UTRUST x LBank AMA Recap
On November 22st 2019, UTRUST Community Manager Jorge Rebelo took part in a special AMA on the LBank Exchange Telegram Channel.
We have compiled a summary of all questions answered during the AMA in this article. Enjoy!
AMA Questions
Q: Thanks for joining us. Why don’t you give a brief introduction to UTrust, and the recently launched UTrust Wallet!
Jorge: Sure thing, Utrust is a crypto payment platform and we aim to solve the issues that traditonal merchants (online) feel that is blocking them from accepting this new technology into their daily operations. We strongly believe in Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies as the future of money and payments.
The Utrust Wallet is another step into our vision, to make crypto payments easy as they should be, by providing a set of features that we find crucial to enable payments for everyone, everywhere!
Q: With the release of the UTrust wallet, how will it differ from existing crypto wallets? What is/are the advantage(s) of using the wallet for purchasing online than other wallets?
Jorge: We want people to use blockchain and crypto not because of its novelty effect, not because the tech aspect of it is fascinating (even though it is), but because it makes their lives better. To do that, we need to create products that are effective, powerful, and work without a hitch.
That is why we have created the Utrust Wallet. With the Utrust Wallet, you can not only store and send your digital currency, but you can also purchase real world goods, products and services. All in a single, simple, app.
Transactions are instant, and even between Wallet users are instantaneous and totally free for everyone, everywhere. Totally borderless.
The various set of benefits of having the Utrust Wallet don’t stop here, we’re also introducing cashback and staking related to UTK, starting on 2020.
We believe the Utrust wallet offers a more simple, and better way of paying.
You can find even more details on our twitter account https://twitter.com/utrustwallet and here: https://medium.com/utrust/the-money-of-the-future-is-here-and-its-in-your-hand-7ff089319001
Q: How will the UTrust team will protect the buyer as well as merchant while payment with Bitcoin, as BTC transactions take several minutes to process? Also who will bear the cost if a major fluctuation has happened while making a payment?
Jorge: We do so by having an escrow mechanism, where we secure the Fiat value of the purchase, by instantly converting the crypto into fiat. We also accept the risk of the transactional time, but we can really quickly detect the transaction on-chain therefore lowering the risk to ourselves. Crypto volatility is not new and we’re ready for it as we’ve built several mechanisms internally to protect us due to this same fluctuation.
End point being, neither the merchant or the buyer need to worry about volatility, we have built our platform to make sure both are free from any of these risks, and the merchant is always guaranteed to receive his requested fiat value, minus our 1% flat fee from processing the transaction.
It’s important to remind we deliver Fiat to our merchants, therefore effectively shielding them any volatility in this market. From the moment the buyer initiated the payment, any major fluctuation that occurs we are the ones who absorb the risk.
Q: How will the UTrust team will protect the buyer as well as merchant while payment with Bitcoin, as BTC transactions take several minutes to process? Also who will bear the cost if a major fluctuation has happened while making a payment?
Jorge: We do so by having an escrow mechanism, where we secure the Fiat value of the purchase, by instantly converting the crypto into fiat. We also accept the risk of the transactional time, but we can really quickly detect the transaction on-chain therefore lowering the risk to ourselves. Crypto volatility is not new and we’re ready for it as we’ve built several mechanisms internally to protect us due to this same fluctuation.
End point being, neither the merchant or the buyer need to worry about volatility, we have built our platform to make sure both are free from any of these risks, and the merchant is always guaranteed to receive his requested fiat value, minus our 1% flat fee from processing the transaction.
It’s important to remind we deliver Fiat to our merchants, therefore effectively shielding them any volatility in this market. From the moment the buyer initiated the payment, any major fluctuation that occurs we are the ones who absorb the risk.
Q: How does the UTrust team manage a transaction between two parties without the transaction undergoing a blockchain confirmation? Also how can one verify if he wants to check a transaction in the UTrust ecosystem in the Ethereum blockchain?
