Faraland AMA Recap

07 Sep 202011:08

AMA

Faraland AMA Recap

Thiago Earp

Hello everyone!

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

Hello

We are glad to meet here:

Thiago Earp, Head of community and Partnerships

Thiago Earp

Hello everyone! Very nice to be here!

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

Welcome and thank you for your time)
Our team has prepared 3 questions for you to start with
should we start?

Thiago Earp

Absolutely, let's crack on! Happy to start

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

okie

Thiago Earp

It's my pleasure!

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

let's start with the introduction
Q1: Can you introduce yourself to our community?

Thiago Earp

Certainly
Hi everyone, my name is Thiago Earp and I’m head of community and relations at Public Mint. This means that I get to listen, respond, and educate people in all things Public Mint.

I manage Public Mint’s official Telegram channels (ANNs, main discussions, and DEV), and I try to do it with a pinch of humour to keep everyone as engaged as possible.
I also handle communications with many of our strategic partners, coordinating announcements and bringing our general collaboration into light via ama_articles and sometimes PR.
I’ve been bit by the crypto bug a bit over 5 years ago, and that has led me to change my entire life and career - from working as a screenwriter and film/tv producer to going full-on geek and getting my head wrapped around blockchain technology - including learning how smart contracts work, a bit of Solitidy, and the workings of the financial systems we live with (and the DeFi we’re trying to bring about).

And I've been working with the team at Public Mint since 2018, although officially I've been onboarded into the team in March this year.
Done

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

thanks a lot for your answer! Let's move to the project itself
Q2: Can you introduce Mint to us?

Thiago Earp

At the base layer, Public Mint (the blockchain network) is an open, decentralized layer on top of the existing banking system that aims to reimagine what a global public payments infrastructure looks like.
But I like to say that we give fiat money superpowers. By creating a direct bridge between the legacy and crypto economies, we give fiat most of the strengths of blockchain (fast, cheap, global, and final transactions) without much of the current complexity and risk associated with the purchasing and exposure to native crypto currencies.
And then there's Public Mint EARN, which is the first product we’re building on top of this layer.
EARN is an application that allows users to get earnings on their fiat deposits on the Public Mint network. You can think of it as a community-driven “investment fund”, leveraging CeFi, DeFi, and Insurtech partners to achieve the best returns while managing risk, as per governance decisions by MINT token holders. All that while offering freedom of transaction and keeping funds as liquid as possible.
done

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

Great! Thanks for detailed explanation
we have one last question before the community part)
Q3: Let`s now talk about the milestones you have achieved so far and about your upcoming plans?

Thiago Earp

Of course, my pleasure
We'd like to always begin by saying that we're in this for the long haul.

Public Mint was born in 2018, after the first ICO craze had already left its mark in the blockchain space. And we've been through the slow climb back up, always building and making it through the worst of times.
So far we’ve been delivering all the milestones that we set off to do with our roadmap (which you can find in detail on our litepaper: https://bit.ly/367gnDp ). Here’s a summary of what we’ve done so far over the past 3 years:
- 2018: Incorporated the company in the state of Delaware, designed architecture, PoC
- 2019: FinCEN registration, rebase client to Hyperledger Besù, testnet, developer’s portal and wallet beta
- 2020: Launched Public Mint mainnet in July with native USD; launched APIs, blockchain explorer, connectivity to wire and ACH, KYC/AML backoffice setup, EARN program conception and litepaper
- 2021: EARN program / MINT token IDO, token distribution, CeFi partners (ABRA, ongoing negotiations with a few others), Insurtech partners (Bridge Mutual, nSure), Google Drive/Apple iCloud integration for the wallet, stablecoin integration (USDC), credit card integration (work in progress), MINT ERC20 bridge (work in progress)
In terms of upcoming plans, in addition to completing the ongoing actions above, we have for 2021:
- Public Mint mobile wallet, web wallet v2
- EARN program launch
- Adding new currencies (EUR, GBP)
- Adding new local funding options for more geographies
- Onboarding Developers and third party DApps
- Go-to-market with EARN marketing
done

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

Thank you for such detailed and interesting answers!

Thiago Earp

My pleasure Myko!

Cryptodiffer Community

Question:

Are EARN reward rates going to be related to token supply, the amount of money I stake or will it be a flat rate for a guaranteed timeframe?

Thiago Earp

Jesus, unlike the crypto-native self-inflationary token staking rewards, our EARN program runs on USD, and pays earnings from actual revenue-generating activity instead of inflation of the token supply. Let me try and explain using Ethereum 2.0 staking as a comparison.
Say for example you stake ETH at the launch of Ethereum 2.0 to get validator staking rewards - you’ll earn rewards in ETH, at a given arbitrary inflation rate, and the earnings value will depend on ETH’s current value. But your earnings come from new ETH being created out of thin air, which dilutes the supply (and may lead to debasing of the currency).
Rates at EARN will fluctuate according to the sources of revenue of the program (and ultimately from the market), be them CeFi partners or DeFi protocols we integrate with - but are always paid in fiat.
Second one

Cryptodiffer Community

What do MINT token holders stand to benefit by staking MINT? And what revenue streams are available for active MINT holders of the EARN Program?

