Xcapit: A smart crypto wallet for social impact and financial literacy and inclusion
The UNICEF Venture Fund is proud to see portfolio member Xcapit graduate. They’ve come a long way –piloting a crypto-based solution for savings, wealth management, and charitable donations, growing their network and business considerably and being certified as a Digital Public Good.
1.7 billion people around the world do not have access to financial services; in Latin America, where inflation is high and financial education is low, 65% of its people lack this access to formal financial services.
Xcapit believes that personal finance should serve and contribute to the general welfare and not the other way round. Our goal is to create a lasting social and economic impact, focusing on education as one of the main contributing factors to reduce the barriers to financial freedom.
Xcapit developed a web3 wallet, blockchain-based, self-custodial and open source that allows wealth management, along with financial planning and low- and middle-risk investment products. In the past year, Xcapit wallet has gained 50k+ users across more than 85 countries, reaching over 500k beneficiaries
Within the same app, the user can donate cryptocurrencies to contribute to global and local causes to reduce intergenerational inequalities in a transparent and traceable way. In this way we reach to the emerging group of small philanthropists who want to be part of the change and to have bigger involvement in the causes they donate to.
Regarding financial education, Xcapit has developed a gamified experience for everyone to start the path of learning about personal finances and blockchain, betting on long-term culture change and awareness for healthier finances.
Open Source
The Xcapit Wallet, a digital public good certified by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, is also ISO 27001 certified, which means that the solution uses an Information Security Management System in compliance with the requirements of the IRAM standard.
Xcapit is Open Source and multichain, already integrated to four blockchains: Ethereum, Polygon, RSK and BNB Chain.
The wallet allows users not only to learn, but to invest in middle and low-risk products in less than three clicks and with lower fees than 10 cents on the dollar. Daniela said to our team that if her single mother had had this tool when she was growing up, it could have changed things, being able to plan and save up for her studies. Rosario, another user, after learning the basics on how to prepare a budget, was eager to use the knowledge when preparing the budgets at the university student association she was part of. Joaquin commented that for the first time, he invested his savings in a strong currency like US dollars, even before he had a bank account.
Xcapit appreciated the benefits of open collaboration, mainly around stability, transparency and auditability of the code. Building as Open Source cultivated trust in users and in those who want to build on what they’ve developed.
The cryptocurrency industry evolves as users' needs and preferences evolve, and the team quickly learned the importance of user-centric design, testing, and launching.
Swap feature was created to exchange cryptocurrencies within the same blockchain. This great tool allows you to optimize fee costs on decentralized exchanges and select those that are cheaper in real-time. This means that tokens are dynamically swapped to find the best exchange rate across different exchanges.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Xcapit has an alliance with the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional Facultad Regional Villa María, with whom is building a blockchain lab and conducting joint R&D activities for the last years. From México, has partnered with the Universidad de Morelos, in which Xcapit contributes teaching about blockchain technology and other educational programs.
Other alliances with Argentinian National Universities and with the social program for financial inclusion, FIVI (Finance for Everyday Life) allowed during 2022 in-presence training for young people in rural areas with limited connectivity from Lamadrid, Tucumán, Argentina.
Xcapit linked with Pulenta, a charitable organization which encourages solidarity aid for the development of vulnerable groups, turning donations into food and necessary items for soup kitchens and neighborhood institutions.
Xcapit is part of Santander X 100, a global community of startups and scaleups highlighted by Santander X, received mentorship and training, capital raising, clients, talents and other sources of value. This was after Xcapit won in the scale up category in the Santander X Global Challenge | Blockchain and Beyond program, where the most innovative startups and scaleups using blockchain technology are awarded.
Business Model
During the last year, Xcapit changed from flat fee to a model with no entry barrier, obtaining revenue sharing from our partners. This is important considering the fact that almost 60% of adults in the Latin American region are unbanked, according to the World Bank.
This shift to a self-custodial and decentralized wallet enabled a frictionless and automated monetization model, embedded in Xcapit’s products and services.
The acquisition model also changed, from one that used traditional strategies to one that prioritized community building.
UNICEF Venture Fund
UNICEF’s support helped Xcapit build value, with a premium put on discovery, iteration, survey, and experimentation with the end user. The guidance at the right time is priceless. It prevented us from facing a major problem in the future when our blockchain unicef mentor guided us when we were deciding the technology to create our wallet.
Changing our mindset to become a fully open source company was also challenging. We had the best guidance we could ask, and we successfully overcame the difficulties and doubts, understanding the benefits of open collaboration. The reward came just before graduating, when we were accepted as digital public good by the dpg alliance after unicef's mentorship.
The Way Forward
"Looking ahead to next year, we plan to continue increasing the solutions we offer, not only in geographical terms, but also to accompany the value proposition that complements the current products and services," says José Trajtenberg, CEO and co-founder of Xcapit.
"I think we will have the greatest impact in the Latin American region because it addresses the main problems that the region faces. Problems of lack of trust in national governments and national currencies, coupled with the lack of access to financial products and services, mean that a solution such as Xcapit's will not only provide access to healthy finances, but also project the evolution and progress of society," says CEO and co-founder José Trajtenberg.
Xcapit’s focus is on improving the well-being of people through healthier finances, focusing on increasing crypto use on a daily basis.
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