Enter Web3 easily, just like Sandbox Group, a millennium learning company, did it – with XDB Chain.
In an exclusive AMA session with LetsExchange and XDB Chain on Twitter spaces, the XDB Chain CEO and founder Daniele Mensi shared some insights on the XDB ecosystem and its plans.
XDB Chain, a user-friendly blockchain platform designed to facilitate crypto adoption by brands and customers, was represented by Daniele Mensi, XDB Chain CEO and founder.
LetsExchange, a go-to crypto exchange hub supporting over 5,000 coins and tokens, was represented by the head of BD Nadine. And yes, the XDB token can now be bought on LetsExchange with any other asset supported by the platform.
Below are the key takeaways from the conversation.
John from LetsExchange: What can you say for users who don't know about XDB Chain but have heard about Stellar? How is it different, and what are the key features compared to Stellar or any other chain?
Daniele Mensi, XDB Chain CEO: From a business perspective, for those familiar with Stellar, Stellar is moving toward becoming the blockchain of choice to issue stablecoin. It's a payment rail system with all the benefits that Stellar and the scalability of the infrastructure can provide. This is different from what XDB Chain is doing.
XDB Chain is very focused on empowering brands and consumers of tomorrow to enter the Web3, in the blockchain and cryptocurrency, with trust and confidence. It's very complicated to assume that every brand worldwide can easily use blockchain and crypto. This technology still has a lot of friction.
XDB Chain is a platform that provides all the on-ramp features to enable brands to join the blockchain and the Web3 space with confidence and trust. It's very simple to say; it's more challenging to do, but that's the vision and the business benefit.
Stellar has its own validator node. XDB Chain has its own validators node. XDB Chain has its own watcher nodes, which are nodes that are connected to the network, which real-time listen and watch what's going on in the network and eventually highlight some issues.
For example, if the Stellar network is congested, there's no impact at all on the XDB Chain because it runs on its own infrastructure. Validator nodes are different, watcher nodes are different. Everyone can join the XDB Chain network without doing the same with Stellar.
So from an infrastructure standpoint, they're a wholly separated network. From a functional perspective, there are common features at the core protocol level and the set of applications that run on top of the chain are different. For example, wallets, aggregators, and decentralized exchanges that are completely separated.
John from LetsExchange: You mentioned branded tokens or BCOs and I found out that SBX is one of the latest, as far as I understand. Daniel, can you talk a bit more about it? How can users benefit from this? So, as far as I know, it has some educational purposes.
Daniele Mensi: SBX is the official cryptocurrency of the Sandbox Group, a conglomerate that operates 14-15 brands globally with an outreach of 65 million users. The daily users are approximately a couple of million.
So, a substantial group agreed to integrate the XDB chain. And now they are in the finishing line.
After that, the teams will work to the rollout phase, enabling the customers and touchpoints, including marketing, communications, awareness, disclosure, etc. So, the SBX token is a branded token minted exclusively on a multi-year basis. It's four years plus on the XDB chain.
It means this token will exclusively run on the XDB chain platform for four years, and it will be progressively integrated across all the Sandbox Group brands, including huge brands like PlayKids Plus, the number one education platform in the US and Europe.
The goal of the token is to be integrated across the product ecosystem, to provide exclusive benefits and loyalty to people, consumers, and users, and to motivate them to use a Sandbox product in connection with this token.
John from LetsExchange: So, coming back to Daniel, the CBPay token is an official token of CoinBarPay. What is the utility of this token? Can you talk more about that?
Daniele Mensi: Right now, a couple of actors are in the space. One is Ubit, and the other one is BitPay, which has chosen its own avenues for growth.
BitPay is a Bitcoin almost infrastructure. Bitcoin is not very well designed to be an efficient payment tool because of the cost, the unpredictability of the confirmation time, and so on. And Ubit has chosen to partner with the credit card platforms.
So, as with your Visa card, you can have the same payment experience at a point of sale, even if you have a cryptocurrency wallet in the back. So it makes the transaction seamless.
CoinBarPay is very different, and it's not better or worse.
I think it's different philosophically and conceptually, as CoinBarPay requires deeper integration with merchants and the consumers who pay with crypto. Because they have to be aware that if they pay with crypto, they get more.
This means you have to enable a system that provides higher incentives to drive this more profound interaction with the merchants and the products the merchant offers. The CBPay is designed to be an incentive system for everyone using the platform.
CBPay enables merchants, consumers, and ambassadors who promote this platform to use a tool that has higher and more valuable interactions. If you pay with CBPay, you get more than if you don't pay with CBPay.
John from LetsExchange: What benefits can businesses, organizations, and individuals get from the concept of branded coins? Can you talk a bit about your vision and how it will develop for XDB and the X system?
Daniele Mensi: First of all, for every branded token presentation, when a project is pitched to a brand or the brand is willing to pitch this within their internal stakeholders, it starts from, we call it the big four.
The big four are the why, the what, the how, and the when.
The “why”. Always starts with “why I, as a brand, should start a project involving cryptocurrency and blockchain”, which in my humble perception, introduces more risks than benefits. Why should I do it?
I can only win, or I can only lose, or I need to kind of balance the wins and the losses. So, there should not be any type of overreaction.
Every brand feels the urgency to enter the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, but they must know whether today is the right time or if they must wait.
Now, it's not about “when” is the right timing. There's no right timing. It's about why you feel this is a need. By the entrance of BlackRock in the space, there's no doubt that the time is now.
Then, the “what” is. What can you, as a brand, do to enter the space because you have already decided that that is the time to join in the space? And with whom you want to enter, you want to enter with, you know, whom to partner with, which company, which blockchain.
If you're trying to do some research or ask for advice from consultants and so on, you should not overthink. If you're a brand, you want to join a platform that embodies the values that you as a brand have: integrity, trust, loyalty, the user experience, and so forth.
You want to have a platform. We provide this platform. We provide this platform because we listen to brands' values and concerns and try to address them as much as possible, from technical issues to governance, compliance, etc.
So that's the what.
Essentially, you have a platform that addresses all the needs that brands have to enter. You can argue, are you the biggest blockchain? We are not the biggest blockchain.
It depends on which KPIs you take into consideration. But we genuinely understand the needs and concerns of a brand, and we're addressing them and getting better off in the future than today. But at least we speak the same language.
And the number three is how we do it. The best way to do it is not to make a PowerPoint presentation but to show what other brands are doing. And that's what we're doing.
John from LetsExchange: Lastly, I want to make a final comment. I like what you guys are doing because you're trying to do something different. Typically, the exchange space is very crowded from marketing, attention, and every perspective.
You guys are trying to bring a new platform. I encourage you to join future events and activities because you're getting something new to the space. We align on the vision of working together to make this happen! Thank you very much for inviting us and our community. Thank you for being here, Daniel. These are just the main highlights of the AMA session. To learn more about XDB Chain, listen to the full AMA.