GoCrypto 2023 overview
As we reflect on 2022, we recognize the challenges that the cryptocurrency space faced as the market underwent a bearish phase, affecting many players in the industry. Despite these tough conditions, our team maintained focus on our vision of creating a world of payments that is inclusive, transparent, streamlined, and accessible to all. The hard work that we put in during the second half of 2022 has paid off as we began 2023 with a strong foundation to build upon.
In Q1 2023, we continued making significant strides towards our goals, and we are thrilled to report on our achievements and present our plans moving forward. This report provides a comprehensive view of our progress and sets the tone for our future initiatives as we strive to make meaningful contributions to the world of payments.
We are excited to announce our latest focus on building trustworthy partnerships with both private and governmental entities to further drive the adoption of cryptocurrency. As an established company, we are searching for prominent industry players who share our vision and can help us spread our point-of-sale solutions through integration and distribution, bringing us closer to the public. Additionally, we are committed to entering new markets, conducting thorough research, and implementing strategies based on best practices, knowledge, and skills.
In the age of increasing regulation, we recognize the importance of compliance with crypto payment regulations in different markets, and we are dedicated to making cryptocurrency adoption compliant with all legislation, ensuring our clients a 100% safe and user-friendly solution. Furthermore, this year, we will be strongly emphasizing knowledge sharing and building brand awareness through multiple events, securing speaking positions, and hosting as well as participating in many podcasts to spread awareness of our mission.
We believe that building trust and partnerships, expanding into new markets, and prioritizing compliance with regulations will push us to new heights, furthering the adoption of cryptocurrency and advancing the industry as a whole. This report demonstrates our ongoing commitment to our clients, partners, stakeholders, and the broader industry.
We started 2023 with a motivating kick off meeting at the place where it all began - the one and only BTC City. The team was fired up and ready to take on the world of payments. And so we did.
Our CEO and Head of LATAM made their way to Central America, specifically El Salvador, to establish a partnership with local stakeholders and open up LATAM markets to our PoS solutions.
We have developed a unique business strategy to introduce reliable and regulated payment infrastructure across the country and accelerate Bitcoin adoption. Our company Elly Financial Technologies SLV, S.A. DE C.V. has been successfully incorporated in El Salvador, and we have opened a bank account at Banco Agricola, paving the way to begin implementing our collaboration plan. To further enhance our AML and corporate compliance standards and accelerate our market penetration, we have engaged a reputable local law firm in El Salvador. Our registration process as a Bitcoin Service Provider is already underway.
We believe in strong partnerships with trustworthy players from the payment industry, blockchain space, and governmental institutions to pave the way to mainstream Bitcoin adoption. We have already initiated conversations with several parties to co-design initiatives for a comprehensive, easy-to-use service, much like what we achieved in Switzerland.
Salvadoran merchants stand to benefit from our range of Bitcoin accepting solutions, including our custom point-of-sale solution for Bitcoin on Lightning Network and USDT payments on Polygon Network, with customers able to pay using any digital wallet that supports these currencies. We offer settlement options in Bitcoin, Tether, dollars, and other cryptocurrencies supported by GoCrypto, with instant crypto settlements to the merchant's Manager dashboard account or periodical fiat settlement in line with the billing periods. All GoCrypto merchants can access our Manager Dashboard online tool for an overview and control over transactions for accounting purposes.
Our collaboration with partners and the Salvadoran government marks a new chapter in our journey.
We are pleased to share that the Plan ₿ initiative has continued to gain momentum with each new merchant onboarded. As of the end of Q1, 172 companies in the Ticino area have adopted our crypto POS terminals across 205 Lugano locations. Our Plan ₿ partners have been working collaboratively on various business, sales, and marketing activities to promote the use of crypto payments across the city.
Our sales team has successfully onboarded some high-profile names in the Lugano region, including a luxury fashion brand and a luxury car dealership. We are proud of these partnerships and remain committed to expanding our reach in the Swiss market.
Our team is currently focusing on laying the groundwork for GoCrypto's holistic POS solution to be introduced in Switzerland, also accepting card payments.
Our company has recently developed a new version of our configurable POS application with a sleek UI and a printerless option. This update will be made available to all new Swiss merchants, while existing merchants will receive the app update in the next phase to ensure consistency. The app is designed to be dynamic and adjusts its behavior based on the activated payment methods set for each merchant. We plan to add support for card payments in Q2.
Our white-label solution provides distributors with a range of payment processors to choose from, as well as tailored configurations for wallets, currencies and payment methods. In addition, we have added Spanish language support to serve our customers in El Salvador as well as French language for the next targeted markets. Our latest updates include a new user interface, adjustments for Pax A920 PRO and Android phones. Our goal is to provide a more intuitive and streamlined experience for our merchants, and we believe that this new app will achieve that goal. It will be deployed in Q2 and will also feature a daily statement of accounts that will be sent automatically to the merchant's email address.
We are pleased to report progress in several areas of our eCommerce solutions.
