Koibanx: Updates and Q&A

Recorded: June 30, 2023 Duration: 1:01:19

Player

Snippets

Yeah, absolutely.
No, I'm super thrilled.
Let's just give maybe another 30 seconds or so as people are joining in.
And then we're going to get started.
But in the meantime, I'm going to do two things.
First, I'm going to ask you just how...
Well, first, where in the world are you today?
Are you in Buenos Aires or where?
I just came back to Buenos Aires.
I flew back yesterday night after a couple of weeks off, enjoying time with family.
Oh, very nice.
So I got to ask you because, you know, I'm based out of southern Brazil.
And usually whatever weather you have in Buenos Aires, I catch it like, you know, a day or two later.
So am I in for a cold and, you know, cloudy and windy weekend or how's it looking there for you?
Definitely.
We're starting winter.
So not rainy, but cloudy and cold for sure.
You just bumped down my weekend.
Brazil definitely beats Argentina in terms of weather.
Yeah, that is true.
And a number of World Cup titles, I guess, too, right?
But maybe we shouldn't get there because we just won the last ones.
For the following four years, every time someone asks us, hey, do you speak Spanish?
You know what the answer is.
What is it?
I'm going to actually have this one.
We speak Castellano from Argentina, world champion.
Not Spanish.
So I got you a little bit for the next four years.
Yeah, I got to put up with that for the next three and a half.
Anyway, man.
But again, let's get to business.
I think we already have a really good audience live.
And of course, there's a bunch of people that catch the recordings later.
So let's jump right into business.
I know we have a lot to chat today.
So, Leo, I just want to begin by thanking you again for taking the time to come from the community,
share updates about Koi Banks, share updates about the projects, taking questions, as we always do.
We're going to open at the very end of the Twitter spaces to take some live questions from the community.
But, man, I just want to begin by thanking you for your openness and your availability to just chat with us
and always bring the most accurate and up-to-date information.
So thank you for that.
No, nothing to thank about.
I mean, I'm the one thanking you for the opportunity.
And, you know, I honestly believe there's a thin balance between our responsibility and obligations towards the community
and the benefit of genuinely getting and keeping in touch with the community.
I mean, I just tweeted a couple of minutes ago.
I saw you pin the tweet.
It's this thin equation where if we all collaborate, if we all work together, it's in the best interest of everyone, of course.
And at the same time, there's some portions of every crypto community, not the other, like web free space in general,
that will never be aligned.
And I believe it's good to own it.
It's good to put it on top of the table.
It's good to be aware.
I mean, it's a free space.
Everyone can play in it.
As they see fit.
So I'm choosing the builders area, sharing what we do for the better or for the worse.
I'm happy to share with all of you guys here.
And hopefully we'll all take lessons learned and next steps that benefit all of us.
Absolutely.
I fully agree, Leo.
And I truly appreciate the transparency there.
So as you mentioned, I pinned your tweet up here in the Twitter spaces if anybody's interested in checking the thread out.
And of course, making their own conclusions and asking questions at the end of the Twitter spaces is going to be an absolute pleasure.
And Leo, I know there's a lot of stuff that we need to cover regarding updates from your side today.
But I just want to know if before we start that, do you want to share just general thoughts around the thread, around anything else?
Or you just want to leave the thread there and then get started on the updates?
How do you want to go?
Well, maybe the first thing I would like to share is, I mean, I've been asked a lot in Twitter, especially about coin banks in general and social media, about our somewhat silence in the past couple of months, definitely weak.
And I don't want to leave that announcement.
I mean, it's not our typical profile.
Nothing dramatic actually happened.
A lot of people are asking like, hey, guys, how do you go bankrupt?
Is everything okay?
We're good.
We're actually growing.
But it's not unknown for anyone in the algorithm that the entire Algorand ecosystem went through a lot of changes in the last couple of months, maybe queues.
The Algorand thing was, you know, Fred, but maybe not all of the listeners here do know Algorand.
They're one of our main shareholders in the company.
And they went through a lot of restructuring, going back to Steve that left, Sean going as interim CEO.
Now, Sean left, Matt entering the company.
Algorand was being built in Europe, led by Silvio and Mauricio.
The foundation going to a restructuring as well with the entrance of Stacey, John, and the entire excellent team that you guys put together.
So that, not in a bad way, but put us in a spot where we believed it was in the best interest of everyone to just pause a little bit, stop the ball, see how the different pieces of the puzzle played out, and realign with all the incumbents or all the stakeholders on what should be the best role that Coibanks plays in the ecosystem or how to collaborate with each of the parties.
This being said, schedules are complicated.
People need to start to learn working with one another.
Objectives and functions change.
I mean, I'm not discovering anything by saying that a lot of the business development and marketing activity has shifted now towards the foundation.
And I mean, I'm fine with that.
But it required some realignment and some, you know, shuffling the pieces again and understanding where we could add the more value.
This being said, we finished this process.
I had my last call of catching up with Silvio two weeks ago during my holidays.
Everything is now set and both are clear.
And what I have to say about this is, in the end, all changes bring some sort of uncertainty.
But when you are able to embrace those changes, usually something better comes out of the entire equation.
