Fintech Fanatics

## What Inspired Us

At NUS, we observed that many international and exchange students face a common problem during their first weeks on campus: they cannot use local payment systems such as PayNow or PayLah because they do not yet have a Singapore bank account.
As a result, they rely heavily on cash for daily expenses.

This reliance on cash is inconvenient, unsafe, difficult to track, and increasingly incompatible with a digital-first campus. We felt this gap most strongly because it affects students at a time when they are already adapting to a new country, academic system, and culture.
This motivated us to design a solution that prioritises inclusion, immediacy, and simplicity.

What We Built

We built a student digital wallet powered by the XRP Ledger (XRPL) that enables international students to make campus payments without needing a local bank account.

Key design decisions:

Instant onboarding: Students can start using the wallet immediately upon arrival.
Stable payments: Transactions use RLUSD, a USD-pegged stablecoin, eliminating exposure to price volatility.
Fast and low-cost transactions: XRPL supports near-instant settlement, ideal for frequent, small-value campus payments.
Campus-focused use case: The wallet is designed specifically for everyday payments such as food, printing, and student services.

At a high level, the wallet maintains user balances off-chain for fast user experience, while XRPL is used as the underlying settlement layer.

How We Built the Project

Architecture

Frontend: React (Vite) with TSX for rapid UI development
Authentication: Firebase Email/Password authentication
Backend logic: Node.js with Express
Blockchain layer: XRPL, using RLUSD for stable-value transactions

Payment Flow (Simplified)

User logs in and views wallet balance
User initiates a payment to a campus merchant
Balance updates instantly within the app
Merchant balances can later be settled on XRPL

This hybrid approach allows us to balance user experience and blockchain transparency.

What We Learned

Through this project, we learned that:

Real-world blockchain applications must prioritise UX, not just decentralisation
Stablecoins are critical for everyday payments where volatility is unacceptable
Onboarding friction is often a bigger barrier than transaction speed or cost
Blockchain infrastructure like XRPL works best when abstracted away from the end user

Conceptually, our goal was to minimise friction (F) in the payment experience: [ F = B + T + V ] where
(B) = banking barriers,
(T) = transaction delays,
(V) = value volatility.

Our solution reduces all three components.

Challenges We Faced

Balancing decentralisation with usability: A fully on-chain wallet increases complexity for users unfamiliar with crypto.
Time constraints: Building authentication, wallet logic, and XRPL integration within a hackathon timeframe required prioritisation.
Designing for non-crypto users: Most students should never need to understand wallets, keys, or ledgers.

Closing Reflection

This project showed us how blockchain can solve real, everyday problems when applied thoughtfully. By focusing on inclusion and user experience, we believe our campus wallet demonstrates a meaningful and scalable use case for XRPL beyond speculation, one grounded in real student needs.