You asked, we answered 2: The Return of the AMA

When you’re running a truly open company, that lives for its community, answering questions is second nature. The last time we did an AMA, we promised we would be doing more. Promises made, promises kept.

This time, our co-founder and CSO Nuno Correia was joined by our Head of Customer Success Jorge Rebelo (special appearance by CEO Sanja Kon!). The AMA was hosted by Dr. Luke, in a repeat appearance, and it was as lively as it was interesting.

Reverse staking and compound yield are changing the game

The first thing Nuno answers is a question about the brand new features Utrust has announced, reverse staking and compound yield. We have a whole article about that, so you can get all the details. It’s complete with a real world example and everything.

The point of these features is to allow merchants to earn money while accepting payments, instead of losing it through myriad fees. It’s revolutionary because it also gives merchants a little bit of Utrust in the form of our tokens, so they’ll feel a part of the company, and have some skin in the game.

“You know, if you have your money in the bank account, now you will have to pay, you’ll lose money because the interest rates are negative. But if you have on a DeFi platform, or centralized platform that obviously gives yield, you are making money.” Nuno Correia

Elon and settlements in crypto

You may have heard about Tesla. Do you know them? The small electric car company from the US? Right. Those guys. Well, they are accepting Bitcoin now. The second question of the night is regarding whether this has led Utrust to start providing merchants with settlements in crypto. Jorge takes this one, and he doesn’t hesitate: yes it did.

A number of merchants have always been hesitant to settle in digital currencies. It’s normal. It’s a new tech. It’s fair enough that people don’t instantly trust it. Elon’s role as an evangeliser has been decisive to change people’s hearts and minds, and Tesla’s move to accept Bitcoin has definitely affected enough merchants for Utrust to unveil this feature.

“Up until now, many merchants were only requesting [settlements in fiat] for fear. They were totally, totally scared of settling in crypto. This was not something that we had demand for. But, thankfully, Elon Musk changed the game.” Jorge Rebelo

New markets and new marketing

Jorge and Nuno both then speak about Utrust’s expansion. Utrust, and the Hold app will indeed be looking to expand to new markets. This is a given. It will happen. And Nuno also takes this moment to dedicate a few words to our new CMO, Pedro, who will be unveiling a pretty ambitious new marketing strategy.

You should look forward to that.

Utrust intends to be everywhere.

“Most likely, a lot of our community members will see our advertisement all over the place, probably in June, after better implementing one of the strategies that he has in mind. I’m very excited about that.” Nuno Correia

The funding of Utrust

Simple question: does Utrust have the funds to be ambitious?

Simple answer: Yes. Nuno has no doubts, and he doesn’t hesitate. Utrust is a well funded company, and is in no rush to seek more financing. If we do, which is definitely on the table, it will be from a position of comfort, to seek the ability to grow better and/or faster. We want to pick our fellow travelers and partners, and never be in a position where we are forced to accept offers.

“When it comes to the health of our company, we are quite, quite healthy. Thank God, it’s not a concern. And we also are growing a lot, so our members also allow us to raise capital at any moment if we need to.” Nuno Correia

Are PayPal and Visa being mean to Utrust?

Sometimes we come across people who seem to believe that PayPal and Visa entering the crypto space is a concern for Utrust. That it will hurt UTK.

We don’t believe that for a second. We celebrated when they did!

One of the biggest hurdles for adoption, as we’ve mentioned before, is that a lot of traditional merchants don’t instinctively trust this tech. With big brands like PayPal and Visa endorsing it? That’s a whole different ball game.

And when people start learning about blockchain, and start understanding the advantages of a truly on-chain platform like Utrust, legit pioneers of this space and digital currency natives… there’s no comparison.

Is Utrust going public?

Short answer: It’s too soon to tell.