And I'm seeing this in the algorithm space.
As I said before in my tweet, technology has not flowed and the people that has been brought in are excellent,
both in terms of integrity and in terms of how proficient and professional they are.
You included, Fred.
And yes, it's changed.
It's a little different in terms of how the different components of the algorithm ecosystem interacted with each other before.
And that needs some time to adjust.
But I'm completely bullish on what we are going to still be doing with algorithm and what's in the future for us.
So that's actually, that's the main reason why we post a little bit our public presence.
Because we wanted to be on the safe place when interacting with all the new players in the algorithm family and the algorithm ecosystem.
And making sure that our part and our role within the ecosystem was in a better place for everyone.
That's what I would like to start with.
Fantastic.
I truly appreciate you sharing all of this.
I think this is very important for the community just to know basically what happened in the last few months and how the dynamics have played out.
And I think it's always good to just share a brief reminder of what was heavily discussed last year.
And please correct me on the dates if I'm wrong.
But if I think it was around August or September of last year when, you know, you, Eddie, and Coibank team announced like this Series A race, right?
And it was, of course, you know, publicly announced at the time that the round was led by Algorand Inc., right?
And I think there's just an important distinction to make in terms of your, the Coibank's involvement with the different entities.
So, of course, the foundation here supports a lot in your operations, in LATAM, ecosystem, publicity, whatnot.
But the actual business dynamics have been historically with Algorand Inc., correct?
I think it was just, you know, important to bring that to attention as you did, of course.
Yeah, that's true.
And, you know, being completely honest was one of my main uncertainties going forward because now that dynamic change and putting all the cards on the table, the foundation doesn't have a direct equity interest in Coibank's in the same way Algorand Inc. has.
So, allegedly, we all play a lot together because the Algorand's success is everyone's success is here.
But that needed to be proved, you know?
Stacey was new in the space.
Algorand Inc. was now being led by Paul and Matt from a tech perspective.
And they needed to align themselves first to start working with us partners on how to better align in the new dynamics they presented.
That kept us a little initially patiently worried.
And I mean patiently worried because there was a scenario which likely it didn't took place.
But there was a scenario where dynamics didn't play in favor of what we have been doing.
It definitely played in the best interest for the ecosystem.
With mistakes and, I mean, with rights and wrongs, you know, that's for sure, as in anything we all do.
But I do see collaborative attitude.
I do see a team that wants to work together.
And I see clear roles in the hands of transparent people and proficient people, regardless if we agree as a community or not with some of their decisions.
But I'm totally enthusiastic about how we play, although it took a while.
Fantastic.
I truly appreciate that.
But, hey, man, let's move forward now.
I think we set the stage pretty well.
You know, it's just important to share those initial thoughts that I know you wanted to.
And I do have a few bullet points that I want to discuss with you here today.
But actually, you mentioned something that was, you know, of course, nice to hear that you said, you know, even during this period, you were actively growing.
And this brings me back, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, you know, back to November of last year, when I had, you know, the honor of the opportunity through your invitation to spend a full day with the team in Buenos Aires at the internal company retreat, you know.
And I just got to say, man, it was truly inspiring to see that because, you know, for a full day, you had all of your employees from all over Latin America.
I don't know how many people there are.
You can tell in a second.
But it was a lot of people.
But it was just amazing to see, one, how big the team is and spread all over the different, you know, Latin offices that you have.
But mainly how smart, friendly, and driven everyone is.
So, you know, it's really inspiring to see that, you know, you guys are, you know, a true powerhouse in terms of, like, you know, blockchain development services in the region of Latin America.
And you and Eddie, you know, your co-founder, CTO, and maybe not as public person, but he should be because, you know, extremely smart and funny and cool guy to talk to.
Like, what you two have created is truly amazing.
So, you know, is there anything that you want to share about your team or how the road has been in the last, you know, in the last year or so before we jump into the status update section?
And not very much about the team.
We actually made our huge investment in terms of team growth last year.
So, this year we're remaining more or less the same, between 72 and 80 people, give or take.
I don't have the last minute updates.
But that's the size of the company.
We are double-bedding Central America in terms of traditional financial system infrastructure embracing Web3.
So, in terms of products, we are remaining with the product tag that we put together the last two years,
which is remittances, cross-mortar settlements, tokenizing financial assets, enable tokenizing assets as means of payments,
integrating to banking channels and APIs.
We're more or less at the same, we're keeping the same vision and strategy,
growing in terms of customers and adoption, with some flaw-backs along the way, for sure.
That's definitely what I would like to address with the algorithm,
and particularly one that we announced a couple of days after trying to salvatash in a couple of times,
which is the Nigerian deal.
Maybe we can start putting this in words, because I know there's a lot of people eager about it or wanting to know more.
Yeah, let's do it, man.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
So, as you mentioned, you made the announcement a couple of days ago about the Nigeria project being phased out.
You shared a thread, you shared a blog piece on the CoinBank's website.
Can you just share maybe a little bit more color on that along with your talk?
Of course.
So, to begin with, I'd like to take a portion of the responsibility in terms of getting,
probably in a high market, getting too enthusiastic about it.
