AMA with Alchemy Pay
On the 14th of January, 2022 at 14:00 UTC, Decentralized Club had the honor of hosting Robert McCracken, Ecosystem Lead from Alchemy Pay for an Ask-Me-Anything session on their Telegram page with a community of over 70,000 people. It was hosted by DC Admin, May.
The session was divided into three segments. Introductions were made in Segment 1, questions from the Twitter community were answered in Segment 2, and live questions from the community members in attendance were answered in Segment 3.
If you missed this event and would like to know what Alchemy Pay is all about, you can find a recap of the interview here. Information here should be researched and should not be taken as investment or financial advice. Also note that slight edits have been made for clarity, and links in this recap lead to images, documents, or other media.
Segment 1 - Introduction
[May]
Hello, สวัสดี, 大家好, नमस्ते, Selamat!
My name is May and I'll be hosting the AMA with Alchemy Pay.
Today, we have with us a guest from the Alchemy Pay Team.
You're welcome to the Decentralized Club and it's an honor to have you here.
[Robert McCracken]
Hi there - it's an honor to be here!
[May]
It's great to have you!
[Robert McCracken]
Hi everyone!
[May]
How's your day going?
[Robert McCracken]
Yes, it's going very well - coming to the end of an extremely busy week!
A LOT has happened for us this week
(all good haha)
[May]
Good to know :)
Could you quickly tell us more about yourself and your job at Alchemy Pay?
[Robert McCracken]
Yeah so I'm Rob, I work as the Ecosystem Lead for Alchemy Pay. I work with the team to build our visibility and I'm responsible for a lot of our content and communications and developing our network
I do a lot of different things actually, it is an exciting team and so we are always moving in many directions
[May]
It's great to have you, Rob! You have an awesome job at Alchemy.
[Robert McCracken]
👌
[May]
Can you tell us about Alchemy Pay and the inspiration that got it started?
[Robert McCracken]
Sure - yeah. So Alchemy Pay is all creating a connection between fiat currency and cryptocurrency. Essentially creating ways to go between the two economies as seamlessly as possible. Everyday people want on and off-ramps to feel comfortable to get involved in crypto so what we do helps adoption
Our core solution, our payment network enables merchants to accept both fiat and crypto. This is important as merchants have difficulty in just accepting crypto on dedicated systems, especially at this early stage of the crypto industry. Partners choose our solution because they can accept both fiat and crypto, and no matter the payment method - they receive their local fiat currency in their bank account directly. This is made possible by establishing partnerships with exchanges, OTCs, and global remittance companies.
We also offer all kinds of crypto investment, DeFi, and payments services for businesses. We’ve also recently expanded to adding more mainstream-friendly fiat payment rails for blockchain networks so they can onboard users to their ecosystems easily. We did this recently for Polygon Avalanche and Algorand for example
The inspiration to start…
Our founders recognized the genius of Bitcoin many years ago and as the cryptocurrency scene grew they felt there must be ways to make crypto more usable for real-world payments. One criticism of crypto is that it has been too insular and there have not been enough real-world uses outside of the blockchain. Our team’s experience in traditional finance, payments, and fintech was a crucial factor in the ability to connect up different parts of global finance and make a crypto payment system that works.
[May]
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
This is impressive!
What innovative solution is Alchemy Pay bringing to topple its competitors with similar offerings in the FinTech sector?
[Robert McCracken]
Ha, ‘topple the competitors’!
Well, we certainly see ourselves as leaders but in reality, the market is so huge so there is plenty of opportunity for plenty of projects.
People talk about Flexa and PundiX, among others but actually, we see these as peers rather than just competition. The way our network functions under the hood is very different. This is a new field and so we welcome different approaches and we hope to all learn from each other and build adoption together.
We do certainly compete with other payment methods beyond just crypto payments though. We are improving on what credit cards can offer by keeping our transactions fees at around 60-70% cheaper for most businesses
Which is a pretty big deal!
I think a major thing is our team’s background in traditional finance - payments are very much about networks that can spread across the globe - this is why partnerships are so important to us.
[May]
This is great! 🎉
[Robert McCracken]
😊
[May]
Can you tell us about the new initiative you founded - the Blockchain Infrastructure Alliance?
[Robert McCracken]
Yeah, absolutely this is something we are very excited about...
We formed the BIA first and foremost to bring together different blockchain and crypto leaders to make for a more cohesive and strong industry that can work together to promote crypto, particularly in areas like functionality, cross-chain interoperability, shared research, understanding, and working with regulators worldwide. We founded it with Polygon, Avalanche, NEAR, NEO and others. Algorand has also recently joined.
so many more things the industry can achieve if we are more together
BIA will also be an incubator for promising new projects looking for funding and nurturing.
