Blockbuster: Telcoin's hypothetical roadmap
Vol 2(4)
Several people have asked about the Telcoin Roadmap for 2023. A few years ago, Telcoin decided not to publish the annual roadmap that most crypto companies publish. A roadmap lays out a particular project's short- and long-term goals within a flexible estimated timeline. For an emerging product or a start-up, the roadmap articulates the goals and vision of the project while laying out the development milestones with a rough time estimate for achieving these milestones.
While roadmaps are helpful, they also pose serious strategic risks for a company. In particular, they allow competitors to know what you are doing and give them a chance to counter your efforts. Roadmaps can also be seen as a way of manipulating asset prices. For example, buyers can use the available information to buy or sell the asset depending on whether or not roadmap milestones have been achieved. If traders know that all milestones have been completed, they are likely to sell the asset; or buy it if major milestones are still upcoming. I, therefore, fully understand Telcoin's stance on not publishing roadmaps.
Based on recent communication from Telcoin, I have deduced that there will be significant developments in at least four areas, namely, global rails for remittance, Telcoin Europe UAB, Rivendell, and TELx, and the Telcoin App. I reflect on these below.
Global rails for remittance
Remittance is where the action might be. In January 2023, Jeff Quigley responded to a question on Discord about the impact of Wyre shutting down on Telcoin's on-ramps in the US. Jeff indicated that Telcoin "had already moved away from Wyre for cash in and cash out on the Telcoin App." He further stated "we already planned to move fiat remit on-ramp over to Midwest, so we're just accelerating that plan… in the near future, any direct fiat remit will actually just be a stablecoin buy/send…allowing us to focus on global rails to global stablecoin swaps. Equal access globally to stablecoins and DeFi exchange…."
Based on these statements, it is reasonable to expect a launch global rails that will allow users to buy and send stablecoins directly on the Telcoin App. This will be a massive development for users, particularly from outside the US, who have not been able to on/off ramp on the Telcoin App. According to Mr. Quigley, this will happen "in the near future." Therefore, I expect this to occur within the next six months.
Telcoin Europe UAB
Another major development for the next six months I am expecting will involve Telcoin Europe UAB. In November, Telcoin announced through several news outlets that “European digital asset registration will enable Telcoin to provide rails to its crypto wallet and DeFi exchange for EU customers." They stated, "EU citizens will soon be able to cash in stablecoins directly from a connected bank account or debit card, giving them access to mobile-based trades… Telcoin aims to provide an intuitive and low-cost alternative to existing centralized exchanges while enabling account holders to maintain custody of their assets.”
Based on this announcement, therefore, I expect Telcoin to launch the DeFi crypto exchange for the European market and the self-custodial digital asset wallet. While the self-custodial digital asset wallet is already available to the global market, what is not is the ability to “cash in to stablecoins directly from a connected bank account or debit card." This seems related to what Mr. Quigley spoke about concerning the ability to buy and send stablecoins directly. I, therefore, expect a major development on the Telcoin App (self-custodial digital asset wallet) which will allow users to buy stablecoins directly, not just for the European market (as stated through news outlets), but also for the global market (as implied by Mr. Quigley). I also expect the official launch of the DeFi crypto exchange, with a significant number of assets over and above the current 28 available on Telcoin markets . Whether this will be an extension of the digital asset wallet or TELx platform is unclear. But clarity should be provided within the next three to six months, more so given the November announcement.
Rivendell Network
About a year ago, Telcoin stated that it “is committed to driving strategic partnerships with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) through the deployment of Rivendell’s hosted, turn-key blockchain transaction validation and settlement platforms globally.” Back then, they also indicated that they were “in conversation with ‘close telecom partners’ through their mobile wallet relationships to carve new win-win partnership models. (Telcoin had) also established and agreed on engagement models with our reseller and system integrator partners, who are responsible for deploying these platforms globally through close collaboration with telecom stakeholders.” At the time, the Chief Commercial Officer also indicated that “the “Rivendell” name was conceived as a project code name in the early stages of this endeavour, so expect a new, official product name and updated website in the not too distant future.”
Since then, Mr. Sabari has attended several GSMA events, which hopefully have cemented Telcoin's position as a preferred partner for blockchain-based financial services. He reported that Telcoin's "value proposition resonated strongly, both on the remittance front and on our burgeoning blockchain validation offering." He also indicated that Telcoin has "successfully onboarded (or is in the final stages of onboarding) several new gateway and on-ramp partners in the fintech space that will help us scale and diversify connectivity into international markets.”
