Proposal “Dash-Mexico“ (Completed)Back

Title:Dash Mexico
Owner:wikiwako
Monthly amount: 38 DASH (1450 USD)
Completed payments: 3 totaling in 113 DASH (0 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2019-09-15 / 2019-12-14 (added on 2019-09-18)
Votes: 846 Yes / 110 No / 5 Abstain
External information: dashcentral.org/p/dash-mexico

Proposal description

Dash Mexico aims to establish Dash as the main remittance cryptocurrency in Mexico.



Objective:

Dash Mexico aims to establish Dash as the main remittance cryptocurrency in Mexico by coordinating the relevant entities on both sides of the border and educating remittance users. If successful, Dash would be in a prime position to be the leading cryptocurrency in the world remittances market.

https://i.imgur.com/I5amom4.png

Market:

The money Mexican workers send home from the United States is Mexico's top source of foreign income. Its larger than our whole automotive industry and twice the value of crude oil exports. (https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/remittances-mexico-workers-dollars/2016/05/16/id/729091/)Remittances increased to $9.2 Billion USD in the second quarter of 2019 from $7.7 Billion USD in the first quarter of 2019. This means that more than $100 Million USD were sent to Mexico each and every day of the last 3 months from the USA. Even if we capture a marginal percentage of this market, the amount of Dash transacted would have an immediate impact on our mass adoption goal. (Thttps://tradingeconomics.com/mexico/remittances)

https://i.imgur.com/hqsavuZ.png

Remittances are generally received in some of the poorest communities in Mexico and play a strong role in supplementing government poverty assistance programs. They are not taxed because they are transfers of previously owned money rather than payments for goods or services. (https://thehill.com/latino/331579-remittances-to-mexico-at-near-record-levels)

Who am I?

Dash Mexico is only me at this moment but may get some help as required. My name is Roel Castaño (aka @wikiwako on forums | @rcastano on Twitter) and I am a Systems & Industrial Engineer, MBA and an entrepreneur (linkedin.com/in/roel-castaño-01a30944). I co-founded my business with my brother in 1992 and served as Executive Vice-president for more than 25 years. During that time we exported world-class structures from Mexico to more than 30 countries in 5 continents. I left the company operations two years ago but I am still a member of the Board of Directors. I have worked as a semi-retired consultant and a Dash enthusiast since then. 
I am 56 years old, 100% fluent in both English and Spanish, based in Monterrey (Optimally located industrial city in Mexico) and a long time Dash community member. 

If this proposal is approved I will devote myself to making Dash the leading remittance gateway and hopefully the most used cryptocurrency in Mexico.

Strategy:

My Dash efforts in Mexico are not new. We have worked for months to get a leading Exchange like cubobit.com to list a Dash/MXP pair and we succeeded only a few weeks ago. I say “we” because Ernesto Contreras and the DCG development team have been instrumental in the success of this initiative. The next step is to make it easier for people to send US dollars to Mexico using Dash and for Mexicans to receive, spend and convert Dash to pesos. The idea is to create one or more simple paths of cash flow for remittances and exploit them for growth. Two sides of the border with one goal. My goal on the US side is to work with exchanges, ATM companies, and remittance specialists to coordinate efforts with Mexican companies, make it easier for expats to access Dash and educate them on how easy it is to send it to Mexico. On the Mexican side, I plan to work with cubobit.com and the same companies and retailers that already distribute remittances to Mexicans, coordinate their work with American entities and find ways to undercut the costs that senders and beneficiaries are already paying. I will try to coordinate my work with all the other communities in the Dash ecosystem. I am sure I have much to learn working with the DACH Embassy DCW team, the Dash Text team, Dash LATAM, DCG and everyone else that can cooperate to make this a successful venture. I have already made some progress in talking with some Mexican organizations and big retailers about this project with promising results. I am not starting from scratch but there is still a long way to go. To keep information handy, I will create a project webpage where all participants can access information on how to buy, spend or exchange Dash, list accepting merchants, relevant Mexican Fintech law, and more. I will also try to maintain a social media presence for interested parties and hopefully some informative videos in Spanish about Dash for the Mexican market. You may think this may be an overlap of the Business Development efforts by the Dash Core Group, but I don't see it that way. Ernesto and Omar are doing outstanding work but their huge scope of work limits the time they can focus on USA/Mexico remittances. We have a window of opportunity in this multibillion-dollar market now and it won't last long. Thank you for your support! Please let me know what you think. Much interested in feedback and will answer all questions.