Firstly, we have optimized the payment flow for completing eCommerce payments on mobile devices through the addition of a deep-link to our mBills platform. We have also released a new WooCommerce plugin on production, and are commencing the process of switching existing merchants to the new plugin.
In addition, we have partnered with an external specialized company to develop eCommerce plugins for Magento, Shopify, Prestashop, and Opencart, beginning with the development of Magento plugins.
Moreover, we are excited to announce the integration of Flik, a digital payment method, into our eCommerce solution. Flik is now available on the Slovenian market and will be included in our Elly POS eComm, distributed by Lab4Pay, and GLS Pay eComm, distributed by GLS. With optimized payments for desktop and mobile flows, Flik offers a seamless and secure payment experience for our customers. We are committed to expanding our reach and providing innovative solutions to even more customers in the future.
Our development team has finished creating our configurable eCommerce solution, which comes equipped with integrated Bitcoin on Lightning and USDt on Polygon payments. As the product name implies, it is adjustable and will adapt to the selected payment methods for each merchant. It is currently scheduled to roll-out in Q2.
We extended a warm welcome to Finaro, one of the world's most renowned payment services providers. The powerful partnership will enable us to leverage Finaro's high-end acquiring services, ensuring smooth and efficient processing of card payments through our range of holistic point-of-sale solutions across the European market.
Working hand in hand with financial giants such as Finaro represents a major step forward for our company. By streamlining the distribution and utilization of our brick & mortar and eCommerce services, we are poised to take our mission to new heights and expand our influence within the industry.
We launched a new and improved tokenomics page GoC tokenomics which covers all GoC token’s in the scope of GoCrypto and GoCrypto 2.0 utility. The subpage serves as a hub of GoC token related information, including all its features, from cashback, payments, NFT minting and staking to referral programs, DAO governance, eCommerce and more.
Our company has launched the GoC token on the Polygon network, a widely adopted Layer 2 solution that addresses Ethereum's high gas fees and output limitations while improving security and efficiency. This strategic move will unlock new possibilities for development and enhance the token's usefulness by providing users with faster and more cost-effective transactions.
We updated the GoC Bridge to enable seamless transfer of GoC tokens across all supported chains, including Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Smart Bitcoin Cash (smartBCH), and Polygon (MATIC). This upgrade was made specifically to support the Polygon chain and provides users with greater flexibility in managing their tokens across multiple chains.
We have set up a GoC/MATIC liquidity pool on Uniswap decentralized exchange, which means that users are able to trade the newly issued "GoC Polygon" on the Uniswap DEX.
Uniswap is one of the leading decentralized crypto exchanges built on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform allows developers, traders, and liquidity providers from anywhere in the world to participate together in an open financial marketplace without an intermediary.
After months of designing and developing the GoCrypto 2.0, we were finally ready to share the concept that has shaped this revolutionary decentralized payment protocol.
The GoCrypto 2.0 open-alpha version was released in February 2023, showcasing blockchain payments on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) with Tether (USDT) functioning as the base currency.
The GoCrypto 2.0 protocol is setting a new standard in decentralized finances, introducing blockchain payments, NFT minting, DAO governance, staking pools, a referral program, bridges, yield farming, and more, all interconnected to function both as a whole and as separate services. The protocol will connect the entire crypto community, from crypto users, crypto projects, and developers to crypto wallets, currencies, blockchain brokers, and merchants.
All features will be accessible through the GoCrypto dApp with no central authority involved. The protocol will be able to support any suitable blockchain, payment gateway, crypto, or fiat currency and will strive to achieve the vision of “Pay with anything, receive anything”.
We rolled out the open alpha version of GoCrypto 2.0 Payments. The Payments future will enable crypto and digital payments where customers can pay for their purchase in virtually any currency and merchants get settled in their desired currency as well. No usernames, no emails, no passwords required. All transactions will be processed on-chain which makes them fully transparent and trackable. The protocol is currently supporting payments in GoC token and USDT but will be adding other currencies in future versions.
The GoCrypto 2.0 protocol will process transactions through smart contracts, performing several actions, including swapping, exchanging, bridging, and off-ramp services to deliver the final result — settling the merchant in his desired currency.
Our Product team has created a demo video of our decentralized eCommerce solution featuring the GoCrypto merchandise store. While the video is currently only available for demonstration purposes, our upcoming eCommerce service will be offered to clients as a plugin, allowing them to provide their customers with a fully decentralized shopping experience.
During Q1, Plan ₿ celebrated its first anniversary in Lugano, commemorating the incredible progress made since its launch. The event took place on March 3rd, 2023 at the Padiglione Conza in the city center's expo area. The celebration was a way to acknowledge the efforts by the partners of the initiative to develop a favorable environment for Bitcoin in the biggest city of Canton Ticino. At the event, City Mayor Michele Foletti and Paolo Ardoino (Tether) discussed the accomplishments of the past year and were joined by various important figures from the municipality.
In this celebratory environment, there was a chance to network with people who work in the Bitcoin field and sympathizers, and to discuss the development of an environment where Bitcoin can be easily used to pay for shops and city services. Our team was thrilled to be a part of this event and reaffirmed our commitment to advancing the adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in Switzerland. These achievements in the past year serve as motivation for us to continue working towards even greater results in the future.