Considering the above, it is reasonable to expect the following within the next six months:
The announcement of a new name for the Rivendell project;
Announcement of specific MNOs who will be part of the initial Rivendell offering; and,
Announcement of the new gateway and on-ramp partners in the fintech space that will enable scaling and diversifying connectivity into international markets.
TELx and Telcoin App
On the TELx front, the May 2022 Telcoin report emphasized the plan to "scale TELx liquidity alongside the introduction of new assets to the Telcoin Application as efficiently as possible.” It also mentioned that as Telcoin “continues to rapidly scale the number of tradable assets on the Telcoin Application, (it) should also work to scale the TELx marketplace.” Of course, these developments have implications for incentives and their compliance. Based on this report, and related development since its release, I posit that in the next six months, we should expect the following:
A significant increase in the number of assets on the self-custodial digital asset wallet
Scaling the TELx marketplace alongside the introduction of new assets on the Telcoin Application and the launch of the DeFi crypto exchange
I also noticed on the TELx documentation that the TELx portal is referred to as the "TELx Staking Portal."
This means Telcoin is currently running two forms of Staking, i.e., the Stake and Earn Referral Programme, which is on the Telcoin App, and the liquidity provision program, which runs through the TELx portal. A key question, therefore, is whether these two will be integrated into a single platform. TELx documentation state that TELx product viability factors include sufficient decentralization, minimum viable liquidity, and speed and affordability. It also states that once these factors have been met, a determination will be made about integration into the Telcoin Application. It seems reasonable, therefore, to expect an update on this and possibly a move to integrate the two staking platforms.
Nebraska
In Telcoin Community Update Volume 8, CEO Paul Neuner indicated that “Two other key components of the overall picture, which we feel make us unique versus the competition, are the Nebraska banking effort and Rivendell. Both are making great progress, and we hope to be able to reveal a bit more as they become closer to operational.”. That was almost a year ago. In a Web3 Memo interview published in May 2022, he stated, "The bank side, that's obviously kind of the part that I've been the most heavily involved in recently and really excited about that's going very well. I've gotten the opportunity to meet a lot of the different players in this that people may be heard of in projects… I really feel that from our perspective and Nebraska's perspective, they kind of took the arrows on that and being the first out there from the beginning, we've tried to take it. We've agreed that we're going to do this in a very low profile manner, so we're going to let the fat ladies sing and not really talk about it until then.”
The Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance is implementing the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, which was developed in collaboration with Telcoin in 2021. In December 2022, the Department held rulemaking hearings to "take testimony and evidence concerning the following adoption of Rules and Regulations of the Department." One of these is Rule 47 NAC 4, which "allows state banks to amend existing financial institution charter with Application to the Department of Banking and Finance to operate a digital asset depository department. Mandates separation of operations between digital asset depository department and other bank operations. A bank's capital structure will be evaluated using a risk-based analysis of the proposed digital asset depository department. Separation of FDIC-insured activities and non-insured digital asset activities and products to prevent customer confusion.”
Considering the above, I expect that sometime in 2023, Telcoin will provide a detailed report on the progress made in Nebraska so far. I do not expect the launch of a Digital Asset Bank given that the Department has to satisfy itself that the rules are sufficient and have required implementation processes in place. Thereafter, interested parties will apply for licensing, etc. It seems to me that the Digital Asset Bank is dependent on a number of external factors and therefore it is difficulty to put a date on when might it be finalized. All in all, I don't expect significant updates as far as the Digital Asset Bank, at least in the next 12 months.
Bottom line
Looking at what is likely to happen with Rivendell, global rails for remittance, and Telcoin Europe UAB, I couldn’t help but notice that ‘new gateway and on-ramp partners' seems central. Mr. Quigley spoke of "global rails to global stablecoin swaps." The announcement of Telcoin Europe AUB mentioned the ability to buy "stablecoins directly from a connected bank account or debit card." Mr. Sabari spoke of a new gateway and on-ramp partners in the fintech space. It seems that a significant announcement will be related to partnerships with financial services providers, possibly banks, which will allow Telcoin users globally to buy crypto on the Telcoin App. Considering the announcement about a DeFi crypto exchange, it also makes sense to expect a significant increase in the number of assets on the Telcoin markets. This will be boosted by global rails allowing more active trades on the platform.
With all the above developments, I expect the volume on the Telcoin platform to increase significantly over the next six to twelve months. This can only mean one thing for TEL. An explosion.
All in all, I expect a blockbuster of a year.
Disclaimer
The information and content (collectively 'information') provided herein are general information. The authors do not guarantee the suitability or potential value of any information or particular investment source. Any information herein is not intended, nor does it constitute financial, tax, legal, investment, or other advice. The authors have no affiliation with Telcoin or other persons or companies referred to in this article. The information in this article is based on the sources used.
