The Interledger Community 🌱: PeerPay

PeerPay — Grant Report #2

Nestor Campos — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 12:15:24 +0000

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Project Update

Our first report is here.

When we started with PeerPay at the beginning of 2022, we knew that we would learn a lot and have several challenges, but we have learned much more than expected, we have achieved more opportunities in the future, we have had valuable user feedback and we are already preparing the following years.
Regarding the technical details, we have managed to make a lot of progress, including doing a test implemented CBDC technology through an ILP connector.
We have also been able to present PeerPay to funds, accelerators, and other investors, mainly to get their feedback and show the advantages of Interledger for these types of projects.

Progress on objectives

PeerPay is already a functional prototype, which we have tested with users from Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia to verify the safe sending of money assuming that they will be remittances.
These tests were carried out within the XRPL network for the exchange of money, connected with own ILP nodes.
During the course of testing, we received feedback such as:

Adjustments to the visual design of the platform: At first, the platform was not so friendly and easy to understand, especially for those who do not understand payment networks or blockchain.
Ease of receiving payments: We take a functionality from other Fintech to facilitate receiving payments, and that is to create payment links to share and simplify payments.

At the communication and marketing level, we have made alliances and participated in some events in South America to show PeerPay.

In 2023, our goal is to integrate with businesses to make it easier for people to pay directly without having to attend in person or rely on credit cards.

Key activities

Our key activities in these months have been:
Feedback collection: After the first version, the feedback obtained by users was:

Improve the interface: Beyond the proposed financial inclusion solution, we realized that many users do not have the technical knowledge to understand advanced aspects of using Web platforms, so we began to simplify the interface, with better-highlighted buttons, simpler words to explain everything and many pages have tooltips to explain each section that the user can see, because they also told us that they would not see videos because the platform should be self-explanatory.
Understanding of money transfer options: We had different types of users, from people who know or use some cryptocurrency, to people who do not understand technology, which led us to understand that in transfers (also when creating wallets), we must give different options for each user, which is why we are building 4 modalities: a) Multi-chain: for people who know about cryptocurrencies and other assets, but do not understand Blockchain and networks, allowing exchange through Interledger. b) Single-chain: For people who understand Blockchain and like one in particular, in this modality users send and receive money in a single network always through ILP (for now we only have XRPL capabilities). c) Centralized (see our preview below): For people who prefer to trust Central Banks and their new digital currencies, without worrying about managing money on their own. d) Multi-currency: For people who still prefer fiat money.

Other advances:

Communication and marketing: In the section below, we detail what we have done and our objectives for 2023 onwards.
Communities: We are working with communities of entrepreneurs and people in different conditions, through Socialab (an NGO that promotes social enterprises) with which we have been able to reach different users in different corners of various countries.
Technologies: In addition to the integration with nodes in the XRPL network, we are working on integrating Gnosis Chain (the creator of the DAI stablecoin, since it is very cheap), the Bitcoin SV network (a Bitcoin fork, because we are starting to work in opportunities with them), and some Ethereum Virtual Machine - EVM compatible networks (Fantom, TRON and Polygon). We will work on non-EVM networks from 2023. Additionally, we are still working on the integration between Rafiki and PeerPay (we already have some successful internal tests) and we are starting to explore Dassie as another integration for the platform, so we can facilitate and decentralize liquidity and payments through PeerPay.

During these months, we participated in the Ripple hackathon on CBDC technology, and in our case, we were able to implement a private blockchain with CBDC in PeerPay connected with Interledger, since this blockchain is identical to XRPL, so we use the same connector. And we won the hackathon. With this experience, we see an added value in using the Interledger Protocol for this new type of assets, since it really is a very valuable bridge for financial inclusion with the participation of Central Banks.

Communications and marketing

To show our progress, through the main company that created PeerPay, Techgethr, we partnered with the Insurtech Argentina Chamber in order to participate with other startups and offer PeerPay as an option on their platforms/startups and for insurance companies. We participated in different events, mainly in Argentina and online, including in training that we did on technologies (always with the opportunity to show PeerPay to the attendees).
We already participated (and were invited) to events in Córdoba, Mendoza and Buenos Aires (cities in Argentina) to show PeerPay in those cities and get closer to local communities, taking advantage of alliances and connecting payments through Interledger with the world of insurance.
We promoted alliances with other emerging startups in South America from the Fintech world, such as Regcheq (a company to verify identities through KYC and AML), because we saw that in order to reach every corner and talk about financial inclusion, we needed to be inclusive and we couldn't get there alone to meet every need of people.

What’s next?

