Purchase From Major Hubs of Trade With Crypto — KuCoin AMA With Shopping.io

Dear KuCoin Users,

Time: April 28, 2021, 10:00-11:45 (UTC)

KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session with Shopping.io in the KuCoin Exchange Group.

Shopping.io is the bridge behind crypto and retail. Have the freedom of choice with over 100 cryptocurrencies across three unique payment methods. Shopping.io allows you to purchase from major hubs of trade such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart with crypto!

Official Website: https://shopping.io

Follow Shopping.io on Twitter and Telegram.

Guests:

Matthew Harper — COO of Shopping.io

Matthew previously worked in the aerospace industry prior to his lateral transfer into e-commerce and crypto e-commerce specifically.

Meirav Shacked — CMO of Shopping.io

Meirav has worked both at large corporate and small new startups in China. She specializes in General Management with experience in international global business development, strategic partnerships, investments, marketing and advertising, operations, non-profit org, government relations and leading cross-cultural teams.

Q: What is Shopping.io?

Meirav: Shopping.io is the bridge behind crypto and retail. We are the only crypto e-commerce platform that allows for a truly international experience when you purchase online.

Through our working platform you can purchase items from major hubs of trade such as Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.

We are changing how we see e-commerce in crypto on a daily basis.

Q: What are the tokenomics behind Shopping.io?

Meirav: Shopping.io has two utility tokens to be used on our platform. SPI is used for plan discounts for shopping online while GSPI is used for businesses to resell on our platform.

Both of our tokens have 1,000,000 tokens in total supply, no team allocation and no ICO or presale.

Q: Why e-commerce?

Meirav: Crypto e-commerce is the FUTURE!

We are actively pioneering this industry as first movers in the field and see the absolute need behind a true e-commerce solution in the near future.

As PayPal, Facebook and other big names enter crypto, crypto e-commerce will naturally come as a big reality for many.

This is the future.

Q: Where can I purchase SPI?

Meirav: Through the following channels:

- Uniswap

- PancakeSwap

- MXC

- Gate.io

- Bittrex Global

- and of course KuCoin

And more integrations to come!

Q: What platforms do you currently support?

Meirav: We currently offer these platforms on Shopping.io: Amazon (USA/UK/DE/CA), Walmart, eBay, with integrations to Chinese wholesale and AliExpress to come soon.

Direct from supplier sales are important as we constantly search for ways to save our consumers the most amount of money when ordering online with their crypto.

Q: Why did you list on KuCoin?

Matthew: Tried, true and tested.

KuCoin has been an excellent avenue for us to trade and participate with what we consider to be a major exchange.

We chose KuCoin directly because we felt strongly about being a part of your ever-growing community and user base.

Q: When did you launch Shopping.io?

Matthew: We launched on January 1st of this year.

We have made so much progress within this time frame. With our recent partnerships with Crypto.com, Elrond and more.

Q: Do I need to hold your token to use your platform?

Matthew: Our platform provides no barrier to entry as you can use our platform freely without even owning any of our tokens.

However, for as little as 1 SPI token, you gain access to permanent discounts onto our platform when you shop online.

It's really quite easy!

You can get up to a 10% discount onto our platform. However, most people enjoy a dynamic discount range between 1-5%, so how that works is that when you own 1 SPI -- you receive a 1% permanent discount across our platform.

It dynamically scales, so if you own 1.2 SPI -- you would actually be receiving a bigger percentage of a discount with every Satoshi factored in.

It's actually pretty cool to do it this way, as we tie our plans to the USD value of SPI they hold.

At certain thresholds, you are entitled to more of a discount.

I would also like to note that we have had a working platform since day one. We have enjoyed a lot of orders and customers since we started.

Q: Have you ordered something from your platform?

Matthew: Yes, I have before!

Before I joined the staff I was one of the many people who had tested the platform as a community member.

My first order was for some Pokemon Cards and I had received my order within 4 days.

The faith in the team and the passion behind the project has led me now to be the COO of the company.

We are all passionate about e-commerce here.

You can view similar customer success stories like mine -- here: https://t.me/SHOPPINGIO_REVIEWS

We also do reviews on TrustPilot -- but before we continue I would like to show everyone what I ordered.

I was originally a skeptic, but after seeing that there was a true working platform built by honest people in the community who really believed in the technology and the future of the space.

It was something I and many others have put our faces and our names to.

It's extremely rare for a team and a project like this to be in crypto.

And I'm proud that we are pioneering this industry together with our team.

When I received my order personally. I put my own name and face to Shopping.io when I began working with them.

I ordered the first week of January and have been here since.

Q: What do you think of the mainstream adoption of crypto and how it will impact the e-commerce industry? Will it affect you negatively?

Matthew: I would actually like to share with you all my own personal video response to that question that was captured during one of our weekly staff Q&A sessions.

The passion and drive we have behind what we do is unreal.

And I feel like the best way to answer that is directly. When I was asked the same question by a community member live.

