Cryptocurrencies are birthing giant strides in the world of finance, from giving autonomous control of funds to individuals and enabling peer to peer (P2P) to empowering the fiat currency to do what it previously couldn't like reward users for their online activities and also actualize global transfer of value without any intermediaries.
However, when it comes to its mass adoption, it has hit a thick brick wall. A primary reason for this is the lack of awareness and education about cryptocurrencies and the power of the blockchain technology. In fact, some light research shows that cryptocurrency adoption as at November 2017 can be likened to the internet adoption as at 1997/1998. To make the brick wall even thicker, the only stories that make the news are the ones of users been defrauded and lost funds usually due to misplaced keys.
Science has proved that humans are reluctant to get on-board whenever there's a jump in the continuum of their normality. We resisted the invention of automobiles and did the same for social media, this makes us wonder less why we have put up a resistance against adopting digital money and becoming our own bank. Perhaps it's because there's a gap and we just don't like jumping 馃槀馃槀. Therefore, a bridge between the two points of the broken continuum will be much welcomed and will facilitate the our getting on board. This funny theory simply hints that integrating cryptocurrencies into our current payment systems will hasten its adoption and prevent more businesses from sprouting up as brick and mortar ones. In addition, It also suggests that creating more cryptocurrency channels to e-commerce platforms which are already trusted by customers and estimated to be about $5 trillion (USD) large by 2021, will strongly initiate a massive adoption.
To cap these problems or roof the brick wall per say, the transaction processing speeds and fees deter boarding the cryptocurrency ship. Bitcoin blockchain for example, takes about 60mins to confirm a transaction, LiteCoin, about 30mins and DodgeCoin takes about 20mins[1]. Certainly, no one would like to spend that amount of time buying just a cup of coffee with their bitcoins. Well, if you feel you're a patient dog and can actually wait that long, allow me burst your bubble, not only will your coffee get cold, you can in reality not buy just a cup of coffee with your bitcoins because of the fees involved and the withdrawal limits. Sorry!馃槒
And It is valid to say that, only very few cryptocurrencies has solved this confirmation-time problem without cracking the fundamental principles of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology; decentralization, independence and privacy. Nevertheless, they still posses some technical limitations.
An exhaustive list of the technical limitations which makes cryptographic payment systems lag behind the traditional payment systems is contained in whitepaper of the blockchain project named GRAFT that puts an end to these menacing problems thickening the brick wall resisting the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.
鈼廘ack of essential transaction types
鈼廢nsuitable payment flows
鈼廘ong confirmation times
鈼廢nbalanced and unpredictable transaction fees
鈼廔nability to process micropayments and repeating charges (subscriptions)
鈼廘ack of offline transactions support
鈼廘ow scalability
鈼廣olatility
鈼廔ncomplete security
鈼廘ack of privacy due to traceability of blockchain
鈼廘ack of trust between buyer and merchant
鈼廞uestionable utility
鈼廝oor usability of end-user interfaces
鈼廘ack of customer support
One would have thought that no one blockchain project would have been able to solve these problems all at once, I confess that I thought so myself but GRAFT innovatively drills through the brick walls of these problems and will in no distant time mainstream the cryptocurrency.
...But what is GRAFT and how does it curb all above problems singlehandedly?
GRAFT is an acronym for Global Real-time Authorizations and Funds Transfer. It is a blockchain built to make cryptocurrency integrable and a viable option in our everyday lives financial transactions by providing a blockchain protocol capable of processing transactions of any type such as authorizations, merchant settlements or microtransactions, almost instantly (GRAFT aims to complete most transactions in less than 3 seconds).
GRAFT, which is a decentralized open payment processing platform and powered by the GRFT token, can process full payment cycles without any external cryptocurrencies (Just GRFT) but to aid mass adoption of cryptocurrencies which is GRAFT's primary mission, It supports Bitcoins, Altcoins, other cryptotokens and even Fiat in order to increase buyer and merchant payment options and easily fit these digital value systems into our financial lives. These "All-in-one" platform eliminates the stress and cost associated with maintaining multiple payment systems and It achieves this for merchants at fees extremely lesser than that required by each of the other individual payment systems.馃槒 Is GRAFT God sent or what?
GRAFT as a blockchain and cryptocurrency is retail-oriented, hence it a decentralized payment processing network aimed at bringing cryptocurrencies to our everyday transactions through the Point of Sale (POS). As the commercial sector, which comprises about 80% of most countries, consist mainly of retailers, there could be no other better infiltration strategy than GRAFT's.
These are "always-on" servers which maintain the network using GRAFT's hybrid consensus algorithm of Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS). They run the combined implementation of GRAFT blockchain node and GRAFT DAPI node. Because of the always-on trusted supernodes, this consensus allows GRAFT achieve Real-time transaction processing of any type, eliminating long waiting times which is sternly frowned at by customers and merchants.
