Celebrating 3

Happy third anniversary, Pundians!

Three years have gone by so fast! The Pundi X Team have definitely reached many milestones in this short amount of time, even more so in the previous year. We remain on track towards our goal of putting blockchain into the mainstream, but the path towards that is met with a large obstacle―the COVID-19 pandemic. With much of our old ways being put to a halt due to limitations on mobility and physical interactions, it undeniably has become a very challenging time for everyone.

As we navigate and adjust to the “new normal”, we continue to support not just other businesses, but also mere individuals, organizations, and even governments in their quest to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrencies into their lives. Even in the midst of uncertainty, we’re always on the move to help everyone make the most out of their blockchain experience.

If there’s one thing we can learn from the pandemic, it’s the ability to pivot and rapidly shift our operations to fit the needs of our customers. And that’s exactly what we’ve done over the past few months.

Let’s take a look at some of our achievements from the previous year.

FinTech Certificate

On April 15, the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) granted us a certification, allowing us to operate as a fintech company under the organization and be recognized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This is important to us as we want to show our customers the legitimacy of our business is in spreading the benefits of blockchain to all.

Gaining recognition

One of our highlights last year was when SFA recognized Pundi X as one of the top 10 fintech leaders in 2019. It is an honor being put alongside inspirational innovators and business leaders who contribute in the improvement of fintech not just in Singapore but the rest of the world as well.

At the start of 2020, we were also named one of the top 10 startups in both Singapore and Indonesia alongside the likes of Carousell, Gojek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, Akulaku, and Ilotte. This is great news to us, not only as a blockchain company, but as an inspired community that is proud to see blockchain slowly flourishing in many parts of the world.

Expanding XPOS and XWallet

As part of our mission to make blockchain and cryptocurrencies more accessible, we continued to collaborate with the token issuers and businesses in various parts of the world and introduce XPOS and XWallet to merchants and consumer communities.

As of today, we’ve on-boarded over 20+ tokens on our global payments ecosystem, allowing holders to pay at XPOS merchants, as well as use the currency with their XPASS cards and XWallet app, including CRE, ENJ, USDT, and several of Wanchain’s assets.

 — @PundiXLabs_jp

We also welcomed many new XPOS merchants and distributors into the Pundi X family. Some of these businesses are based in countries such as the U.S., Germany, Greece, the UAE, Slovenia, Brazil, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan.

In terms of XPOS functionalities, we’ve added payment giant PayPal to make crypto transactions even more accessible to many users. It was actually thanks to our community for making it happen, as it was as easy as running a poll on Twitter as to what mobile payment app they’d like to see first supported on the XPOS.

Through the inclusion, we hoped to see more people become more comfortable in using XPOS, as well as push blockchain technology closer towards mainstream usage.

COVID-19 relief programs

We understood at the start of the pandemic that businesses, especially brick-and-mortar ones, were bound to see a sharp decline in sales due to mobility restrictions and economic decline around the world.

In an effort to support them, we distributed 50 XPOS devices for free to merchants with retail storefronts and looking to embrace crypto transactions. We also lowered the price of our XPOS Handy product for a time.

Additionally, we allowed our partner merchants to receive 100% of all the crypto transaction fees.

In Europe, Pundi X 365 introduced a customized solution for businesses to implement a simple online tool to conduct an effective online pre-screening and issue a digital pass to the visitors during this COVID-19 period and a blockchain-based health certificate issuance platform in line with the crisis.

Lastly, we launched the Pundi X Affiliate program to allow our community members to get rewards on every successful sale of XPOS and XPASS cards. This is our way of helping our community members earn extra income in the midst of the pandemic.

New DApps

We added new DApps in XWallet that cater the demand of our users, including Crypto-IDR to enable the conversion from crypto to Indonesian Rupiah, Crypto Zoo to offer an alternative way to grow your crypto assets while protecting your principle.

In August, we finally launched Crypto Zoo after months of beta testing. The new DApp is meant for crypto holders who are afraid of FOMO of altcoins and losing their stake in a highly volatile market.

The DApp includes two features: Crypto Bull and Crypto Bear. We opened access to the beta version of Crypto Bull, in particular, in April to 100 limited slots and we were happy to reach 150 applications in less than 24 hours.