[May]
Looking forward to seeing this, especially this year
[Robert McCracken]
Oh, I should also add - I should add, BIA also began a series called ‘Decentralized Discourse’ which engages experts from various fields in conversations about decentralization and crypto, etc. On behalf of the BIA our CEO, John Tan, just interviewed Simon Johnson, former Chief Economist of the IMF and MIT Professor. So go and check that interview out on YouTube.
Hang on I’ll get the link...
https://youtu.be/rByddBFmMAw
we're going to have more of these conversations to come
[May]
🥳
Dear community, please view the video above about what Mr. Tan had to say about BIA with the other amazing guests!
Can you tell us about $ACH and its utilities?
[Robert McCracken]
Yes for sure- ACH just got listed on Binance so it is something we are getting asked a lot right now!
In total, the ACH token is used for governance, transaction fees, rewards, and pledging. I’ll explain a bit…
Transaction, or gas fees - Fees for transactions, investments, processing, etc are payable either in the local fiat currency or ACH. ACH is an incentivizing token though because opting to pay for fees in ACH will result in multiple, big discounts!
Rewards - Use of the network will also be rewarded with the distribution of ACH in some cases. Enterprises such as financial institutions, payment companies, e-commerce platforms, developers, are the primary use case builders, and earn enterprise transaction rewards at set rates based on
their network size and transaction volume. Consumer transaction rewards are earned through spending rebates and other consumer-targeted payment solutions within the
network, so it incentivizes the token and the network
Pledging - to join our network, our merchant partners purchase a specified amount of the ACH token and ‘pledge’ it. This means that while using our network our partners lock up funds that can be returned if they choose to withdraw from the network.
Polkadot are doing something similar on their network with their parachain projects
Finally governance - in the future we aim to use the token as a means of governance for token holders. This is will become more important over time but right now we are focused on the team achieving certain milestones first
[May]
Congratulations on the Binance listing! 🎉
Many more to come!
[Robert McCracken]
Yep, we are very happy about that!
Our community has been with us since forever about that haha!
[May]
I can imagine 🎉
The utilities are amazing! Wow!
A round of applause for the team that made it possible! 🎉
Please give us a summary of your 2021 highlights and what major news should we look forward to from Alchemy Pay in 2022?
[Robert McCracken]
Well, the highlights were so many for 2021 - integrations with Tron, Polygon, Algorand, NEO, NEAR, Avalanche, IoTeX. Expansions into providing fiat onboarding have made us such a crucial part of various layer-1 and layer-2 networks now. Coinbase listing, founding the BIA, Expansions into NFTs with our limited edition crypto-linked Visa cards that have NFT faces. Our CEO was invited to speak at the US Trade Mission hosted by the US Department of Commerce which was a big deal. Our new website... so many things!
2022 we will continue to expand our payment network. We just landed an incredible partnership with the payments network NIUM which will open up so many new regions for us! And make our fees more competitive than ever We are currently looking into cross-chain swaps, accessibility to the web3 metaverse, NFTs
many many things!
we are expecting more partnerships with global merchants, more ACH listing, and more integrations with leading projects
[May]
https://t.me/decentralized_club/699004
[Robert McCracken]
😎
[May]
Alchemy Pay has come a long way, and you have an impressive list of partners to show for it!
Looking forward to hearing good news about Alchemy Pay!
[Robert McCracken]
no doubt!
[May]
Let's now take some questions from our Twitter community
[Robert McCracken]
sure
Segment 2 - Twitter Questions
[May]
What is the cost of a traditional fiat transaction? If a merchant uses a $ach gateway, what is the fee if a customer uses Visa/MC to pay with fiat (i.e. what fee will the merchant pay for that transaction)?
And what if the customer pays with crypto and the merchant converts to fiat?
Twitter Username: @blocklearning
[Robert McCracken]
Well, transaction costs really do vary between regions and depending on the scenario... But if we take general credit card costs they tend to average 3-3.5% (can be more) and settling time to merchants can take as long as 7-14days. Our system has fees of around 1-1.5% and takes just 2 days to settle. So that is a big improvement
Great question, thanks
[May]
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
They are very direct in mentioning that one of their main goals is to bring about blockchain adoption by bridging the gap between the cryptocurrency and fiat worlds, so, I would really like to know what kind of partnerships they will execute to ensure such adoption?
Twitter Username: @Pirry05Universe
[Robert McCracken]
Ok so yes @Pirry05Universe - that is what we do 🙂
Like I said the partnership with NIUM is a big thing that allows us to reach more regions. We recently partnered with MEXC to open up payment channels for them in Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. Our partnerships with Shopify, QFPay, and Binance are all important. Also, our arrangements with over the counter exchanges are as crucial as anything
And of course all the collaborations with the layer-1s we mentioned a minute ago
Hope that answers your question 🙂
[May]
We hope! 🥳
What effects has the Binance listing had on the Alchemy Project this year? Could you also talk about your upcoming projects and listings if you can? Should we expect the utility of Alchemy Pay in new countries this year as well?