Transaction fees always burdened buyers and merchants but through GRAFT's hybrid consensus algorithm, GRAFT has been able lift this burden by slashing down the fees to about half the fees required for traditional debit and credit card transactions through reducing the cost of network maintenance in energy consumption and computational power.
Buyers do not need worry anymore as GRAFT does not only eliminates unpredictable fees, It charges the right guy for completed transactions; the merchants. This makes payment by cryptocurrencies and tokens very attractive.
Amongst the supernodes are those selected to validate and confirm transactions, to make sure that double-spending is not possible. These selected nodes are called Authorization Samples. These are selected randomly and are expected to have a minimum of about 50,000GRFT in their staking wallets as collateral for the network, in case of cheating. There are also proxy supernodes which anyone can run either as a trusted relay node for higher privacy or a store server for more reliable and faster transactions.
DAPI is an acronym for Decentralized Application Programming Interfaces. GRAFT's DAPI is implemented by the supernodes and allows client apps such as GRAFT Wallet and GRAFT PoS to hinge to the network. Being Open-sourced, GRAFT DAPI and SDK source code allows other third party POS to seamlessly integrate to the network without any need for acquiring extra hardware. It just requires requires installing GRAFT application into their already existing payment terminals.
As a matter of fact, GRAFT has successfully integrated into Verifone and Ingenico payment terminals. See the Demo Videos Below;
Merchants always desire high customer activities centered around their brands as this will not only strengthen customer relationships but also broaden their customer base. The recognition of this "merchants' desire" has led GRAFT to provide merchants with the power to build customer loyalty through merchant tokens.
Merchant tokens are private tokens on the GRAFT network implemented by predefined smart contracts that allows merchants to actualize loyalty programs, couponing, discounting, gifting and store crediting. What's most interesting about these tokens are; the smart contracts that makes them possible aren't just integrable to already existing payment solutions, they also require minimal costs and efforts as no programming is required. The major advantage of this feature is that, It allows small and medium businesses to easily come on board.
Every merchant wants to build their business from small to large and create a chain of stores which offers similar services. If this is true, does that mean a merchant would have to create multiple merchant tokens?
Nope!馃槒
GRAFT allows merchants to be able to connect these chain of stores on the blockchain as well by creating a virtual platform called VChain which connects the PoS applications of all the stores and allow merchants accept same merchant token across all the store chains. The VChain also allows for easy accounting as items catalogue can be managed on this platform as well as enabling free transactions between connected accounts on the VChain. There is an Initialization and renewal fee associated with the VChains and merchant tokens of course to prevent system abuse.
Merchants Tokens and VChains gives merchants power over their businesses by enabling more accountability and customer involvement. They are also useful for buyers as well, as they can connect their families on VChain and enjoy free transfer between them. An essential feature that traditional payment systems lack.
GRAFT creates flexible transactions for both buyers and merchants by allowing former or later pay in whatever currency they wish to; fiat or cryptocurrency. Payment cycles completed using just the network's utility token - GRFT - is as simple as moving funds from one wallet to another on the network. To achieve transactions between multiple currencies and still maintain decentralization, GRAFT develops a special mechanism known as Service Brokers. A set brokers hosted by the supernodes or the supernodes themselves responsible for different currency Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Top-ups and Acceptances. To build trust in this network the network uses a reputational system, which increases for each successful completion of a transaction and it applies not only to Service Brokers but also merchants and buyers. Fees are assigned accordingly and are all relatively minimal. See table Below to fully grasp fee assignments;
From this, we can infer that GRAFT does not aim to dump the traditional payment systems but to power up these digital payment systems to match up with traditional payment systems and even do better in this financial transaction race by enabling easier interactions between both systems are a very low cost - the bridge in the financial to crypto normality continuum gap.
You'd agree with me that without Identity Proofing there would be Identity Spoofing and the proof of Identity is applied in so many aspects when it comes to value transactions such as access and confirmations. The "lost-key" and defrauding problems all arise because of poor user management and limited ways of authenticating user ID. Not neglecting the standards of various Jurisdictions, GRAFT provides top notch user management services and other advanced authentication methods (such as, face scan, retina scan, fingerprints, device verification and other IDs connected to hardware tokens) instead of relying on passwords and keys alone.
This ensures quick, flexible and reliable user verification and authentication in wide variety of situations - therefore a higher security. With this system, merchants can ascertain the Identities of buyers now before sales are made tp avoid any legal trouble. Except they choose not to, buyers can ascertain from merchants the originality of the products about to be purchased.
If I were a merchant, I would have preferred to accept payment from all cryptocurrencies with immediate conversion to my local currency because of the volatility associated with these digital currencies. GRAFT provides two ways to avoid this volatility.
First, GRAFT's Real-time Authorizations allow the network to quickly and automatically adjust to the current price of the current price the currency during sales and make the conversions with little or no loss in value.
