Hello everyone.
Greetings to all our hi members, both old and new. We’re delighted to have you here, and we hope you’ve had a successful first half of the year, with your wallets and portfolios in good shape.
We write this edition of the Transparency Report with an air of excitement as we’ve just announced Animoca Brands’ strategic investment and partnership in hi.
Animoca Brands – the company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the metaverse – has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strategic partnership, whereby they will invest $30M to support the growth of the hi App and the hi Protocol. Check out the full announcement here
This marks a huge milestone in our growth and we are humbled by the confidence shown in our product and community. All this wouldn’t have been possible without the unwavering support of you, our loyal members, so THANK YOU first and foremost.
The past six months have been nothing short of eventful for us over here at hi. We shipped out the hi Debit Card (Virtual + Physical), launched a dedicated exchange exclusively for our members in Hong Kong, revamped our Membership Program and secured key authorisation with Italy’s and Lithuania’s regulatory bodies.
With MiCA legislation coming into force across Europe, coupled with the continuous enrichment of our product suite, we’re confident we’re in a unique position to capture the Web3 Neo-Banking market by delivering our much in-demand crypto & fiat services to valued members.
In May of this year, we celebrated our second anniversary. It’s hard to believe that it wasn’t just yesterday when we introduced our Telegram Bot to the world. Since then, our community has grown to over 3.5 million members, and we take immense pride in our groundbreaking App, Card, and Exchange.
Since the conception of our initial idea, we have achieved remarkable milestones over the past two years, including:
- 3.5 million registered users
- 1 million+ KYC-ed users
- Over 20,000 cards activated
On the horizon is a whole range of exciting announcements:
- Pre-Order the world’s first NFT Card
- Enable members to own multiple physical and virtual Cards
- Introduce Buy-Now-Convert-Later functionality for the Card
- Launch the New Spend to Earn Model
- Roll Out Unstoppable Domains Premium Domain Sales via hi App
- hi Card launches for Switzerland and additional European markets.
Without further ado, let’s dive right into the latest edition of the hi Transparency Report. Here’s what you can expect;
- Strategy
- Product Roadmap
- Regulation & Licences
- Community & Marketing
1. Strategy
We present this transparency report as a mid-year update.
Since the last time we wrote this report back in November, there have been significant developments in the world of digital currencies.
We are currently witnessing a remarkable transformation as nations and organisations recognize the potential of digital assets. While the US is grappling with regulatory challenges, other regions are making significant strides towards regulatory clarity:
- Hong Kong has introduced a regulatory regime for retail trading.
- In Europe, the EU has introduced a new MiCA framework.
- Both the UAE and the UK are actively promoting themselves as “Crypto Hubs.”
- A16z has established a new office in London.
Our primary focus will be on continuous product development, with a significant focus for advancing two key areas – the hi App and the hi Protocol. We are committed to investing in building and enhancing our offerings to deliver exceptional value to our users. The remainder of the funds will be strategically deployed to drive innovation and help hi expand into markets beyond Europe, including LATAM, Asia, and the US.
Our goal with the hi App is to build the ultimate financial services super app that bridges crypto and fiat, providing users with an all-in-one solution to save, trade and spend.
The hi Protocol, with our beta testnet already undergoing internal testing, looks to solve the unique human problem with Zero Knowledge Set Membership technology and a novel, three-tiered account system that opens up a wide range of possibilities for human-only networks and decentralized applications. Think of this as enabling Google Login for Web3 and starting with 1 million KYC’ed members.
As the world economy continues to bounce back from the aftermath of Covid, the economy has proven its resilience. Similarly, hi has stood strong amidst the onslaught of CEX implosions and continues to keep our head down and BUIDL.
In March of this year, in order to be able to sustain amongst challenging market conditions, we released a new Litepaper to our community, proposing a new Spend to Earn model.
2. Product Roadmap
Since first embarking on our journey to deliver the world’s most user-friendly Crypto-Fiat App, we’ve made significant strides towards achieving our mission in the competitive crypto space. We’ve stayed true to our vision to maximise the value and utility of digital assets for members of our community and continue to attract members with the same ethos.
Over past six months, we’ve shipped out all the below new features and functionalities:
- Virtual Debit Card
- Physical Debit Card
- Buy HI directly with Fiat
- Download Account Statements (CSV, PDF)
- Convert Crypto Dust to HI
- Address Book
- Travel Benefits with hi
- HKX for Hong Kong members
- Membership Program Revamp
On top of the roll-out of all these new functions, we’ve added to the robustness and strength of our Card product.In February of this year, we encountered a significant setback when fraudsters attempted to exploit our platform. A rapid response program was initiated and we have recovered the majority of stolen funds through the engagement of law enforcement agencies from multiple countries. Following the attempted fraud, we have gained valuable insights and remain laser-focused on future growth.- Enhanced our Traditional Technology-Based Security Defense which provides protection against xxs attacks, DDoS, data desensitization, traffic hijacking..
