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[Humanitarian Crypto Adoption in Cúcuta, Colombia
Business Plan Outline for 2020 ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bz8HeuhtyFjb0v_JI0JDdFQeRjEdbOed7mFNYkI0cPs/edit?usp=sharing )
"https://www.youtube.com/embed/SsYbS-rco00"
- General Description and Background
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Description: Cripto Conserje will drive adoption of crypto payments for merchants in LATAM through POS hardware, training and customer support. The goal of Cripto Conserje and its strategic partners is to help Cúcuta, Colombia become the first city in the world to reach 50% crypto adoption, meaning that 50% or more of the local merchants have a crypto-enabled POS (point of sale) system and in doing so developing a framework for cryptocurrency merchant adoption entering different cities in LATAM.
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Goal Statement: Our goal is to empower local economic actors such as merchants and individuals by providing financial tools that increase liquidity and facilitate means of exchange. We do this through the use of digital assets and grass-roots educational training. In addition to providing direct humanitarian relief to refugees throughout Latin America, our aim is to encourage adoption and to stimulate economic activity.
In order for crypto-adoption to take place, local merchants must be trained and encouraged to accept crypto as a form of payment. This requires a multi-faceted approach.
Table 1: General description (see Google Doc Link)
Build value
Key Objectives
Short term milestones
Launch Crypto Education Hub in Cúcuta. In partnership with South American Initiative, Cripto Conserje has acquired land to build a community center near Cúcuta.
Complete Merchant Adoption pilot program, targeting 100 participating merchants.
Improve Testing environment and questionnaires with enhanced features such as an automatic reward system based on user experience and knowledge base acquired
Offer financial access via SMS by 3rd party service provider CoinTigo.io (see Key Partners for more details)
Create educational material; training videos and in-site programs / fast-tracks
Advertising and Marketing
Live support and online helpdesk for crypto asset management.
Repeat model with merchants outside of Cúcuta.
Long term milestones
Achieve +50% crypto adoption in a major city in Latin America
Provide support and aid to economically distressed populations living in Cúcuta, Colombia, especially Venezuelan refugees
Prove cryptocurrencies are a workable form of digital cash
Establish a successful and safe business operation that is can be easily replicated
Future services include:
Help Desk for clients and merchants (regarding issues with wallets, exchanges, etc…)
Consulting and continued education (such as crypto asset management courses, walking the client through things like staking, masternodes, and automated trading such as index strategies, lending, etc.)
Fiat Exchanges as a service at POS
Regional Overview:
Colombia is among the countries in Latin America with the highest trading volumes of Bitcoin (digital asset). Despite this high volume of trading, few businesses in the region accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. There are several explanations for this which include but are not limited to:
Lack of Trusted service providers
Limited Knowledge Base and “Know-How”
Ambiguous legal framework
The Venezuelan diaspora in Cúcuta presents a unique opportunity for these types of projects. Typical crypto asset volatility pales in comparison to the high currency inflation of the Bolivar. A decentralized system, that functions trust-free, is perfect for a displaced population that has limited access to financial services such as banking, savings, and credit. Our main objective is to align the right economic incentives to encourage self-governing communities and autonomous projects, as well as the right educational material and leadership to gain the interest of regional communities.
Cripto Conserje strives to bring financial freedom to Latin America, a region comprised of more than 20 countries with a population of 650 Million people. The regional GDP represents over $10T, however 45% of the population is unbanked. There is a strong need for digital assets adoption in Latin America, particularly among Venezuelans who are suffering under one of the most dramatic economic crises in recent history.
Our initial scope is a three-tier program to increase adoption in Cúcuta.
Online Testing Environment: We will deploy an online test environment to measure the effectiveness of educational training and workshops. After participants and merchants receive technical training, they will take a simple questionnaire to measure the knowledge base and demonstrate a basic understanding of the technology. Once the questionnaire is completed, a paper wallet will be generated and automatically funded with cryptocurrency.
Merchant Onboarding: We will onboard 100 local merchants to begin accepting digital assets as payments using on-site training and digital assets capable point of sales equipment.
End-user Adoption: After merchants are onboarded, we will work with them and local community organizers to distribute 300.000 paper wallets to people living in Cúcuta. Individuals can use these paper wallets at participating merchants for food and other basic goods.
KEY PARTNERS
Cripto Conserje has key partners working on the initial Alpha Project. Their support is critical to launching a three-pronged approach to increase crypto adoption in Cúcuta. If you would like to get involved, please contact us.
Cointigo is a group of engineers who provide a service where you can Send & Receive Crypto Currencies Over SMS, No Smartphone or internet needed!, Accept cryptocurrencies in your business, make crypto payments without Internet or become a crypto/local currency exchange in your area in seconds. Much of the construction of Cripto Conserje is thanks to them. Welcome to “layer0” http://cointigo.io/
South American Initiative NGO is the second largest (Red Cross is first) NGO in Venezuela to supply orphanages, hospitals, and desperate families with food, medicine, and shelter. SAI began operating in Venezuela providing humanitarian aid to hospitalized patients, orphaned children, the homeless, elderly who have been abandoned and forgotten in nursing homes and families who do not have shelter or food to eat. It has the only medical program offering help to the epileptic children of Venezuela. https://sai.ngo/
Toshl is a budgeting app that is accessible both via a web-based app and on virtually any mobile device. Toshl’s goal is to make money fun, so they’ve set up a friendly user interface to help you evaluate past spending habits, get a snapshot of your current finances, build realistic budgets for the future, and even remind you when bills are due. They will be donating their PRO subscription to all of our clients a $20 per year subscription. Giving our vendors the ability to link unlimited accounts and create unlimited budgets, they’ll also be able to upload pictures of receipts.
https://toshl.com/.
