Whitney McDonald
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Fintech major CRED has launched peer-to-peer UPI payments on its app, allowing CRED members to transact with CRED members or non-members by searching their contact list and adding phone numbers, or UPI ids.
The service will be limited to CRED members. To become a CRED member, one needs to have 750 or above credit score. “While UPI has created a revolution in digital payments with a focus on utility, CRED seeks to move beyond being transactional- creating an elevated UPI experience for members. This experience hinges on making payments instant, secure, and rewarding,” the company said in a statement.
The new payment experience has been introduced after the launch of Scan & Pay in October 2022. As scan and pay gain traction, CRED expects the number of merchants to grow. Now with the launch of P2P UPI payments, CRED members will have multiple payment options including offline payments (UPI P2P, Scan & Pay, Tap to Pay), online merchant payments (CRED Pay, CRED flash) and bill payments.
Other key features of CRED’s UPI P2P Experience are payment reminders for recurring transactions, option to create a custom VPA and mask personal details like mobile numbers from their UPI id. CRED recorded a net loss of ₹1279 crore in FY22 even though its revenue jumped by almost 340 per cent from ₹95 crore in FY21 to ₹422 crore in FY22.
The company’s losses have more than doubled from ₹524 crore in FY21. In an earlier conversation with businessline, CEO Kunal Shah attributed the losses to the company’s focus on building a community of members and building the brand. CRED said it has grown to a base of 11.2 million members in FY22 as compared to 7.5 million in FY21.
The four-year-old start-up rewards customers for paying credit card bills and has built multiple user cases for its customers including cash, mint, pay, credit card bill payment, max, rewards, store and travel.
This is an opinion editorial by Okada, mechanical engineer and contributor to peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange RoboSats.
Buying your first bitcoin has dramatically changed since the early days of trading on forums or Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Large exchanges sprung up and nowadays, they’ve perfected the art of attracting newbies through demystifying the buying experience with seamless and, quite frankly, mindless user interfaces.
Over time, regulators pressured exchanges into collecting users’ data to verify their personal credentials. Exchanges such as these — we’ll call them “verification” exchanges (VEXs) — have custody of your funds and have tools at their disposal to track your identity-linked funds on chain. The reader should already be aware of the advantages of self custody, a topic worthy of its own detailed exploration.
The convenience of mainstream VEXs such as Coinbase and Binance have effectively perverted end-user expectations of private, peer-to-peer (P2P) alternatives when buying bitcoin. Consequently, they are disinclined to use alternatives despite the immeasurable benefits to be gained.
To clarify, we are defining exchanges by their requirements for users to supply identifying information, not whether they are centralized or decentralized in nature. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) can operate privately, P2P if they hold no information on their users and do not custody funds.
Centralization doesn’t have to sacrifice end-user privacy if the exchange only performs the role of a blind matchmaker and, if shut down, can simply be relaunched by cloning its open-source repository. Therefore, the distinctive “VEX” label is more appropriate than incorrectly referring to all CEXs as having poor privacy.
For full disclosure, the author contributes to the open-source, P2P exchange RoboSats, but this article is not endorsing just one P2P exchange; rather, it is an endorsement for use of any private, P2P exchange.
Anything is better than using VEXs!
Note: In many jurisdictions, using a P2P service is no different than using eBay or Craigslist. It is your responsibility to know your jurisdiction’s stance.
Obviously, the problem with VEXs is the utter lack of privacy. Users are required to submit self-identifying information like a driver’s license or passport that will perpetually link purchased bitcoin to that user.
To reiterate, a user’s real name is forever associated with that bitcoin and all downstream transactions. If they withdraw that bitcoin from the identifying exchange and use mixing services, the public ledger can make this evident and authorities may associate that action with criminal activity, regardless of the user’s intent.
On top of leaving a digital paper trail, their email, password, phone number and fiat bank credentials can become exposed as bad actors can access this information through hacking or by disgruntled exchange employees leaking users’ personal information. Or, as evidenced by recent exchange collapses like FTX’s, they risk losing their bitcoin since they don’t truly possess the private keys.
