Proposal description
Our proposal in one diagram, full details can be found here
Please see our video Stuart, Victoria and Paul - Dashable team members - talk about Dash uptake by UK businesses
Dash uptake by UK businesses will build on the success and outcomes from our previous funded project. We will support integration of the interested merchants from our first project, continue promoting Dash to the gold and jewellery business sector in the UK, address issues raised by that sector in the survey and roll out the original project to a new sector in the UK. Lessons learned from that project are at Annex A of the proposal, and will be taken into account with the roll out. Moving forward we will refer to our team and work as Dashable.
Dash Uptake by UK businesses is Dashable’s umbrella project and will be subject to further individual funding proposals as we firm up the way ahead and have agreements with key players in the sectors we are working with. This approach enables us to properly engage and work up proposals and provides assurance to Masternodes that we can deliver what we say, as we will already have agreements in place with third parties, ahead of submitting costed proposals. Engaging with these business sectors takes dedicated time and liaison with people at all levels of organisations. It is important this part of the process is not rushed. We have indicated in the project proposal where further proposals may be submitted.
Our first project “Understanding the barriers to adoption of Dash by UK businesses and merchants in the Gold and Jewellery Sector” is complete and the report is available here. All milestones and measures of success were met - with an increased awareness of Dash within this business community and its Trade Association, an understanding of the barriers to adoption of Dash by this sector and an identified group of existing businesses from our integration studies who are interested in becoming Dash merchants.
But simply understanding and trying to remove the barriers is not enough, it is clear from our first project that we need to incentivise adoption. Facilitating the use of Dash for significant transactions in the UK, means working within first world economy constraints and planned legislation. Businesses with significant turnover have pre-existing and pressing priorities and integrating Dash is rarely one of these. To achieve uptake by established merchants, we need to incentivise early adoption.
See full proposal here https://goo.gl/YKwGtj
We are excited to be taking this work forward in the UK and hope you will support the proposal - any questions please do get in touch.
Best
CaptAhab
Please see our video Stuart, Victoria and Paul - Dashable team members - talk about Dash uptake by UK businesses
Dash uptake by UK businesses will build on the success and outcomes from our previous funded project. We will support integration of the interested merchants from our first project, continue promoting Dash to the gold and jewellery business sector in the UK, address issues raised by that sector in the survey and roll out the original project to a new sector in the UK. Lessons learned from that project are at Annex A of the proposal, and will be taken into account with the roll out. Moving forward we will refer to our team and work as Dashable.
Dash Uptake by UK businesses is Dashable’s umbrella project and will be subject to further individual funding proposals as we firm up the way ahead and have agreements with key players in the sectors we are working with. This approach enables us to properly engage and work up proposals and provides assurance to Masternodes that we can deliver what we say, as we will already have agreements in place with third parties, ahead of submitting costed proposals. Engaging with these business sectors takes dedicated time and liaison with people at all levels of organisations. It is important this part of the process is not rushed. We have indicated in the project proposal where further proposals may be submitted.
Our first project “Understanding the barriers to adoption of Dash by UK businesses and merchants in the Gold and Jewellery Sector” is complete and the report is available here. All milestones and measures of success were met - with an increased awareness of Dash within this business community and its Trade Association, an understanding of the barriers to adoption of Dash by this sector and an identified group of existing businesses from our integration studies who are interested in becoming Dash merchants.
But simply understanding and trying to remove the barriers is not enough, it is clear from our first project that we need to incentivise adoption. Facilitating the use of Dash for significant transactions in the UK, means working within first world economy constraints and planned legislation. Businesses with significant turnover have pre-existing and pressing priorities and integrating Dash is rarely one of these. To achieve uptake by established merchants, we need to incentivise early adoption.
See full proposal here https://goo.gl/YKwGtj
We are excited to be taking this work forward in the UK and hope you will support the proposal - any questions please do get in touch.
Best
CaptAhab
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Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?
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We do understand the desire to focus on Venezuela and wish those guys who got funded much success.
But I guess we weren’t expecting the huge down vote on our project - we got the message early on that we weren’t going to be funded but the continued downward voting without comments leaves us in a position of uncertainty for any future work.
Maybe people thought it was the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t really know.
