West 57th
About West 57th
The Problem
Merchants are slow to adopt accepting cryptocurrency as a payment option. West 57th plan to change this.
Currently merchants need to implement a new POS system and/or make updates to current terminals to accept crypto and mitigate it’s volatility. On top of this staff training is required and some level of technical ability is required. This is a large obstacle to overcome and many merchants find it easier not to accept crypto as a form of payment.
From an individual perspective the most common route is withdrawing crypto from a private wallet back to a CEX to change back to fiat before either topping up your card issued by that particular CEX or sending back to your bank account. All of which incurs fees and is not a smooth experience.
The Solution
Give users a seamless experience using the West57th payment card and mobile app. Provide merchants a way to accept the currency or fiat of their choice with no hardware or software integration allowing their business to operate as usual.
This may sound impossible but West57th have created a way to facilitate this experience.
Strategic partnerships have been established, allowing a solution to bridge the gap in merchant adoption, adhere to regulatory guidelines and provide a competitive pricing model.
Want to hear first hand. Founders Zolli & Kits joined Skribr on the Shill & Grill podcast. Recording can be found here
In short the most useful utility is the ease of use. The ability to top up your West57th card and use it at a regular merchant to pay for everyday items is amazing.
You can watch the seamless experience here
This also won West 57th fourth place in Grizzlython, There were 10k participants, 800+ project submissions, across 70 countries so this is no small feat.
West 57th has the ability to issue branded digital Mastercards provisioned directly into the holders Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay native mobile wallets. These wallets are connected to the mobile app to provide a customised experience.
West 57th NFT holders will receive
- Highest Rewards Tier
- Lowest Conversion Fees
- Access to Card Tokens
- Rewards issued as a share of gross revenue this product generates
The holders of the NFT will also control the supply/distribution of the cards in a unique way. NFT Holders have the option to buy a “token” then sell this token on the secondary market for whatever value the market determines. So essentially non NFT holders need to buy a token from NFT holders to be able to access all features and benefits.
This is not all, West 57th will create a Token Gated Payment Service (TGPS) which will be built atop the payment platform to allow NFT holders and Solana based projects to request a branded payment card. This service for partnered projects allows them the ability to
- Issue branded digital cards to their holders (Cards have the ability to have the art of projects choice)
- Receive rewards from merchants who will pay their holders when they shop at their locations.
- Projects may charge additional rates to holders for card setup, in turn creating a revenue stream
- B2B Partners receive a share of the revenue from transactions made at partnered merchants.
How will West57th make revenue?
- Card Issuance fees
- Crypto conversion fees – each top up costs a small fee
- Merchant fees – each reward provided will cost a fee
- Platform as a service fee (PaaS) – Billed once as a setup + monthly fees
At this early stage the platform works with Solana only and it’s accepted at any merchant where Mastercard is accepted.
New features in the roadmap are incorporating of on chain payments, use of QR codes, use of other cryptocurrencies and even a credit facility to borrow against your digital assets.
Check out the product overview here for further information
| Team Members | Role |
|---|
Kits – Co Founder
https://twitter.com/Kits_west57th
A born entrepreneur with a passion for emerging technologies. Kits has built several businesses from scratch in the loyalty and payment space.
He looks after the overall strategy, finance and legal.
Zolli – Co Founder
https://twitter.com/aDigitalFuture_
Brings 10+ years of experience cultivating, building and managing partnerships in the advertising, traditional finance and payments space.
He oversees creative, branding, product, technology teams and vendors.
One of my greatest interests in web3 is bringing blockchain technology into the real world.
I am a big believer that the everyday person under current circumstances finds it difficult to adopt blockchain tech as is stands.
West 57th have recognised the problem here and bought to market an incredible solution.
Being able to transfer Solana from your Phantom wallet without bouncing through an exchange is a huge step forward and reduces both fees and the duration from getting funds from point A to point B.
West 57th have created a much easier transition for a person to create a Solana wallet, interact with dApps and spend their Sol anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
For those of you concerned about giving up personal details in the KYC process. This is done via a third party prior to converting crypto to fiat. This data is not stored by the project but taken care of by the third party contracted to do so.
I see this as a major step forward. Users can now use their crypto for everyday items, merchants no longer have to adapt as Solana is exchanged via the dApp into local fiat.
The possibility of adopting more people to use crypto is greater as ease of use is greatly improved. The interface is user friendly and effortless to use. On top of all this West57th have a sustainable revenue source to continue to be profitable and advance further on their roadmap.
Each transaction will incur a fee, this may be small but as the project scales many small transactions will add up quickly to be a steady revenue stream. The team behind the scenes have years of irl experience and have the contacts to be able to scale. Clear goals have been presented to target the Solana market first before bridging to other chains and then moving to a free model which can be used via social logins. This has limitations of course and will have incentives to upgrade plans.
For those that are worried about security you may ask is my money safe. The answer is yes. Your money is not stored in a web3 company account. Funds are stored in a third party account and are fully insured.
The art is an acquired taste. I would not describe this as pfp art, in saying that the payments/utility of this project outshines any flaws here.
Should all things go to plan this is a project that will benefit all crypto users and long term create a smoother process to introduce normies to the irl application of blockchain technology.