Dear Babbians,
Before we start answering all the questions in a Q&A format, I would like to set the stage, so there will be no misunderstandings and no confusion about our strategy and our vision.
BABB is actively hiring new personnel, formalising a new organisation diagram and in the meantime is working with vendors, regulators and is building new technologies that will allow people to experience and use everyday tools to better their lives.
Our new app will be released in stages and will give functionalities, such as raising funds for good causes, enabling crypto and fiat transfers, exchanging assets and finally resemble all the operations of a banking institution with blockchain transparency.
Finally, I personally want to thank you from my heart and to let you know once again that BABB only exists because of its community, its people and the vision to bank the unbanked and make the world a better place.
Kind regards,
Rushd Averroës
Q1. Are there any news or insights available regarding the CBDC part of BABB, and if so in which way?; integrating with existing CBDCs or issuing its own CBDC?
We aim to start the pilot in 12 months from May 2019 after a lot of discussions, but we cannot disclose more information at this point in time.
Q2. What happened to the Cayman Islands banking licence? Updates?
- Lithuania
- Bahrain
- UK
To state briefly:
- The Cayman Islands banking license has been withdrawn.
- The Lithuania banking license is currently in process.
- The Bahrain partnership remains intact (sandbox).
- The UK banking license is only been considered for research purposes at this point of time.
Q3. Has BABB obtained a partnership with a Bank yet?
Yes, there are partnerships in place.
Q4. Does BABB have any new partnerships which it can’t disclose at this point or not? If yes, when will we hear more about it?
Yes, there are many new partnerships in place that will be shared on a monthly basis.
Q5. Will BABB be partnering with other Social Media/Telecom companies in the next 6–12 months?
Yes.
Q6. Will we get more committed-to-date?
Yes, we will be sharing regular news and updates.
Q7. What is the new direction it is taking?
In short:
- Restructuring.
- Updating our product and business roadmaps.
- Releasing our new technology.
Q8. When is the app release exact date?
The app release date will be announced during the AMA on the 25th of June 2019.
Q9. Are there any plans to list BABB on more exchanges before or after the app launch & will I be able to transfer BAX from exchanges into the app when Live?
Yes, we plan to list BAX on more exchanges after the app launch. And of course users will be able to transfer BAX into the app when Live.
Q10. Lithuania hiring?
Not at this stage.
Q11. Why have you decided to develop a second app ? What happened to the first one?
The 1st app development is now ready (in components), and the 2nd deployment has to do with releasing all the components and features following in line with the company strategy.
Q12. Will the pivoted app use or be dependent on a banking license?
The app will be rolled out in phases, ensuring that all the operations follow all regulatory and compliance requirements.
Q13. Where do we stand in funding, how long RA can survive with the 2nd Token sale?
Funding is not necessary at this point in time.
The 2nd Token sale has not been discussed yet.
Q14. Ideas about Custos partnership impact on Babb’s Marketing, Strategic and Financial guidance?
- Does BABB have access to the money promised by Custos (is it in the BABB bank account?), and can you currently use it for App Development, Operations and Marketing?
Custos has been a very valuable partner in terms of marketing, strategic and financial guidance and also the funding is been released in stages.
Q15. As cross border remittances were a tenet in the original plan, will this $500 billion + annual market remain a primary focus and if so, is it possible to divulge a portion of your marketing strategy concerning this aspect?
Making cross border fund transfers more efficient has always been part of our strategic goal, and the activities in this area will go beyond marketing.
Q16. Will I be able to transfer BAX from exchanges into the app when Live?
Yes.
Q17. Will BABB target peer to peer lending?
Yes but not in the first phase.
Q18. What is the single biggest challenge you are facing and what are your plans to overcome it?
Hiring the right people and shifting to a more regulated company structure.
Q19. “Somebody mentioned something on Reddit that has me thinking…Given the weight of all the old employees who have enormous BAX bags, is there anything stopping Rushd from just selling the biometric banking tech to other companies instead of doing the app?”
Those are coffee shop talks! We choose not to engage in such discussions.
Q20. Is it still the goal to bank the unbanked, or does the new plan deviate significantly from the original whitepaper? Is Custos helping develop the app?
The plan has not changed, but the roadmap is now modified to include releases of our technology in stages, and Custos is part of the discussions.
