Introducing Zephyr Token Sale!
As discussed previously in parts 1 and 2, Bitspark is switching to Bitshares in place of Bitcoin as the means of transmission for making domestic and international payments. A key foundation to this will be Zephyr- a reward token for taking part in the Bitspark remittance network.
For a more in depth review of the reasoning and functionality of Zephyr please see the white paper but this article will give a broad overview of its applicability and reward structure.
Incentivising Economically Beneficial Actions
Bitspark is creating Zephyr as a reward token to give to users who do economically beneficial actions in the Bitspark remittance network. Actions include sending and receiving money, topping up a balance or referring other people to join. Accessing new countries for Bitspark will now be easier with the use of Bitshares created pegged cryptocurrencies and in order to grow in these new geographies a financial incentive for joining the network is the optimal solution for ensuring accelerated user on boarding- this is how Paypal started after all.
Consider an existing money transfer operator (MTO) , they have the benefits of switching to Bitspark in addition to an incentive of receiving Zephyr upon sign up which is worth real money. Upon every successful transaction and every top up for a Sendy user, the MTO will be rewarded with Zephyr. Likewise with Sendy top up agents, if they successfully top up other Sendy users they will be rewarded with Zephyr. All of this adds up to provide a clear economic benefit for MTOs and Sendy users to join the Bitspark network, get paid to join - and who wouldn't want to do that!
The Zephyr Token therefore acts a reward but in order to support its long term utility, Bitspark will be committing a portion of the company’s transaction fee it earns on a remittance transaction. At launch, 25% will go to buying back Zephyr Tokens from the market on the Bitshares DEX. As more coins are issued as rewards for beneficial actions on the network it also means that there will be increased buying pressure on the Zephyr Token as the network grows. This provides a positive feedback loop between token holders, traders and everyday users, ensuring that the Zephyr token is an effective mechanism for entering new markets and providing a clear incentive for businesses and individuals to make the switch to Bitspark for their remittance needs.
Over time we will be be providing new rewards for Zephyr and while all Bitspark trades regarding Zephyr will take place on the Bitshares DEX we are open to third parties listing it on other centralised exchanges to enhance available liquidity. For a more in depth overview feel free to checkout the whitepaper at zephyr.bitspark.io.
The Token Sale
The Zephyr token sale will begin 6 October 18:00 HKT at zephyr.bitspark.io and last for 30 days or until all available Zephyr are sold (600 000 000 ZEP). The sale is capped and has tiered pricing, 30% of tokens will be available to public as per the white paper schedule with the remainder held by the company to issue Zephyr as a reward or for sales related activities. A small amount will also be available for the team on a set 2 year vesting schedule. We will be accepting BTC, ETH and BTS as payment for Zephyr during the sale period and as Zephyr will be launched on Bitshares we will enable wallets for buyers to deposit their coins to make the purchase rather than a standard Ethereum sale with a contract address. All customer deposit addresses are unique and payments should ONLY be made to the address in your zephyr.bitspark.io account.
The Zephyr token sale accounts, balances and logins are functionally separate to our existing accounts at Bitspark.io until such stage as we may merge them after the sale but please note Zephyr will only be available at zephyr.bitspark.io during the sale. Following closing of the sale, Bitspark will be enabling withdrawals where we will advise our customers to withdraw Zephyr to their own Bitshares account.
The Proceeds
The proceeds of the sale will go directly towards the technical development of the Zephyr token reward program and Bitspark pegged cryptocurrency remittance service on our web and mobile platforms and the related sales and marketing activities in onboarding new MTOs and individuals into the Bitspark network. Particularly our focus will be on the rollout of our pilot with UNDP in Tajikistan for remittances and the expansion of the system to all countries and destinations globally.
We intend this process to begin on day one from the closing of the sale with many parts already underway prior to Zephyr launching such as the move to Bitshares. The token sale funds will be a catalyst to accelerate the rollout of the Bitspark remittance system enabling instant cash in, cash out payments in every country and currency in the world using a fundamentally better financial system from the ground up in Blockchain technology.
Next Steps
If you haven't already, check out Zephyr pre-sale information page here!
Unlike pretty much every other Token sale out there, Bitspark has a real product live and working right now (try us out) and a solid reputation in the industry as a pioneer since 2014. The business use case is clear as are the objectives of what Zephyr will achieve. The token sale will be a catalyst to rapidly accelerate growth of the remittance industry. We would implore our customers and token buyers to fully read and understand the terms and conditions of the sale here and if you have any questions feel free to reach out to support or our social media channels which we will be updating frequently. We look forward to some of the exciting things we have in store and would welcome our supports to come along for the ride!