Business / Finance

CEO Deng Guangyuan on the SGPay token, platform and the Asian crypto scene

SGPay is poised to change the way Singaporeans view digital payment through their all-inclusive third-generation e-wallet and e-payment smartphone application.

Mar 16, 2018 | By LUXUO

SGPay is not a pure cryptocurrency platform, instead, it is an all-inclusive third generation e-wallet and e-payment smartphone application. Thus providing a wider scope for SGPay to collaborate with banks and other companies to elevate the experiences for the consumer. This opens up a whole new experience and customer base for banks to tap into. CEO Deng Guangyuan had this to say about the company’s plans and his outlook on the current crypto scene in Asia.

What are the supporting ideas behind the launch of SGPAY? And can you tell us more about the team backing it?

The ethos behind our SGPay team has always been looking at how we can improve on what’s missing. And what’s missing is quite substantial in this current day and age. There does not exist a local or regional mainstream mobile platform for people to easily purchase or sell their cryptocurrencies. Most options out there now come with lots of hassle for the customer. For example, you have Gemini for options overseas but this usually takes about a week or two to transfer your capital into. CoinHako suffers from huge downtime till this current day.

We are a team of 15, seven of whom are advisors highly experienced in the cryptocurrency, financial, and legal/compliance scene. Half of us are based in Singapore, the other half overseas. I believe it’s important to have team members from various backgrounds so that we have synergy to create an optimal product backed by a diversity in opinions and knowledge.

How are the financial institutions and banks in Singapore reacting to the SGPay project?

We all know that banks are taking a cautious approach to the cryptocurrency boom. We have been approaching them on a collaborative angle–to which they are receptive to. We are also currently in talks with several parties and merchants, of which we unfortunately cannot unveil yet. But we are confident that we will be able to form partnerships with financial institutions and small medium enterprises alike, bringing mutual benefits to both parties.

How are the latest developments of AliPay in China and PayTM in India influencing your thoughts?

Despite being hugely successful companies with hundreds of partnerships, AliPay and PayTM are still extremely active in forming numerous partnerships with other companies. This ambition and hunger of both platforms strongly mirror what we are doing here in Singapore. We are, step-by-step, on our way there. 

What will be the use of the SGP Token?

First and foremost, it can be used alongside major cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies for payments and transfers on the app. Holding onto SGP Tokens will result in lower transactional fees on our platform. They also lead to membership benefits as well as rewards.

What funds are you looking at raising during the SGPAY Token Sale, and what will be the use of these funds?

We are looking to raise a reasonable amount in order to give every contributor a greater share of the circulating supply.

We emphasize heavily on building a token economy that results in the greatest potential returns for not only for the benefit of our project, but also our contributors.

We will be using our funds entirely for developmental, marketing and operational costs – anything to ensure that our project will be a success in the long-term. We are already more than 80% funded so we will be closing this chapter soon.

How do you currently view the crypto scene in Asia and specifically in Singapore?

In my view, the crypto scene in Asia and even more so Singapore is saturated with speculative crypto investors. In most parts of our daily life, the utility and practicality of cryptocurrency is close to zero. This is one of the driving forces of our project — to make crypto more accessible and understandable to the general masses, and not just for speculative investments. We will be doing this by integrating services onto our platform and partnering with merchants, letting people pay for services such as booking services and online malls using not only fiat, but also cryptocurrency in the long run.

Overall, what should be the adoption strategy for crypto players to reach to a wider audience and bring, in the case of SGPAY, more merchants to the crypto scene?

At SGPay, we believe that adoption would stand for something that the general public can relate to. For example, a company could place hundreds of POS terminals at hundreds of shops and no one would even bother using them. Adoption originates from the consumer, not the merchant. Once you get consumers on board your platform, merchants will follow.

For more information about SGPay, please visit: https://www.sgpay.org/


 
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