Q21. What about the Blackcard, is it yay or nay? Is partnering with Mastercard still on the table?
Yay but after we launch the FIAT milestone.
Q22. How much have the shares been diluted and why weren’t current shareholders notified about this?
Any new issues are filed and verifiable at the Companies House; so far there has been no actual new issues since the last crowdfunding.
Q23. When will we start seeing results?
I think we are now seeing positive results with the new hiring process that started with the new COO. There will be more updates soon.
Q24: How do you plan to scale the application?
We start with hiring the right people for the job and developing the app modularly.
Q25: What features will be the most attractive to users?
In short:
- Phase 1: the ability to raise funds and liquidate using BAX, BTC and ETH.
- Phase 2: the ability to transact, spend and exchange crypto, fiat and P2P remittances (limited to certain jurisdictions).
- Phase 3: a bank account capability with the trading ability to make money.
Q26. What is BAX role in the ecosystem?
Firstly, paying fees and a medium of exchange. There are almost 180 different fiat currencies in the world, and approximately only 20 currencies can be exchanged directly. BAX will be the match-making tool in order to overcome the most challenging aspect of currency exchange in the emerging markets.
Q27. Any plans about partnerships to accelerate the release?
Yes, we are working on this.
Q28. Any new big exchange listing in the near future and which one will it be?
Yes, but we cannot disclose before a deal is finalised with an exchange.
Q29. Where do you see BABB in short and long term from now?
For the short term a payment and fundraising platform and for the long term, a global banking system that can support financial inclusion.
Q30. Which people will you target at first? (Europe, American, Africa, Asia)
Europe and Asia.
Q31. Will you need more funds?
More funds will be necessary but in stages, to address our growth when needed.
Q32. How is BABB addressing FIAT on-ramp?
Through partnerships, licenses and regulatory standards.
Q33. Who is currently developing the app?
In-house and remote teams, led by our new CTO.
Q34. Is there still development work ongoing on BAX Token?
Not at this current point, only research.
Q35. Will BABB sell more equity?
BABB equity will only be sold if the company decides to raise funds aggressively to address market growth.
Q36. Can BABB focus some attention on making the Reddit page bigger and more active?
Yes, the new Marketing Team will be responsible for Reddit and all other social media channels.
Q37. “Question for the COO: How is BABB planning on reaching its target market when the app is ready for launch?”
Through the Company’s Strategy that includes but not limited to marketing channels and product releases.
Q38. Can you increase the number of BAX available by doing a “hard fork” without there being any changes to BAX itself? i.e. like a “split”?
No.
Q39. Why is it now a good idea not to burn BAX tokens down to ten billion when in the original white paper it was the plan?
- Will this not have an impact on the price of BAX and penalise early converts to the Babb dream.
Burning is not necessary to increase the price of BAX. The price of BAX depends on demand and supply. If there is no BAX demand then the options to burn tokens will only act as a temporary mechanism to increase price value.
Q40. How is BABB going to execute its plan now? With less operating capital and fewer team members than in May 2018, how is BABB now going to execute its plan given these changes?
The plan will be executed by a dedicated team, monitored by specialised software having milestones and releases in place. The new team is in place to start execution.
Q41. Can BABB give us a breakdown of number of BAX hodlers & share holders by country?
The minority of shareholders are represented as nominee accounts, and we do not keep records of that. For additional information please visit the Companies House website.
As for the breakdown of BAX holders, what we can provide is the breakdown of participants in our token sale which can be found on:
Q42. What fundamental changes has Rushd put in place this time to ensure that he actually sticks to roadmaps and delivers something? And helps keep the team banded together?
BABB has now an advisory board that is providing guidance to the CEO in all required areas.
Q43. Will there be annual shareholder reports?
Yes in due course.
Q44. Can we get a write up of the proposed new token economics?
Yes in due course.
Q45. Is there a patent for the biometric banking tech?
Yes.
Q46. Will people be able to buy BAX tokens on the BABB app as it’s already hard to get into crypto as it is?
Yes.
Q47. Will there be a chat messaging on the BABB app?
Yes, but not in the first phase.
Stay in touch
To make sure you don’t miss any updates, please subscribe to our Medium and YouTube channels, follow us on Twitter and join the BABB Community Telegram channel.
