Bridging Fiat To Crypto
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PROJECT: Public Mint
FOUNDED: 2018, Delaware, US
Blockchain-based fiat platform, open for anyone to build fiat-enabled applications. No bank accounts needed.
WEB PAGE: publicmint.com
ECOSYSTEM LINK: publicmint.io
FIELD: FINANCE / PAYMENT
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
Public Mint is a regulation-compliant layered blockchain open platform for fiat-native app creation and synthetic fiat currencies payments transactions without the demand of making a bank account.
LIVE MAINNET: YES since July 2020
DEVELOPMENT:
Development activity can be found in the Docker Hub. Public Mint is a Hyperledger Besu fork. The latest updates are from 2 months ago. Public Mint Ethereum client is written in Java.
For more tech detailed explanation read the Developer’s Documents and the Whitepaper.
PARTNERS:
There are no partners explicitly published but there seems to be a collaboration with VideoCoin, Hyperledger Besu, IBM Digital Asset Labs and mentioning 200 Banks are on board (but those aren’t mentioned in a press release)
TEAM:
*Jorge Pereira, Founder & CTO. Seasoned Systems Engineer and entrepreneur. As a founder or CTO in various Fintechs, Jorge has architected, developed and deployed applications and platforms with payment and banking integrations, trading engines, compliance and anti-fraud tools, blockchain integrations, custom distributed ledgers and many other components of modern fintech solutions. For the last 20 years, he worked in the Universidade do Minho and was a CTO and/or founder of companies such as Eufinity Solutions, Uphold Inc., BABB, Wayfex, Seegno and Slyk IO. He Founded Public Mint in 2018.
Paulo Rodrigues, CEO. Experienced blockchain and payments professional with over 20 years in the cards & payments industry. He is the former CEO of a blockchain R&D centre, global blockchain business developer and Head of a SWIFT service bureau at a clearinghouse and payment processor. As operations manager, he also led SWIFT operations service bureau technical support and business process outsourcing for payment instruments operations. Member of Hyperledger Speakers Bureau. Head of DLT in SIBS.
*Diane Gray-Smith, CFO. Finance professional with a strong leadership record within global organisations, building and restructuring businesses in the Fintech, Blockchain, Financial Services and Media sectors.
*Rafael Torres, VP Engineering. Experienced team and product manager, Rafael has led the implementation of several products across a wide range of digital industries, including retail, e-commerce and mobile. Responsible for product development, staff management. Hands-on in smart contract development, API usage and overall testing.
Co-founded by Halsey Minor, who was also behind CNET, Salesforce and crypto trading platform Uphold (formerly called Bitreserve). Minor later founded VideoCoin which became one of Public Mint’s first corporate users in late May.
“The underlying promise of all Digital Assets (including Digital Fiat) is to make various investment instruments, money and payments universally accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. In close cooperation with Banks and Trust companies and compliant with regional and global regulations, Public Mint is addressing that initial promise so that all enterprises, from traditional well-established companies to new and innovative DeFI startups can pave the way for the rise of Digital Assets, by employing blockchain technology as a foundation and applying the benefits of programmability, real-time settlement and finality to business processes worldwide,” said Nitin Gaur, director of IBM Digital Asset Labs. (source)
COMPETITORS:
TOKEN USE CASE & REVENUES:
-FIAT native blockchain with network fees paid in FIAT
-investment funds managing money will take a share often in the range of up to 40% of earnings. On Public Mint Earn, this fee is set at 15%, which is then split between Public Mint and MINT token stakers
-unstaking fee ($1 or 0,25% whatever is higher)
-tx fee (typical transfer of USD on Public Mint costs $0.05 cents, whereas transferring USD+ costs $0.10 or 0.01% — whichever is higher)
Public Mint has integrated its “Public Pay” open platform to allow for payment in fiat on VideoCoin. Public Mint was co-founded by Halsey Minor, known for co-founding pioneering digital media firm CNET in 1993. He filed for bankruptcy in 2013 but has since founded the VideoCoin Network — a decentralized video media platform that has partnered with Public Mint.