With the first year coming to an end, the future for PeerPay is very promising.
By winning Ripple's CBDC hackathon, we remain in contact with the area in charge of this technology to continue working on these new assets and integrate them into PeerPay through ILP, which will allow us to serve different countries and be prepared as a payment system massive from the first day that the Central Banks decide to operate in real form with this type of money.

Additionally, thanks to the Kanoo Innovation Hub, we are going to explore the use of PeerPay in the Caribbean (a great pole for cryptocurrencies) with mentoring and access to networks and alliances for it.
Finally, with Draper University we will have the possibility of showing PeerPay to other countries where there are contact networks and accessing a network of funds and investors.

We want to transform PeerPay into the "Paypal of Web 3.0", but always with the vision of concrete financial inclusion and that the future requires that all types of currencies can coexist and people can be educated and have the decision about what type of coin handle.

We are also working on integrating a KYC (Know Your Customer) platform to validate users, but that is not so complex if we think about ease of use.

With the feedback from users and the research we have done, the new features we are working on are:

Money in real time: To pay bills or salaries in limited periods of time (minutes, hours, days), so people can have part of their income immediately without depending on credit.
Monetary portability: The volatility in many countries and the lack of trust in governments, leads us to give people (especially the most vulnerable people) to be the ability to move their money in different assets within ILP (from fiat to crypto, from crypto to CBDC, from CBDC to stablecoin, from stablecoin to crypto and more), to give people some reassurance that their money has value to them.

Soon, in another post we will publish all new features that we have in mind and some that we will be enabling.

What community support would benefit your project?

For us, the community is fundamental, and our goal is to reach all parts of the world, but we know that this is not feasible only through us, and we need other projects in the rest of the world (Africa, Asia, Europe, USA and more) want to integrate with PeerPay (through API) and we with their applications, thus empowering us so that they can access Latin America and PeerPay to the entire world.

Additionally, we believe that trust in the ecosystem needs more actors, and in addition to the ILP nodes that we manage, we want to connect to other ILP nodes (with different ledgers and blockchains) to make it a system with greater access to users, without depending on a single actor (us) to make it more decentralized.

Additional comments

At PeerPay our vision is long-term. We know that financial inclusion will take years, but it is what we want to do and we understand the challenges that will come our way.
We also want to be allied with other projects working on financial inclusion (not only on payment issues) and help from our experience for the success of you and the entire ecosystem.

Let's keep in touch with each other. Our email is nestor@techgethr.com

Relevant links/resources

I attach some links (some repeated) to the events, programs, and advances that we have had:

PeerPay — Grant Report #1

Nestor Campos — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:53:29 +0000

Project Update

PeerPay ("Payment system for one billion people") already has its first Web version (https://peerpayapp.com/), available for any user to try. Not only is this its first version, but it also includes a lot of feedback that the tremendous Interledger community and Grant for the Web have given us.
We are in the middle of the project, with a lot of learning, with many challenges ahead and with tremendous opportunities that we are working on.

Progress on objectives

The proposed objectives for this year in PeerPay are:

Web development as MVP: It is ready and functional with test accounts (ILP accounts). Accessible at https://peerpayapp.com/
Localization: Thanks to the feedback from the community, we realized the importance that PeerPay was not only in Spanish, so it can also be used in English and Portuguese.
API development: The architecture is ready and the team is working on refining the last details to publish the API and allow the development of new products for builders.
Communication and marketing strategy: We developed a strategic plan that includes alliances with other protocols and blockchain to participate in PeerPay. It also includes financial entities (which we are now going to talk to some of them taking advantage of the ready MVP) and exposure of PeerPay to entrepreneurs to test the functionalities and understand how they are used to adjust the platform.

Finally, with all the work that we have done so far, we see the importance on more levels of the problem that we want to address. In other words, the initial idea that we made that PeerPay be a payment processor is not enough, but also that we have to be an enabler of other platforms that build on Interledger, and we have built PeerPay like this, so that other platforms focus their parts important and to send and receive payments use what we have already done with PeerPay. Because if we want to reach a billion people, we will not do it alone.

