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As we progress further into the 21st century, noteworthy events are triggering monumental changes in our economic landscape. From increased political instability to a more globally-mobile workforce, people have more reason to hold and transfer cryptocurrencies (“crypto”).
We are seeing increasing disfavor of traditional fiat salaries. 36% of workers surveyed in 2022 have indicated they want to be paid fully or partially in crypto. This trend is validated in the global hiring platform Deel’s State of Global Hiring Report, which reported that 5% of all payments made in 2022 through their platform were in crypto - a 150% increase from the previous year despite the bear market.
For some, this is a hedge against the devaluation of the US dollar, taking into account rising inflation and a lack of confidence in the Federal Reserve’s decisions. But the majority of this demographic are residents of economically-volatile nations with volatile economies, with 67% and 24% of crypto payments on Deel made from the LATAM and EMEA region respectively.
The International Monetary Fund sets out three broad requirements of money, which needs to function as a 1) store of value, 2) a unit of account, and 3) a medium of exchange.
Cryptocurrencies satisfy the first two requirements. Blockchain permanency and well-designed tokenomics ensure storing of consistent value (1), and stablecoins provide the stability required to act as a common unit of account (2) to measure the worth of goods and services.
Where cryptocurrency runs into trouble is the requirement of being a medium of exchange (3). In other words, crypto cannot be easily used to buy and sell things. It’s strange, given how Bitcoin is literally designed for trustless peer-to-peer transactions.
In fact, the ultimate use case of crypto is making payments for goods and services. But it’s precisely here where the challenge lies - there aren’t nearly enough vendors or merchants who accept crypto payments.
It’s a chicken and egg problem - it doesn’t make sense for merchants to accept crypto payments if they can’t pay other merchants in crypto. The issue is further exacerbated by the difficulty in converting crypto to fiat, a deterrent strong enough to warrant totally ignoring crypto.
DOM Money’s approach is not shaped by an overly grand vision, but rather through the lens of a regular person trying to accomplish their basic needs.
Speaking with workers in Europe, Asia, and the LATAM region, this is the conclusion they’ve come to:
People want to be paid in and hold crypto. They also want to use crypto to make payments in their daily lives, but such options are severely limited.
They are also aware of the opportunities that DeFi presents, but the knowledge barrier is too great.
Taking these considerations into account, DOM Money’s wallet simplifies the crypto experience while retaining all of the functionality.
Users can make payments by scanning a QR code at merchant storefronts and easily participate in DeFi simply by choosing an amount and their desired risk level.
All of this goodness is presented in Dom Money’s convenient neobank interface, designed by their seasoned UX consultant, who was responsible for building the first interface of Revolut, which won the 2016 UX UK award for Best Transactional Experience.
For DOM Money, security and transaction speed is critical towards ensuring seamless consumer payments, which is achieved through the integration of Tezos. The Tezos blockchain was selected by leading European financial services group Société Générale to develop a stablecoin for France’s national bank, on the basis of it’s on-chain governance, proof-of-stake consensus model, and formally verified smart contracts making it “ideal for high-value financial applications.”
In a strategic move, DOM Money is introducing their crypto payment solution in Asia and Latin America - regions where the adoption of both crypto and QR code payments is already high.
By adhering to national QR payment standards, DOM Money ensures a seamless implementation process. Most merchants in these regions already accept payments through QR codes and do not require any additional setup to accept DOM Money’s crypto payments.
A win-win solution is created for both users and merchants, who can spend and receive crypto and fiat respectively.
Users can transfer crypto to merchants upon payment, who then receive fiat currency. This process is facilitated by a third-party liquidity provider, who receives the crypto from the user and deposits fiat directly to the merchant’s bank account.
This direct crypto-to-fiat transaction incentivizes merchants to cater to the growing segment of customers who prefer to transact primarily in crypto. Bank fees are eliminated entirely, making transactions cost-efficient. The barrier of having to maintain two separate accounts (one for fiat and another for crypto) is removed, simplifying bookkeeping and reducing the administrative load for businesses.
For many users, the knowledge barrier to DeFi is simply too high. The world of smart contracts, liquidity pools, and yield farming can seem labyrinthine to the uninitiated.
DOM Money’s solution to this problem is to integrate DeFi into their wallet in a user-friendly manner. Users can easily participate in DeFi simply by choosing an amount they wish to invest and their desired risk level. This makes DeFi more approachable and accessible to users of all experience levels, encouraging wider participation in decentralized financial systems.
