there may be opportunities to incorporate Stacks, we first need to explore how we can leverage the usage of XPOS on the Pundi X chain. As we are also busy with our retail and backend system, the development of the Pundi X chain has been slow, but we appreciate the feedback and will definitely look into it as there may be a good opportunity there.
8. Plan on getting a license in Hong Kong?
A: Regarding Hong Kong, we are closely monitoring the recent opening up of retail investors to buy crypto. We have explored two possibilities, which are to obtain a license directly or work with companies that have the license. The second option is to onboard Pundi X Token onto those partners so that retail investors from Hong Kong and Greater China can acquire Pundi X Token directly on brokerage firms. However, we are not confirming or promising anything at this moment.
9. Are you opening stores in UK?
A: We have received requests to deploy XPOS in the UK, but as the UK requires a license, it takes a long time to obtain one. We will prioritize working with local companies that have already secured the license. Therefore, we will work with clients who have secured the license to deploy XPOS in the UK.
Thank you for joining the session, please stay healthy and safe, and we will see you in the next progress report!
Sincerely,
Pundi X Team
