On February 22, 2019, Tim Bos held an AMA on our YouTube channel. Here are a few highlights of what was covered and discussed.
Blockchain development:
- Updating the tender-mint consensus engine to the most recent version that was released in December/January.
- The business logic is done, we are just testing the components one by one.
- What has been finished in the blockchain.
- The bookings, SharePay payments, SharePay to SHR conversions, KYC on the blockchain and ability to create custom tokens.
App development:
- The final screens are completed, we are implementing them into iOS and Android.
- We have also completed the screens for the Merchant dashboard as well as finalised the token fee for the Merchants.
- Exciting new addition to the app,
- We are working with booking aggregators that will allow users to book hotels, car rentals, etc. directly through the ShareRing app
- Those same companies will be able to advertise directly through us as well
Token flow update:
- How merchants can actually buy ShareTokens and how they can spend ShareToken to do transactions on the network
- When a user comes through the app, they make a booking through the merchant. When the user spends 100 SharePay to rent something on the app, the merchant will then receive that 100 SharePay. To facilitate the transaction, the merchant will need to pay us transaction fees.
- By doing this, we take the equivalent of the transaction fee in SharePay (example could be 10 cents), take the fee and turn it into SharePay. We then go to an exchange and buy that fee worth of SharePay in ShareToken on behalf of the merchant. This is automatically done using an API we have implemented.
- We take that fee, once turned into ShareToken and distribute it to the Masternode holders.
- By doing this, we are creating constant liquidity for the token and drives volume for the token on any exchange.
Sales update:
- We are exceeding expectations for sales, have a number of strategic accounts and BSPs that we are heading up and getting on board.
- In the last few months, we have been working on refining our direct sales model to bring these businesses on board as more direct providers to actually book their assets on our platform and not just list on the directory
Tim also announced a new strategic partner, gave a tour of the Development office and showed a live update of the app functionality, as well as the new screens and blockchain explorer!
Our Masternode competitions were announced, which you can find details about the first one here and the second one here.
General Questions:
Do you expect more exchanges to list the token before the release of the app end of March?
- Yes, we are working through that at the moment. We know there have been a lot of countries that cannot buy through DX that want to. We are talking to a few, so stay tuned.
Many months ago, there was a plan to buy holiday houses / villas to rent out through ShareRing to shareholders. Is this still the plan? Any updates on this?
- Yes it still is. We need to launch the product first, get liquidity through token first and then we will start rolling out plans for that.
From what date can we expect marketing to kick off? What kind of marketing can we expect? Will it be global or also local focused on the first countries that will work with the app?
- There’s three types of marketing we are doing. Marketing plan that is getting kicked off very soon, one side is around merchants that is more of a direct sales model, and refining our messaging around that. Now that we have that done, Rohan’s job is to start bringing on more sales people to start pushing, whether it is direct people who work for us or we will go out to the community to start paying commission on companies they bring on.
- Other marketing is to bring people on the app itself, we have engaged with a company in Sydney to start doing this, broad marketing. Some of our partners and merchants will be marketing our platform and product as part of their standard promotional marketing material. We have a whole department dedicated to that.
After the app release what will be the next major big thing you’re looking forward to in Q2, Q3 and Q4?
- After the app release, the next big part for us is how to handle the actual booking.
- More around integration with these third party providers, we are looking to some standardised booking engines and integrating with them more closely. Making sure the process is a lot smoother, and launching new packaged products.
What is the most pressing technical issue that the company is facing at the moment — what is the tech problem that your developers are spending the most time on?
- The most pressing thing at the moment is the tender-mint update. We need to migrate all our changes back into the latest version of the tender-mint. Means we need to retest everything we’ve already done, but will be the right path.
If you could list the top three business problems that ShareRing is working to solve (not solved, but working towards a solution) what would those be?
- The identity management- the ability to provide identity without putting users identity at risk and ability to check beforehand
- The payment system- since we are using SharePay we are able to settle in local currency, it removes any charge backs they get
- The ability to bring more customers to these businesses by being on the app.
Understanding the role the dual coins have at the moment, what is the longer term roadmap for the tokens?
- In terms of the tokens itself, have SharePay as multi-currency stable coin- so instead of just being pegged to USD, it may be pegged to any local currency (SharePay AU, SharePay EU, etc.).
- What we eventually want to do, is once enough people transact using SharePay and remove the peg- very long term plan
- Our ShareToken will always remain the utility token of the platform, but we will also be opening up the ability for people to create their own token whether it be a reward token, their own payment token or something else or a mixture of the above. We are already talking about creating two reward tokens.
Can you explain your plan for fees? Last time it was mentioned I estimated very roughly that they might be around 0.5% on average. Feels like this is way too low and could be higher to allow for more marketing funds. Are there plans to ramp them up in the future like 3% for example?
- We have released a schedule for the BSP in terms of what the plans are for them. The fee structure is fees that go into the blockchain itself is about 1–2% that go into blockchain and Masternode holders.
- Then fees that cover marketing transaction costs in terms of credit card fees- 5–15% depending on provider and how much marketing we do for that provider as well. Good fee structure that allows us to funnel the business, market those clients and create liquidity on the token itself.
How will the main-net token swap work? Will we have to access our tokens at the end of March, or is it ok to put our ERC20 tokens into cold storage?
- Put tokens into cold storage, one thing we are in process of developing is ability to have interchangeable ERC-20 token in our main-net so part of cosmos is being able to create a peg zone, where you can move your ERC-20 tokens where you want. It is something we are planning, but hasn’t started development yet.
What are the main reasons for choosing to list solely on DX.Exchange to begin with?
- Why we chose DX.Exchange is because they do proper USD pairings, allows us to use the API to regularly use and buy in USD on the exchange.
- This creates a demand for the token as well, creating a true utility out of ShareToken. Their API is very easy to use, and we can do proper USD and proper fiat trading in multiple currencies as well.
What do you expect the sphere to look like a year from now?
- At the moment, in terms of growing a year from now we should be close to critical mass in two cities and then will have some very much increased usage on the platform which should have probably a few thousand providers which you can actually book from and 5–6 strategic partners that are well known names in the industry
Are there still plans for a staking/leasing app?
- Yes, will be incorporated into standard ShareRing app, part of your wallet. In progress now.
Will there be a SHR wallet ready for main-net?
App itself will operate as a wallet, so you can hold SHR token through the app.