Twitter Username: @theyasflower
[Robert McCracken]
Well, it only happened this week so it might be a bit early to know the effect just yet. But of course, that is a huge thing for us. In many ways, it serves as real validation for us and is fantastic for getting our name out there. It was the same as when Coinbase listed ACH. It has a validating effect because the biggest exchanges are the most rigorous when it comes to listing requirements. New countries and regions are always being added to our network - we are now supported in 73 countries
Thanks for the question 🙂
[May]
🎉
Congratulations again!
When will staking be allowed for ACH and is ACH currently burning tokens?
Twitter Username: @wavyjackson12
[Robert McCracken]
There is no token buyback or burning program. Staking is something that we are looking into and yes, it is likely to happen. I would like to say exactly when but everything we are working on has many variables that we have to work through with due diligence
appreciate your interest 🙂
[May]
https://t.me/decentralized_club/699029
Do you have an audit certificate or are you working to audit your project? so that the security of the project becomes more secure and Reliable??
Twitter Username: @Tasif92845300
[Robert McCracken]
Ah good question - we do yes
We are regularly audited by Knownsec
We have their report - it isn't public but we wouldn't have been listed on Binance or Coinbase without it!
Great question!
thanks 🙂
[May]
Great work!
It's now time to take live questions from our audience
[Robert McCracken]
I'm ready.
[May]
In this 3rd segment, I will open the group for some seconds for the live community to shoot you some pressing questions.
Please pick five original questions to answer.
Try to ignore generic, vague, and copy-paste questions 😊
What's your favorite sport?
[Robert McCracken]
soccer/football, possibly tennis
[May]
Football, soccer or tennis 🥳
[May]
Dear community, please use Mr. Rob's favorite sport in your questions.
The group will be unmuted shortly.
---Chat was then opened for the live community to send in their questions---
Segment 3 - Live Questions
[May]
Dear guest, as a measure to deter bots and reward hunters, your favorite sport has been included in the questions to show originality.
Please prioritize such questions with
"Football soccer tennis"
🥳
[Nahid]
So many DeFi projects are BOOMING. They also face many UI/UX problems and challenges. So what's your plan for addressing UI/UX and how do you go about it? Are you planning to improve the user experience and make your platform easy to use?
[Robert McCracken]
Yes, DeFi has been booming for a while. And I do agree that UX/UI has needed improvement in the past. We have really worked hard on our software interface for our merchants to use at the point of sale and on our wallet. Everything we do, we really keep it very simple. We are about accessibility and adoption - we want everyone all around the world to be able to use our solutions with ease! Key to adoption!
[Tyler Trainor]
Tennis
How do you see the impact of the Visa/Consensys partnerships just announced?
[Robert McCracken]
Yes, I just read about that yesterday! It just goes to show that the idea of crypto payments is going mainstream. Alchemy Pay is perfectly placed to take advantage of the massive wave of merchants that are looking to adopt crypto. We can offer to do it in a way that is easy, secure, and incredibly cost-effective for them! Great question thanks 🙂
[May]
🥳
[Daniel]
Are there any discussions with other big future partners?
[Robert McCracken]
That is definitely happening, Daniel! We have a lot of discussions happening right now. We just announced several big partnerships and we expect to announce others very soon. We are very excited about some developments we are working on but we cannot say anything publicly at this time. I'm sure you understand! Thanks, Daniel
[Taiwo Bisayo]
Can we have access to your whitepaper presently? Is it out for us to read through now to understand everything about your project which we can't do here?
[Robert McCracken]
Yes, our brand new whitepaper is downloadable from our website. Go to the 'About' page: http://www.alchemypay.org
Thanks, Taiwo 🙂
[May]
Keep 'em coming 🥳
[Dhir]
Does Alchemy Pay have its own wallet? And what network is $ACH available on? Any plans for omnichain integration?
Football, soccer or tennis 🏈 ⚽ 🎾
[Robert McCracken]
Yes, we have a wallet - you'll find details on http://www.alchemypay.org Hmmm, you want ACH on another chain huh? I won't say any more on that subject 😉
[May]
Great answers!
Can you take one more question and we wrap up?
[Robert McCracken]
Ok, let me have a look
[Emmanuel]
Soccer/football
Do you consider the community as a very important part of your plan? Should we expect more projects from Alchemy pay?
[Robert McCracken]
Yes, the community is a massive part of what we do! You guys are fantastic and we really appreciate all of your support and interest!
😊
[May]
Aaannnnd and it's a wrap! 🥳
Thank you so much for your time with us today!
It's been a long but enlightening session!
Any final remarks for our community?
[Robert McCracken]
It was a pleasure
[May]
Our warm regards to the team who makes this project solid! Amazing people 🥳
[Robert McCracken]
2022 will be a fantastic year for our team and all our community! Onwards and upwards!
🥳
[May]
The AMA with Alchemy Pay is now over.