But at the same time, I do believe that the right pieces were there.
And please, I'll be as transparent as I always are.
I will just keep a couple of names outside the name dropping, because NDAs prohibit us to do so.
And at the same time, I believe it's web-setically correct.
But all the pieces were there.
I mean, Silvio and the leadership team from Malgorand actually pushing the creator's economy
and wanting to make a huge bet on it.
One large streaming platform that went or at least announced the intention of going web3
that could tackle the streaming component and thus bringing together the crypto and the tokenization pieces.
It actually put the backbone to what was needed to launch a product like this.
On top of that, we even brought to the table some brilliant people from the ecosystem.
I see probably they are here in the space as well.
People from like Ross or Patrick from TXM Labs.
They were also part of the conversations, bringing their tech and their products
to make a more compelling and robust proposal.
What then did happen?
I mean, everything was there.
We had the approvals.
The government signed up on it.
Everything worked out until the point where we had to actually start to deploy in production.
And the market started not to go alongside with companies' financials, let's say.
And due to market conditions, strategies, and new people getting in charge as well of one of the partners,
the streaming platform in particular,
they had to make the tough call of unplugging themselves from the deal.
And that started complicating stuff because there are not plenty streaming platforms
with the intention and the capacity to go web3.
We even tried to get some Ethereum streaming platforms to convert into our world,
at least for the sake of the deal.
We even moved forward in some of those conversations.
And when we got a plan B in place and we were ready to actually move forward with this,
we got the surprise.
And it shouldn't have been as a surprise for us.
That's why I'm taking part of the responsibility of getting hyped too fast or too easily.
And the government came with what I'm going to call unrealistic demands.
And probably all of you know here what I'm making reference to.
And that's something that we are not willing to play along with.
We've never been, will never be.
So that was basically the death sentence because one of the key components of the project,
the streaming was not available easily from the ecosystem right away.
And at the same time, we have the customer that went through, let's say again,
a reassessment of the situation and asking for things that shouldn't have been asked for.
So despite our efforts and the time we dedicated and actually having most of the product built
because the wallet was built, the tokenization framework was built,
the connections to the credit card companies, the onboarding services,
everything was in place.
We were not able to actually save the day and launch the project.
As I started with, I mean, this hurts me as personally and business-wise,
I mean, Coybanks took a loss in the entire deal.
And I understand this part of the game, you know, when you lead an organization,
once I have one mentor that always told me,
Leo, you need to get half plus one of your calls right in a year.
If you manage to do that year over year, you'll always be in a better place.
This is definitely the ones that I got wrong.
So I'm not like super criticizing myself.
I believe I need the move, but this was the right move.
And I'm willing to take this kind of risk.
But again, in perspective, seeing the entire picture, it was a high market.
A lot of the people we were dealing with were interested in the project
more from an angle not to be left out rather than really, really believing
where we built it.
That's something maybe we should have anticipated.
And I'm definitely going to anticipate for next projects coming soon.
But that's the sad process of why we had to unplug.
I know there was a lot of expectations built up logically.
I mean, it was a whole country implementing algorithm technology.
But the story is that this is a story, actually.
Fantastic.
Well, no, I truly appreciate, you know,
and also speaking here as a community member like I am,
I truly appreciate you just, you know, sharing all the history,
the background, everything that you can with us.
I think it's super important just for the sake of transparency,
just like, you know, with the threads that you launched both today
from your personal profile that's pinned here in the Twitter spaces,
but also the one from the Coinbase profile a couple of days ago.
So I truly appreciate that.
You know, there might be some questions from the community
that we're going to take at the end of the Twitter spaces today
so they can come and ask maybe more things they want more clarity
or more color on.
But you mentioned that, you know, basically, you know, the project,
you guys built basically the entire tech stack, right?
You're almost ready to deploy this.
What does it mean for this technological piece that you built for the future?
Well, what we have done is basically a white-label wallet
that manages algorithm standard assets or white-label,
I mean, white-listing assets on top of the algorithm network
that manages distributed encryption.
The user does not have the keys,
but the user is in charge of encrypting those keys
through a four- to eight-digit PIN.
And the ability to connect this wallet to Visa credit cards
and to a couple of banks and exchanges,
both from particularly the Algram ecosystem,
launching NFTs and stuff like that,
and from traditional exchanges such as BitGo, for instance.
So that framework's already built and put in place.
We also have a connection to the Nigerian IP office,
which is probably not going to be very useful right now.
But it's something that we are looking actively
with our business development team to replicate
in other countries, governments, or organizations.
It's going to be a tough one.
You know, I always say that B2B sales,
and particularly government sales, are like a perfect storm.
You need to have the right counterparty.
They need to have budget.
They need to have proper and honest and clear intentions.
The regulation has to come along with you.
You need to be in the right moment.
It's like a bunch of factors that all come together,
and you do not control them all.
But when you manage to get that,
be at the right moment at the right time,
and you have the right product,
that allows you to do something like what we did
in Salvador or in Colombia.
And I'm confident that we'll manage to get this redeployed
in any of, in other of the countries
we're not really trying to.
And maybe, if I may, I mean,
it's not like we are making open source everything that we built.
