Inspiration
We are a group of 4 university students that are passionate about disrupting the finance industry using new age technology like the blockchain. We understand that many banks are still stuck in their legacy systems and we are driven to make a change in this aspect. We look to reduce infrastructure costs, consumer transaction costs, and improve the overall consistency of finance systems across the globe.
What it does
Our solution revolutionises traditional overseas transfer with the new blockchain technology that is fast, cheap and reliable. We aim to make it easy for banks to integrate our solution such that we can form a large, decentralised network of Xyfer adopters to improve global interconnectivity and bring upon greater productivity for consumers and banks alike.
How we built it
We conceptualised the solution from top down, and we leveraged the power of blockchain and smart contracts to achieve our idea. We put ourselves in the shoes of a consumer and designed our user interface to be as simple and minimalistic as possible, whilst minimising the touch points required to perform an overseas transfer, yet contributing to a greater level of security and speed. We also understood the importance of having an easy to integrate solution so that our API has a low barrier of entry for banks to adopt.
Challenges we ran into
Being exposed to new languages and technology such as solidity and node.js, we had to pick up these tools from scratch and really understand what we were trying to do. There were also many regulatory concerns when it came to cryptocurrencies and traditional finance that we were unaware of and had to google our way to clarify our assumptions. For example, the issue of the legalisation of cryptocurrencies in various countries was an issue we had to consider.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Thus far, we have created a simple web application that showcases a simple demonstration of how a typical user experience would be like if a bank were to integrate our API. It looks clean and sleek, with minimal touch points for users to get their funds across from one end of the globe to another. The logic behind the transfer has also already been implemented, with our web application boasting a competent and robust overseas transfer simulation of Xyfer. It looks good with no clutter, and works as expected. It is easy and intuitive to use as a consumer and we are happy with our achievements thus far.
What we learned
We learned that the finance industry is riddled with many complicated regulations that were hard to work around and we know that there may currently still be certain bottlenecks that we have to overcome. Beyond that, we learned how to harness the power of the blockchain to efficiently meet the needs of the masses and construct a technology that may potentially be a large player in the finance industry. On top of that, we have gained experience on designing a simple yet intricately designed website that serves a simple yet vital function of the economy, overseas transfer.
What's next for Xyfer
Hammering down the technical aspects of our solution, further enhancing and simplifying our API for better scalability and adoption, as well as ensuring that it is a feasible solution to integrate in modern day banks.
We are also looking to enhance security using biometric keys such as facial recognition and fingerprints. This is still a work in progress, but it would be one of our areas of interest after fully developing a functional API.
The following links can be viewed for more information:
Ideation report: link
Slides: link
Wireframes: link
Source Code: link
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