“With the VideoCoin Network, we have started a new chapter in decentralization. While I’m proud of my success in creating hugely successful cloud-based services, the time has come for edge-based decentralization. The VideoCoin Network is less expensive and easier to use than all cloud video services including AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and Mux,” said Halsey Minor, founder and CEO at Live Planet, strategic services and technology provider to the VideoCoin project. “With the addition of the world’s most flexible payment system through Public Mint, we can integrate both global customers and hardware. While the volatility of staking tokens makes sense because they reflect the growing value of the ecosystem, using them for payments is a poison pill that insures a project cannot get mass adoption anytime soon. VideoCoin Network avoids this trap.” (source)
ROADMAP:
*Q2 2018
-Public Mint Inc Registered Office in the state of Delaware
*Q3 2018
-Design of overall Architecture
-Layer 0: Custodial
-Layer 1: Protocol
-Layer 2: Contracts
-Layer 3: KYC/AML/Integration
-Research blockchain architectures
-Business model research
-Legal & Regulatory
-Meeting with OCC (Washington)
-Design of Multi-Custodial structure
*Q4 2018
-Proof of Concept (Geth)
-Proof of Concept (Tendermint)
-Proof of Concept (Fabric)
*Q1 2019
-Proof of Concept (Pegasys Pantheon)
-Public Mint Testnet (poc)
-FinCEN BSA Money Services Business Registration
*Q3 2019
-Rebase to Hyperledger Besu
-Public Mint Testnet (alpha)
-Public Mint Web Wallet (alpha)
*Q4 2019
-Public Mint Testnet (beta)
-Developer’s portal (blockchain)
-Blockchain Explorer (alpha)
-Public Mint Web Wallet (beta)
*Q1 2020
-Public Mint Testnet (live)
-Developer’s portal (API)
-Blockchain Explorer (beta)
*Q2 2020
-Corporate website launch
-Setup the BSA Compliance Program
-Public Mint Mainnet (live)
-Blockchain Explorer (multi-network)
-Public Mint Web Wallet
-USD
-FedWire & ACH
*Q3 2020
-Onboarding Customers/partnerships
-Use Case Development (instant fiat-payouts)
-Transaction Monitoring
-KYC/AML Backoffice
-Stress tests
-Concepts and Overall Model for MINT Global Earn
*Q4 2020
-MINT Global Subsidiary
-MINT Token Sale
-MINT Global Earn Whitepaper
-MINT Token Economics
-MINT Global Earn Token Sale (Seed, Private)
-Architecture Design and Governance Model for MINT Global Earn
*Q1 2021
-MINT Token Sale
-MINT Global Earn Token Sale (Private, Public)
-MINT Token Distribution
-Stablecoin (USDC)
-Metamask Integration
*Q2 2021
-Credit Cards
-Google Drive Integration
-Apple iCloud Integration
*Q3 2021
-MINT Global Earn Program
-Public Mint Mobile Wallet
-Public Mint Web Wallet (v2)
*Q4 2021
-EUR, GBP
*Stablecoin
INVESTORS:
Strategic sale investors raised $2,5M — Black Edge Capital, Spark Digital Capital, AU21 Capital, Woodstock, Genesis Block Ventures, Kenetic Capital and Solidity Ventures.
TOKEN METRICS:
Token: MINT Governance token (ERC-20)
FULLY DILUTED MARKET CAP: $25M
INITIAL MARKET CAP: $1,6M
TOTAL TOKEN SUPPLY: 250M MINT
INITIAL CIRCULATING SUPPLY: 21M MINT
TOKEN DISTRIBUTION:
5% Seed (10% unlocked, afterwards 3 months cliff & 9 months vesting)
15% Private 1 (12,5% unlocked, afterwards 3 months cliff & 9 months vesting)
20% Private 2 (15% unlocked, afterwards 3 months cliff & 9 months vesting)
1% Public Sale (unlocked)
10% Team (12 month cliff & 12 month vesting)
10% Ecosystem (3 months cliff & 9 months vesting)
34% Rewards (proportional to TVL)
5% Liquidity (40% unlocked & 6 months vesting) — used for Uniswap and CEX liquidity
FUNDS RAISING INFO:
Seed: raised $438k for $0.035/MINT at $8,75M valuation
Private 1: raised $2M for $0.055/MINT at $13,75M valuation
Private 2: raised $3,75M for $0.075/MINT at $18,75M valuation
Public: raised $250k for $0.10/MINT at $25M valuation
Polkastarter public IDO on 23rd February 2021.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Telegram 70k members
Twitter 55k followers
Medium
NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:
Public Mint bridges the worlds of traditional fiat with the innovative world of crypto, offering a complete platform for synthetic fiat, fully collateralized, regulated and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured. It includes a fiat-native blockchain, APIs and an embeddable web widget, open for anyone to build fiat-enabled applications and accept credit cards, ACH, wire transfers and more. No bank accounts needed.
Public Mint is launching the MINT Global Earn program later this year to bridge direct fiat liquidity to CeFi and DeFi, and exposing the opportunities they provide to the world at large, by creating earnings-bearing synthetic fiat currencies.
The MINT utility token is central to these efforts and will be used to govern the allocation of funds and the whole protocol, and reward participants for their votes.
Public Mint offers all the tools needed to access fiat money, including onboarding, offboarding, a blockchain ledger and explorer, and mobile and web applications that include a simple user experience accessible to everyone, instead of being limited to a small group of crypto savvy users.