You know, we as Coibanks, we play this role,
this bridge like in between.
We're not a full DeFi product builder.
We are the bridge for trap files and governments
to enter the Web3 space.
But I'm going to trust here, everyone.
And if you believe that there's a place or a spot
for what we built, happy to make it available.
I mean, let's put this in the hands of the community,
in the hands of the foundation.
It's already being developed.
It will need some sort of customization for sure.
But let's make the most out of the situation
that clearly it did not end as we all expected.
So that is amazing, Leo.
And I truly commend you for just, you know,
doing this call to action, you know, for community members.
And of course, you know, in our community,
we have people from all walks of life,
you know, all different parts of the world
and all different, you know, just means of business
and things they do for a living.
So, you know, if you have ideas
on how this technology can be leveraged
and actually create something meaning,
like create value out of the entire tech stack
that Coibanks has created for this project specifically,
you know, just reach out to Leo.
And I'm pretty sure, you know,
we're going to find a way to work together
and make the most out of everything that has been built.
But Leo, and again, I truly appreciate you sharing,
you know, everything that you could have shared
about this deal.
And maybe we'll take some questions
from the community later on.
But I think we can move forward
because I know you also want to give, you know,
a bit of a status update
to some of the projects you have been working on,
maybe drop some other things
that you're interested in sharing.
And also, and just again,
as a reminder for the Algo fam
that everybody that's either listening to us live right now
or catching the recording later,
go to Leo's profile.
It's at Leo L. Duchesne here on Twitter
that he, in the thread,
he released just about 40 minutes ago or so.
He added like a bunch of wallets
pertaining to some of the operations,
smart contract IDs,
and other information regarding the projects
that Coibanks builds the infrastructure for.
Some of the names,
I'm pretty confident that you didn't know
that actually Coibanks was building the infrastructure
because I don't think that it was ever discussed publicly.
So there you go.
There's some breaking news for you all
that some of these projects
are actually being built on the back end by Coibanks.
So anyway, Leo,
you shared a lot of really cool stuff
that I'm pretty sure the detectives in our community
are going to do some digging on the smart contracts,
on the wallets,
check activity,
and see what's being done.
But from those four projects that you mentioned,
which was the,
Neo Moon,
Banco Macro,
the Colombian and Argentinian government institutions,
and NYU app,
is there anything you want to share about those
or anything else?
How do you want to do this?
we can go through them
to have a little more context
because it's true.
I posted the addresses
or the app ID when applied,
but a little context
will help everyone for sure understanding.
The first one,
Neo Moon,
which is run by Fedor Saliba,
another very active member of the community.
He worked alongside
the Algorand Accelerator programs
with Rocker,
the company builder as well.
So he's a long time supporter of Algorand.
He's a Venezuelan technologist living in Miami.
And probably all of,
I'm going to say something
that all of you know already,
but just in case
someone's not as familiar
with the Venezuelan situation,
today Venezuela has a hyperinflation
that actually makes people live in U.S. dollars,
but they are not using the U.S. dollars
as the official currency.
It's not like it happens in El Salvador
or in the Ecuador
where U.S. dollar
is actually the official currency
and the central bank
giving away all currency issuing duties.
So what happens in Venezuela
is that this new bank
called Neo Moon
is working with Coilbanks.
we're responsible
of the entire core balance keeping
and authorizing transactions
on top of the Algorand network
is using USDC
directly as a means of payment acceptance
and issuing in Venezuela.
With the connections
that we in Coilbanks
and Neo Moon as well
have in the U.S.,
in Colombia,
and in Argentina,
where a lot of Venezuelan citizens
have migrated,
you have in Venezuela
almost three,
in Colombia,
you have almost three million Venezuelans
living there.
In Argentina,
you have a little over a million.
So there's a lot of people
that left Venezuela
due to economic
and political conditions
that are constantly sending money
back to Venezuela.
But what is funny
is that they are in an endless loop
of any dollar equivalent currency
that they can access to.
picture yourself,
you got USDC,
you go to a merchant,
that merchant afterwards
goes on with that same USDC
and pays to another merchant
and that merchant to another
and maybe they give it back
to their family
or to their sons
to spend on another merchant.
It's like an endless USDC circle
where it's very difficult
to actually redeem them
because they do not have
bank accounts in the US.
Of course,
they cannot go directly to circle
and the local currency
is really difficult
to find a gateway
to get official USDC
or any stable coin
against the Venezuelan believer.
So what we put together for them
is through an integration
that New Moon has locally
with banks
and the currency networks
that we launched in Latam.
We are allowing Venezuelans
to actually send local currency
in Argentinian pesos,
Colombian pesos
or even US dollars
to top up balances
in USDC in Venezuela
and these users are able
to pay within the merchant network
and we are offering
some of the merchants
depending on the risk profile.
New Moon is offering actually,
but I feel a part of the team
because I love what they are doing.
New Moon offers them
the possibility
to redeem USDC
directly to Fiat USD
through the connection
that we both companies have
with CERC.
So I love this story
because not only
it's very noble
what New Moon is doing,
you know,
when we say crypto
actually narrows,
erases frontiers
and empowers economically
the people,
this is like a perfect example
and it's all being driven
and top of Algorand.