Blockchain initiative in Cyprus

In November 2019, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cyprus-based firm Borghese Ventures to explore the implementation of blockchain technology for private and public sectors based in Cyprus. The agreement allows us to establish a committee to explore and evaluate the feasibility of possible blockchain-related projects that they will roll out to assist Cypriot businesses and government units. The committee is tasked to identify blockchain solutions that can address problems in various sectors of society such as healthcare, law, fintech, edtech, shipping, land registry, certifications, charity, and many more.

Additionally, the collaboration allows us to expand the payment solutions across Cyprus by distributing blockchain-based solutions across the country to help merchants accept crypto payments.

A few months later, Pundi X 365, our European entity which is now a member of the European AI Alliance, also signed an MoU with the European University Cyprus to contribute to existing studies of enabling blockchain for Cyprus-based companies. The cooperation also aims to issue postgraduate and professional certifications in the field of blockchain, as well as participate in EU programs to implement the technology.

Partnerships

Early on in the year, we teamed up with MakerDAO to launch the Crypto Merchant program to promote greater crypto adoption and financial inclusion in Latin American and African markets.

We also completed the tech integration with Ingenico, allowing us to make XPOS compatible with APOS A8 Android-based point-of-sale devices. The integration now allows merchants to use XPOS on APOS A8 when handling crypto transactions.

Additionally, we collaborated with HYVE to issue 20,000 co-branded XPASS Cards to HYVE users to give them a seamless way to cash out their earnings and spend them at any store that uses XPOS.

These partnerships are meaningful to us as we see how many other entities share our mission of making blockchain and cryptocurrencies more accessible and easy to use.

We have tried our best to achieve whatever we can in a year (frankly, these aren’t all of them yet) and we promise that we’ll continue to do more moving forward.

Let’s celebrate 🎁

We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for our wonderful community. To show our gratitude, we have some special promos and events for everyone.

Super XPOS Handy Sales

Starting from 00:00:00 EST on October 31 to 23:59:59 EST on November 1, 2020, you will be able to get one XPOS Handy+30 XPASS cards (and shipping included!) at US$ 333.

1. Go to https://shop.pundix.com/sg/xpos.
2. Select item “XPOS Handy — White” and add to cart
3. In cart, select “check out” and enter coupon code “PUNDIX3”
4. Get your Super XPOS Handy package at US$ 333.

Happy Wednesday Crypto Gift Drop

Set your alarm and grab our 3rd anniversary crypto gifts by using your XWallet app. Starting from November 1, there will be three major Crypto Gift Drop events in Pundi X Official Telegram Group on Nov 5, Nov 12 and Nov 19, Wednesday at 3:00 pm GMT+8.

1. Download and install XWallet app: https://xwallet.pundix.com
2. Join the Pundi X Official Telegram group: https://t.me/pundix

300 USD worth of NPXS, NPXSXEM and FX will be given through Crypto Gifts. First come, first serve.

Celebrate the 3rd anniversary social campaign

Simply spread the words with adding #growingstrong #celebrate3 about Pundi X by showing off your XPOS transactions, share your XPOS meme or add Pundi X 3rd anniversary Twibbon (https://twibbon.com/Support/pundi-x-3rd-anniversary)to join.

• 3 winners to award 30,000 NPXS each via XWallet
• 3 winners to receive free Pundi X 3rd anniversary hoodies
• 3 winners to receive 30% off coupon for Pundi X merchandise shop

3rd anniversary special award

Last but not the least. All Pundians which hold at least 30,000 NPXS in their XWallet during November and December will stand a chance to triple your NPXS holding. 3 lucky winners will be picked.

All the winners will be announced on Jan 21, 2021. Jan 21 was the day we completed NPXS public token sale back in 2018.

We would once again like to thank the entire Pundi X developers and community members for their hard work and perseverance for making blockchain and cryptocurrencies reach the unreached and support the unsupported. Special thanks to our wonderful community for consistently cheering us on and helping us improve our products and services.

In the face of uncertainty, let’s all help and lift up one another.

Celebrating 3 was originally published in Pundi X on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.