GoCrypto attended Pay360 in London on the 21st & 22nd March. Pay 360 is an event organised by the Payments Association with GoCrypto enjoying membership of the sister organisation, the payments association EU.
The association's signature event brought together many members of the payment industry to discuss the present and future state of the payments industry. GoCrypto provided support for the event by sharing its expertise on the infrastructure and processing of crypto payments as well as how DLT can enhance payment propositions and customer experiences.
2 days of talks and presentations on subjects like CBDC's account-to-account payments and web 3 payments laid a great base for networking with peers in the industry and considering new collaborations.
At the MPE event, the company's representatives from the business development and marketing department showcased popular solutions from the GoCrypto product line, including EllyPOS, Plan ₿ POS, GoCrypto eCommerce, GoCrypto cash register integration, and crypto exchange POS to draw in crowds. Attendees were impressed by the speed and simplicity of the company's service during transactions. In addition to creating a warm and inviting atmosphere conducive to networking opportunities, industry experts were engaged in in-depth discussions about the growth of crypto payments among skeptics. The event fostered meaningful connections with representatives from Latin American markets and Swiss regions seeking to develop their FinTech services. The company left the event inspired by the collaborative efforts of the entire payments industry towards a more streamlined and inclusive future of payments.
The energy in the room was unforgettable as our General Counsel, Luka Planinc, took the stage with his brilliant insights on digital currencies. Luka's deep knowledge and real-world statistics from the payment industry left the audience in awe as he explained the potential influence of web3 and blockchain on our future.
As the panel discussion began, the temperature in the room rose as the experts heatedly exchanged their views on the pros and cons of digital currencies, CBDCs, DAO governance and other hot-button topics. The debate was intense, revealing diverse viewpoints and a deep passion for the future of finance. The audience was captivated by the clash of ideas and the opportunities presented for the growth of our industry.
Our Chief Security Officer, Timotej Polach, attended the Technobank event which he described as a positive experience, where participants were able to observe the high level of expertise and innovation on display. The event was well-organized, featuring both conference and exhibition components that offered valuable insights into the latest trends and challenges facing the banking and payment industry. The panel discussions, which included experts from various fields, delved into topics such as digital transformation and customer experience, and were particularly enjoyable. Overall, the Technobank event provided a unique opportunity for attendees to network with like-minded professionals, gain knowledge about the latest industry developments, and find inspiration on how to apply new technologies to enhance payment services.
The Blockchain Alliance Europe hosted a special blockchain and NFT event in the Slovenian cradle of Ski Jumping competition, Planica. Our Product manager Luka Popovič accompanied our dear colleague Lusin Pinedo from Bitfinex, who held a speaking position at the NFT event.
Participants witnessed a number of insightful speeches from industry leaders while observing the captivating view of the Planica crowd cheering on the best of the best in the world of ski jumping. Luis Pinedo presented the Bitfinex Pay app, integrated in the Plan ₿ POS terminal, and showcased how our partnership is pushing crypto adoption in Switzerland.
The event was a delightful mixture of blockchain, networking, and sports - a trio that left an amazing impression on all its attendees.
The Marketing department has launched the GoCrypto podcast, which focuses on crypto and payments related topics and aims to raise awareness about the FinTech landscape, regulatory concerns, and the future of payments.
The inaugural episode features our CEO, Dejan Roljić, discussing the decentralization of payments and the global expansion of GoCrypto.
In the second episode, our Chief Product Officer, Luka Paragi, shares insights into the development of GoCrypto products and explains how we are transforming the payment industry.
Our team has made significant strides toward achieving our vision over the past quarter. The business development team has been working hard to expand our markets and implement white labeling solutions and integrations. At the same time, the development team has created several new solutions and upgrades that will be rolled out next quarter. The product team has also been busy ensuring that our services and products remain top-notch with a sleek design.
We are thrilled that our highly-anticipated GoCrypto 2.0 product has been unveiled and is nearing its official launch. Moreover, we have made significant progress in enhancing the accessibility and usability of our GoC token, which plays a crucial role in the GoCrypto 2.0 protocol.
At our core, we value inclusion, fairness, transparency, compliance, and accessibility - values that we believe are essential for creating services that will make the world of payments a better and fairer place. We are immensely proud of our outstanding team who exhibit grit and dedication, even in the face of challenges, and we know that with values like these, we will continue to build momentum and achieve our goals together with our partners.
Finally, we would also like to acknowledge the contribution of our faithful community that has been supporting us through thick and thin. We are aware that it’s sometimes hard to wait for development news when you don’t have a front-row seat to the backstage happenings, but our community's trust and belief in our vision have been unwavering. They know that we are working tirelessly to bring them the solutions they have been waiting for, and it is with immense gratitude that we acknowledge their ongoing support. Our community makes all the difference, and we cherish each and every one of them for their unwavering loyalty and encouragement.
Thank you for being a part of our journey toward shaping the future of payments.
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