The Qoin journey including the good, the bad and the ugly

1 March 2022

Qoin is proud to sponsor this APAC Blockchain Conference as the program has amazing relevant content with important speakers ranging from our rockstar senator to champion asset managers to leading global crypto exchanges.

What I appreciate most of our crypto blockchain industry is that it is full of young entrepreneurs, many with extraordinary talent and creativity.

Our world has never seen so many smart people rally around a single objective, a single narrative of – More Power to More People.

On the weekend my eye caught a few good lines from Raoul Pal and Andre Cronje which partly sets the scene for my piece:

The first line was that the Internet of Value layer should be available to everybody. That is decentralization at a broader level and not down to only a single protocol.

Line two was that most people don’t care for total decentralisation as it is always a trade-off for cost, speed, scale, trust, and profit.

The third line was that Fantom blockchain, like Ethereum and Coinbase, went through very tough and horrible times with many problems from tech to trading. If you read Infinite Machine, Kings of Crypto and Bitcoin Billionaires you will know what this means.

Ok, so what is the Qoin Project?

  • In short – Qoin is a crypto payments and trading system for merchants and their customers.
  • Our Vision is to be the worlds’ most prosperous trading of goods and services community.
  • To achieve this vision, we are on a Mission to be the most widely accepted digital currency for everyday payments. Fast everyday payments has not yet been solved by the industry. The recent Visa, Pay Pal, Robin Hood and Square projects are not yet solutions.
  • Qoin effectively tokenizes the spare capacity in a business (the empty tables, empty rooms or downtime) and allows the merchant to trade that token within the community. The benefit to the merchant is that they are converting available capacity into a digital crypto asset that can be stored, spent, or exchanged. Otherwise, those sales would have been lost forever. You can never recapture an empty table, empty room or downtime.
  • Qoin was designed as “twin” tokens: firstly, a native payment token used for free and superfast transactions on the distributed consortium Qoin blockchain that can be seamlessly converted or wrapped to a financial token on multiple public blockchains.
  • The tech stack includes the Qoin blockchain, the Q wallet, as well as an off-chain marketplace, directory and automated biometric identification for KYC and AML purposes.
  • Our Minting and Merchant Emission tokenomics ensures every new Qoin is backed by the participating merchants to accept Qoin as payment or part payment for their goods or services. New Qoins can only be created when a new merchant is validated.
  • The Consensus and Validation model is environmentally friendly with very low power requirement.
  • The audit by Peckshield of the smart contracts bridging the blockchain to Ethereum is completed and beta testing has commenced.
  • An algorithm calculates the fair value of each Qoin every hour in US Dollars. As each new merchant is accretive, a growing merchant ecosystem adds intrinsic value.
  • Qoin is Community driven and communicates weekly through its Digital News Network and seasonally issues its Qmag community Magazine.
  • We use In- wallet updates for announcements, education, voting and events
  • QShop merchant directory and sellers’ marketplace where merchants display their products and users can sell their used cars, bikes, boats, caravans and any other personal goods for Qoin.

I know that was a mouthful and you may have many more questions but happy to take any questions at the end or over the conference.

Let’s share with you our journey so far including the good, the bad and the ugly.

  • The strategy was to first build the product, then build the community, then democratize and decentralize – importantly in that order)
  • As we wanted to be good global citizens we obtained Regulatory advice or engaged with the largest law firms, Queens Counsels, ASIC, and AUSTRAC
  • We spent over $1m on legal and regulatory costs to date
  • We wanted to learn as much as we could so we joined Industry bodies like Blockchain Australia, Blockchain NZ, Australia Blockchain Alliance and Global body Ethereum Enterprise Alliance
  • We registered 44,000 new merchants of which 6,000 churned giving us 38,000 merchants across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
  • Voting and Democratization of the community has commenced
  • Five key Community groups are in the process of being set up
  • Wrapping to Ethereum in beta version is commencing this month and other public blockchains soon thereafter.
  • The International expansion continues with the wallet being made available to Singapore and South Africa at the end of this month with further countries to follow.

The good for us was:

  • A strong merchant base in Bartercard as a springboard – members were very supportive
  • Experienced SME teams across Australia and New Zealand
  • Smart tech developers working very long hours
  • Selected the right platform in Quorum built by JP Morgan
  • Regulatory experience in BC over 30 years working with ASIC, ATO, AUSTRAC as well as the Financial Markets Authority of NZ
  • Obtained good global legal and regulatory advice from reputable law firms
  • The real good is the many inspiring merchant stories – especially struggling small businesses in Pandemic saying how Qoin brought them new customers
  • We are proud of the impact on the Qoin community’s social work through One Light Charity Foundation that addresses extreme suffering within and outside the community
  • We welcome the Senate support, example Senator Andrew Bragg fighting for better Fintech regulation and certainty

I understand many of our audience are included in start-ups or thinking about it. So, what I cover next is not to discourage you but rather to share and caution so you are better prepared for your ultimate success.

The bad for us was:

  • The SEC chairman commented recently in the Harvard Gazette that the crypto asset class is rife with fraud, scams, and abuse. This is the observation of the environment we all operate in.
  • The lack of regulatory guidance and absence of a clear crypto asset regulatory framework creating uncertainty notwithstanding engagement. However, we do understand that there are many scams and regulators must act.
  • The pandemic and continuous lockdowns and restrictions across various states
  • Management and staff contracted Covid-19 causing delays

Unfortunately, there is the inevitable ugly from time to time

  • Scamming crypto influencers abusing their influence on their followers and lobbying their connections with industry bodies for their own agenda.
  • Masked competitors and online trolls posting misinformation on social platforms plotting false narratives and poaching our people.
  • This hostile environment causes me sometimes to give up but then there is that very small part of me, I don’t know what it is, that gets up the next morning to start again.

The only way to navigate a large project through a harsh adverse environment is to stay true to your belief and vision. But more important is to take the community with you and remain confident notwithstanding the conflicts. We must always do the right thing by our community we operate in.

We must not be hypocritical by hating the banks, governments, and regulators on the one hand but on the other hand want to wake up in a safe home in a safe street and a safe country with a low interest mortgage and car lease. We need to rather create value and alternatives within the main economy.

Therefore, we should want regulation, safety and protection for consumers and investors, but mostly we want prosperity for all.

We are in the long game.

More Prosperity to More People.

Thank you for listening.