Many buyers and sellers use these privacy-invasive exchanges primarily because they wield vast liquidity in a slew of local currencies and their slick mobile apps make buying and selling bitcoin a trivial task. What’s more, they’ve built addictive casinos aimed at increasing user retention with every confetti-filled, dopamine-inducing trade.
Unfortunately, many of the owners and operators of VEXs rabidly advocate for “adoption-friendly” regulations by collecting their customers’ data under the guise of protecting honest users, but, the collection of sensitive user data in the first place is ripe for exploitation by cybercriminals. The simple solution is to avoid VEXs altogether.
Consider the second-order effects of using, and thereby supporting, anti-privacy exchanges. How you buy and sell bitcoin will have amplifying effects on those exchanges and the greater Bitcoin network.
When using a VEX, you are amplifying the practice of invading privacy and giving credence to the normalization of it. Speaking with your wallet has never been more applicable than when you buy bitcoin with your hard-earned fiat.
If using a P2P exchange, then you are contributing bitcoin or fiat liquidity to that platform and thus amplifying the immediately-available liquidity so that more users can benefit from privacy-oriented exchanges rather than relying on VEXs.
The result of supporting VEXs will restrict fiat on-ramps and lead to a failure of Bitcoin’s core ideology as a permissionless, P2P, electronic cash system; on the other hand, supporting P2P exchanges will reinforce the permissionless nature of Bitcoin and create a more robust privacy network for anyone to freely use.
The following sections look into the expectations for a P2P exchange for some of the users who are accustomed to VEXs.
In this author’s experience, the biggest “complaint” from users of VEXs regarding P2P exchanges is the lack of immediately-available liquidity for some currencies and fiat payment methods. Every P2P exchange launches with low liquidity and only grows if their user base grows.
Such is the origin of any P2P exchange; they do not have sudden, vast liquidity at the get go and without anyone bothering to contribute liquidity, P2P exchanges would cease to exist. Without a marketing budget, they can’t really do anything besides bring in more users with word-of-mouth advertising.
In the case of RoboSats, we have seen that many new users will only check the order book at that specific moment and very often assume weak liquidity, but they do not realize that untaken orders expire in 24 hours and successful trades are not visible. The trade turnover is actually quite high and orders get taken relatively quickly. Interestingly, behind the apparent lack of liquidity is a highly-liquid market.
Thus, the distinction should be made between immediately-available liquidity on VEXs and high turnover liquidity on P2P exchanges. In this same vein, VEXs make classic dollar-cost averaging a breeze while P2P exchanges usually take a little extra elbow grease. Rather fittingly, this could be seen as a comparison between high-time-preference stacking with VEXs and low-time-preference stacking with P2P exchanges.
In short, P2P exchanges get better with more liquidity and users.
Buying and selling bitcoin on a private, P2P exchange usually involves a premium. Users who are accustomed to the VEX lifestyle may hesitate paying above the bitcoin-to-fiat market rate for fear of getting fewer satoshis for their fiat. Conversely, users who value privacy take no issue paying extra for their anonymous bitcoin.
In P2P markets where there are imbalances between supply and demand, premiums are used on buy and sell orders to incentivize anonymous peers to provide liquidity to the marketplace. If you are buying bitcoin in a currency or payment method that is inconvenient for the seller then, by raising your premium, you may attract someone willing to go out of their way for more satoshis. You have to make it worth their time.
If selling bitcoin, you can gain more fiat in exchange for it when using P2P services versus using VEXs. From the seller’s point of view, the order premium is an opportunity for profitable arbitrage that also incentivizes sellers to part ways with their desirable bitcoin for undesirable fiat.
From one perspective, the market rate on VEXs could be viewed as a discounted version of bitcoin that will invade your privacy at the “benefit” of more satoshis in your stack, whereas the market rate on P2P exchanges can be seen as the real bitcoin market evaluation that users are paying to truly secure their wealth and protect their personal privacy.