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Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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1 point,4 years ago
<eWallet_Ash
9 days ago

Remezaza Rate 1 DASH = 1,256.22 MXN
Real Rate 1 DASH = 1,303.60
MXN Difference = 3.77%

Transferwise 100 USD - MXN = 1.71% fee
Transferwise 1000 USD - MXN = 0.75% fee

currency_use_case
9 days ago

so for Mexicans living in USA, they are better off using the USD they already earn from their job and remit it with TransferWise. Rather than converting the USD they have into Dash (incurring exchange fees), and then depositing that Dash into their Remezaza account (incurring more exchange fees)>
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1 point,4 years ago
These #'s make the point that consumers will LOSE money if the remit Dash-to-MXN with Remezaza VS. just remitting USD-to-MXN with Transferwise
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0 points,4 years ago
Dash Watch November 2019 Report on
Dash Mexico by wikiwako
https://beta.dashwatch.org/r/NOV19/dash-mexico-proposal
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1 point,4 years ago
voters: it's a month later, and this proposal is still passing +199. And the owner still has not provided ANY #'s on if we have an edge over WU + Moneygram
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3 points,4 years ago
Voters: how did we vote this through? the proposal owner did not even include the fees that WU+Moneygram charge for remittances from USA to Mexico. So there is no due-diligence in this proposal on what our prospects are to compete with WU+Moneygram for the Mexico market
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3 points,4 years ago
no comments in last 13 days on this finding ^^. Do majority of voters do due diligence?
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1 point,4 years ago
NO - Of course voters don't do due diligence. We are holders of dash, not businessmen. We spend 1 or 2 minutes evaluating each proposal - well that's how long I spend, then vote based on gut feel. The question is... Would you rather I didn't vote??? The 10% of everyone rule means if we don't vote the proposal fails, even if most voters want it. No vote is a no vote. Personally I think the voting system needs an overhaul, but if thats not possible we need to encourage more people to vote, and telling them they need to spend 20 mins on each proposal has the opposite effect. Comments?
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1 point,4 years ago
A+ answer mate
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2 points,4 years ago
Ease of use: WU&Moneygram would win, since consumers already familiar, and with Dash there is a learning curve (as it's a more complex cryptocurrency product)

Cost: are we even able to compete on cost?
i) Time, fees, learning curve of family member converting say USD to Dash
ii) Time, fees, learning curve of converting the received Dash on Cubobit.com to MXP
iii) very substantial risk of a downward price movement of Dash during i) + ii)
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-2 points,4 years ago
I understand your concern about the ease of use Currency_use_case, and that is precisely what I am working on. I am sorry I can not publish the details yet, but please understand that the system I am helping set up is still in early development. I hope you will be happy with the end result and support Dash-Mexico next time and for further growth. Updates will be posted when the companies involved think it is convenient.
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1 point,4 years ago
it's been another month, with no update comment here.
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2 points,4 years ago
Comparison chart of remitting Dash to Mexico vs. leading competitors (Moneygram, Western Union)?
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0 points,4 years ago
Hi Currency_use_case,

There are 4 main ways of remitting money from the USA to Mexico.

1) Money orders - Oldest way. Certified check sent by mail. Slow. High commissions. Used to be the main way to send money to Mexico. Few people still use it.

2) Remittance agencies: Small shops that take care of the delivery. Mostly businesses owned by Mexicans on both sides of the border with the required money transmitting licenses. Minimum tariffs but will take an extra commission using their own exchange rate. Their main competitive advantage is that they take cash.

3) Electronic Transfer: Moneygram, Western Union, and some banks will service remittances this way. Used to ask for high commissions but they have recently been lowered by competition. XRP recently partnered with Moneygram in this market. Could Dash do something similar?

