Bitspark Roadmap Update April 2019 — The month of milestones
It has been a busy month at Bitspark. Not only did we launch two unique stablecoins but we also updated our web platform and successfully switched to Bitshares. It’s major milestones like these that we want to share more of by providing quarterly updates called “Bitspark Roadmap Update”. We hope it will bring more transparency to those following our project and a better way to understand Bitspark’s progress to unbanking the world.
Let’s start.
Celebrating 5 years building
Bitspark started as a two-person team helping domestic helpers in Hong Kong send money using cryptocurrency in one of the most densely populated remittance malls in the world. Fast forward 5 years through the market booms and busts and many crypto money transfer start-up deaths later, Bitspark now has a team of 15 people based in Hong Kong and Ukraine, three live products in over 5 countries and 100 000 cash out locations. It was no small feat to get here but here we are, helping people send money better without banks and at a fraction of the cost.
You can read about our journey here.
Launching two of the world’s first stablecoins, peg.PHP and Sparkdex.HKD
As you may be aware, stablecoins are a big part of Bitspark’s strategy in providing money transfers that requires no banks. Stablecoins are crucial for the money transfer industry for a few reasons:
- It provides meaningful transition from fiat currencies to crypto for the regular person.
- It removes exposure to the volatility of cryptocurrency.
- And most importantly it removes the need for banks or legacy financial systems to access financial services.
By continuing to launch stablecoins of the world’s currencies and integrating them into Bitspark’s web and app products, not only do we solve the issue of how to get people into crypto, but also the transition and access to the technology itself in a simpler way. Expect more from Bitspark in launching 180+ stablecoins pegged to the world’s currencies further down the line.
Which stablecoins would you like to see?
George, CEO and co-founder of Bitspark speaks about the launch of Sparkdex.HKD on Bloomberg here.
You can also read more about peg.PHP in a recent story by Cointelegraph.
Successful switch to Bitshares through new platform launch!
When we launched our ZEPH Rewards Token ICO in 6th of November 2017 it was a part of the Bitspark roadmap to switch to Bitshares. With our web platform newly updated, I am happy to announce that Bitspark’s products and services are now powered by Bitshares and Bitcoin!
This decision was made based on Bitshares capability to support trustless (crypto collateralized without counterpart risk) and trusted (IOU backed by trusted centralised party) stablecoins, its transaction processing speed, DEX capability and overall features that provided the stack needed to service the money transfer industry. This is a significant milestone as now not only does the Bitshares community have a new and improved interface but so does the world.
People can now easily interface with Bitshares now through Bitspark web and there are tons of things one can do;
- You can buy bitshares, bitcoin and ethereum.
- You can deposit via cash, crypto or banks.
- You can exchange between crypto and stablecoins.
- You can send stablecoins or crypto to others who have Bitspark accounts (create your Bitspark account here).
- And lots more!
The first pilot for peg.PHP
We partnered with Okra Solar to use Bitspark’s PHP stablecoin for customer bill payments and while anyone right now can log in on web and access peg.PHP, we believe that partnerships in key countries drives adoption.
Our team headed to Palawan, a remote island west of the Philippines to visit the Okra Solar team to roll out the bill payment service for the electricity micro-grids to isolated communities formerly had no access to electricity. This is important because until now, there wasn’t an easy way for these communities to pay for commercial services such as power. By simply giving them a way to pay cash for their power bill through Okra and Bitspark, communities in Palawan can now pay for their Okra electricity bill using Bitspark.
It’s projects like these that we feel passionate about and we look forward to our continued partnership with Okra Solar to provide access to financial services through cryptocurrency and electricity through solar together.
Events
This month Bitspark partnered with Blockpass to host an Unbanking the Bank with Blockchain event in Hong Kong held at the Genesis Block Co-Community space. If you weren’t able to attend, feel free to watch Bitspark’s Head of Design, Kristin Low, present what Bitspark does to get our customers blockchained.
ZEPH buyback #7 completed
As a part of ZEPH, Bitspark commits 25% of the profits from successful transactions from its money transfer network. The buybacks are at random during the month and at the end of the month a summary of the buyback is posted.
Read more about the #7 ZEPH buyback here.
What’s next?
In the coming months, we will be focusing on refining our products including the ability to become an inclusion point (this will be an opportunity to earn money by becoming a deposit and withdrawal location for Bitspark network) via the web. These exciting changes will also be replicated through the update of Bitspark’s Android App later on as we move forward.
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