It should go without saying, but wanting to transact bitcoin privately has absolutely nothing to do with criminal activity, like lawmakers so desperately preach; rather, it is solely to protect yourself from criminal activity against your wealth and, potentially, your life. If you practice multisig because you take the $5 wrench attack seriously, then you should also transact bitcoin privately. The idea that your life is in danger by exposing your identity may sound extreme, but it is not some farfetched, radical fantasy.
Bitcoin bought privately will always carry a premium because the market will forever value it more than bitcoin that is bought with the capability of exposing your personal finances.
No exchange is perfect and that applies to both VEXs and P2P exchanges. No matter how streamlined or “foolproof” the platform appears to be, users can still run into trouble. When they do encounter issues, there’s nothing more comforting than knowing a real human being is there to help.
In contrast to your typical customer service employee, the volunteer developers and contributors are often more than willing to go out of their way to resolve problems and issues since they have more ambition and desire to keep users enjoying the platform.
Moreover, P2P platforms are more likely to provide tailored solutions since problems that occur are more often than not outside of the platform’s control, like issues with a certain third-party wallet or Lightning Network limitations.
In this author’s observation, the response times, positive attitudes and general helpfulness of P2P exchanges far exceeds that of VEXs where users resignedly gripe about their terrible and incompetent customer service departments.
By exploring some of these warped expectations, hopefully readers will adjust theirs accordingly when using the variety of privacy-focused exchanges available. While, ideally, expectations should not need to be adjusted, users need to recognize the plain realities when using smaller, lower-volume exchanges that focus on privacy over profit and operate on a relatively miniscule budget.
VEXs such as Coinbase and Binance have had many years to establish their brands by building user trust (for now) and with the help of “crypto educators” encouraging newbies to buy their first assortment of tokens and coins on verification exchanges, “because it’s easy” or, more probably, because they were paid to shill those products.
You likely bought your first bitcoin on a VEX because you were told that it’s easy or were not aware of private alternatives; likewise, you probably didn’t find out about the disastrous implications of linking your real-life identity to your bitcoin stack until far later into your journey down the rabbit hole.
No need to fret, it is never too late to begin working toward a more secure and private future. Keep your bitcoin bought on VEXs wholly separate from your private bitcoin stack and stop giving VEXs your business.
Ultimately, P2P exchanges will have to work incredibly hard to compete in the same league as VEXs. Yet, without peers liquefying the order books, there would be no private, P2P exchanges at all. The best we can do is reason with users to value privacy and adjust their expectations when using P2P exchanges in lieu of high-volume, privacy-foregoing, verification exchanges.
So, spread the word!
This is a guest post by Okada. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
Okada
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Peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency trading platform Paxful is delisting Ethereum.
Paxful CEO Ray Youssef took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce the news, confirming a move he had hinted at ten days prior.
“We finally kicked #ethereum off our marketplace. 11.6m humans safer. Integrity over revenue,” Youssef said in a tweet, calling on fellow exchange runners to follow suit.
A screenshot of Youssef’s statement to clients accompanied the tweet. The text provided more details as to why the CEO chose to remove ETH from his P2P exchange. Youssef mentioned three overarching reasons for kicking Ethereum out: its move to proof-of-stake (PoS), a lack of decentralization, and the ever-growing dissemination of scams in its ecosystem.
Ethereum will be officially off the platform by 12:00 UTC, December 22. Paxful will maintain stablecoins up for trades, however, as Youssef claimed they have “real use cases.”
Youssef argued that PoW is the innovation in Bitcoin and what enables it to be “the only honest money there is.” The consensus mechanism that is often touted as an alternative to PoW, PoS, “has rendered ETH essentially a digital form of fiat,” the executive added.
Next, the CEO of Paxful delved into the decentralization aspect of Ethereum, denouncing the small group of insiders who manage to exert enormous influence on the cryptocurrency project to this day.
