Community AMA Recap
I. Intro
Slavian: Hello and welcome to yet another AMA with the Founders!
There are a LOT of questions today. Let’s go to some of the most popular ones you’ve been asking and then go to your live questions and thoughts.
Remember: In the first part, we always try to answer as many questions as we can. Don’t worry if we didn’t get to yours. You can ask away in the second part of the AMA or contact the admins after we wrap up!
Let’s get started.
Hello Derek, hello Robert!
Derek Mayne: Hello everyone! Happy Friday.
Robert Sharratt: Hello everyone! Thanks for joining us.
II. Community Submitted Questions
Slavian: Q. How are new initial business relationships being approached in first major target areas like Europe, Hong Kong, Mideast? I want to hear about your strategies and how you are meeting interested parties and making real deals with a truly lucrative amount of businesses in “TradFi”.
Robert Sharratt: A. Our core offering is an insured saving product, where we offer higher rates than typically available in the bank or money market alternatives. For example, we offer 3% in USD and it is 100% insured.
This is designed to be 10x better than the alternative and get people to adopt Cresco.
You can see a video of us discussing the proposal to TradFi, here:
An updated version of this video will be featured on our revamped website, coming soon.
We have agreed with two really impressive people to join us in Singapore and Hong Kong. These people have been busy recently with the Chinese Lunar New Year meeting potential family office clients.
The new business potential is impressive and we have been working on converting potential clients also into users of our upcoming app. The app will feature the ability to hold funds in 24 fiat currencies + crypto.
We are also working on our Shari’ah compliant business and are interested in opening an office in the Gulf. However, there is so much to do and we don’t have plans to announce at the moment. We spent some time with Visa this week working on how we can spend our Shari’ah product on a card.
We feel we are on track to achieve the business plan that we set out in our IM.
Slavian: Q. You mentioned that you will provide basic accounts and savings accounts. While the funds in the savings accounts will be insured by Lloyds what about the basic account? Will there be some sort of insurance or guarantee behind those accounts?
Robert Sharratt: A. Insurance is core to our strategy to disrupt banking. The savings accounts are 100% insured, regardless of whether you put $100 with us or $100 million. The basic accounts will be insured up to the regulatory limits in each jurisdiction to start with, via our banking partners e.g. GBP 85,000 in the UK or CHF 100,000 here in Switzerland. We are working on putting insurance in place for all of the deposited funds, but it means insuring more than just Cresco, which is a hassle 😀
You can see how our insurance works here:
Slavian: Q. Are you going to deploy wCRES tokens on other blockchain networks?
Robert Sharratt: A. $wCRES are ERC20 tokens and we do not have plans to deploy on other chains at the moment. Our stablecoin, CrUSD, could easily work on other chains and we are exploring this.
Our Proof of Deposit function can be hashed to any chain. As Ethereum is so expensive right now we are testing this hashing to Polkadot and Avalanche and considering others. As it is just data, not financial, we are more cost focused. Ideas on other chains are welcome.
Slavian: Q. Are you planning to open your APIs for other platforms for build on top of yours?
Robert Sharratt: A. No, not at the moment. This may come later. We see ourselves as a base money lego: insured savings.
The market size is enormous: $60 trillion. That is our target market.
We like the idea of interacting with other DeFi projects and also connecting to the real world. We are currently building a front end to Aave, so TradFi investors can access DeFi via a Swiss regulated firm.
We are connecting our APIs into the traditional banking system: for account creation in many different currencies, FX, cards, crypto exchanges, etc.
It reminds me of why I left traditional banking ….
Slavian: Q. The community wants to be more involved, not just told what you are going to do. What are you going to do to get us more involved?
Robert Sharratt: A. A lot of you took the time to express your interest in testing the app. Everyone will be involved in the app testing in some way. Except those who answered yes to Robert older than 60.
A core group, typically who have app skills, will be involved even more.
I have spent some time speaking with individual community members about the app and welcome feedback, either in the main chat or DM me.
Our greatest asset is our community: we want you to be evangelists for Cresco. Love the memes.
We want to step up our social media engagement. We hear your concerns about marketing. We want to focus mainly on shipping code. What we build will be better than any marketing effort, but we realise that we need both.
We also welcome constructive criticism, so keep expressing your views.
Derek Mayne: And sometimes Monty needs a dog sitter…
Robert Sharratt: A(cont). Elsa and the social team are also going to set up a room in the Clubhouse, so we can chat.
Cristina is planning a real Chalet Cressie, once this virus situation gets better.
We want you involved. Big social media marketing is coming, as we prepare for the product launch.
Slavian: Q. Derek mentioned the other day that you are exploring a digital asset fund and an insurance company. Will this be under the umbrella of CrescoFin (and therefore (w)CRES holders will have a direct stake in it) or are these independent companies?
Derek Mayne: A. These are two different projects with direct and indirect benefits to CrescoFin. The insurance captive will provide more efficient insurance coverage to CrescoFin and therefore better overall returns. We think it will be able to bridge the gap of a waiting period as well that we have in the existing policies. We are still in process of getting it off the ground and have not had the legal opinion back of the implications if CrescoFin owns its own insurance company. We think that CrescoFin will be able to have a minority stake in it but this is not guaranteed. Either way, it will be a tokenized entity and we will offer a pre sale to wCRES/CRES holders.