Main transactions,
New Moon has already
all those 500,000 users
that signed up,
almost 300,000 users
of New Moon are active
and this is everything
happening on chain.
I share with you guys
the address being used
to fund all the transactions.
New Moon business model
is to charge merchants
for payment acceptance
and not the users
for transacting.
We charge the networks
in the other countries
for enabling
the top-up balance
in New Moon
and with these fees
we generate
or we buy
that we need
the on-chain transactions
for all the users.
Fantastic,
I appreciate it
and then just
on New Moon
before we move forward
to Banco Macro
and just so I understand
correctly,
please again correct me
if I'm wrong,
but New Moon
is currently
with your support
you're currently
in the deployment phase
of the on-chain operations,
So the operations
ran off-chain
for some time
we're doing
the migration phase
so maybe not necessarily
all of their
the number
that you mentioned
are still on-chain,
the transactions
are not still
all happening on-chain.
Is that correct
or can you provide
a little bit more information?
it's a little bit
more complex
because when you
want to transact
closed-loop
and do not receive
assets from abroad
and you're only using
the promotional
balance that they
won't give away,
you were able
until a couple of months
to not KYC yourself.
But since now
we are working
with banking connections,
we need to get users
and if you're KYC'd,
your transactions
will take place
on-chain.
If you do not want
to go through
the KYC process,
we'll just keep
what a remaining
balance of what
you should have
when you complete
the KYC process
and that's not
kept on-chain
in terms of
ledgering the
sub-accounts
of the user.
Of course,
the USD backing
that balance
to be claimed,
they are on-chain.
But if you do not
go to the KYC
until a couple
of weeks ago
you were able
to transact
centralized
within the closed
now you're not
available,
you're not
allowed anymore.
You actually
have to go
to the KYC process.
Thanks for the
clarification.
Appreciate it, man.
All righty.
So next project
in the list
that you published
was Banco Macro
and I believe
Banco Macro,
we haven't,
I don't remember
if we ever
discussed this project
in the previous
Twitter spaces.
So do you mind
just sharing a little
bit of background
on basically
everything you guys
have built there?
so Banco Macro
is the second,
probably second
domestic,
largest domestic
bank in Argentina
and what we
signed with them
it's funny
because it's
a macro deal
in Banco Macro
but it's basically
implementing
our payments
and tokenization
cross-level
within the bank.
So they are
starting to bring
the different
products they have
One product
at a time
you already
know this
but bear in mind
this is a part
we're talking to
it takes some time
but they have
the right spirit
and the right
intentions.
So we are
gradually taking
their products
on-chain.
We started
with something
which is very
trendy right now
in general
in the ecosystem
which is a
Web3 loyalty
Like in the same
Starbucks
Starbucks
what we are
doing with
Banco Macro
their own
or intra-group
reward users,
merchants
and they are
allowed to
coin as a
payment in
the entire
ecosystem.
Something important
is Banco Macro
does not only
have the bank
but they have
also a payment
aggregator system,
they have a
conglomerate,
there are a bunch
of companies
that are part of
the macro
shareholding
ecosystem.
available to
be used as
a means of
payment in
the entire
conciliating and
netting transactions
among the
different participants
in the group
on real-time
other one.
That's one of
the products.
The other
product that
we launched
with them
is basically
accepting
tokenized
assets as a
payment on
their payment
aggregation
service so
you'll be
tokenized
assets or
cryptocurrency
merchant and
that makes
it possible
to receive
fiat currency
directly for
merchant.
You enable
the payment
aggregation but
you're not
receiving
Argentinian
that's what
you're looking
for initially.
That's the
second product
that we've
launched with
The third
one is not
live yet but
coming live
went through
this with
that Banco
da Vivienda
a Colombian
bank which is
customer of
they were
using our
platform or
using our
platform to
government
subsidies.
to release
a similar
implementation
Argentina with
one of the
provinces in
the country
where those
subsidies will
tokenized
currency on
top of the
algorithm
What's really
beautiful on
this last
implementation
regardless of
having the
platform cross
the entire
what's beautiful
on this last
one is that
actually the
government
Probably most
people here are
from the U.S.
or are familiar
with the U.S.
especially
Argentina and
the suburbs
of Argentina,
not Buenos Aires
City, but the
inner parts of
the country,
you will find
logistics or
same-day shipping
is something
that's not
actually possible.
You will find
probably more
than 50% of
the merchants
do not take
credit cards
because it's
not convenient
either from
they don't
understand how
to, or you
don't even
fiber sets
part of the
country to
actually do
you had to
subsidies
through physical
cards, there
was a lot of
inefficiencies.
cards got
stolen, lost,
people went
through a
single merchant
and spent
all their
money there
and actually
the merchant
didn't provide
or service,
they just
swipe the
payment, get
the money
give cash
discount rate
beneficiary.
start finding
this kind
of stuff and
proposed,
together with
the bank,
government,
a platform
where the
government will
be able to
real time
where their
money was.
