Connect Financial Update
Welcome to the latest edition of the Connect Financial update.
Before we get into the meat of the update, I want to spend a few moments to reiterate the scale and scope of the Connect Financial product.
As you probably already know, the typical “crypto” project has a predictable playbook:
- Attract new users with a nice whitepaper
- Hype up the user base with outlandish claims
- Relentlessly shill the project to pump up the token price
- Dump the tokens
I hope it goes without saying that Connect Financial is building something very different.
We are building a suite of financial services that are fully compliant with stringent regulatory frameworks across multiple jurisdictions. We are building a digital-asset first platform that is fully integrated with the traditional banking system. We are innovating in a nascent space and building products that don’t have a precedent.
This is an ambitious goal, but it’s also one that we are closer than ever to seeing as a reality.
We’re not here to sell you a pipedream that can’t be achieved. There’s only one way to deliver on our vision, and that is to do it right. That means a product with no holes in it, nor with half-baked commercial propositions. We’re not here just for this cycle, or to be this year’s pump and dump project — we’re here to win the hearts and minds of millions of crypto enthusiasts around the world for a long time to come.
All of this is to say that we want to put as much focus as we can in building the product, rather than pushing out ‘feelgood’ updates that add limited value to the community.
Due to the sensitive nature of our product, there’s necessarily a lot of things that we can’t discuss publicly. Ironically, the closer we get to releasing the product we need to be even more careful with our communications. However, that doesn’t mean that we’re not totally focused on delivering.
As always, we value your questions and contributions in the Telegram channels. We’ll try our best to respond to questions as soon as we can.
Partnerships, legal and regulatory
We’ve been working extensively with our legal teams and core financial partners to create a corporate structure that is defensible, flexible and allows us to release the products that we want in our target markets.
Within a changing regulatory landscape, that’s an ever-evolving challenge.
Over the coming periods, we’ll be releasing more information about some of these partnerships, and why we believe that they will help us deliver an incredibly compelling product offering.
Some of this impacts parts of the overall product suite and the ways that we market it, which I’ll touch on next.
Staking rewards
There has been some discussion in the Telegram channels recently regarding the future direction of CNFI staking rewards.
As we’ve talked about before, when the platform goes live, it is a possibility that we will be required to make changes to our staking rewards program. Offering yield bearing products pushes us into everchanging waters and opens up a raft of regulatory considerations, in particular within our largest target markets. Until we have more clarity here, we’ll be playing it safe.
We are actively evaluating different models to reward our long term CNFI stakers while staying compliant. We haven’t landed on a final model yet, but suffice to say it will still be a very attractive proposition for anyone that stakes and commits CNFI on the portal. It’s possible that we’ll be providing increased benefits and reward points accrual for members in lieu of direct staking rewards.
Website relaunch
One of the key cornerstones of any marketing strategy is having a phenomenal website to drive traffic towards. As mentioned previously, the website redesign is 99% complete and we’re itching to release it.
I’m trying to avoid being overly cryptic here, but there are some significant changes related to the delivery of the core product suite that need to be finalized before we can turn the site live. Once these have been locked in, we’ll be (re)launching the site with co-branded press releases and an appropriate amount of fanfare.
Once the site is live, we will be deploying the first phases of the marketing strategy, including traditional brand awareness through advertising, partnerships with highly vetted influencers and developing our social media presence.
Manufacturing & logistics
When you use your card at a restaurant, bar or shop, we want everyone to notice it. As such, our physical cards are one of our most important marketing assets.
We’re incredibly proud of our credit card designs and we’ve been working with one of the world’s leading production companies to bring the cards to life with some pretty special treatments that will make your Connect Financial card the one you love to use.
The (hopefully) last round of sample cards is in production at the moment. Once we’re 100% happy with the quality and execution, we’ll be moving into the production phase, building out our card inventory, flagship presentation boxes and swag — ready for initial distribution.
I’ll share some sneak-peek images of the actual physical cards when they arrive.
Rewarding Our Members
Our vision has always been centered around delivering one of the most premium membership experiences available in the industry. We truly believe that we have an opportunity to be the best in the world in providing a program that allows members to receive perks, benefits and rewards that they love.
Recently, we’ve been reviewing the Membership program to make sure that it lives up to this promise.
We’ve simplified how you earn reward points, with opportunities to accrue points on credit card transactions, loans, memberships, and digital trades. You’ll be able to earn rewards no matter where you interact with the Connect Financial suite of products.
The points you accumulate will be redeemed effortlessly on a range of purchases and services, which ensures a seamless and rewarding experience that drives customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Our rewards span multiple categories:
- core card perks that come by just using your card product
- digital asset/fiat rewards
- platform discounts
- shopping benefits and services
- exclusive luxury / premium experiences that enhance your life
Travel & Experiences
In many rewards programs, travel features prominently. We’ve taken the base idea of booking flights, accommodation and experiences at your locations.
The jewel in the crown is the comprehensive Travel and Experiences platform, which is seamlessly integrated into the CF ecosystem. The portal will allow you to book flights, accommodation, car rentals, and experiences with over 1.1M hotels, 75K flight routes, and thousands of activities available.
We’ve designed the Travel & Experiences portal to deliver competitive pricing, enabling payments with points, cash, or a blend of both. Members can also enjoy additional perks such as airport lounge access, travel insurance, unique travel experiences, and more.
With Connect Financial, your journey is bound to be extraordinary. Join us and be part of a community where every transaction is a step towards new adventures and boundless opportunities.
We’re truly excited by the possibilities here, and hope you will be too.
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These updates are not meant to be a full rundown of everything that we’re working on; they’re designed to give you a flavor of some of the main developments and how we’re thinking about responding to key challenges and opportunities.
As we enter the final stretch and pass key legal, regulatory and partnership milestones we’ll be able to get you — the community — more involved in the testing of the platform and making the first transactions on the platform.
Be safe and look after each other.
Connect Financial
