AQWIRE is not just a marketplace listing platform, it can also process cross-border transactions, thanks to Qwikwire’s payments API. Qwikwire is now the leading cross-border payments platform for real estate transactions in South-East Asia.
Qwikwire Inc. is a US based company founded in San Jose, CA in 2013. The company initially started as a cross-border payroll service for freelancers, then pivoted to enterprise payments in 2015. In January of 2016, Qwikwire launched its new cross-border billing and invoicing platform after almost a year of product development and beta testing with the first two clients. The new product gained immediate traction and volume grew by nearly 30% month-on-month for the next 12 months. By May of 2017, the company became profitable, only 17 months after the launch of the new product even though the team tripled in size and moved to a larger office. Qwikwire has processed over $16M USD in GMV since 2016. It is projected to hit a volume of $30M USD in 2018 alone.
AQWIRE fully utilizes Smart Contract technology to process cross-border real-estate transactions. The platform is engineered to remove many of the roadblocks endemic with international real-estate. Smart Contracts are uniquely helpful in the following:
Booking and reservation of units.
Validating transactions such as recurring mortgage or down-payments.
Escrow transactions.
International KYC.
AQWIRE’s token is called QEY (pronounced as “key”)
QEY will be used to utilize the platform and gain access to exclusive services like listing units (for developers and brokers), real estate market reports, live data trends on real estate investment, waived transactions fees on Qwikwire’s gateways (for property buyers) and avail 10-30% discounts when purchasing or renting units. The tokens will be necessary to utilize the AQWIRE platform regardless of whether it is accessed through the utilization of AQWIRE services or a third-party interface.
QEY tokens are built on the ERC-20 token standard, which allows for simple integration into users’ bank accounts, credit/debit cards, or the user’s Qwikwire cryptogateway account. The AQWIRE platform will require the use of QEY to record these modifications on
New tokens cannot be created and the existing ones cannot bedestroyed. Therefore, as demand rises, there is no corollary increase in supply. The increase in property developer listing and buyer transactions would require an ever-increasing demand for QEY.
The use of blockchain technology has practical applications for international real estate transactions. Due to the immutable nature of the shared ledger, data on the blockchain will be near impossible to change once recorded. The consensus mechanism ensures all transactions are verified and the data stays in sync between ledgers.
In addition to the distributed ledger, the Ethereum blockchain allows the use of smart contracts, which are essentially programs stored on the blockchain that can act autonomously to execute sophisticated transactions based on agreed terms. This eliminates the reliance on a central system or a third-party among transacting entities. This will also be especially useful when an escrow type of transaction that often happens in a real estate deal flow occurs or for cross-border booking and reservations.
While transactional data are stored on the blockchain, sensitive data will only exist in a separate storage layer using technologies such as IPFS or SWARM[1]. Sensitive customer information used for KYC and other legal purposes will be verified and provided with associated cryptography key. The user can then use this cryptography key to sign for transactions on the blockchain and serve as cryptographic proof as they can be audited and traced back to the user. Hence, we can verify the underlining data’s validity without exposing actual sensitive information. This would mean that the data integrity for both the property developers and buyers will not be compromised
All transactions that occur on the AQWIRE platform will be cryptographically signed and auditable. The use of timestamps with consensus mechanism on the blockchain has the ability to prevent double booking/selling of the same property unit, which is a common problem when a property is being listed by different brokers.
The AQWIRE platform has the potential to reduce inefficiencies between intermediaries by bringing all existing players onto a single platform to streamline and improve the overseas property buying experience. Additionally, with Qwikwire's payments API, payment status can be updated real time and the real estate contract can move forward.
Team
Ray Refundo - Chief Executive Officer
California State University, San Jose – Finance/Economics, Cum Laude. Founder Moneytran in 2005, one of the first online money-transfer service in the market. Has years of experience working with banks and well versed with local and international regulations in the payments/money-transfer industry. Worked in corporate finance for five years.
Lorne Lantz - Crypto Advisor
Lorne Lantz is a passionate blockchain entrepreneur and educator who has built multiple financial startups that have won awards with PayPal and Swift. He has been programming for over 20 years, with domain knowledge in banking, payments and bitcoin. Lorne is an O'Reilly blockchain expert, having co-chaired the O'Reilly Bitcoin & Blockchain Summit and produced educational videos on Bitcoin & the Blockchain. Lorne has launched several bitcoin projects, in remittances, crypto trading and ICO investing.
Franklin Holz - Advisor / Board Member
Franklin Holz - Partner at Accenture and SGV and prolific early stage angel investor, Frank has been one of the pioneers of the Philippine BPO industry. He has also worked as Senior Project Manager for the World Bank and USAID and as former president at the Philippine American Guardian Association. MBA - Columbia University in New York.
Daniel M. Shlufman, Esq- US Real Estate and Mortgage Advisor
Daniel M. Shlufman, Esq. is managing director of Classic Mortgage, LLC, a mortgage banker in NJ, NY, PA and FL. Dan is also a practicing real estate attorney in New York concentrating on the purchase, financing and sale of houses, condominiums, cooperatives and leasing of small commercial properties. He is an active networker and founder and/or Board member of several business groups in Manhattan and Northern NJ.
Joey Budka - Head of Enterprise Sales/Real Estate
Joey Budka is a seasoned real estate specialist with nearly 200M USD of commercial and residential property sold over the least 5 years. Recently he has been focusing on cross-border real estate transactions and has been leading Qwikwire's real estate enterprise sales initiative. He graduated from California State University - San Jose in 2010 with a degree in Business.
Jose Avelino "Jojo" Flores - Advisor
Co-Founder at Plug and Play Tech Center, a Silicon Valley based technology startup accelerator, which he started in January 2006. At any given time, there are at least 350 startups at Plug and Play from all around the world that access a network of over 200 angel investors, 180 venture capital firms, and 300 large corporations. Since inception, Plug and Play startups have been able to raise in excess of $3.5 billion in funding.
Paolo Samontanez - Chief Technology Officer
University of the Philippines, Electrical Engineering, Cum Laude. While an ECE by degree and profession, Paolo is a self-learned programmer and was nominated one of the best programmers in the Philippines by Rice Bowl Awards.
Inno Maog - Chief Marketing Officer
Angeles University Foundation - BS Nursing. Has six (6) years of experience working with PayPal BPO and well versed in anti-fraud and chargeback resolution process. He manages enterprise client engagement and spear heads marketing and sales strategies
Jacquiline Romorosa- Sr. Business Analyst
Jacqui was a part of a remittance and microlending blockchain company in Thailand, Everex, handling the investors support for their recent ICO. She's responsible in leading AQWIRE's token sale working with the marketing team, business development and IT.
To Learn more, visit
Telegram: https://t.me/AQWIRE
Website: https://aqwire.io/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AQwirePlatform
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aqwireofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AQwireOfficial
Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCNWH0T0wYhZQdmeXANL43sg
Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/aqwire
BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3067236.new#new
Github: https://github.com/AQWIRE