Like there's
the bank,
the hands
beneficiaries
could even
programmed
the token
as Argentinian
pesos because
if you try
these Argentinian
pesos that
were given
to you by
the government
subsidy on
a merchant
registered
which is the
Argentinian
fiscal authority,
Argentinian
it's registered
Argentinian
a nightclub,
your transactions
approved.
smart contract
receives the
Argentinian
IRS merchant
information as
an oracle and
that's being
used in the
logic to say,
okay, you
are allowed or
you are not
allowed to
perform this
transaction
authorized.
government
real-time
information
where it's
being spent,
So besides
and ourselves
promoting it,
great reception
government,
that's not
typical or
not something
So that's
one of the
parts that I
love the most
about this
implementation,
with Macro
in particular.
fantastic.
an absolute
the deployments
Banco Macro
and Banco
Davienda.
And honestly,
we can probably
do a full
hour Twitter
spaces just
two projects
because I
know there's
a lot more
happening that
we just don't
have the time
to cover here
should appreciate
because this
was a really
good intro
projects that,
I don't think
in previous
public Twitter
I don't think
discussed that
really good
fan knows
about them
even took it
a step further
and actually
shared the
app ID so
people can
now start
to monitor
and do the
thing they
like to do.
appreciate this,
anything else
you want to
talk about
should we
something I'm
very bullish
going to try
myself calm.
if you go
through my
I haven't
anything about
couple of
months ago
we helped
a regional
neobank called
launched their
operations,
starting in
Argentina with
a roadmap to
go Mexico
and Colombia,
running entirely
on Algorand,
something that
regardless of
actually performs,
which again,
I'm really
optimistic because
I've been
the team,
fantastic,
me it's a
huge milestone
sense that
remember the
river space
I told you
were cooking
the first
regulated
financial
institutions
potential to
replace or
to launch
traditional
directly on
the Algorand
blockchain.
is actually
U-wallet,
payment facility
be that a
whatever you
want to call
usually you're
working with
a non-relational
database,
be that an
whatever it
are doing
the first
regulated
financial
institution
region to
transactions
authorized
centralized
database.
Everything
directly on
tokenized
currencies on
top of the
blockchain.
Don't get
me wrong,
are there
databases
storage in
of course.
You cannot
store images,
characteristics
blockchain
that would
ridiculously
expensive
and makes
ledgering of
the transactions,
accounts and
the authorization
transaction,
it actually
takes place
the reports
that this
regulated
financial institution
present to
the central
Argentina for
now because
first market
that they
are directly
extracted from
the blockchain,
of course,
because in
the blockchain
it's encrypted
for them,
and everything
is presented
We're even
analyzing the
possibility to
central bank
in Argentina
a tooling to
actually get
the reports
directly from
the Algorand
Explorer.
So I know
it's not yet
a big deal
in terms of
I got a new
launch a couple
of weeks,
a couple of,
months and a
half ago.
They are doing
pretty well.
they have 25K
It's nothing
if you take
that to the
broad picture
financial
incredibly
happy with
managed to
get approved
functioning
blockchain
regulated
financial
institution,
handling real
money from
the users.
balances in
in crypto,
whatever you
actually take
and everything
gets trapped
algorithm
blockchain and
users interface
directly with
the blockchain.
whitelisted
smart contract
and address
approach,
it's not an
As much as
we love to
decentralized as
possible,
explain the
If we get
the Argentinian
pesos that
Niu is using
and approved
could download
Paral Wallet
other wallet
just bring
through their
spending from
Paral Wallet
will require
sophisticated
reconciliation
and balance
structured in
understand that
you're spending
your tokens
from another
channel and
we need to
reflect that
front end
application.
something that
we have in
the room.
We are going
that direction
now we're
keeping with
whitelisted
smart contracts.
This means
that you need
to go through
process of
application
in order to
actually get
approved and
when you get
approved you get
address that
has already
this particular
And transactions
take place
there directly.
So this is
something that
important because
one of the
main backers
directly.
is making
works and
crypto cards
application
something that
start replicating
with other
Visa customers
regionally.
futurology
why we are
doing it and
why we are
so excited
about it.
me again,
a conceptual
incredibly
happy that
we actually
managed to
Absolutely,
And I'm so
pumped that
you finally
shared about
the entire
community.
So everybody
can now start
following this.
But exactly
to your point,
and me being
from Latem as
this is what
excites me
even more than
other people
might get the
feeling at
is because
you're talking
digital bank
being built
in Argentina.
Argentina is
arguably one
of the most
advanced countries
in the world
in terms of
crypto and
blockchain adoption.
So even in
a country that
is already
leading the
revolution in
apps being
built and
just adoption,
last time I
Argentina,
it was just
amazing to
see that you
can go to
a money teller,
to exchange,
convert money
dollars to
Argentina pesos,
stablecoin if
you want.
That's kind
of unheard
anywhere else
country that
has already
blockchain
technology at
scale for
day-to-day
from just
speculation
you guys,
CoinBank's
everybody else
involved,
including Visa,
you're still
able to be
pioneers and
trail new
chapters in
regulation and
approvals and
everything else,
laying the
groundwork for
yet new and
more innovative
business solutions
to come to
So that by
itself is
already super
exciting and
obviously if you
have Visa involved,
that's obviously a
huge deal.
