Introduction
May Gusta:- Could you quickly tell us more about yourself and your job description at Wicrypt?
Toni Dada:- My name is Toni Dada. I am the COO and I have over 14 years experience in the Telecoms and Fintech space leading growth for the two biggest Telecoms companies in Nigeria MTN and Etisalat. My team has strong engineering and business background. Our founder and CEO is Aronu Ugochukwu who founded Xend Finance, the first DeFi project from Africa. Our CTO, Chuwkuemeka Nweke is a skilled blockchain engineer and leads our blockchain engineering team. We have our marketing and business teams in Nigeria, US, India and China.
SEGMENT I :- Introductory Questions
May
Q1. Can you tell us the goals that birthed the idea of Wicrypt?
Toni:- The concept originated from Ugochukwu Aronu. Just like any normal day in the life of a software developer, he was building software with his colleagues at the office and only his internet service provider (ISP) lost signal. As a software engineer, not being connected to the internet even for a minute feels like you have been chained. So he quickly reached out to his colleagues to share their hotspot so he can continue his work but they refused because he will consume large amounts of internet data and internet data is very expensive in Africa. They said they could not quantify the amount of data he will use and if they could they would be able to charge him but no technology at the time supported this so they declined his request. That was when Ugo conceived the idea to create a system that would enable people to share their WiFi and get paid in real-time.
May
Q2. How does Wicrypt work? How can a user make profit from it?
Toni:-Wicrypt is Decentralized mobile internet sharing and monetization network. Wicrypt has created a smart Wi-Fi network infrastructure that runs on a decentralized network of micro-nodes powered by the Wicrypt OS(operating system), giving anyone the power to act as a micro internet service provider.
Benefits to users
- Users earn money by sharing their internet data
- Freedom to decide your own rates for creating a hotspot network
- Put a limit on the data usage & time
- Get customer feedback & run ads of your business
- Clients also mine WNT for using the hotspot network
- Hosts that create Wicrypt hotspots mine WNT (Wicrypt Network Tokens). WNT is the native token of the network
- Wicrypt is location and ISP agnostic. This means it can work anywhere with any Internet service provider
May
Q3. Could you please tell us a bit about these products: LYNX 304 and SPIDER B78?
Toni:-
- LYNX 304 and SPIDER B78 Are our new device models running our new Wicrypt Operating System
- - LYNX 304 is a battery powered router that can maintain up to 50 concurrent client connections
- - SPIDER B78 is a higher capacity router without and internal battery and can maintain up to 70 concurrent client connections
- These devices come with improved
1. range: They both have support of up to 9dBi antennas
2. connectivity: These devices have a dual sim version to create redundancy and provide internet access even in remote regions where one network provider may fail
3. Power consumption: The LYNX 304 device is optimized to consume less power and can stay on for over 10 hours without connecting to external power source
4. Location sensing; These new devices come with inbuilt GPS to give real-time location of the devices. Hosts can decide to show location or not
May
Q4. Are these available for purchase on your site with global delivery?
Toni:- Yes they are. https://wicrypt.com/product.html
May
Q5. Please tell us about your collaboration with Enugu WiFi and what it means for Wicrypt?
Toni:-The Enugu State government partnered with Wicrypt to create Enugu WiFi which is a white-label solution for the government. This solution was created to enable the Enugu WiFi to use the Wicrypt technology to provide high available and cheap internet to over 3 million residents in the state. Enugu WiFi will also use the technology to empower youths to act as WiFi hotspots, thereby earning passive income.
May
Q5. What major news should we still look forward to from Wicrypt this year?
Toni:-
We will be announcing our RoadMap
We will be announcing Airdrops
We will be announcing our Device Holders Offering and IDO
SEGMENT II:- Twitter Session
Q1. Given the Nigerian government’s policy on crypto, how does it hinder operations and how are you working around it?
Toni:- Wicrypt is not affected by the crypto ban because we are solving a real problem and you can use our service without crypto. Wicrypt has been operational for 3 years since 2018 and is going public in 2021.
Q2. What are your plans for mass adoption of WICRYPT? Do you believe people are willing to share their bandwidth at the risk of compromising their hardware and data? How will you provide a top notch security solution for user’s Data and Funds?
Toni:- Great question. We are launching our Wicrypt Network Token which is the native token for our network to drive mass adoption. People are willing to share their bandwidth as they have been doing for some years in Nigeria. We have very top-notch security. We designed our own operating system. Please take a look at our team to know the skill set we posses. We have top security expect who designed an anti-virus leading our security team.