Key activities

Our work during these first 5 months has consisted of:

Iterative development of the platform: We made 3 versions, in the first only available in Spanish and with a different design from the current one, which had feedback to adjust it due to problems in its use. In the second, with the current design, thinking of a simpler, clearer navigation and with new features (select the type of wallet to create, create payment links to share and information for reports). In the current one, similar to the second version, but available in 3 different languages (Spanish, English and Portuguese), and built through API (which will soon be available to the public).
Payment module in MVP: Taking the competition (other payment processors) as a reference, we enable a form of payment through simpler forms and with data filled in by the payment recipient (without the need to code anything) and the possibility to generate a payment link to share, avoiding having to send payment data by traditional means such as emails or messages.
Marketing and communication: We have been exhibiting PeerPay in events for entrepreneurs, mainly face-to-face in Chile, to show the benefits of sending and receiving payments. Also in a private event of the Argentine InsurTech Chamber, of which our company Techgethr is a member, to show the other members the opportunities to use PeerPay in their startups.
Infrastructure: We are putting together an infrastructure plan to enable Interledger nodes for use in PeerPay, both our own and to support financial entities.

The modules that are developed in PeerPay are:

Wallet: Here users can add their different ILP accounts (for now only IPLv4 test accounts, but built for any provider). In addition, it allows differentiating between personal and company accounts, in which the latter allow adding more information for the issuance of invoices (this part is under construction). Finally, it allows checking account balances in a similar way to Web 3.0 wallets, that is, without saving the information/passwords of the wallet by database, but rather locally (this may change in the following versions). Additionally, remembering an ILP address can be complicated, PeerPay allows every wallet to add a unique alias, to be able to share it with anyone and make it easy to remember.
Address book: Like any payment platform, the user can add the recipients of their payments to simplify their processes and speed them up.
Payment and transfers: This module allows you to send payments to other wallets (of third parties or your own), including generating payment links to share and see the details of all the transfers sent and received in your ILP addresses, in addition to seeing historical records.
Reports (under construction): Although this module was not designed for this development, we realized the importance of giving users information about how they are using their money.
Notifications: This is not directly a module, but the platform sends certain notifications to users (validate emails, reset passwords, payment generated and payment received). We are working on the mail designs after validating all the notifications that we will build.

The hosting of the platform so far has been:

Microsoft Azure for the Web platform, API and database.
SendGrid for email notification system.
Cloudflare for DNS management, security certificates and content delivery network.

Communications and marketing

The first part of the job was to take care of the development. We decided to focus on having at least one working version of PeerPay and now we will start on that part (almost no marketing and promotion expenses to date).
But we have taken advantage of making PeerPay known to be integrated with other protocols. For example, we are working with the DICO Network (on the Kusama/Polkadot network) to integrate their protocol so that they can send and receive their tokens within the PeerPay and Interledger Protocol.
In addition, we created a LinkedIn profile that we will use as a professional point of contact.

Finally, we did a meetup (and we will do more) to teach about Interledger Protocol, WebMonetization and PeerPay. The video is available at: https://youtu.be/17YfiOnb0YY

What’s next?

Despite the platform, we have a tremendous challenge ahead of us, and for the rest of this year, our goals are:

Create the PeerPay API, so that developers of new apps can create new products and services on our platform. Including an SDK for some of the most used programming languages (probably C#).
Help integrate PeerPay into platforms for entrepreneurs so they can sell their products and receive income. This may involve changing the web interface based on feedback.
Integrate ourselves with banking and financial entities willing to be part of Web3 and participate in the project.
Create our own nodes to enable our own accounts, that is, be an ILP provider like the rest. And we are going to integrate Rafiki in PeerPay.
Work on the marketing and promotion of PeerPay (the part of the unused funds is dedicated to this), massifying the benefits and establishing alliances with organizations and companies.

What community support would benefit your project?

PeerPay must have a synergy with the community from various aspects:

If you want to learn how to use it, you can create an account, use it as a test and give us feedback.
If you are a node operator (provider) and want to integrate with PeerPay, you are welcome to do so. We will help you reach more users.
If you are or are part of a financial institution (regardless of size), contact us and help your customers access payments at lower costs.

The community can help us by giving us feedback at nestor@techgethr.com, it can also help us show PeerPay to any other startups we might partner with.

Additional comments

PeerPay is an ambitious project, which is why our motto is "Payment system for one billion people", that regardless of your employment, economic situation, residence status in a country, they can participate in the financial system (either with fiat or crypto). That thanks to Web3, the financial industry is not excluded, but is a relevant actor, that entrepreneurs can sell their products formally with the minimum possible requirements, that small and large companies can send and receive payments in an agile way , that people can send and receive money at the lowest possible cost and access different services without problems.

We are making PeerPay an independent company that meets the requirements and regulations, starting with Chile, to be an actor in the Fintech and Web3 industry.

Think in PeerPay as the "Paypal for everyone".

Relevant links/resources

PeerPay web: https://peerpayapp.com/
PeerPay LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/peerpay
Contact form: https://peerpayapp.com/Home/Contact
Email contact: nestor@techgethr.com