1st part....
The Crypterium ICO recently started and has already raised over $11 million, this could be one of the best selling token sales of the year.
What is Crypterium??
They plan to launch a new decentralized cryptocurrency bank that will offer users the chance to make payments for goods being sold in fiat currency with their cryptocurrency.
They believe that for cryptocurrency to go mainstream it needs to be made simpler for users to make payments. Cryptocurrency offers many benefits over fiat currency such as lower transaction fees and faster processing times. It's quickly gaining users, with an estimated 3 million people now holding coins. However many of these people are using it as an investment rather than a currency.
The new platform will have an easy to use app for users that will be available for download in the IOS or Android marketplace. By using this app users will be able to pay with pre existing payment terminals that are being used for fiat transactions.
Cryptocurrency in 2017
Crypto has gained a huge amount of users this year, this has seen the price of Bitcoin surge to over $7,000. There's now also over 1000 different coins available with more being launched every day. The total market cap combined is now over $200 billion and is estimated to keep growing quickly.
Many companies and projects are now using ICOs (initial coin offerings) to collect funds for their projects. Many now believe this is a better way of funding a new business or project over more traditional methods.
Digital payments market
Digital payments have grown quickly over the last 10 years or so, so much so that many people now never use traditional currency. The last 2 years has seen many huge companies enter the contactless payments market.
The amount of cashless transactions during 2015 was 430 billion. The mobile payments market is expected to reach $3.8 trillion by just 2020.
Cryptocurrencies have also grown at a fast rate, this new currency seems to be perfect to dominate the digital payments market, however there's still a long way to go. In order for crypto to go mainstream Crypterium believe that decentralized banks that users can trust will need to be in place.
How will Crypterium help to advance crypto?
fiat transactions can still be slow, especially when being made internationally, they can also be very expensive with foreign transaction fees estimated to be around 7.5%.
Using blockchain technology crypto can be transferred quickly and cheaply.
In order for crypto to gain more adoption it needs to be easier for users to understand and simpler to make transactions. The new crypto bank will take advantage of pre existing technology for fiat transactions, there's already more than 42 million contactless payment terminals throughout the world. This technology can be used to make payments in crypto with the merchant quickly receiving payment in fiat currency.
Crypterium claim that their payment solution will be cheaper and quicker than any traditional bank can compete with.
As the market increases they plan to offer additional services such as crypto loans and enabling international transfers.
Advantages over traditional banks
The new blockchain based bank will offer many benefits over traditional banks, just a few of these can be found below:
[*] Unlike traditional banks there won't be any boundaries with the blockchain bank being completely worldwide.
[*] It will be much faster to scale than traditional banks without the need for expensive overheads.
[*] International transfers will be much faster and cheaper without any restrictions.
[*] Transfer values will be completely unrestricted.
[*] The new platform will be decentralized with the user having complete control of their funds. There will be an independent verifiable ledger that will show all transactions, you won't need to trust a bank anymore.
[*] Currency conversion costs will be much lower.
