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Dear Pundians,
Thank you for participating in the AMA session with Pundi X founder and CEO Zac Cheah.
For those of you who may have missed it, the live recording of the AMA session held last on April 12 at 10:00 am GMT+8, tackling Q1 progress and addressing questions and concerns by the community members, can be viewed here:
You may also find a summary of the Q1 progress presentation as well as the Q&A below:
Pundi X Q1 2019 Highlights
- Pundi X ecosystem handled a total of 26,380 crypto transactions valued at 3.9 million in USD during the 1st quarter of 2019. Registered XWallet users have increased to 179,982 as of April 10. XPOS has been shipped to 30 countries.
(Correction: The 179,982 X Wallet users include both KYC verified and unverified users; and not all KYC verified users as mentioned in the video. Zac’s apology.)
- The custom XPASS cards are becoming popular among our XPOS distributors. Exchanges in Canada (iBank) and Africa (Bit2Big, DoshEx) have ordered 14,000 in total.
- XPOS has successfully received EU’s CE certification. FCC certification is under way.
- By integrating a collection feature, we are making XWallet a virtual mini-XPOS. Users can be part of the XPOS merchant network by becoming verified merchants from the XWallet app. Staking and conversion are also integrated into XWallet app and available for KYC verified users.
XPOS Handy, a more affordable version of XPOS, is now in production. 2,000 units will be produced. The team is also looking into expanding XPOS into traditional POS units platforms and has started working on one of the top two POS brands for integration.
- Due to the conversion, the token removal in 2019 will reflect the result of both NPXS / NPXSXEM utilization and NPXS / NPXSXEM conversion to FX. For example, the amount of Q1 token removal will be announced in the first week of May 2019 and the execution will take place in the second week of May.
Below is a summary of the Q&A with community members.
On XPOS
- Q: How many live working XPOS are there in the world right now? Understand the plan was 100,000 in 2021. But recent news is only talking about someone maybe buying 1000 in 2021.
- Is the delay in scaling XPOS because of the licenses which Pundi X doesn’t have yet? If yes, when can we expect it to be approved or denied?
Zac: The pick up rate during Q1 isn’t moving as fast partly due to the bear market. Another contributing factor of which some of you may be aware, is that we have been working on obtaining the relevant FCC and CE certifications for the XPOS as it’s a requirement by most governments.
We are pleased to announce that the XPOS has been officially certified. It’s in fact the first blockchain based POS device that has been given the CE certificate. And with this, we will begin to accelerate to get the XPOS compliant with the different markets and increase the activation rate of the XPOS.
For example, in Dubai, we are working with the local credit bureau to apply for an approval with the local regulators using our CE Certificate as the base document. The same goes for Korea’s KC certification.
So yes, a lot of things have been moving behind the scenes and one thing that is clear is whatever we do, it is to play the long-term game. Hence, we had to make sure that we have all the relevant required certification for the XPOS before we take it to the next level of deployment.
- Q: How many XPOS transactions (by coins) have been done so far (since the start)?
Zac: The XPOS and XWallet have handled a total of $3.9M USD in Q1 outbound transaction.
- Q: Will there be a major partnership such as with Uber or Amazon to use the XPOS? Any strong partnerships in the works for the XPOS?
Any upcoming big deals for the xpos ? Like Starbucks, etc? And did Pundi X ever get in contact with Kroger?
Zac: As always, similar to other business deals, due to confidentiality agreements, we do not comment on major partnerships until it’s firmed up or announced first by our counterparties. One thing for sure, we are working hard to engage established global enterprises (especially those) with a large distribution network and footprint.
In addition to that, we are exploring the expansion of our XPOS solution footprint by integrating the XPOS into one of the Top 2 point-of-sale manufacturers. We will share the process and details once we have completed the testing.
- Q: Any updates on a Pundi X collaboration with Dubai government?
Zac: We are in the process of getting the XPOS certified with the local government authorities. And now that the XPOS has the CE certificate, it will accelerate the approval process in Dubai.