They see a lot of
value in partnering
with you.
I'm super excited
about this.
I cannot wait to
see these numbers
grow more and
But a quick
question for you.
So right now,
you're purely
Argentina-focused
with New York.
just to be
depend solely
we have a
play in that
because making
available our
Colombian
connections in
banking APIs,
collecting
services,
prepaid cards
connections,
of course,
that has some
influence on the
but eventually
the new team
is the one
deciding which
is the next
I know that
Colombia and
and that's
publicly been
announced by
their CEO,
and gamer
industry,
built from
scratch an
He sold it.
He got into
He launched
visionary.
They are the
ones deciding
that he and
his team are
deciding the
So I think
it's just
important to
disclaimers
just to set
things record
straight from
the beginning.
mentioned the
CEO name,
obviously all
speaking to
fame here,
news about
recently and
other deployments
and Facundo
being their
spokesperson for
it is not
Even though
they share
the name,
they're not
ask Facundo
about New.
And second,
you mentioned,
but I just
want to make
New is an
independent
Coibank's
you're not
operations for
of course,
very closely
together because
you're building
the technological
infrastructure,
but it's not
you and your
team calling
the shots,
independent
company and
you're providing
the technological
services.
So I think it was
just important to
make sure that
that's very
setting the
record straight
so there's
confusion down
the line.
But yeah,
that's amazing
and I'm super
thrilled about
this and you
know that
this space is
always open
for Eddie,
entire team,
so whenever
updates to
this is an
open place,
I'm always
just a quick
DM away and
then we can
going and
there anything
your projects
just convey
information,
updates about
today before
we open up
community,
for a few
questions
it definitely
leave the
community
questions.
I believe
that we've
gone through
somewhat hot
topics and
probably I'm
imagining that
there are a lot
of questions,
so I prefer to
give the time
even if they
want to ask
about new
projects,
but let's
share the
mic a little
All right,
you heard
If you have
any questions
whatsoever
by everything
discussed
involving
coin banks,
the drill,
right now,
it's going
pleasure to
bring you
speaker board
questions,
just see if
shows up,
Surprisingly
no requests,
that's odd.
That was easy.
I thought
I would have
branding,
But again,
if you have
any questions,
you know,
now is the
But again,
I also think
this goes
back a little
bit to just
information you
enjoyed this
conversation
today because
it really
gave a lot
of history
and color
projects,
you know,
an announcement
days ago,
and everything
actually went
into a lot
more details
than I was
expecting,
listening to
right now,
thousands
are going
the recording
But yeah,
don't see
any incoming
requests for
questions.
anything else
you want to
share today
you know,
we could wrap
I don't know
if it's a
reflection and
maybe it's not
my place to
liberty here.
a lot of...
if I may,
we just got
Of course,
I'll bring
the person
bring one
community
members here
speakerboard
if you have
any other
questions,
couple of
of course,
we please
keep this
respectful and
bringing,
who is it?
So Elder,
welcome to
speakerboard.
really nice
talking to
thank you
really thorough
summary of
question from
is really
are doing
with them.
very regional
cooperation
of working
with them
in different
countries,
do you see
that being
exported across
different
jurisdictions?
Thank you
question,
being in touch
the deals
were visa
part with
They start
despite they're
organization,
they function
as different
entities a lot
of the time,
like visa
Argentina has
different from
Colombia,
et cetera.
instance,
the relationship
starts with
Argentina
because it's
the first
market that
new launch,
cards may
begin the
connection
tokenization
platform for
Argentina.
anything that
that eventually
team like
ourselves
can extrapolate
it to other
something that's
plug and play
in terms of
already built
Argentina,
made available,
seamlessly made
available for
Colombia and
Mexico because
payment systems
are different,
homologations
are different,
credentials are
different,
but you do
have one of
the toughest
components,
which is all
the bureaucracy
approvals
and process
that visa or
company makes
You get that
part already
a technological
case-by-case
scenario.
administrative
operational
Thank you,
Maybe just
additional
questions.
the total
charges when
it comes to
because obviously
if you look
at somebody
like Coinbase
and their
visa card,
on the face
this is all
reality is
that if you
are to use
their card,
by the time
their swap,
charge you
and so on,
by my rough
estimate,
probably paying
11% to 12%
on top of
whatever the
item costs.
Given the
algorithm speed
and how cheap
transact,
I would assume
this will be
different story,
but is that
something you
have roughly
calculated here?
this additional
cost that
ultimately
people will
it's different
if you go
with your
tokenized
pesos than
if you go
with your
card directly
If you go
to tokenized
there's no
additional
charge for
the user.
you would
same that
interchange,
like if you
were authorizing
against a
bank account.
probably you
already know
but interchange
central banks
in all of
the countries,
so if you're
authorizing a
credit card
transaction,
you get a
a debit card
transaction,
you get a
and a prepaid
card transaction,
you get a
different fee.
When you go
to tokenized
Algorand,
any additional
We actually,
and I don't
numbers to
confirm on
the traditional
assumption is
that we're
even making
gross profit
our customers
just because
cheaper than
the traditional
core systems
with Algorand.