Jorge: Thanks for the question! We process this transactions internally, pretty much like exchanges do this days, by doing balance changes. Our platform is centralized in order to perform escrow of the values, be able to provide buyer protection to our users and have instant payments within our merchants network, so internal transactions aren’t possible to be checked within the Ethereum Blockchain, only the ones made through external wallets.
It’s important to note that any wallet works within Utrust ecosystem 👍
Q: What are the main challenges when it comes to adoption from retailers? Is there a “distrust” of cryptocurrency? Do you see a difference between online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores?
Jorge: The main challenge is overcoming some of the bad press crypto has built in the past years, and explaining the true potential and benefit of this technology. As more companies like Utrust arise, fully compliant with a service that helps adoption, the more recognized this space will be, and the less fear traditional merchants will have from accepting this currencies.
We’ve actually made very good progress in relation to retailers, and we’ve onboarded several big merchants from the traditional markets, and we’ll keep progressing and closing more. Stay tuned!
Q: Recently some banks have shut down accounts of users that have transactions related to digital currencies. Is this a concern to UTrust, as merchants may have their business bank accounts shut down?
Jorge: Unfortunately, we are aware that has been happening to several merchants, and this proves that there is still a long way to mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. This is definitely NOT a concern for us and for our merchants. Our payments platform immediately converts any payment done with crypto currencies to fiat, allowing our merchants to avoid all the usual problems associated with crypto.
Q: How do you guarantee the profit margins for merchants, as there may be fluctuations in price between product purchase and settlement of funds? What incentives are there for customers, and for merchants that accept payments via UTrust?
Jorge: We guarantee so by instantly converting the funds into fiat. The incentives for merchants are simple, 1% flat fee in comparison to all other payment processors who charge a lot more.
For buyers, it also gets a lot cheaper to use crypto for purchases than using a CC or Debit card, since you don’t incur on forex fees, etc.
Feel free to check our website for more info: https://utrust.com/
Q: UTrust charges 1% fees through payment process. Is that the only way that UTrust makes money?
For the time being we monetize on 1% flat fee from the merchants. We are always open to new revenue streams if the opportunity arises.
Q: Are you able to give an idea for how many customers/merchants that UTrust has at the moment, and which countries are the most popular?
Jorge: We have announced several merchants since our launch. Actually, our CEO tweeted about it. You can check Nuno’s tweet with the last details https://twitter.com/nunocor_/status/1187338933165801472
Since then we announced Alternative Airlines, a major player that allows you to book flights worldwide with 650 airlines (including all the major companies in the world)
Q: Who do you see as your competitors, conventional payment facilities like Visa, or other crypto related payment facilities?
Jorge: We are a crypto payment payment, so we see other crypto related payment facilities as competition. But competition is healthy, especially on such an emerging and new market, as all companies fight for crypto adoption, and ultimately that’s our goal too.
We don’t see competition as a negative aspect, but rather positive, we’re all fighting for the same technology, and that’s highly positive! As long as companies are fully compliant and work for the good of adoption, it’s a fantastic thing.
Q: How does the UTK burning mechanism work? What’s the percentage of UTK in the buy-back plan?
Jorge: From each transaction that occurs on the platform, we will automatically buyback tokens on the market to be later on burned.
More details on the buyback plan, cashback and staking will follow come 2020! Stay tuned.
Q: If you were to summarize UTrust in one word, what would it be?
Jorge: Evolution! 🚀
Q: How many different cryptocurrencies can users make payments in? What is the selection process for bringing in new digital currencies, and is this something UTrust is looking at?
Jorge: Good question! As of now we have Bitcoin/Ethereum/Digibyte/Dash and our own native token UTK available to make payments. As far as selection process goes, it’s a process conducted by our compliance team, and we look into several aspects such as development/community/liquidity on the market, etc.
More currencies will be progressively added!
Thanks to everyone who joined us, and we look forward to bringing more AMA’s to the LBank Community.
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