4) Private online businesses: A lot of businesses have been cropping up trying to capture this market with different commissions and tariffs. xoom.com, directoamexico.com, worldremit.com, remitly.com, and TransferWise.com are good examples. These companies compete with different technologies, different commissions, and different exchange rates.

The real cost is variable depending on the amount sent, the immigration status of the sender and the exchange rate used. Hard to do a comparative table. I am betting on new companies taking advantage of the almost zero cost of Dash transactions to get involved. The market is so big that even a small percentage is a very attractive venture.
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2 points,4 years ago
does Dash have a competitive advantage vs 3)?
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-1 point,4 years ago
You have my support, good luck.
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-1 point,4 years ago
Thank you for your support qwizzie!
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0 points,4 years ago
Hi all,

There were some comments on discord about my proposal where I see two main concerns: 1) My work plan is too vague, and 2) You don't understand how I am going to use the money.

Here are my comments regarding those issues:
1) The money will be used to promote Dash among businesses and corporations that can benefit by using Dash while promoting remittances on both sides of the border. These businesses have no incentive to work with us if there is no cooperation on the other side of the border or if they do not understand Dash. As an example, a convenience store chain will not accept Dash from remittances if there is no plan for the remittances to be sent in Dash. That is why cooperation between them is crucial and not only independently with Dash. I will promote Dash and integrations on both sides of the border.

About not disclosing the names of businesses I am working with, the way it has to work is very similar to what the DCGs Business Development team is doing. They will not discuss names or integration progress until it is a done deal. Otherwise, you end up in feuds much like what happened with KFC in Venezuela (https://cointelegraph.com/news/kfc-venezuela-denies-accepting-dash-payments).

2) The money will pay for my time, travel, reporting, legal counseling, utilities, and other expenses. I have already invested a lot of my time and money in the cubobit.com integration and Dash promotion. I need resources to take this further and the remittance market seems to be the logical goal for the next few months.
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0 points,4 years ago
@wikwako the above reply demonstrates to me that you are not willing to take the time and effort to properly think through all issues associated with your project. These would be covered in a business plan. This tells me that you are not really serious about this project, because if you were you would have done detailed planning work.

In terms of not disclosing clients names I've already stated you don't have to disclose their names, you can still speak in generic terms about their industry, size, and location etc without disclosing identity.

If you really want your project to succeed you would do a business plan. I appreciate you appear to have good intentions and a good idea. But that is not enough, I need to see you've thought through all the issues by submitting a completed Business plan.

I advise all MNOs to vote no if you want to see proposal owners held to a higher standard. We need a fully worked out business plan, not a couple of vague lines about what you intend to do.

Voting NO
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4 points,4 years ago
I would need to see a worked out business plan presented in order to consider this proposal. I will no longer be voting on proposals that appear to have a good idea alone. A business plan shows the project owner is serious and has thought through all of the details of the project. As far as I am concerned that is the work that is needed to get the funds from now on.

Each time DASH is issued our investment devalues in real terms.

I feel MNOs now need to be very picky about which projects are allowed through. We keep spending money on projects that are failing. The reasons they are failing is because there is no worked out plan and people are coming to us with "a good idea". I have had enough of good ideas. It is time for substance.

@wikiwako you state MNOs would need to trust you and you cannot disclose details of the companies you work with. If that really is the case then I cannot vote on this project because I do not know the actual plan you have so I cannot fairly assess it. You can still keep confidential the names of the companies and speak in general terms about their industry. You can also disclose your strategy and show how it will work. Without that information MNOs cannot make an informed decision and to vote yes without that information is bad business practise and simply foolhardy in my opinion.

You say we will have to trust you. Trust is not enough. Trust is earned over a sustained period of time. It is not given away like candy.

We now need to demand that all proposal owners provide a business plan as a basic requirement of being accepted for funding. If they do not provide that then they have not thought through the work properly and therefore do not take the project seriously enough.

Nobody wants to do the business plan because it is a lot of work and a lot of planning. Yet in so doing the project has infinitely greater chance of success.

