About SmartCash and other cryptocurrencies
We've been observing the general cryptocurrency boom and normalisation in the office for a while. No surprise the bitcoin bubble had to burst, but this is just the beginning of the crypto revolution. As tech geeks we completely buy in to the blockchain model. An open ledger account without the need to trust and pay a third party to conduct a transaction. SmartCash is just one of the many cryptos that stands out as being able to work as a functional currency, which BitCoin has yet to demonstrate. Safely transferring money to anyone for virtually free (about 1/100th of a cent) is now easy.
Instant Payments - No merchant fees 🙂
PayPal and other cards charge around 3% as a transaction fee. Bitcoin transactions are too slow and expensive for day to day shopping. I simply can't hang about in the bakers or the petrol station for 45 minutes waiting for confirmation of my BitCoin transfer which may cost more than the croissant I'm buying . There are now thousands of other cryptocurrencies, but SmartCash stands out with a great ethos, is community led, fully decentralised and has instant payments launching imminently with 0% merchant fee.
A minute wait for transaction verification is still practically too long for day to day payments. SmartCash solves this problem with a SmartCard you create yourself on your mobile and load with currency. A merchant - or anyone who wants to receive money can use the Point of Sale app to request payment. They scan your card, you enter your pin and bang, instant payment with 0% merchant fee. Even better still, it will automatically convert to the local fiat currency.
SmartCash offer transactions verified in under a minute using a global community built network of over 12,000 SmartNodes.
What are SmartNodes?
To facilitate instant payments, SmartCash has incentivised the community to setup a network of servers used to process our transactions. A node is simply a server running the SmartCash service which receives a reward payout every few days for doing some work. 30% of the block reward is set aside to pay nodes and to provide a monthly reward for anyone holding more than 1,000 Smart (about $100) in their wallet.
What about the the other 80% of the block reward? Now it gets interesting, around 80 million dollars worth of Smart is currently available to fund projects voted for by the community. Anyone can submit their proposal onto the forum for discussion. Provide a credible business plan and the collective will discuss, vote and pay. This is really exciting, we're seeing proposals approved from all over the world. Micro businesses, charities and small projects are receiving funding to kick start their projects. Current proposals may be found on the governance site: https://vote.smartcash.cc
This is the democratisation of banking happening right here and the possibilities are really exciting. You don't have to work in tech or finance to benefit or get involved. Ghana, Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil are all seeding communities.
What is a global hive?
The current interest in SmartCash may be attributed to a decentralised team structure, efficiently distributing workload across multiple global teams or hives. The concept of top down management has been turned on it's head, there is no CEO or queen bee, this is a completely cooperative, flat structure organisation.
From the SmartCash Team:
We believe ‘Core’ teams are a bad idea and something that ultimately leads to inefficiency and corruption. We want to move past it and create a decentralized organizational model inspired by ant and bee colonies.
In order to create and maintain a decentralized governance structure, we are introducing two concepts SmartHive and Hive Structuring Teams (HST). SmartHive enables anyone that holds coins the opportunity to vote on proposals submitted by the community. SmartHive will be the lifeblood of the project, which will allow anyone to get involved and submit proposals, helping to generate organic growth at a grassroots level, creating a bottom-up management structure.
How do you buy SmartCash?
SmartCash can be bought on the following exchanges with BitCoin, although direct Fiat currency purchases will soon be available.
If you don't already own any BitCoin we recommend using the Local BitCoins site which easily allows buying directly from traders near you with cash or bank transfer.
If you're technically minded, you can also mine SmartCash yourself using a decent graphics card or a mining rig. If this is a bit complicated, outsourcing mining to a third party service such as https://www.nicehash.com is another option. This site allows geeks with mining rigs to rent time on their hardware to anyone who wants to pay (in Bitcoin for the processing power). We have achieved impressive speeds and successfully mined SmartCash for slightly less than the cost of buying directly on the exchanges.
E-Commerce support
A business wishing to trade requires a stable, fungible currency. Whilst Bitcoin may have spiked and made crypto seem less attractive, we are seeing an uptake of alternative payment methods. On-line stores are already offering a range of crypto payment methods which allows cost reduction for businesses of all sizes from a sole trader to a multi-national.
We are pleased to already offer Smart payments to our customers. The address may be found below and on our invoices. We still of course accept British Pounds, Euros, Dollars and Laris and Hugs.
If you'd like to chat with us or find out more about how we can help integrate cryptocurrency payments into your e-commerce website, use the instant chat panel below or send us a message on the contact us page
Want to buy us a beer? Use the QR code to pay with your phone or copy and paste the address below.
Eko UK SmartCash Address: Sfg1CcmugcAv6Bc5eLg8cbbVfWYgStmy8t