The Digital Asset Fund is already in existence since 2016 but called the Multi Strategy Fund. In Q4, we added Digital Assets to this and the results were quite good. So we’ve decided to change the name and strategy to focus. We are investigating a tokenization of the fund which we would open up to wCRES/CRES holders. The current set up requires investors to be accredited as per the SEC definition or similar across other regions but we think we have a solution for this as well.
Slavian: Q. Who will be able to use the app when it launches?
Derek Mayne: A. The beta will be reserved for the token holders so we can work out any last bugs. You will also have access to a special tranche of credit card designs; a special few may be able to have one with Monty’s picture on it or some other limited edition that we design. We’d like to have a contest for card designs in the near future as well.
Slavian: Q. Will CrUSD be audited?
Derek Mayne: A. Of course. We’re still connecting some bits to the fiduciary account but we’re close to going live with the first sale. Last I checked, we needed some more test holders.
Slavian: Q. Is Monty a good boy?
Derek Mayne: A. I know he’s my dog but he is one of the best behaved dogs around. From the time he was a puppy, he’s been around people and in the office so never really left alone. He’s quite a gentle soul as well, unless he’s chasing his frisbee, then he’s relentless. My kids roll on him like a big cushion all the time and he loves the attention.
Rob and I once went out for dinner in London and brought Monty, well he always comes along. I’d forgotten his lead in the office but wasn’t too worried. We stopped for a quick drink in a bar after dinner and they said the dog could come in but he had to be on a lead. Rob took one for the team and we used his neck tie as a lead for Monty, this was a big hit.
Slavian: Amazing!
Thank you to everyone for contributing and feel free to revisit these and others later if anything is still unclear. Let’s move on to the live questions now. I’m going to open the chat for a few minutes!
Chat is open!
III. Live Community Questions
Dope Boy: Q. How can I become a test holder?
Derek Mayne: A. Dapp.crescofin.ch
JF: Q. Are you still planning to release figures on AUM Q2?
Robert Sharratt: A. We plan on having two types of AUM: in fiat and crypto. Fiat AUM will start to be released regularly from Q2. Crypto AUM will eventually all be on-chain data. Our plans are to be very transparent.
Skinnjakka: Q. When will app alpha testers be informed, or are they already?
Derek Mayne: A. They have not been chosen yet!
Dope Boy: Q. How will we be able to transfer our money from the bank to CrescoFin?
Derek Mayne: A. A simple bank transfer
Robert Sharratt: A. Technically there will be 4 ways to transfer money to Cresco:
1. bank transfer. We will be offering basic deposit accounts in 24 currencies and FX in over 100 currencies at rates equal or lower than Transferwise and Revolut
2. pulling from your Cresco account. So, you connect to Cresco and pull your money from Barclays, for example (in Europe, where the is open banking. The number of banks will increase as quickly as we can put the APIs in place).
3. by credit card. Living in some country that has currency weakness/inflation? You can put money with Cresco via Mastercard or Visa. So, you get money in the bank with a Swiss regulated entity, 100% insured savings.
4. crypto transfers.
Keku: Q. Hi, I want to know why you did not reduce the size of the DODO pool like you promised.
Do you have an agreement with DODO or its founders that prevents an action against that bot? Shouldn’t the investors be informed at least about the existence of such an agreement?
Derek Mayne: A. We did actually reduce it if you look. It’s now very close to the Uniswap pool.
G G: Q. Hi, is the Aave money market rollout ready at the same time as the app for retail clients?
Derek Mayne: A. Yes, will be similar timing for the live roll out, if not before
SolciV: Q. How are the fees in dodo now?
Derek Mayne: A. We increased the fees on Dodo to match Uniswap, 0.3%, not to take more on swaps but to deter the bot. The pool is matched in size now which should limit the bot action as well.
Skinnjakka: Q. Any new info about the Liquidity mining you guys are planning?
Derek Mayne: A. Yes, we’re working out the details now. We’ve listened to what the community is saying and hope you won’t be disappointed with the results.
G G: Q. Are you expecting the Aave integration early in Q2 or will we have to wait till the summer?
Derek Mayne: A. That is somewhat dependent on Aave… Once we’re ready, we’ll submit everything to them. We know a guy there that can help as well.
Robert Sharratt: The front end integration to Aave will be done in Q2. We are also integrating with DODO. We will also be looking to integrate to other DeFi projects.
polkalorian: Q. Hi, really thankful for this AMA. Why did you delete the advisors and team from your website?
Even if you are redoing it, you should have kept it while the new one is not ready.
Derek Mayne: A. There’s lots of moving parts in the company right now, Rob is sleeping under his desk. A complete web design is one of them which will create a token holder area with all of our social media. The advisor and team page was taken down too early, we thought the replacement was ready.