Q3. In a country where the participation of women in tech is remarkably low, what is Wicrypt doing to address this disparity as regards gender inclusiveness?
Toni:- Well, if you look at myself, I am the COO and I am female. Lol. We about 40% of the Wicrypt team are females. Our lead engineers in our front-end engineering are women.
SEGMENT III:- Telegram Session
Q1. What mechanism is in place to cut data costs on Wicrypt by over 50% and give resellers 90% profit? and please talk about the security of the users from hackers, thank you.
Toni:- For example, if you purchase data in bulk in Africa, cost usually drops by over 80%. Data resellers can add a markup and resell even at 100% profit.
You can see this buy using our profit calculator below: Scroll down to see the calculator :- https://wicrypt.com/business.html
For security, like I mentioned above, we have inbuilt security systems to encrypt information to prevent hackers from stealing hosts information or mimicking requests.
Q2. I read that Wicrypt has partnerships with companies, medium-sized companies, NGOs and government parastatals to provide an affordable and accessible Internet connection for all. Which are the main countries where the internet is now accessible thanks to your model? When dealing with governments and federal entities, how do you manage to remain decentralized and not be affected by non-democratic entities?
Toni:- Currently we are operational in Nigeria but within the next 6 months we will be operational in other countries.
When dealing with Governments and Federal entities, they have to agree to our terms of using a decentralized system because it actually solves their problems the most. We do not make any changes to our underlying system design or infrastructure to cater for particular audiences or entities because it will destroy the foundation on which Wicrypt was built which is full decentralization
Q3. How portable is the router? With the state of electricity in the country, is the battery long lasting?
Toni:- Router profitability depends on the location it is placed and number of people connecting to it.
We estimate that one router can make up to $400 a month in revenue. A router can last more than 10 hours without connecting to any external electrical source.
A router also has over 75m coverage in open space and can take up to 70 concurrent client connections in real-time
LIVE AMA Session with Community
Kiriux:- Can you tell us how to acquire Wicrypt credit and what use cases can they have apart from granting access to the Wicrypt hotspot?
Toni:- WNT- Token Utility
- Staking: Wicrypt hosts will need to stake Wicrypt Network Tokens (WNT) to become active hosts that can mine WNT when they provide Wi-Fi connection to users. Staking WNT helps to prevent bad actors from joining the network
- Voting rights or Governance : WNT holders will be able to perform governance actions to control different parameters that determine the operational structure of the network
- Airdrop Reward: WNT is used to reward hosts that provide active hotspots with high uptime. Clients get incentivized with WNT. when they connect to multiple hosts for a specified period of time and have consumed a certain amount of bandwidth. 20% of overall network tokens have been allocated for mining rewards for hosts while 5% have been allocated to reward clients. Rewards and incentives helps to create a large network effect which leads to fast adoption
- Payment for service or Product/Payment for ads: Businesses are allowed to place ads on the Wicrypt Network. Payment for the ads will be done WNT. Gas/Transaction Fees/Discount on Wicrypt fees: Payment for internet connection with WNT gives discounts on fees
- Discount on Payment for Wicrypt Devices: Wicrypt devices can be purchased with WNT at a discounted rate
Ble73:- Can you tell us the challenges you faced while building this project. And what motivation has kept you so far?. As I would love to invest for a long term, would I benefit from WICRYPT?
Toni:- The major challenges we faced were
- Building out the technology: This was the most difficult aspect of the development. We had to build our own operating system to work with the hardware.
- Creating a structured company. Team were only 3 during the start and became profitable but had problems with maintaining a good structure for sales/operations. We haven’t really figured everything out but we are learning as we grow.
BigCity Boy:- My question is Wicrypt suitable for Streamer, Youtuber who regularly livestreams? Or just suitable for ordinary households?
Toni:- Wicrypt is suitable for all internet needs. Wicrypt can also even connect to starlink and distribute the internet to nearby users.
Zeynep:- Is siting your HQ in Enugu a deliberate gameplan? What advantages does your location give to Wicrypt?
Toni:- Yes. It is a deliberate plan. Enugu has over 7 universities and gives us access to a lot of technical talent which we need.
About Wicrypt Network
Wicrypt is a decentralized mobile internet sharing and monetization network. It is a service that allows its users to get paid while sharing their WiFi. Wifi can be shared via Wicrypt routers or via your mobile phone. With Wicrypt, users can have access to more affordable internet data while also giving them the power to make money from it.
More details on Wicrypt:
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