My fellow MNOs the time has come for us to think like business angels. They will screen 100+ projects before they see one that looks good. They are rigorous and calculated in their decision making process. Impartial, professional, tough, demanding and very strict on when they will and will not give out money. That is what we need to do if we are to retain the value of DASH. It is our responsibility to safeguard the value of DASH and spend the money wisely.

Can you imagine a person visiting venture capitalist and presenting a good idea only with no business plan? They would be laughed out of the room.

If we let through only the highest quality professional projects from now on can you imagine how rewarding it would be to see all our projects succeeding? Instead of what we have now where most of the projects are a flash in the pan, or a quick money grab. I'm really tired of that.

We need to demand higher standards from all proposal owners. No more good ideas and fast easy cash I'm afraid. I, for one, and really tired of seeing my investment eaten away through failed projects time and time again. It is time for us to think like Business Angels or Venture capitalists. Only the very best projects are going to get voted through by me from now on.

I hope you can provide the information and business plan necessary so that I can properly assess your proposal. If not, then it would be a no vote from me.
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0 points,4 years ago
Yay deepblue im glad your also noticing that, every time a proposal asks for money and fails,

It negatively impacts every hodler of dash

Voting NO

Thanks!
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2 points,4 years ago
I understand your concern DeepBlue and I know it would be great to have a business plan. The problem is that this is not a business. The job I am requesting funds for is business development, sales, and PR. I don’t know what an acceptable ROI would be, but the size of the market makes this an incredible benefit/cost ratio.

But you are right. I am asking the MNOs to trust me and I have very little to show for yet. So please see the photos below of me promoting Dash in different conferences here in Mexico. That was done on my own dime. I hope it shows my loyalty to Dash and maybe changes your mind.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2t8jy2g7msk53je/AAAZHhP5yetZn00yX5b4Kmbra?dl=0
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0 points,4 years ago
@wikiwako even if it is not a business as you say, a business plan has all the essential information we need to professionally assess a funding proposal. I suggest you take a look at the page on business plans by following the link below. You will see most of the information needed for MNOs to do our job properly is in that business plan template. If your project has any reasonable chance for success you should have thought through all the issues that are raised in a business plan.

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Business-Plan

We need long term sustainable projects. This requires a business plan for me going forward in order to vote on any proposal. If a proposal owner is not willing to take the time to think through key points in a business plan then this tells me something about the commitment level of the proposal owner.

I a few years ago I was interested in expanding my business into a new area. I undertook a business plan that took me a few hours per day for several months. At the end I realise that the idea would not work financially and therefore did not start the project. The plan was well worth my time instead of spending years of work and money which would have been wasted if I had not done the business plan.

The hardest work of all is thought and planning. But that is what is needed for our projects to succeed. From now on I want all the projects I vote on to lead to long term success only. I;m not interested in good ideas and promises any more. I've had enough of that and I think other MNOs also have had enough.

Your idea sounds good but I need to see a fully worked out business plan to even consider voting positively on your proposal.
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2 points,4 years ago
I agree with all you said, but if we are going to look at 100 plans to support one we cannot ask them to pay 5 dash to present a proposal (although the 500 dash burned might be positive for dash ;-) )
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0 points,4 years ago
@nudeflsyoshy the DASH forum has a section for pre-proposals. They can post their proposal therefore for feedback on their business plan before posting for funding.