“At Hyperledger, we are excited to see Public Mint tackle the challenges of programmable currency and frictionless transfer of funds. By building its solution atop Hyperledger Besu, Public Mint is playing a valuable role in advancing the development and deployment of the newest Hyperledger DLT,” said Brian Behlendorf, executive director, Hyperledger, a project of the Linux Foundation. (source)
Some highlights that make Public Mint really stand out and interesting to competitors for possible future collaboration:
-Public Mint built a fiat-native blockchain that does not require a bank account
With Public Mint you can handle USD without needing a USD bank account, you can program it, and anyone can build apps on top of this open programmable form of USD. For instance, as an exchange, you don’t need to worry about maintaining USD accounts, and people don’t need to be holding USD at the exchange. An exchange that supports Public Mint essentially allows people to hold USD on their own wallets, and then have that USD at the exchange max 5 seconds whenever they want to trade.
-Public Mint claims to have already partnered with a network of more than 200 banks to hold the funds backing its fiat token network.
-connecting fiat-DEFI with stablecoins — FIAT based synthetic stablecoins fully-collateralized and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured. FDIC is an independent federal agency insuring deposits in U.S. banks and thrifts in the event of bank failures. They have multiple custodians who are FDIC insured, they ensure that fiat gets in and out without issues.
When you deposit fiat into the Public Mint system, it is received by our custodian partner and they send a confirmation to the blockchain that gives access to those funds right there. You can send the tokens to another PM account or to a bank account anywhere in the world also.
-regulations compliant platform.
-non-volatile stable network tx fees paid in fiat.
-user-friendly key storage — you can save an encrypted copy on your cloud.
-bank to-chain direct fiat access — currently accepted US & international wire and direct bank account US ACH transactions. On the short term roadmap — debit/credit card support in the US, Europe and several other countries + USDC support.
The cost of a USD transfer is USD $0.05, regardless of the amount. Deposits from wire/ACH are free of charge, whereas the cost of withdrawal is USD $5 for ACH, USD $20 for Wire (US) and USD $50 for Wire (int.). (source)
-Public Mint Blockchain connects off-chain & on-chain.
-multi custodial structure — open to any bank or financial institution through APIs (non-custodial). Public Mint currently uses PrimeTrust but will evolve in a multi-custodial layer across multiple jurisdictions and currencies.
-Public Mint’s platform is already live (since July 2020) with US Dollar (USD) and is fully FDIC Insured + GDP, EUR soon in 2021 — Public Mint launched its fiat-native public blockchain following two years of development.
-built on Hyperledger Besu (enterprise Ethereum client) — completely independent from Ethereum — IBFT 2.0 PoA consensus which is perfect for such blockchain. For more details follow this LINK.
-Smart Services layer — Ethereum compatible code for autonomous smart contracts deployment.
-Mobile & Web Applications with nice and easy UI.
-Public Mint Widget allows any dApp or web app to directly receive funds from the network.
-very fast tx — fully confirmed in 3–5 sec.
-synthetic currency that earns revenue, that is fungible and easy to convert or withdraw.
-third parties can launch their own currencies with different risk profiles and their own dedicated management community or private label supply-chain payment ecosystem.
-Public Mint Earn Program — CeFi/DeFi portfolio — earnings-bearing synthetic currency. Earn Program will help in bringing direct fiat liquidity to CeFi and DeFi. EARN program, governance participation (up to 10%) and liquidity rewarding. Launch in Q3 2021!
There are currently no fees in receiving funds to your PM account. Other fees are applicable. Using PM lets you gain rewards via the Earn program. Every user of Public Mint can supply liquidity to the Earn program and earn rewards.
-AGGREGATION OF FUNDS: Public Mint can stake funds into the USD EARN program, and those funds are then allocated across various CeFi partners and DeFi providers in order to generate daily yield. This highlights one of the main advantages of the EARN program, the ability to process funds in bulk, and send/request funds to partners in aggregate.
“In the evolving ecosystem of governance best practices, a self-governed system is similar to a young person maturing into a responsible adult. The lessons learned from the study of dozens of governing tokens is encapsulated as such. A strong desire for self-governance should not be confused with mob-rule, and cannot be separated from working towards creating a mature decision-making process. This is particularly critical when decisions are made that affect risk-taking and user funds. In the EARN program, MINT stakers are compensated for their efforts in maintaining a stable and functional system that operates in a sustainable manner. That being said, our mission is strongly based on the notion that governance is a responsibility — a public service — not an inherent right. We understand that governance systems only work insofar as incentives are properly structured and participants are properly informed, and focused on issuing opinions based on facts, with an eye toward the ultimate public good.
While the goal of our governance system is to drive the system to a point where MINT stakers can fully decide on proposals, we balance that with an incremental self-governance process that learns and iterates gradually. As such, Governance on Public Mint will be introduced in phases, and there will be controls on the amount of disruption that proposals can introduce into the ecosystem. One of the key goals of the EARN program is to reduce risk, and make sure that people who participate can rely on the community of MINT stakers to make financially sound choices; firstly reducing risk, and secondly maximizing earnings. With this in mind, funds are mostly distributed through a set of partners and providers that generate yield, but there are also amounts which will be kept aside to ensure stability and reduce risk — even at the expense of yield.”
