Ideopass
Ideopass is at the same time a payment card (like a credit card), an online payment system (like PayPal) and a social network (like Facebook).
Goals
Create a product which adds a layer of abstraction to bitcoin or cryptocurrency payment.
Make the payment process easy, fun and rewarding for the users.
The bitcoin will work under the hood and to have a user experience centric approach of the product.
The project is an open project where anyone can contribute, crowd funded by a cryptocurrency emission system.
Ideopass is a standard credit card size payment card with an NFC chip inside and a QR code to be scanned by non-NFC devices (iPhones). Note that the QRcode will replace the NFC interactions.
Each card is related to a user account. When a user receives his first card he will download Ideo application, create an account with a strong password and link the card by scanning it. Then whenever the user scans the pass, the ideo application will automatically open and display the user’s account balance. Like Paypal, the account will show the balance in the currency he is comfortable with – e.g. USD in the US and CAD in Canada. As you can see, there is no mention of bitcoin here.
If you scan someone else’s card that person will be added to your contact list. Then you will be able to send any amount of money in any currency (just like paypal). If you buy something from a merchant implementing ideo API, the payment is made fun and easier than ever. The website will present a button "pay with ideo". When you click on it your phone will magically wake up (with a push notification) and if you touch your card with the phone the payment is made instantly. As you can see here, the online payment feels natural and painless while you don't link anything with your bank account credit card or what so ever. Many people are afraid of making online payments because it's linked with their credit cards.
Any merchant has the choice to accept ideo card. The only device they need is an NFC-compatible device (phone or tablet) and an internet connection. Unlike Paypal and any other payment system, transaction fees are free. The user give his Ideopass to the merchant and the merchant debits the card and the confirmation is sent to user's phone.
So what is the business model ? How do we make something sustainable with 0% or negligible fees ?After each payment to a merchant, the user has the choice to pay anonymously or get points. If the user wants points, he agrees to allow the merchant access to demographic data. In counterpart, the merchant can easily set up promotion in ideopass back office. For example, if someone buys 10 coffee, they get 1 free. If they spend 200 USD, they get a free gift. The user will be able earn several badges and experience gamification aspects.
The user will be able to "follow" their favorite merchants like in a social network to see how many points he has with the merchant and get special offers. While accepting the payment is completely free for the merchant he will need a premium account to have access to market data reporting and some special features.
And what is the link with cryptocurrencies?As you can see we are not talking about bitcoin. Bitcoin needs an abstraction to be used by the mass market. But as you've maybe already understood, the system doesn't use the blockchain for transactions inside the ideo network. In order to put money in your account, you have to use bitcoin and if you want to withdraw your money in cash or anything else, you will use bitcoin system.
But let’s say as a user, you don't understand anything about bitcoin. How do you put money in your account? Bitcoin works under the hood so you could ask any marchant confortable with bitcoin to recharge your card. You will give the cash to the merchant or tech geek and he will buy bitcoin for you and send it to your ideo account. For the user the operation is transparent he didn't ask for bitcoin or whats so ever - he just asked for a refill of his account.
With the money the merchant receives he doesn't have to go to an ideo branch, he can use any of the bitcoin buyers.
CrowdfundingThe ideo project is a project by the people for the people - anyone can be a part of the success and benefit from the success. For the project, we are going to create ideocoins. People that are working on the project and people financing the project will receive coins. The board of ideo will vote for the CEO and important decision the board is constituted of people with the most ideocoins. This means that if the initial team decides to dump all their coins to cash out. The project will be transferred to the other investors. This way the project cannot die until there is at least one person believing in it.
When the project is released, the premium membership will cost a certain amount of USD per month. For example, 100 USD a month. But the premium membership has to be paid in ideocoins and the number of ideocoins required is the market value for 100 USD. This higher the demand for the service, the higher the value will be for each ideocoin.
The development and the financing will follow these steps:
1. Phase One : Under The RadarThis is the phase we are in. In this phase, the initial team is working on the business plan, the logo, marketing material etc. The goal is to convert an idea in a solid project and give it credibility. This phase is the more rewarding phase for an hour of work or a dollar invested. It's also the hardest phase where we need to motivate people to work on a project while receiving "fictive" money.
I've got several interesting people on board. The people that will be on the board will be people who gave the biggest effort in the project.
I've now united a good team of technicians, marketers, influential people, flagship merchants etc.
People investing time or money during the founder phase will share 20% of total coins created during the crowdfunding phase. Each founder will receive a proportion according to their investment in cash or time.
2. Phase Two: Angel PhaseThis phase will start just after the business plan, the website and the marketing plan are released. The project will look much serious with a professional financial plan and look and feel. Then we are going to raise money from angel investors and we will go to find cryptocurrency angels with the proposal. They will bring their credibility and expertise to the project. In counterpart, they will receive ideocoins with a preferential price. The Angel phase offers coins for sale for anyone - we do it on a one-to-one discussion.
3. Phase Three : Public OfferWe sell ideocoins to everyone sending bitcoin to a specific address.
4. Phase Four : DevelopmentWe will use the money raised to develop the product for about a year. About 3 months after the public phase we are going to sell open free trade market between currencies and ideopasscoin.
After a year of development the product will be ready. During this phase, the project will raise money from VC in order to hit the international market hard.