Thiago Earp

More specifically, the EARN program has two revenue streams. The first is straightforward and tailored to less tech-savvy users. You deposit USD on EARN via the Public Mint wallet and in return you get the corresponding amount in USD+.
USD+ is an earnings-bearing token, which means your USD+ holdings will grow according to the current APY of the EARN program - which is a blend of CeFi and DeFi rates whose allocation follows the proportion defined by governance votes (initially Public Mint, gradually moving towards community votes by MINT token holders).
USD stakers will earn 85% of the earnings from the returns on the allocation defined by governance. The remaining 15% will be split between Public Mint and active MINT token stakers.
So the more value is locked within EARN, the more earnings per MINT token staked a user gets. And there's nothing stopping a MINT staker from also depositing USD at EARN, earning in both ways. Hope this makes sense
one sec, let me pick another

Cryptodiffer Community

I understand that soon they will launch their own mobile wallet, but could you really tell us more about its characteristics? and what user experience will you provide to your customers?

Thiago Earp

You can check a demo of the app here: https://medium.com/publicmint/first-look-public-mint-mobile-wallet-clickable-demo-1e204968df4d

You will be able to easily deposit/withdraw from/to bank accounts, send to other Public Mint accounts and add your USD/USDC to our EARN app with a single click.

This clickable demo is a couple months old, so the UI has improved already, but that should give you a good idea

Cryptodiffer Community

Is it possible for users to incorporate Public Mint into dapps and our own web and mobile apps?

Why was PublicMint made to work with Ethereum?

Thiago Earp

Yes, and this is what we are looking forward that you do that!

We have a working SDK that anyone can easily incorporate on their website to be able to receive payments using Public Mint. You are also able to build apps on top of our platform and benefit from using USD as the native currency and the low fees (.05 cents per transaction).

As Public Mint is fully Ethereum-compatible, any application built for Ethereum (or forks thereof like BSC) will require minimal effort to be ported into the Public Mint network

Cryptodiffer Community

What kinds of Dapps or other use cases do you envision for Public Mint?

Thiago Earp

This is a very good question, and one we're going through a lot of effort to keep growing.

Anything that can be built on a blockchain that allows for smart contracts can also be built on Public Mint. Being Ethereum-based and EVM-compatible, this also means that any DApps build on Ethereum (or forks thereof, like Binance Smart Chain) can be ported into Public Mint with very little effort.
This includes DEXes (Decentralized Exchanges), IDO Launchpads, NFT minters, blockchain-based games, escrow services, FOREX, lending platforms, and a lot of the usual suspects around DeFi.
In addition to the existing crypto ecosystem stuff, being a fiat-native and very low-fee network, Public Mint is also the perfect platform for regular users, from automating your kids’ allowances to building hardcore back office business automation applications - especially when it comes to accounting and finance management - that are easy for both crypto and traditional companies or individuals to use.
Other business use cases include invoice discounting/factoring, legacy/inheritance, payments and payroll automation, automatic vesting of benefits, correspondent banking settlement, security token dividends micropayments, accounting and tax reporting automation, and much more. The sky's the limit, and we'd love to hear from YOU guys what other great stuff you think could be built.

Cryptodiffer Community

Hi, thanks for the opportunity. I have a few questions I think are important for the near future, what is the use of the MINT token? Can you stake it? Is it a hard cap?

Thiago Earp

This is one we get a lot, but it's worth building on the previous responses.

We have designed MINT as a governance utility token for the EARN program. Initially, its main use is to be staked for governance at the EARN platform - so that MINT holders can create and vote for proposals, such as fund allocation, timelock, and whatever other governance matters they might conceive.
That said, we plan on growing MINT’s utility, be it by incorporating MINT in the tokenomics of potential future applications we build, or by incentivising third party developers to include MINT to offer utility for their own DApps.
We’ve also provisioned part of the MINT supply to be used for ecosystem growth, as well as potential rewards for community contributions and other value-generating actions performed for the network.
Lastly, while EARN is still under development, we are offering MINT/ETH LP staking rewards at stake.publicmint.com. Full instructions on how to do that can be found at https://bit.ly/3e9JNoM
PS: We do have a hard cap of 250,000,000 MINT

Cryptodiffer Community

What is the advantage of having funds held for fiat money from Public Mint in deposits at fully secured and FDIC insured institutions? How does FDIC insurance support protect and what benefits will this provide to PublicMint users?
It’s important to distinguish between funds that run on the Public Mint network and funds that are used by the EARN program.

Currently, the Public Mint network runs natively on USD, which is held on a 1:1 ratio across a network of fully regulated, licensed financial institutions. These institutions are FDIC-insured, which means that the funds they hold are also FDIC-insured. We, Public Mint, never touch these funds.

FDIC insurance covers loss of the funds deposited at a bank/financial institution up to “$250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.” - you can find all the rules and benefits here: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/

We must stress we ARE NOT FDIC-insured - our custodial partners (who actually hold the funds) are.
It’s important to distinguish between funds that run on the Public Mint network and funds that are used by the EARN program.

