Humaniq launches its Blockchain-powered financial inclusion app while starting its first global meetup in
London at the Rise London, a cutting edge Fintech accelerator powered by Barclays.
This announcement comes two months after Humaniq's social impact ICO. The product app, launching at the end of July, will give the world's 2bn+ unbanked people the chance to start making payments with low fees, using simple biometric tech and a simple-to-use UI crypto wallet.
The Humaniq 'LITE' version of the app comes out on Android on the
31st of July and will be the focus of a pilot program getting underway in
Ghana,
West Africa. It will be the first time HMQ tokens, the Humaniq coin, will become available to people downloading the app who register using its IP biometric identification.
The current application was developed specifically for Humaniq's target market: the 2.5bn unbanked people in emerging markets. The application interface has minimal text, access is through biometrics and a visual language. All non-critical settings have been removed.
A 'PRO' version of the Humaniq app will be launched later in the year, will be available in iOS and Android, and will have a full range of features for a wider audience.
Humaniq App Main Features
- The Humaniq LITE application is based on four main sections:
- Biometric identification
- Chat system
- Contacts (Referral) system
- Wallet system
The app allows a user to send funds and to request funds in different ways:
- By selecting a user from the contact book
- By scanning a QR code
- By entering a phone 432 number. In this case, even if a user doesn't use Humaniq, they will receive a text message with the weblink where they can collect their payment in HMQ
The app also allows users to change the phone number (with phone validation), to change profile pictures, which must be validated, and to change passcodes.
The Humaniq team - management and developers - have been working 24/7 to provide a simple fintech interface with little text, and the option of voice control, so that the app is widely accessible, including people who cannot read and write. The app requires only a 10MB download, conscious that data for smartphones can cost at least a third of a minimum monthly wage in emergent countries.
Dinis Guarda, CEO of Humaniq, commented:
"We want to tear down barriers to making simple financial transactions for people who have not been offered services by traditional financial players. With this in mind, the Humaniq lite app offers almost zero-cost transaction financial inclusion solutions. It is easy to use: you simply need a smartphone number of the person you are sending money to."
Anton Mozgovoy, Humaniq Technology Director said:
"The new app offers a Blockchain and biometric solution that will give users a chat system alongside their wallet that consumes less data than messaging apps, making contacting people and sending them money cheaper and easier. While having the security of the Ethereum Blockchain ecosystem."
Humaniq is launching a new website at the same time, providing a wealth of information about Humaniq and its product rollout. The website also offers documentation on how to use the app to its full potential, and will allow users to access all this offline once it is downloaded.
Humaniq will announce its financial inclusion app product road map for the next 6 months and how to unleash it in key emerging markets where many people stand to benefit. The first pilot will start with
Ghana, specifically targeting women entrepreneurs, universities and workers in major low-income areas in the metropolitan area of the 4m+ people capital of
Accra.
This is an exciting moment in the seven-month story of Humaniq. And payments and chatting are only the start of what we are offering. Humaniq is creating a complete decentralised financial inclusion crypto economics service, not simply another mobile wallet for storing and sending cryptocurrency and converting for local currencies.
Humaniq is developing a technology ecosystem and incubator that will strengthen its app product roll out. The app offers an open source API that will be available for startups to provide services to the large, untapped market of the unbanked. Humaniq plans with their partners to provide the full-range of financial services in 2018: micro-credit, business finance, insurance, an in-app marketplace for buying and selling.
The agenda for Humaniq HQ1 Meetup:
- Humaniq top level roadmap presentation - Dinis Guarda, CEO, Strategy, Co- Founder
- Product Humaniq Lite presentation - Anton Mozgovoy, VP Technology
- Marketing and operations - Zeeshan Mallick, CMO
- Humaniq Pilot Africa - Ghana - Dickson Nsofor, VP Business Development
- Investor Relations - Valeriya Zaychuk, VP Investor Relations
A session on 'Blockchain for Good' with special guest speakers:
- Katia Elizarova, Fashion model and Kiva ambassador
- Nana Ocran, a London-based writer specialising in contemporary African culture
- Tim Campbell, Social entrepreneur behind the Bright Ideas Trust, and The Apprentice winner
- Thomas Power, Entrepreneur, Board member and leading Digital / Blockchain author / influencer.