When you go
to cryptocurrencies
authorization,
there you get
a similar
approach,
and that's a
commercial decision
being made by
the customer,
in this case,
where they say,
authorize your
credit card
against Bitcoin,
or whatever
other cryptocurrency
they handle,
there you get
exchange rate
plus authorization.
That is really
it from my
the great
projects that
you're working
a bit disappointing
on Nigeria,
but I understand
and it is
difficult country
to execute
trades in.
good luck
with everything
I share the
believe me.
Thank you so
pleasure having
you on the
speakerboard,
my friend.
You know,
always bringing
the really
good questions.
truly appreciate
everything you
do for the
community.
I don't see
any other
requests from
the community,
so maybe,
you know,
you can share
your parting
thoughts before
we wrap up
for the day.
and this is
something that
I've been
noticing in
social media
an epsing effort
from Michael
Jordan for
Max Rice,
and a lot of
the leading
members of
the community
or at least
opinion makers
community,
showcasing a
the projects
or of the
different
implementations
and companies
that are truly
building on
Albor and just
to keep the
spirit and the
momentum.
of course,
that's something
that is in
the benefit of
all of us.
I honestly
believe it's
It's information.
sharing good
information is
always something
wouldn't,
and again,
it's not my
place to say
wouldn't worry
about speculators'
criticism.
And that's
something I also
made reference
on my latest
I have a lot
of people
sending me
direct messages,
I love you.
You announced
and now I'm
probably going
to make a
ton of my
And now when
we announce
that Nigeria
unplugged,
I'm the devil
and they hate
Koi Banks and
everyone related,
people that
are following
or speculating
solely on the
price without
going to the
underlying
products or
the adoption
don't get me
they're not
necessarily bad.
They just
are in the
total freedom
to take that
approach towards
the ecosystem,
Malgorand itself,
and the community.
disclaim it,
this is my
personal opinion,
it's not the
foundation opinion,
you guys are
hosting the
but it's Leo
speaking right
I do believe
that there is
some responsibility
protocols in
included,
to sort of
properly manage
token price.
the real focus
is adoption,
building,
and so far
I haven't
found any
protocol that
excels more
than Algorand
particular
Token price
is also part
equation,
because in
we all know
that there
demand that
is generated
by speculators.
I don't pay
attention to
The protocol,
Algorand,
I know that
they are doing
some efforts
or at least
it's something
that they
wouldn't want
community to
driven by
speculator
Travelex's job,
Fox Finance
Algorfize,
any company
community,
their duty
to fulfill
speculators'
expectations.
Their duty
is to solve
a problem
or a need
end users
customers.
remittance,
an investment
just crashing
information on
a blockchain,
transparency
layers to
process they
are handling.
The token
eventually,
the theory
says that
if you are
adoption and
builders keep
building,
the mid to
long term
it should
At least I
believe that.
definitely not
mean, the
algorithm family
characterized in
comparison with
our protocols
because we
always focus
rather than
And that's
what makes
us different.
honestly believe
we should
I mean, when
speculators come
because the
conditions align,
well, let
them be, I
mean, welcome.
More people
using the
network, that's
When speculators
start criticizing,
I wouldn't like,
at least I take
it this way, I
couldn't care less.
It's like, yeah,
you bought high,
you bought low,
you want to make
a profit, fine,
do your business.
But our focus
is not to
satisfy them.
Our focus is to
satisfy our
customers.
And we are
choosing Algram
because it's the
best available
technology.
So despite the
fact that I
believe it's
convenient for
protocols to
keep an eye on
token price,
their main duty
is not even
token price either,
it's to keep
the technology
great for
builders to
keep choosing
That's like a
conclusion I
vaguely wrote
up after seeing
a bunch of
tweets and a
efforts of,
respectable
members of
the community
trying to put
a shout-out
in favor of
the Algram
ecosystem is
I believe that
we should stick
to basics and
what made
Algram a great
technology.
Not worry too
much on this
component,
which we all
know it exists,
we all know
it's a thing,
but it's not
anyone's main
goal, at least
not in the
way I see it.
Well, thank
you so much,
appreciate, you
know, everything
that you shared
today, along
with your
reflection in
appreciate
everything that
you do for,
you know, Latin
America, the
region I live
personally see
the result of
it, you know,
in a daily
We still need
to get Brazil
Oh, yes, you
know that.
So I truly
appreciate, man,
I truly appreciate
you taking the
time for our
community and,
of course, to
keep building,
you know, true
value for the
You know that
this place is
always open for
you, so whenever
you have more
information to share
or you want to
run another
session, I'm
just a quick,
you know, text
message away.
Thank you so
much, man.
Truly appreciate
It's always a
pleasure to talk
to you and
bring these
updates to the
Algo fam, and
I hope you have
a fantastic
weekend, you and
the entire
Algo fam.
Appreciate it.
Right back to
you, and thanks
everyone for
listening.
Thank you very
All right, Algo
fam, thank you
very much for
your time, everybody
that caught us
live today, or
of course, you
know, the
thousands of you
that catch the
recording over the
next couple of
I hope you all
have an amazing
morning, afternoon,
evening, whatever
you are, and
we'll see you
next week with
more Twitter