I have been out of Bitcointalk for a while, and coming back have only just discovered the Philippines forum (thanks to Dabs). Just wanted to updated anyone who is interested in what we are doing.
You might have heard of Tagcash - an ewallet system to transfer money domesticaly, buy load, pay bills, and pay merchants on the platform. You can deposit into the system using 7-Eleven, Bank (online or OTC), or Bitcoin. We convert Bitcoin at market rates from bitstamp. Merchants can cash out to bank if they supply a matching DTI or SEC Certificate, or anyone can cash out to Bitcoin with a fee of 3% to withdraw. Foreign companies can use this to sell goods and services in Pesos, and cash out back to Bitcoin, which is usually converted immediately to their local currency into their own banks using Bitpay at an extra 1%. Local companies can use the payment system at costs of between 1 to 3% on withdrawal to bank, and it costs nothing to setup and takes a few seconds. Dragonpay is integrated into the platform, there are Pay, Pay and Reward, and Share and Reward buttons you can add to your website, or you can use the free API to integrate with apps and websites. We are overhauling the Android App, and adding chat/voip options for user to user or user to merchant - essentially we will be emulating WeChat in China.
I created Tagcoin cryptocurrency in November 2013 as a rewards currency, but we let it stabilize over the last year before bringing it into Tagcash. It is a PoW, PoS coin that makes 5% pa on PoS. Currently priced at 2.1 pesos, you can trade it on btc38 in china and on cryptsy (although how long cryptsy will last is anyone's guess). We are now building an exchange inside the wallet at Tagcash where you can buy and sell it for Pesos. Once your Tagcoin balance with Tagcash goes over 1000 coins, we also pay interest at 5%, paid monthly and calculated on average daily balance. You can have the option of moving the interest to the Tagcoin wallet with Tagcash, or into the Peso wallet. You will be able to pay bills, buy load and pay for other services using the Tagcoin Wallet, and there may be merchants that take payments in Tagcoin because they need them to give out as rewards. At any time you can withdraw or deposit directly to or from your own Desktop Wallet (windows, linux and mac versions available)
We are using Tagcoin inside Tagcash as a rewards currency. Merchants can give Tagcoin as part of their marketing -eg: get a coupon on Tagcash for half price meal and get some Tagcoin when the coupon is redeemed. We are also using it as an affiliate rewards currency. eg: Share that same restaurant coupon with your friends on facebook, and if they take the coupon to the restaurant and have it redeemed, the sharer gets rewarded in Tagcoin. Merchants also have the option of advertising with our app, for location based deals, and the advertising credits can be bought with Tagcoin
Via the exchange inside Tagcash, merchants will need to buy stocks of Tagcoin to give out - if they buy at a lower price and give it out after the price rises then the perceived value to the end user is more. As we grow, the demand for Tagcoin will grow as well, so the price will naturally rise.
Tagcash is based in Makati, and our products are Philippines focused at the moment, but the platform can be used by foreign companies as reward system. Time will tell if it grows outside of the Philippines. Tagcoin is traded mostly in China at the moment on BTC38 so if we expand to China at least people have way of trading it there.
You can chat to me via this forum or via Facebook, or meet up the first Wednesday of the month at the TAG Mixer in Makati, details are on facebook and posted to most groups to do with Bitcoin, FinTech and startups.
We don't own the coin, we just created it, and it was a fair premine so I have to buy it on the open market just like anybody else. If the crypto community want to embrace it as a coin for the Philippines then that would be great..
Cheers
mark vernon
tagcash.com