- Q: When is the XPOS capable of handling credit card payments?
Zac: We have reached out to various parties that can provide and activate these services and that includes meeting the CEO of MasterCard, Mr Ajay, in person. He has seen our XPOS and from what I could tell, he was impressed.
- Q: When will you add XRP to XPOS?
Zac: The XPOS is a digital currency-neutral device. When there’s enough demand and a real need from an organization or company, we would not hesitate to add it to our XPOS ecosystem.
- Q: When will the XPOS have WePay, AliPay, Samsung and Apple pay?
Zac: XPOS itself is hardware-ready for these payment methods. To activate these services, we will be required to comply with the local regulations in different jurisdictions and work with the providers of payment gateways.
- Q: Can we get a merchant map, similar to bitcoin ATMs?
Zac: The team is working on this. In the first phase, we will have a list of the featured merchants. We are targeting to have a “lite” version of this “featured merchant” map ready by end-May. We are finalizing the name but you can call it the X-MAP where you can locate your favourite XPOS merchants or X-Merchants.
- Q: Does Pundi X have plans to support stable coins?
Zac: Our XPOS merchants already have access to the stable coin feature, but for regular consumers, the option to have stable coin is not available yet. However we foresee turning on this feature soon.
- Q: China and Thailand should be supplied with XPOS via some partner. The news was big but that was over a year ago. What’s the status in these two key markets?
Zac: China’s stance against Cryptocurrency is still a no-go. The news that was mentioned a year ago refers to our license distributor called XPOT (they had a kick off event a year ago where Mr. Prachuab Chaiyasan, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand was one of the attendees). XPOT is our licensed distributor and I believe they are still in discussion with the local governments and pending the environment to change.
Regarding Thailand, we are in talks; with possible partnerships in this market. Please stay tuned.
- Q: What are the current legal issues Pundi X is facing in USA, Germany and Canada?
Zac: Regulatory bodies are still ambiguous about their policies toward cryptocurrencies. As previously mentioned, we will continue to monitor the situation in the different markets and be compliant so that as soon as there is clarity in the market, we will be in a prime position to move in.
- Q: When is Pundi X expanding to India? I was at your Mumbai Meetup but we are still waiting
Zac: We are awaiting RBI’s permission too, as crypto is still frowned upon by the local authorities.
- Q: A long time before the public token sale, at the pre-sale stage, Pundi X said they have a working product and simply needs the funding to pay for a huge production and then give out XPOS devices for free. The cost per device is somehow USD 200–300, depending on order volume and a USD 3,000 investment would yield a minimum of 10 XPOS Devices. After enough funds raised, the token sale got capped and more funds raised. Then the XPOS got remodeled and went for sale. What happened with the initial idea of giving 10,000+ devices out for free?
Zac: As previously mentioned, pre-public token sale participants who purchased > 30 ETH are entitled to a free XPOS. If you haven’t claimed yours, please reach out to us.
Also in the pipeline, we are working with some non-profit organizations to provide free XPOS for their usage.
On the XWallet
- Q: Will you add a stable coin to XWallet?
Zac: Yes, we will. Someone has asked the same thing about XPOS. It will likely be added around the same time for XPOS, XWallet and XPASS.
- Q: Can we add the bank transfers to XWallet? Basically to liquidate on the XWallet for sending money to my bank account?
Zac: This is my personal favorite feature to have and it’s on my wishlist. In order to support fiat, we need to have a Payment Service License / E-Money License / Stored-value license in a jurisdiction that supports a particular fiat. For example, if it’s EURO, we will need to apply for a license or lease it via a partner for this to work.
We are definitely exploring the different possibilities but we are unable to elaborate more on when, or if it is happening, as this also requires more talks with the different local jurisdictions.
Q: Turkish holders would like to ask when can we partner with master / visa and integrate with XWallet?
Zac: As mentioned earlier, we have reached out to various parties that might be able to activate these services.