Finally, Youssef explained that while “ETH had some utility on real use cases, such as credit and lending,” it “thrives because of tokenization.” Such a reality, he continued, has led to “scams that have robbed people of billions.”
“They have stolen valuable momentum away from Bitcoin and cost us years on our mission.”
“In short, our industry is under attack right now –– which means our responsibility to protect our users is greater than ever before,” Youssef said in the statement. “We are not perfect, but we’ll always do the right thing, even if it’s not popular, and even if it costs us money. The pay off for all humanity will be so great that the billions scammers have stolen via tokens will seem like pennies in comparison.”
Namcios
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UFANDAO, an Estonian-based tech startup, has recently launched an innovative fundraising platform to provide an incredible level of performance, transparency, and other unique features.
Press Release
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Nov 18, 2022
TALLINN, Estonia, November 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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UFANDAO is the first fundraising platform in the world acting on the principles of decentralization and peer-to-peer donations allowing to host fundraising campaigns without third parties involved. Since DAO provides transparency and protects its members from institutional and corporate abuse, UFANDAO uses the DAO model in fundraising to enable its members to run their campaigns independently and successfully from start to finish.
Unlike traditional fundraising platforms, UFANDAO provides opportunities for a wider variety of personal fundraising campaigns, may it be funding for a school course, a trip to the mountains or animal support shelter construction. The funds are transferred between campaign participants without any commissions by the platform.
“We think that every dream has a meaning and every person has the right and opportunity to fulfill it, that is why we decided to create a win-win community where every member will benefit from raising funds to make their dream come true,” said Oleg Rodionov, CEO at UFANDAO.com.
The platform makes all donations between members real-time, direct and secure. Each subscriber can use a preferred way to receive funds to the personal account: card to card, PayPal, Wise, or crypto wallets.
UFANDAO plans to steadily grow its community, so the referral program is also envisaged for the users providing all its members with an equal win-win fundraising environment.
About UFANDAO
UFANDAO is a next-generation decentralized fundraising platform aimed at fulfilling the financial needs and dreams of its members. It was launched by a team of passionate people who believe in the idea of fair and decentralized fundraising. In response to that, UFANDAO provides its members the ability to create time-boundless fundraising campaigns that are free, peer-to-peer, secure and decentralized. UFANDAO is an officially registered organization that has all the necessary licenses and documents in accordance with European legislation. The company’s documentation is publicly available on the website.
Source: UFANDAO
Users of the popular hardware wallet Trezor can now buy and sell bitcoin with no identity verification procedures directly from their devices, thanks to a new integration with peer-to-peer trading platform Hodl Hodl.
Hodl Hodl leverages multisig, a type of Bitcoin address that shares the control of funds with different users. More specifically, multisig works by requiring multiple signatures to approve the movement of funds.
In Hodl Hodl’s context, multisig ensures the platform doesn’t need to take custody of users’ funds, enabling a true peer-to-peer transaction between buyers and sellers. The buyer, the seller and the platform each hold one key, and two signatures are needed to move funds. Usually, that means only buyer and seller need to sign the Bitcoin transaction after the BTC is paid for, however, Hodl Hodl’s key can act as an arbiter in the event of a dispute.
“Being able to exchange your Bitcoin within the Trezor Suite application right from your hardware wallet is like finding a missing piece of the puzzle,” Max Kei, CEO of Hodl Hodl, said in a statement. “Being a non-custodial platform implies leaving the secure storage of the funds to our users, which, unfortunately, is not always handled perfectly. We highly encourage everyone to be more aware of how you store your funds and the means you use to exchange those.”
Trezor users buying bitcoin from Hodl Hodl will see their newly-acquired BTC land directly into their hardware wallet. The integration is available through Trezor’s companion application, Trezor Suite, and its exchange comparison tool, Invity.
“When consumers buy bitcoin on an exchange, they expose themselves to a level of risk and forfeit privacy,” said Matěj Žák, chief product officer at Trezor. “Integrating with Hodl Hodl gives our users more choice and control around where they feel comfortable in terms of this value-exchange.”
Namcios
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