Secondly, GRAFT allows trusted local financial institutions (e.g banks) to issue payout tokens which are stable and equal in value to the fiat currency of the locality. It's value can be redeemed by selling it back to the financial institution which destroys the tokens. Therefore merchants can accept different cryptocurrencies in their chosen payout tokens which has a stable value. Hence no need for the volatile market involvement by merchants.
As mentioned in the intro of this article, lack of awareness and education is the primary reason for the slow growth or adoption of cryptocurrencies. GRAFT releases a product named Cryptofind, a client app that helps solve this problem. Not only does it allow cryptoholders to easily find where to spend their digital currencies precisely, it rewards those who spread the gospel of the revolutionary power of cryptocurrencies and list more stores and businesses to accept them as a means of payment and enjoy its benefits through the GRAFT network.
GRAFT Cryptofind for Android Devices.
GRAFT Cryptofind for IOS Devices.
See Video Below for more Information;
GRAFT's mobile wallet is a multi-token wallet which allows merchants and buyers to store all their cryptotokens in one location. This is another of GRAFT's effort to put an end to the "lost-key" problem which arises due to merchants or buyers holding multiple keys to different wallets. In addition to that, GRAFT's security technology makes it more secure and reliable whilst having a user-friendly interface. For the fact that it is compatible with mobile devices increases it's portability and enhances more adoption.
GRAFT also has wallets as browser extensions on desktops.
GRAFT Wallet for Android Devices
GRAFT Wallet for IOS Devices
Just in case GRAFT has not been integrated with the payment terminal used by some merchants, GRAFT makes it possible for merchants to accept payments in any cryptocurrency, debit or credit cards through mobile devices or desktops while still being able to configure payout to any currency chosen. GRAFT seeks to integrate with both online and traditional stores by integrating with most POS softwares and shopping carts. GRAFT also aim to implement a GRAFT smartcard payment method to further mainstream cryptocurrencies.
GRAFT Mobile POS for Android Devices
GRAFT Mobile POS for IOS Devices
In all of these, GRAFT does not fail to realise the importance of privacy in value transactions which is almost completely lost in the blockchain. GRAFT revives these privacy features through CryptoNote. An underlying transaction protocol that ensures a high degree of privacy. Also to ensure that the network can handle large amounts of transactions at real time, GRAFTs network algorithm allows it to increase its block (transaction records) size while reducing the time interval between their creation therefore increasing it's frequency of creation.
GRAFT ICO is completed and the MainNet is Live!
Graft has over 1 billion GRFT in supply and the token is distributed as shown in the chart below;
The GRAFT team retains a significant amount of the token in reserves to further develop the network. To maintain transparency, the GRAFT team makes the wallet address public[2].
Cedric owns a local restaurant in a student environment. Although he made good food, customers didn't patronize him as much. This got him worried. One day, he asked one of the students what he could do to improve his sales. The student joked, "Share free food sometimes". Both of them laughed out loud. The student then told Cedric that he didn't know much about these things all he knew about was cryptocurrency. After he paid for his meal, the student asked Cedric if he was the owner of the place, Cedric nodded in affirmation. As the student walked out he looked at Cedric and said, "Try accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment", he smiled and walked away.
Two weeks later, Cedric met the same student. Cedric said to him, "I've been reading about cryptocurrencies, and I love the concept but I found out that the time it takes to handle transactions is not fast enough to be applied in a business like mine and the costs are huge". The boy smiled and replied, "Then I arrived just in time to tell you about one, GRAFT". The boy explained to cedric how GRAFT could increase his customer reach by accepting cryptocurrencies and the low fees and Real-time transaction speed.
He told Cedric about steemit and how many students of the school are involved earning STEEM or SBD through different means. He emphasized on how Cedric could increase his customer base by accepting these two currencies and receive Pay-ins in the local currency. "But how will I set up this payment system fast enough and at a low cost and how will students know that I accept this as a payment method?", Cedric asked. "Well you can easily install the free app on your POS or your mobile device and as regards how students will find you?, Leave that to Cryptofind". He explained what Cryptofind could do and completely set it up for Cedric's business. The student received his 500GRFT from the network and Cedric received his new payment system. He was overwhelmed by how steemians and other cryptoholders patronized him. He could not help but spread the gospel too.
GRAFT drills through the thick brick wall that has held back the wave of cryptocurrency for long by creating awareness and education of the technology, easy integration means and forms and allowing more channels into the already established e-commerce platforms. Buyers and Merchants love to secure their value and GRAFT makes this possible in so many means. GRAFT does not only aim to mainstream the cryptocurrency but also to graft it with the fiat currency to improve our financial world.
See short video below for more understanding of GRAFT;
All "Un-Sourced" Image are Images Credited to GRAFT.
Link to tweet:
https://twitter.com/cedric_egbon/status/1019658022103199750?s=19
- cedric_egbon
graft2018.
