Is Pundi X a Great Cryptocurrency Opportunity?

Pundi X (NPXS) can achieve something extraordinary for a blockchain payment provider. Real people may use its products in the real world.

Pundi X and Manticora Capital plan to set up 1,000 Pundi XPOS POS (Point of Sale) payment terminals across Colombia, Pundi’s Medium announced. The terminals will be placed in stores, hotels, and other businesses. That means average people and not geeks will use the devices.

“By rolling out the device to hundreds of retail outlets each month we’re hoping to play a role in progressively furthering the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Colombia,” Manticora CEO Ivan Correa said.

A Payment Terminal for Cryptocurrency and Digital Wallets

The Pundi XPOS is a payment terminal that accepts both commercial digital wallets and cryptocurrency payments.

XPOS can work with Quick Read (QR) code payment apps such as Alipay, Walmart Pay, Chase Pay, WeChat Pay, and Google Taz. QR code devices display a code on a screen that a phone’s camera reads to start a transaction.

QR Code offers more security than Near Field Communications (NFC) solutions like Google Pay and Apple Pay. NFC wallets contact a register or an ATM via a direct wireless connection. American retailers such as Walmart (NYSE: WMT) may refuse NFC payments.

There is no evidence any major digital wallet is working with Pundi XPOS. Alipay acceptance by Pundi is unlikely, because Alipay’s owner Ant Financial is based in China. The People’s Bank of China discourages cryptocurrency transactions, and would come down on Ant hard if it accepted altcoins.

Nor is there any evidence that wallets like Google Taz, JPMorgan Chase’s (NYSE: JPM) Chase Pay, and WeChat Pay will work with XPOS.

The Pundi XPOS might be a disruptive technology

The Pundi XPOS can be a disruptive technology despite its limitations. XPOS would be disruptive by making cryptocurrency an effective payment alternative for average people.

The Pundi team designed XPOS to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Qtum (QTUM), NEM (XEM), and other cryptocurrencies. Presumably, XPOS would accept ERC20 token payments because those altcoins are Ethereum-based.

XPOS gives average people the choice of paying in cryptocurrency or real money. Ideally, consumers would view Bitcoin or Ether as just another payment method.

Can Pundi X make money from Cryptocurrency in Colombia?

Pundi X is smart to test the XPOS in Colombia because of that nation’s history and lack of banking services.

Historically, South American nations have suffered from high inflation, weak currencies, and unstable governments. Most citizens have little or no faith in the nation’s economy under those circumstances.

Many Colombians have long preferred the US dollar to their currency the Peso. It is easy to see why a Colombian Peso was worth 0.00033 USD on 19 August 2018.

Hyperinflation in Colombia’s neighbor, Venezuela destroys whatever faith Colombians have in their currency. The International Monetary Fund predicts Venezuela’s inflation rate will hit one million percent this year, Reuters reported.

Pundi X can access Growing Financial Markets

Predictably, Colombia’s capitol Bogota is one of the world’s top ten Bitcoin cities, Forbes reported. Cryptocurrency interest is high because of the difficulty upper middle-class Colombians have accessing financial markets. Global financial markets are hard to access because of the Peso’s low value.

“Difficult conditions in local banking and investment have combined to make Colombia a hugely dynamic market for cryptocurrency usage,” Correa observed. The Colombian financial system is growing fast despite those difficulties. Nearly one million Colombians entered the financial system in 2016, Financecolombia estimated.

Therefore, Colombia is a great test market for a product like the XPOS. An obvious advantage is millions of users who distrust cryptocurrency and are unattached to traditional financial products like credit cards.

Pundi X can use Colombia to test its technologies to see how they work in the real world. Manticora Capital, a cryptocurrency investment fund gives Pundi a local partner.

Pundi X has a Real Product

Pundi X has one product currently under production – the XPOS. The XPOS combines a cryptocurrency wallet, a QR code reader, and a traditional card reader.

The XPOS has some serious limitations. For example it will not accept MasterCard or Visa payments. Since MasterCard and Visa are the world’s most popular card brands that’s a problem.

An XPOS can receive NFC signals and connect to WiFi, but it will not support Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or presumably Google Pay. Intriguingly, the XPOS will offer access to an advertising platform, app distribution, and a cryptocurrency exchange.

Pundi X has two more elaborate devices under development. The XPOS Handy and the XPOS Desk would accept MasterCard and Visa Payment and support Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Unfortunately, those solutions are still on the drawing board.

Can Pundi X Create the World’s Most Valuable Ethereum Blockchain Platform

Pundi X has ambitious plans despite the limitations. The company wants to deploy 100,000 XPOS devices in 12 countries.

That would create a vast platform with the potential to reach tens of millions of customers in the real world. Pundi X intends to cash in on that by creating a DApp Store. A decentralized application (DApp) is a software solution designed to operate through blockchain.

The Pundi X DApps will operate on XPOS devices and in the Ethereum blockchain. Pundi X can make money by selling banking, insurance, entertainment, and solutions to the public through XPOS.

Potentially lucrative uses for Pundi DApps include food ordering, check out, rewards points, and cryptocurrency sales. A proposed use for XPOS and the DApps is using cryptocurrency to top up phones and others devices.

A Pundi X rewards program for XPOS users is mentioned at the Pundi X website. The program will reward XPOS users with NPXS ERC20 tokens.

Pundi X started shipping XPOS devices to customers in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea on 1 August 2018. There is no evidence devices have been shipped to Colombia yet.

Is Pundi X a Good Cryptocurrency?

Pundi X has a great business plan that is theoretically very lucrative. But is Pundi X (NPXS) a good cryptocurrency?

The market realistically priced NPXS at 0.001544¢ on 22 August 2018. That gave it a respectable Market Capitalization of $150.060 million and a decent 24-Hour Market Volume of $2.819 million on the same day. Pundi X achieved those numbers on a Circulating Supply of $97.188 billion NPXS and a Total Supply of $280.755 NPXS.

Those numbers prove Pundi is aiming at a mass market. Refreshingly, the company plans to make money by selling products and services rather than cryptocurrency.

The NPXS is an ERC20 (Ethereum-based) token so they can easily convert it into many other altcoins. Pundi X is not taking part in Bancor’s (BNT) liquidity network which might limit its convertibility. Bancor allows for easy convertibility of altcoins and ensures liquidity by backing cryptocurrencies with other cryptocurrencies.

Can Pundi X Bring Cryptocurrency to the Masses?

Watch Pundi X closely, because it might bring cryptocurrency to the masses. By concentrating on markets like Colombia, Pundi X might bring cryptocurrency into the real world.

The NPXS is better than average cryptocurrency because of Pundi X’s willingness to build physical solutions and enter unserved markets. Widespread cryptocurrency use in South America might make NPXS a valuable cryptocurrency.

Investors should stay away from NPXS until Pundi X shows it can tap a mass-consumer market. Pundi X can enter the cryptocurrency big leagues and achieve a high Coin Price with such a market. Without that market, Pundi X is nothing but an interesting business plan.