To gain perspective on the potential value of this offering, we can draw parallels from the disruptive impact of robo-advisors on the investment world.
Opening up investing to a wider historically excluded market, the global robo-advisory market is expected to grow from US$41.52 billion in 2023 to US$205.84 billion in 2027, at a 49.2% CAGR.
This indicates a substantial demand for user-friendly, straightforward investment platforms, much like DOM Money - which is throwing the gates to DeFi participation wide open to all.
One of DOM Money’s primary sources of revenue is the tried-and-tested model of transaction fees. Every time a user conducts a transaction using their DOM Money wallet, a small fee is levied. These fees are intentionally kept minimal to encourage frequent usage and are competitive with traditional banking and cryptocurrency transaction costs.
When users invest their funds via the DOM Money wallet into DeFi projects, a small percentage of the returns generated is retained as a service fee. This aligns DOM Money’s success with the success of its users’ investments, ensuring a shared interest in generating high returns.
DOM Money also offers premium services for Liquidity Providers (LPs). By providing automation software and other tools to LPs, DOM Money streamlines their operations, saving them time and resources. These services are available for a subscription fee, providing another stable source of revenue.
DOM Money’s journey so far has been marked by significant milestones, testifying to both its traction and success in the crypto space.
With a working prototype of the wallet and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for liquidity providers’ interface, the team has laid a solid foundation for their offering.
The validation of the venture doesn’t stop at product development. DOM Money has been recognized by the prestigious start-up generator and early-stage VC, Antler France. They were also awarded a grant of 8,000 Euros, an endorsement of their vision and the potential of their product, and stand amongst Antler’s esteemed alumni network.
Already, DOM Money is gaining ground in establishing its market presence. In Brazil, they have successfully built a network of liquidity providers, setting the stage for a planned launch in the coming month. This geographic focus represents a strategic entry point to a burgeoning market ripe for crypto and DeFi solutions.
What’s particularly encouraging is the interest expressed by potential B2B2C partners. These partnerships offer a pathway to scale, providing an existing user base to which DOM Money’s services can be offered.
In a testament to the compelling nature of their pitch, they have been invited to sign an agreement with global hiring platform Deel, as well as several smaller global payout providers.
The demand from other crypto wallets for early access to DOM Money’s QR code payment solution shows immense potential for B2B growth, opening another avenue for growth and diversification, while simultaneously enhancing the broader crypto payment ecosystem.
The project’s growing popularity is evident in its robust supporter base on Gitcoin, numbering in the hundreds. DOM Money is rapidly building a community that is excited about their product and believes in their mission.
The traction DOM Money has gained thus far signals strong validation of its vision, product, and execution strategy. With numerous successful achievements and promising opportunities on the horizon, the journey to make crypto a mainstream medium of exchange is well underway.
Nikolai Grigoriev / Founder, CEO
With a diverse academic background in architecture, design, and arts, Nikolai brings a unique perspective to the team.
He boasts 10 years of experience leading a design and innovation consulting bureau and has also worked with Emercoin on RandPay.
Nikolai has been involved in the development of several innovative products, including
Nikolai’s multifaceted experiences and strong leadership capabilities are a driving force behind DOM Money’s innovative approach.
Stepan Mytchyk / Founder, Solutions Architect
Stepan’s expertise in software development, specifically JS/Node.js, Tezos (Ligo/Archetype), and EVM (Solidity), alongside his background in microcontroller programming and economic cybernetics, makes him a versatile member of the team.
His involvement in the crypto space is extensive, being a Bitcoin maxi since 2014 and a DeFi degen since Uniswap v1. He has also worked as a trader in the crypto department of an Israeli family office, and the head of a team developing automated trading systems for different CEXs.
Notably, Stefan has a strong record in hackathons with a win rate of 77.7%, is a mainnet validator of several substrate networks, and is also a Tezos baker.
Andrii / CTO
Andrii combines his background in Signal Processing and competitive programming with more than 5 years of full-stack web development experience.
His expertise in building Natural Language Processing and Image Recognition models in the financial space, as well as his role as a high-scale AWS Engineer, demonstrate his technical proficiency.
Andrii has also been involved in crypto since 2017 and has implemented various automated trading strategies. His technical skills are instrumental in maintaining and further developing DOM Money’s tech infrastructure.