We need all the information in a business plan. This would save MNOs *so much time* asking for basic information. We really should not be spending our time asking for info that should be already presented in a business plan. Our lives are busy enough. The onus is on the proposal owner to fully prepare all the information we need to assess their proposal. The best way of doing this is through a fully worked out business plan. If the proposal owner is not prepared to take the time to even think through a business plan then how committed are they really? The lack of a business plan tells us something about the commitment level of a proposal owner. A good idea alone does not wash it with me any more. I want to see a detailed, worked out business plan with every proposal going forward. If MNOs do not insist on this then we are responsible when people make off with our money.
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1 point,4 years ago
Love it. Your video (plus a couple of links) had me sold. I like to invest in good honest hard working capable people. Also.... 38 dash per month? You clearly understand that the mnos like to keep our projects on tiny budgets.
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1 point,4 years ago
oh right - i just read the comments below. 112 dash is much more realistic. IMO even that is low. Well, I'm in.
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1 point,4 years ago
Thank you for your support kevmate!
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1 point,4 years ago
Per this, https://imgur.com/OL60UkB
$6,000/month personal compensation/office sounds much too high. If you had a more coherent plan then maybe. At the moment you're asking us to trust that you can bring results and it is not at all clear to me how you would go about doing that.
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0 points,4 years ago
I understand your concerns mikenewhouse. Every new proposal poses trust challenges. If this proposal gets funded, I hope my work will make you change your mind next time. Thank you for your comments.
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0 points,4 years ago
FYI the link to this proposal on dash nexus is a 404

https://app.dashnexus.org/proposals/22fae1c8-0c0a-4fb7-b7ea-6f09bddce823/overview
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0 points,4 years ago
Thanks for the tip bitedge. This one works: https://app.dashnexus.org/proposals/dash-mexico-proposal/overview
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0 points,4 years ago
Dear @wikiwako, I have a few questions.
1. What friction to remittances is there currently for Mexicans working the US sending money back home?
2. How does this proposal aim to solve those frictions? Ie what makes DASH more suitable for this purpose?
3. What market is there for this service? Do you know of people that are seeking this method of sending money? Or are you expecting them to come later?
4. What supporting infrastructure is there for this service? What additional infrastructure needs to be built or modified in order to facilitate this?
5. Are you able to give a budget breakdown to describe how the funds will be managed and what you believe they need to be spent on in order to make the proposal a success?
6. Can you cite prior examples of where you have worked with the DAO, or perhaps DASH BOOST so we can see your track record, otherwise cite references for your work done to date, I think you mention Earnesto?

Regards,
MNO.
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0 points,4 years ago
Fair questions lysergic,

1) The main friction is cost. According to our government (https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/481172/PanoramaIF_2019.pdf), the cost of remittances from the USA to Mexico is about 5.7% average, but the percentage is proportional to the size of the remittance. When remittances are small, fixed commissions can increase the cost significantly. This low cap remittance market may be the first I will be aiming for.
2) The ideal case to solve the cost is for the expat to be paid in Dash, send it to Mexico and spend it as Dash. That won't happen soon, but the cost would be insignificant. My job, if this proposal passes, is to find ways for people to acquire Dash in the USA and relatives to exchange it in Mexico to pesos for a lower cost.
3) As explained in item 2, the first target market is the small size remittance market. I do not know the people that will send these remittances now, but I know people in Mexico who have needed these service when they were in the USA as expats and people who recieve these payments. For these people, every "peso" counts and I hope they will be very receptive to a lower-cost system.
4) Now that we have an exchange in Mexico that lists Dash, I feel we can work with companies on both sides of the border to reduce costs. The size of the market and the insignificant cost of sending Dash makes it an attractive proposition. I feel that the basic infrastructure is already there. What I feel that I have to fix is the perception that high commissions for buying/selling Dash are needed. the market is too big for high commissions.
5) The budget is certainly an issue. I made a mistake with the amount of the budget I needed when I posted this proposal. I thought I asked for 112 Dash for 3 months each, and I ended up asking for 112 Dash for the 3 months. I take responsibility for this mistake and I will work with this budget for the first month, but if good progress is being done, I will repost with the correct budget. I will forego my personal compensation and any travel and hospitality for this month. Here is the original budget (https://imgur.com/OL60UkB)
6) I have been working for more than a year on enlisting a leading exchange in Mexico for Dash. It finally happened a couple of months ago with cubobit.com. I have to acknowledge the help of the Dash Core Group and specifically of Ernesto Contreras (Bis Dev) and the technical guys (Devs). They were instrumental in the success of the project, but I led the project and will hopefully make it grow.
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0 points,4 years ago
The link to my original budget on answer 5 is not working. This is the correct one: https://i.imgur.com/OL60UkB.png
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0 points,4 years ago
Thanks wikiwako. :)
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