- Project Description:
Project demarcation: Cripto Conserje has been in operation since April of 2018. We have conducted eight successful training workshops with merchants, paper wallets and different points of sales. We are one of the few projects tackling this problem with local team leads on the ground. We are currently at the second tier of our project.
Digital assets can provide economic stability throughout Latin America, particularly in places such as Venezuela where communities are suffering from severe shortages of food and medicine. Our vision is to achieve 50% crypto adoption in major cities like Bogota, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires.
We report the results of our events and also record videos of the event in progress before the data are in, so that we can be accountable for the results. We also run smaller, non-experimental tests to learn more about what works best and how different types of recipients spend funds they receive. This was how we began our project with 2 paper wallets and an informal merchant.
Defining the scope of the current project:
Market adoption strategy
We want to establish security and sustainability for this cryptocurrency project. In order for a cryptocurrency to be used as a daily use currency, there must be a reliable ecosystem to support both supply and demand.
Determine market share adoption process
Identify the need for crypto POS systems among local merchants
Food
Medicine
Houses and renting
Critical adoption locations
Market
Pharmacies
Landlords
We plan to establish Decentralized Finance or “DeFi” accounts and other forms of passive income like hosting MasterNodes as a method of cash flow generation and volatility mitigation for the client (merchants). This will help grow the network and users of cryptocurrency in Colombia and eventually throughout Latin America.
Crypto Education Hub: a Partnership with South American Initiative & Cripto Censerje Institute
SAI & Cripto Conserje are building a facility in Colombia to educate and train Venezuelan refugees crossing the border.
Education is critical so that refugees can learn skills, gain employment and integrate into the local economy. .
Total facility size will be between 2,500 sq. ft. to 3,500 sq. ft. This facility will allocate 50% of the space for Cripto Conserje that will allow for Cryptocurrency education and additional vocational training to help Latin Americans achieve their goals of independent living in Colombia.
Timeline
6-months to 1-year for construction depending on construction permits, resource allocation, and site selection.
- This timeline begins Q1 2020
- Land purchase. [FINAL STAGES]
- Permits 1-3 months for government approval. [IN PROCESS]
- Blueprint design and resource allocation [COMPLETE]
- SAI will provide staffing for its portion to operate the facility
Estimated Education Hub Budget (See Google Doc Link)
Event-related costs
Funded Crypto Wallets
$5-10 per person
Assuming the goal of 300,000 wallets would thus require total funding of $1,500,000 to $3,000,000
- Materials for interior customization and furniture will be additional costs and depend on Cripto Conserje design and specification. SAI will provide ‘ready-to-use’ office space. Cripto Conserje will furnish remaining spaces for training and local offices.
Training Workshops Budget: The next phase of this project already underway will cost $15,000 USD. These funds will cover developer costs, hardware, shipping, and merchant training sessions.
Table 2: Budget for the Requirements (See Google Doc link)
- Additional Notes
Customer Pain Points:
Crypto Concierge focuses on helping local merchants set up and manage a crypto-payment solution. Below the three-pronged approach herein has been tabularized and will be used to address the customers key pain points.
Table 4: Focus points
Program
Pain Point
Process
Education
Unfamiliar with technology, particularly crypto-wallet management
Educational material
Training videos
Training programs
Help desk
Hardware/ Software
Lack of access to hardware systems and solutions to accept crypto-payments
POS Tablets for merchants
Wallets
Hot and cold storage devices
Payment application
Business and Financial Services
Expand customer base, capture the wider market, convert digital assets into fiat
Strategy consulting
Fiat exchanges
In Store/ Location Marketing
Operations: Market/ merchant adoption is our primary objective. Establishing security and sustainability for a crypto project means getting off the exchanges. The evolution from being a “trader coin” or store of value to being a daily use currency means building belief at the intersection of supply and demand. We are proposing a project that empowers local merchants to use crypto. These services include:
Tools:
Personalized/custom SMS POS, Toshl, (see Key Partners for more details)
Cryptocurrency Wallets
Educational Material: in the form of training videos and in-person programs
Advertising and Marketing
Merchant Maps, filter by type (storage facilities, drug stores, markets, etc…)
Commercialization: in Store/ Location marketing of crypto POS (use of QR stickers in retail)
Live support and online helpdesk for crypto asset management.
Future services include:
Help Desk for clients and merchants (regarding issues with wallets, exchanges, etc…)
Consulting and continued education (such as crypto asset management courses, walking the client through things like staking, masternodes, and automated trading such as index strategies, lending, etc.)
Fiat Exchanges as a service at POS
- Conclusion & Desired Outcomes
Crypto Conserje’s project is aligned with the mission of the broader crypto-community: contributing to humanity through innovation. Our partners will gain brand awareness and user adoption in the emerging crypto-market of LATAM. Ultimately, Crypto Conserje hopes this project will alleviate the humanitarian and economic crisis faced by the people of Cúcuta by giving them an alternative payment system. Finally, we hope this project turns into a blueprint for entering different cities in LATAM.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bz8HeuhtyFjb0v_JI0JDdFQeRjEdbOed7mFNYkI0cPs/edit?usp=sharing
Criptoconserje.com