- Bolstered Business Class Attack Defense: improved strategies for charging and withdrawing coins (including but not limited to MPC, segregation of hot and cold wallets, third-party fund escrow, etc.), fatigue trading, overheating meltdown mechanism..
For the rest of this year, our priorities will be to further enrich the capabilities of our Card product. We started shipping out Physical Cards in June, and will ramp up production to be able to meet the high demand.
In the immediate pipeline, we’re adding more new supported spendable tokens, introducing a Loan feature allowing you to use your Crypto as collateral, and enabling members to pre-order the world’s first NFT Card.
HI TESTERS
We’re rallying support from selected members from our community to test our key features before they launch, and provide feedback and areas for improvement.Our hi Testers program is your gateway to beta access for upcoming products! We value our community’s feedback and strive to deliver exceptional experiences.
By whitelisting a select few users, we offer you the unique opportunity to be among the first to try our latest innovations. Your valuable insights will play a crucial role in shaping the final product, ensuring that it meets your needs and exceeds your expectations.
Together, we’ll fine-tune features to create products that our community will love.
We will be releasing info about this program in the coming weeks, so you can join us on this exciting journey and be a part of shaping the future of cutting-edge technology.
3. Regulation & Licensing
Europe
Much like GDPR has done for data privacy, the EU has announced a pioneering crypto regulation, MiCA, that wants to set the industry standard across the globe. It also offers passporting amongst member states, enabling easy access to the largest single market in the world.
hi has successfully registered as a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) in Lithuania, granting us the licence to provide our services to members throughout Europe. On top of this, hi has completed its registration with Italy’s payments services regulator, the Organismo Agenti E Mediatori (OAM), with several additional licensing and registry applications currently in progress..
Hong Kong
As a global financial hub, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has demonstrated positive engagement with the industry, showing commitment to continuously evolving policy to ensure retail investors have better access to crypto investments. The new licensing regime enables retail trading of cryptocurrencies and introduces transitional arrangements for virtual asset trading platforms.
As such, hi has officially launched an independent trading platform for its membership base in Hong Kong, prioritising asset segregation and safety of customer assets. By undertaking these pre-registration activities in line with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)’s requirements, we took a key step in our application to register as a licensed provider with the SFC.
4. Community & Marketing
Our community was founded on the principles of co-creation of value, and the revamp of our latest membership program moves us towards our goal. To incentivise member behaviours that drive growth of HI, we introduced a new points system which determined the level of rewards and benefits a member receives.
Status Points are granted for various actions a member undertakes to help grow the ecosystem, and is not exclusively tied to HI purchases or staking.
We feel that this model is the best way to incentivize the growth of our community.
What’s more, we’re introducing new ways for members to earn Status Points via one-off marketing campaigns and initiatives. Most recently, we have been testing with a select group of individuals, giving away membership status points to those who get their friends to activate the Card
Here’s an overview of the latest marketing campaigns we’ve run:
Initiatives / Campaigns
- Cashback on Cashback
- Trading Referral Rewards
- 2-Year Birthday Campaign
- Converting dormant users into active ones
- Converting referrals to card holders
Whitepaper
We know you’ve been asking for an updated version of the whitepaper, and we hear you! Stay tuned!
Merch
Got your hands on the inaugural collection of hi Merchandise yet? This month we launched shop.hi.com – the destination for our loyal community to shop hi-branded apparel.
Partnerships
We’re stoked to have partnered with industry leaders in the space – Animoca Brands. In case you haven’t read it yet, check out the full announcement here. The partnership will not only expand the hi ecosystem but also together, we’re moving forward with the development of the hi Protocol.
What’s more – the partnership will enable users to directly spend and be rewarded with certain tokens used in the Animoca Brands ecosystem, including SAND, EDU, APE, REVV, GMEE, and others.
We continue to forge strategic partnerships with other industry-leading players as a sure fire way to expand our community and drive our ecosystem forward.
Other Updates
- Head of Marketing announcement
- We’re verified on Twitter
- hi is proud to be a part of @web3harbour – a membership network of stakeholders from across industry sectors in Hong Kong who are committed long-term to the sustainable and equitable development of a decentralised internet and virtual asset economy.
Conclusion
All this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our community, so THANK YOU. Thank you for your patience, understanding and support as we continue to build.