Currently, the Public Mint network runs natively on USD, which is held on a 1:1 ratio across a network of fully regulated, licensed financial institutions. These institutions are FDIC-insured, which means that the funds they hold are also FDIC-insured. We, Public Mint, never touch these funds.

FDIC insurance covers loss of the funds deposited at a bank/financial institution up to “$250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.” - you can find all the rules and benefits here: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/

We must stress we ARE NOT FDIC-insured - our custodial partners (who actually hold the funds) are.

Thiago Earp

Public Mint EARN, on the other hand, is designed to make it easy for anyone - even people with little to no knowledge of cryptocurrencies - to take advantage of earning opportunities offered by CeFi partners and DeFi protocols. By doing that, EARN converts fiat into USDC under the hood and deposits funds with earnings providers.

By doing that those funds are no longer held at, or subject to, FDIC insurance. This information is and will be made completely transparent to every user, every time they make use of the program so they are aware of the risks it entails.

Of course, EARN also tries to mitigate these risks through unallocated funds and insurtech partners - which is something that we’re still working on.

Cryptodiffer Community

🥇 In the Blockchain community there is at the moment some fear of a repeat of the 2017 BTC bearish scenario Do you think this moment of uncertainty might affect the development of upcoming Public Mint products (EARN program, Mobile Wallet)? Or are you determined to move forward no matter what happens?

Thiago Earp

I just wanted to stress here that we're carrying on building and delivering no matter the market conditions. We do believe in the future of the industry, we have been born and around through a deep bear market, and we have an unwavering belief that blockchain/crypto is part of the future of finance, and for that we need to first create the tools to make for a smooth transition between the legacy and crypto economies.

Cryptodiffer Community

What is your community-building strategy? Will you agree that a project's worldwide development will be aided by community power? What kind of community services do you provide?

Thiago Earp

We understand community is really important for any project to be successful (they are the people we are building this for, right?).

Having said that, in this stage we are also very excited to have a community of developers getting their brains and coding skills into building new ideas (services, apps, etc) on top of Public Mint. If there is any developers around feel free to join us at our Dev community: https://t.me/PublicMintDev
I'm picking one more folks, just a second

Cryptodiffer Community

Do you have any mechanism for transferring to ethereum network compatibility so other projects can think of using your solutions?

Thiago Earp

We have an Ethereum-Public Mint bridge in the works, we should announce it soon.

Cryptodiffer Community

I understand that regular users of Public Mint can allocate their USD or USDC to the EARN program. Can you explain how this will work? And when can users redeem their rewards?

Thiago Earp

This will take place straight from the wallet interface. It'll be built-into both the web wallet v2 and the upcoming mobile wallet - nothing but the push of a button to deposit/withdraw.

Cryptodiffer Community

Hello ,

Q. Nowdays So many Rug Pulls and exit scam happening . How Users can trust your project and How you are different from others?

Thiago Earp

This is a curious question, not a particularly good one, and I'll only take it because so many people simply copy paste it across all AMAs, everywhere.

Things rug pullers don't do:

- Put their true names, faces, social profiles on the website
- Answer question after question in different AMAs
- Build a product

Does it look like we fit any of these?
I think we're running out of time
@mykocryptodiffer

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

sure
one more question before end
Do you have any plans for building other DApps on Public Mint after EARN?

Thiago Earp

That's been a tough decision we took a while back, but in short, not yet.

We've decided on the approach to have an open system which third party developers can use to come up with innovative new solutions. We recognize that on our own we would never be able to ideate, build and deploy applications to reach all kinds of markets, and that the collective minds of a global community of creators understands their local pain points much better than we could ever do.
That’s why we’re focusing on perfecting the core technologies - the blockchain, APIs and developer tools so that individual Devs and independent teams can build their own solutions to run on our fiat network.

Our plan is to offer a sort of open marketplace, an open system where anyone can launch (and earn from) their solutions, without asking for permission or paying us commission on their profit.
There’s already an independent developer who deployed his PoC of a DEX on our testnet. Another one is building an NFT minter, others are planning on launching games… and the community is growing!

They share these ideas, projects and are open for collaboration on our Telegram DEV channel. So if you’re a Dev or just a tinkerer, join us there! https://t.me/PublicMintDev
Done

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

great, thanks a lot

Thiago Earp

@mykocryptodiffer I think we're running out of time

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

yes
unfortunately, we need to wrap it up(

Thiago Earp

ANd I'd like to thank the amazing Cryptodiffer community for such an incredible volume of good questions
Of course
Do I get to say my last words? lol

Thiago Earp

Before I go, I just wanted to share all our resources and invite you to follow us on our social channels and communities:

❗️Public Mint Lite Paper
——————————
👉 Public Mint Links:
➡️ Website
➡️ Telegram Group
➡️ Telegram ANN
➡️ Twitter
➡️ Medium
➡️ Litepaper
➡️ Telegram DEV Community
➡️ YouTube Channel

Myko (CryptoDiffer)

thanks a lot for the ama