Q: What are the discount rates we will get when buying tokens and shopping online? Will the discount rate increase every time we shop?

What privileges will we take advantage of in VIP access features? Is owning a token enough to get VIP access?

Matthew: You can view our plans here: shopping.io/pricing. We offer a dynamic plan which scales discounts with every Satoshi after 1 SPI.

VIPs currently have access to an exclusive Telegram and an exclusive monthly giveaway. We do plan to support those who have supported us the most during this journey with future incentives for VIPs (people with over 1,000 SPI or 3,000 GSPI) on our platform.

Q: What output is expected from the community? How do you expect the community to aid the growth of the project? Do you have big bounties or ambassador program we can enroll for?

Matthew: We have a volunteer system that we are planning to do smaller events for in the future.

We also have an Ambassador Program that is currently being designed by us at this time.

It will reward the users involved with Telegram titles among other additional rewards.

What helps us the most is user interaction on our platform. If you haven't bought something yet with your crypto -- everyone here is welcome to try it out!

It's really easy and we offer a lot of international options as well.

Q: Can I use Shopping.io from any corner of the world or is your service for a limited area? What extra benefits can I get if I use Shopping.io to buy products? Will I get any extra facilities if I hold and use SPI to buy products?

Matthew: You can use us in almost every country across the world. We have recently expanded to Europe with our inclusion of Amazon UK and DE.

If you live somewhere far off, we even offer the opportunity to purchase from the Amazon US version of the website and have your order fulfilled by our center we are partnered with in New York.

Sent worldwide.

However additional customs fees may apply.

We also offer discounts on our platform as well by holding our native token -- $SPI!

Q: Is there any possibility to bring NFT marketplace from SPI team?

Matthew: Yes, and the team has been considering this heavily as we have introduced a recent Alpha system for auctions on our platform.

We will be involved with NFTs on a wider scale in the near future.

The auction system utilizes ONLY SPI/GSPI which gives another exclusive utility benefit on the platform!

Q: What are the challenges you faced while making a crypto e-commerce because you are the first movers?

Matthew:

- Order processing

- Ticket management

- Logistics

These things are not normally touched upon or ran into by a crypto community or platform. In the first few weeks we have received such a massive appeal that it was difficult to upkeep all the reports, emails, and orders.

We have resolved this issue by adding a bunch of new people to the team and have really grown our company since the beginning of our launch!

We are all one big family now.

Q: Is your platform like Amazon, etc? If so then what’s the use of blockchain in this e-commerce?

Matthew: We are looking to expand beyond the main three that we offer to our platform and will be introducing a lot of new integrations involving Chinese direct from supplier wholesale and other e-commerce stores.

Crypto e-commerce is the future.

It will be pretty apparent over the next few years as the mainstream adoption of crypto is accelerating at a rapid rate!

Q: Is there any cashback system?

Matthew: No, however we are offering a promotion with our partnership with Crypto.com

When you pay with Crypto.com Pay and through your card through them -- you will receive an additional % cash back.

The event is still ongoing but it will be ending soon and we will likely run more events with Crypto.com in the future!

Q: There are so many projects that only exist for a moment and “die on the road, traumatizing investors with new projects”. How can your project survive and continue to grow and in what ways do you convince investors that this project is very promising?

Matthew: A project is as strong as its team.

We have a legal team, compliance team, proper tech support staff, live chat customer service and a proper branding and marketing team led by some incredibly talented people such as Meirav Shacked.

We are here to stay and we are already planning for the long term.

Q: Is it difficult to use SPI in an existing infrastructure? Do you have to follow certain rules to be able to use it?

Matthew: Shopping.io 2.0, our revamped version of the website which was created by the blockchain security company -- Chainsulting who we are partnered with, will be released on May 15.

This has been in the works for several months and will change EVERYTHING.

Presentation, user design and experience and the back end will all be upgraded in this process for an easier to use crypto shopping experience.

Q: DeFi is one of the hottest topics in blockchain space. Can Shopping.io share its opinion regarding DeFi? Do you think DeFi will disrupt the existing financial system? What is the Shopping.io team’s approach toward DeFi?

Matthew: Decentralized Finance has a strong appeal to the crypto community in large.

The team appreciates what DeFi at its core represents. It's just a shame that the market is charged with scams and other bad actors.

We do ask for basic KYC on our platform -- we do this to follow compliance measures as we are looking at the long term.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share or you want us to know?

Matthew: The future is crypto e-commerce whether it shows up today, tomorrow, or in a year or two.

Mainstream adoption is bringing that change -- and quickly.

KuCoin and Shopping.io have prepared a total of 15 SPI to give away to AMA participants.

1. Free-ask section: 0.3 SPI

2. Post-AMA activity:

Activity 1 — Quiz: 7 SPI

Activity 2 — Price Guess: 2.1 SPI

Participation Rewards: 5.6 SPI

. . .

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