On Q3 to Q4 Plans
- Q: What’s the plan for Q3 and Q4 for this year?
Zac: There are tons of things we are working on for Q3 and Q4.
I will broadly separate it into:
Developer ecosystem — The developer ecosystem allows traditional and tech companies to onboard themselves into the XPOS and XWallet ecosystem, such as listing of their custom tokens, advertising etc. These services will all require the usage of NPXS and NPXSXEM tokens.
Partnerships — We are likely to partner with incumbent retail chain stores payment companies, incumbent POS companies that have deep distribution network to help expand the reach of XPOS, XWallet, XPASS, etc.
Governmental level efforts — We started off with Dubai and since then, several other governments have shown interest. We see this as an opportune time to engage forward-thinking governments to build a blockchain ecosystem in their city and country.
Our Team: we will continue to invest and grow our R&D team capabilities as they represent the heart of Pundi X. If any engineer or developer is keen to help us to scale, please get in touch with us. We are actually looking for engineers as I speak.
On NPXS and Token Removal
- Q: What is the quarterly token removal from the NPXS usage of the XPOS and the burned amount for Q1 2019.
Zac: Good question. Some holders may be aware that token removal includes the result from the conversion. The amount of Q1 token removal will be announced in the 1st week of May and we will execute the removal in the 2ndweek of May.
- Q: Pundi X has mentioned a monthly coin burn and a monthly buy back. Why hasn’t this happened yet?
Zac: It is not monthly. We are doing a quarterly token removal.
- Q: People feel that the current token burn isn’t as transparent as many wish. What can be done to improve this process and make it more transparent? The biggest upset was after the ULTRA festival where Pundi X just wrote “we ain’t allowed to talk numbers.”Could there be a daily or weekly ticker? Is that possible?
Zac: That’s a good suggestion. While a daily ticker might be challenging, we certainly can try exploring incorporating a ticker update towards all token removal or scheduled for the next one.
- Q: Zac, you have mentioned previously that someone was trading against NPXS. What did you guys do about this problem?
Zac: There are trading teams, market makers, financial institutions that profit from the drop and rise of token prices in the crypto market and it’s not something that is unique to NPXS. In fact, the traditional stock markets have similar challenges as well. We have taken the “the best defense is a good offense” strategy which is to continue to strengthen our tokens; such as create more use cases, drive more adoption and more distribution to ensure our tokens are well positioned and stronger than ever.
- Q: Why do you not do any great marketing and generate publicity for NPXS, e.g., advertise on television stations in major and in different countries? I generally see marketing as very important to the company’s success. And I hope to see real partnerships, not just with small shops or restaurants.
Zac: We rarely engage in paid partnerships as it doesn’t necessarily produce the best ROI in terms of investment and in this market condition, we believe in being financially prudent. Being in a decentralized environment, we consider ourselves as a community-driven company.
The impact of organic press coverage driven by our community is always stronger. We do want to be seen on all major news channels and we will do that via “thought leadership brand building.” As a testament to our growing reputation, recently, we were invited to speak at the Fintech Ideas Festival event and be on the same stage as the senior executives and CEOs of Wells Fargo, COO and CTO of Bank of America and other large institutions. We see this as the right step forward in growing our brand appeal to the masses.
On the QEX Fund
- Q: Any update on the QEX fund?
Zac: The QEX fund is led by Vic Tham,CEO and Fen Chao Yong, COO, at Quantum Energy Asset Management, also known as QEAM. Other than being the CEO of QEAM, Vic is also Pundi X’s Chief Investment Officer.
From what we know, they are in the midst of raising funds, book building, analyzing potential projects & companies and strengthening the portfolio for QEX. It’s an ongoing effort for this year and a very exciting one. We are extremely excited to see potential breakthrough projects that could benefit our ecosystem. And if anyone has questions or interests, please do reach out to Vic Tham and his team at QEAM.
On Function X
- Q: What is the update on devs program for the Function X ecosystem?