Better answer:

“Coinbase took 10 years to go public. We might take even more. I don’t know. I’m not concerned about that. Now my concern is to make Utrust huge, without being public. And then if we need to go public to raise more money and to grow the business even more… Sure, why not. “ Nuno Correia

Hiring around the world

We were asked if Utrust planned to hire people from elsewhere. The truth is, Utrust is already working with people from around the world in different capacities. We were always a remote-friendly company, and even Sanja Kon herself, our CEO, started out from London. The pandemic accelerated this, and it’s not changing.

Compound yield for holders, yea or nay?

Short answer: nay.

Better answer:

“The wallet is more focused on payments. That’s in line with what Utrust does, rather than being a passive investment tool. For that, I think there are great apps out there that can do that. For example, our partners at SwissBorg have a fantastic app if you want your capital to just sit there and be worked on. That’s cool. But I don’t think we’re going in that direction anytime soon.“ Nuno Correia

How about more currencies? MORE? FOREVER?

Well, yes, there will be more. Assuredly. We need to figure out which, and the timings, but yes, there will be more.

Pinky promise.

• *technical issues**

(this had nothing to do with Nuno’s daughter turning off his Internet. NOTHING at all. We entirely deny these allegations)

Marketing is about attracting the ideal customer

Sanja chimes in! She has some ideas about future marketing plans, and she tells us a little about the verticals Utrust is very strong in (such as real estate and tech), and the fact that Utrust shines with higher ticket items.

There’s a lot of expectation about Utrust starting to strongly do marketing. Growth has been strongly organic up until now, but that’s changing. More channels, more education, paid marketing.

The sky’s the limit.

Has anyone bought a Tesla with UTK yet?

Not yet. But it has happened through Utrust, indeed. We can confirm.

What happened to the Swiss company?

Jorge is very impressed with our community’s sleuths. Yes, it’s true that the original Swiss Utrust company has changed names. That’s simply because the trademark was moved to the Portuguese holding, so a name change was necessary. The original Swiss company is still owned by Utrust. This is to do with Portugal being in the EU, but not Switzerland. This means the Utrust trademark is valid in the whole EU.

Burning is considered a security in the US

Guys. It is.

Don’t tire Nuno.

“We need to be realistic.” Nuno Correia

See what you’ve done? You’ve made our ideologue a realist.

How can Utrust reach countries that oppose crypto?

Utrust is borderless. Sanja takes this question, and she explains that while compliance may make things difficult sometimes, pretty much every merchant anywhere in the world can use Utrust’s services.

“The borderless meaning for me is the fact that anyone in the world, even in the US, can pay with their wallet to buy goods and services. All over the world. For me, that’s the definition of borderless, more from the buyer side.” Nuno Correia

Why are we adding merchants one by one? Why so slow?

Ah, now you’ve poked the dragon.

Nuno says that Utrust is the fastest-moving company in the space. He challenges the community to come up with a company that is going faster than Utrust.

Sanja brings up that not all merchants that are onboarded are advertised. It’s a small percentage.

“We are growing double or triple digits every month. The growth is very fast. Too fast, maybe. This question is probably more related to what users are seeing related to announcements.” Sanja Kon

Comment on the token price?

Nuno hates talking about this.

Even though it’s growing so much from AMA to AMA. It’s a 5000% growth YOY, and over 50% since the last time we spoke.

“A bear market couldn’t take us down, and if another bear market comes, it won’t take us down.” Nuno Correia

Will Utrust help people get their salary paid in crypto?

Short answer: maybe, eventually.

Better answer:

“We are focused on the day-to-day payments for the entire world, not really payroll solutions. That’s my two satoshis on the subject.” Nuno Correia

“One that we will be growing more and more on the next few months is our invoice solution. Anyone, even if they don’t have an ecommerce store, will be able to receive crypto payments and send invoices. Payments, remittances, solving problems for international payments. It’s already available, and it’s going to be massively promoted through marketing.” Sanja Kon

And you know what?

The numbers for that are looking amazing.

And that’s a fantastic note to leave this conversation on.

We hope you enjoyed reading our recap, until next time, we bid you adieu 👋

(oh, and if you haven’t joined Utrust, what are you waiting for??)