Miles Betz: Q. Is there a reason why almost all of the videos with Jessica W were hidden? The ones that featured Stani from Aave, Diane Dai, the guys from bankless. Those videos are great content and also proof that we have big names backing us.
I’ve heard some theories of partnership with tradfi and what not, but would like to hear from you if that’s the case.
Also, can you guys guarantee that we’ll always have some shilling material (like those vids)?
The influx of new holders is fundamental for those who are hodlers. I loved seeing the Crescofin name out there and don’t understand why it stopped.
Derek Mayne: A. The core product that we have is perfect for TradFi, and there are a few deals in the works.
And there is a new round of videos that should start rolling out soon!
Pierre: Q. Do you consider $wCres IDO as a success?
Robert Sharratt: A. Yes. As Derek wrote in his Medium article, we distributed 630,000 tokens widely at an average price of $3, by using DODO and Balancer. Had we done this on Uniswap the average price would have been $40 and we would have distributed half that amount.
Also, you are all here! A sign of success. It is a small group, 1,600 of you, and Derek and I are touched that you believe in our vision of replacing banking with code. You are extremely early and we hope you all get to buy a Chalet Cressie out of this.
Skinnjakka: Q. Did you guys ever talk with Andre Cronje?
Robert Sharratt: A. We have not spoken to Andre yet. He did some work with our friends at Aave and we know him. I’d like to connect Cresco to his projects and act as a bridge for TradFi to get involved in DeFi. This will come. It is a question of time. So much to do ….
I’m also interested in speaking to Kain at SNX and some others. It is inevitable that we will connect to some other great projects.
i chart in log: Q. Are you still looking to open offices in London and Singapore, I’m trying to move to London tbh.
Derek Mayne: A. We have an office in London and will open Singapore in Q2 or Q3.
Hub: Q. Sir, just open Asia Market.
Robert Sharratt: A. Tom is going to open our Singapore office and Garreth in HK. It is coming.
Slavian spent some time this morning with WXY, the marketing agency in China that we used for the DODO (soft) launch. New marketing in China is coming. We are also going to hire a Chinese community manager.
G G: Q. Is there a possibility Cres will ever be listed on the NYSE?
Robert Sharratt: A. Sure; this is possible, when it gets big. Maybe Nasdaq is better.
Цезарь: Q. With the current progress, is a 1B AUM still possible EoY?
Derek Mayne: A. We think we’re on track, once the app is released it will make it easier to report.
IV. Community Feedback
Do Od: Thank you very much Robert and Derek for the transparency! Still feeling very confident in CrescoFin and looking forward to testing the app.
$wCostco: Love the transparency guys….love the project. Yer doin’ great!
rickerray: Look into using Fantom(FTM) if you haven’t already, worth an investigation :) it links with Ethereum but ultimately makes Dapps work effectively and efficiently.
Miles Betz: Can we look forward to some wcres swag? I want a t-shirt that says world’s biggest hodler.
Robert Sharratt: Slavian has some t-shirts that we are going to make available. Details to come. Derek also has an idea of a special Founder Token Holder Visa/Mastercard for you guys, the early believers.
$wCostco: Damn you folks working hard.
Dope Boy: The special card design for early investors is a great idea.
Derek Mayne: My dream guitar is a 1959 Left handed Les Paul, there are only four in the world, Paul McCartney has one. There will be 4 Visa cards with this guitar on it, you guys will have to fight over the other 3.
Robert Sharratt: We are excited about some marketing campaigns for the cards. We can do a number of special edition cards and want the community’s input.
Becks Lim Bao An: Looking forward to the Singapore office!
Pierre: Egld has found a smart system for early owners you should look at this. As their website design.
$wCostco: A CEX listing would mean lower fees for purchase; however, as wCRES still in development, it might have the opposite effect people want for their token appreciating. Many would sell on listing, and until app/product live wouldn’t see considerable demand until then..all speculative on my part, but they’re not always a good thing. Plus they’re expensive. I’d say wait until demand is high enough that they seek wCRES.
About CrescoFin
Founded in 2019, CrescoFin SA is a Financial Services company offering insured Certificates of Deposit to institutional and private clients, by harnessing the security and transparency of blockchain technology in trade finance transactions. Deposits are held in several denominations including US Dollars, Swiss Francs, and Euros, as well as digital currency. The company is incorporated and regulated in Switzerland and its digital equity tokens (wCRES) are listed on the Uniswap and DODO exchanges.
Website | Discord | Twitter | Telegram | Reddit | LinkedIn | YouTube
Bloomberg: CREFIN |USD ISIN CH0558513484 | CHF ISIN CH0558513468 | EURO ISIN CH0558513476
Advisors
- Stani Kulechov, Founder of Aave
- Diane Dai, Co-Founder of the DODO Exchange
- Damian Horner, Co-Founder, Real Vision
- The Crypto Dog, Investor
- Ryan Sean Adams, Co-Founder at Bankless
- David Hoffman, Co-Founder at Bankless
- David Gokhshtein, Founder of Gokhshtein Media
In the Media:
Real Vision
The Defiant
Bankless