Zac: Many keen developers are eagerly waiting for it, and I know Billy who has posted this question is one of them. We are working on it right now, we can’t commit on the dates yet but developer support is a big part of our ecosystem. We are working tirelessly, and sometimes “sleeplessly” to get this out.
- Q: Did you use “investors”/ token holders funds to develop Function X? And instead of giving the 65% FX tokens to NPXS and NPXSXEM holders, you are getting them to choose between NPXS/NPXSXEM and FX token?
Zac: 65% of the FX tokens from Token Generation Event (TGE) is already allocated for NPXS / NPXSXEM token holders, via staking and/or conversion. There are two separate projects with teams working on it. For the XPOS ecosystem to flourish, it requires a more scalable platform/solution which is the Function X ecosystem.
The Function X foundation will be announced in Q3 and hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise. We will have a solid team to grow the Function X ecosystem.
- Q: Will Pundi X be less focused on NPXS once FX goes live?
Zac: No, we think it’s mutually beneficial. If I may use an analogy, it’s like Google Search and Android, one product will lift the other up. The other example would be salt and pepper. When used in combination, it will drastically improve the taste of any particular dish.
- Q: What is the relationship between the future f(x) coin and the future NPXSFX token? Is the former used in the FX ecosystem (XPhones) and the latter used in the XPOS ecosystem? If so, would buying something using the XPhone going to burn FX coins, NPXSFX tokens, both or none?
Zac: Think of the role of f(x) coin like how ETH is. Everything or any service that’s taking place in the Function X ecosystem will require the f(x) coin.
For NPXS which will be ported over to the Function X blockchain once the Function X mainnet is up and running, its utility will remain the same. Any payment-relevant services or activities on the Function X blockchain will require NPXS, which on the Function X mainnet will be tentatively called NPXSFX.
- Q: For FX Tokens, the lock up of 1 year is too long for us to wait. Can we change the option to shorten the duration?
Zac: The mechanism in place has been designed for the long term, so unfortunately, we can’t change the option. Users have the choice whether to convert his NPXS and NPXSXEM, or not, into f(x) coin, if a user chooses to convert he will receive 12% immediately and 8% each month for the next 11 months.
- Q: Will F(x) be available to those who couldn’t stake or convert? Will it be before the staking period end or after? When will F(x) be available to purchase on an exchange for those in countries who were not allowed to stake? Will it be during the staking period or after?
Zac: Soon we hope. As per our policy, we are unable to comment on listing dates, but with our established relationships with exchanges, we do hope it will be quick.
- Q: We were all impressed by the Uber Dapp demos running on F(x), but these days Tron and EOS are getting a lot of press about Dapps too. What advantages will F(x) have over those platforms?
Zac: Each platform will have its own advantages, we welcome the competition and hope that more popular apps such as the decentralized Uber app can be conceived from Function X.
- Q: Why is there no cap on f(x) tokens? When will you explain how the tokenomics will work?
Zac: I would encourage all to have a look at our concept paper on functionx.io and the Medium blog post as the details are explained thoroughly there.
- Q: Have you already secured deals with other companies like Sony, Samsung, etc with the Function X OS to build other blockchain phones? Or do you plan to keep the Function X software to just the 5000 phone you already made?
Zac: The 5,000 XPhones serves as a proof-of-concept, for manufacturers and developers to have a test drive. We want to partner with hardware/smartphone companies and telcos to build their own version of the blockchain phones with Function X. And we are still working hard to engage with the companies to push for future blockchain phones and strengthen our Function X ecosystem.
- Q: Will the XPhone work as a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) device like the XPOS Handy?
Zac: The XPhone comes preinstalled with the XWallet and with that, it can double up as a lite version of the XPOS with QR code and NFC Support.
- Q: When will XPOS Handy be ready?
Zac: XPOS Handy will be available in the coming weeks.
Full: https://medium.com/pundix/recap-of-ama-with-zac-on-apr-12-b949270292bc
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