Of course we get the budget reasons why this has happened, but pulling funding mid way through projects is tough and not really a viable way to run projects. It is hard for proposal owners and team members to run projects sensibly in this way, but really it is more of a problem for Dash itself. It may stop good people coming forward as there is such uncertainty in being able to run the project well and it has reputational risks for those of us who have been working with existing businesses.
Maybe we will be able to regain the steps we have made in the future - we have to hope so.
Thank you to the Dash community who have supported us - we have endeavoured to be professional and deliver what we set out to deliver, but regrettably that has not been enough.
Good luck to those of you who got funded, we wish you well.
Places like the US and UK will be the last to truly get on board, as the USD and GBP will be the last surviving fiat curencies, IMO.
Dash uptake by UK businesses by CaptAhab
https://dashwatch.org/files/1532791523055.pdf
In June Dash4Business has joined the National Association of Jewellers - acceptance of our membership application means we have direct access to members to keep in touch with them on progress. Next steps will be to take forward that dialogue and education when we are in a position to be able to take forward the project.
The merchants who have integrated Dash are keen and committed. It is disappointing that DashBack has not so far secured them many sales - each merchant has made a sale in Dash but so far since the launch of DashBack only one sale has been made. Their commitment to stay on board is admirable and we can hope that with an upturn in Dash price this will equate to increasing DashBack sales.
We are continuing DashBack but have had to pause other activities until funding comes through. This represents a real issue for Dash and for us personally of course. Managing the project without guaranteed funding requires careful planning and negotiation - getting people on board without being able to contract until funding is secure requires skill and great negotiation skills. Operating in a mainstream sector, which we are doing, is not easy when there is lack of secure funding, but we have managed to deliver so far with professionalism and maintain good working relationship with the business sector.
We really do hope the Dash community continues to support this project. Whilst in the UK at the current price is challenging that is not to say Dash should not have a presence here. We need to make sure we are the go to cryptocurrency, and that takes longevity in education and building a presence.
We have made inroads and progress, but without funding is it impossible to complete this work. To not be able to deliver the rest of the work in our view represents a wasted opportunity, wasted investment and most importantly wasted time for merchants and people who have engaged and have a real interest in Dash.
We are keen to continue the project and have managed to deal with reputational risks with the organisations we are working with - but this does mean we need funding for next month - as we can only sensibly pause activities for a short time with them.
Fingers crossed for up turn in yes votes - we are progressing what we can this month and look forward to making further progress when we get funding.
DashBack needs your backing - see www.Dash4business.co.uk for further info and we are excited to confirm one of the jewellers Diadem is offering a massive 20% discount for purchases in Dash.
I am gutted for Dash if this is the outcome - to pull out of the UK now is the wrong move.
We have worked hard to make the inroads we have and as our meetings these last few days shows the tides are turning and are getting Dash in the picture in the UK.
There is a big reputational risk for Dash in the UK if we have to abandon now.
Understand the budget issues but to defund now is not the answer. Hope we can get some more positive votes to carry on
We are joining Dash4Business to the NAJ enabling us direct access to jeweller members in the UK (cheaper than Trade Press articles). This allows us to publicise ongoing work and to pursue the important education agenda identified in the original survey.
The NAJ are making an introduction for us to the National Pawnbrokers Association which could be really interesting - more in future updates on progress as we make it.
The NAJ are making an introduction for us to the largest Buillion dealers in the UK and to a soon to be launched B2B/B2C jewellery business.
We are looking at sponsoring an event at International Jewellery London on 2nd September and opening Dash wallets for the first 75 guests to buy a drink with.
The NAJ are launching a new website in September and are keen for us to participate in a crypto online forum.
All of this signals real intention to carry on working with us and a real commitment to engage.
Yesterday Dash4Business were also invited as a guest to Vendercom’s Future of Payments conference- the guest invitation signifies progress in this space and demonstrated a lack of coverage of cryptocurrency in this field.
Today we had a follow up call with Paul Rodgers, Chief Executive of Vendercom. This was a very positive call - offers of membership of Vendercom’s Special Interest Advisory Group, speaking engagement at 11th October Payments Conference, opportunity to contribute to UK Government Cabinet Office Thought Experiment of the Future of Banking.
The tides they are a changing. Dash4Business is becoming known and we have alot to bring to the party.
Dash uptake by UK businesses by CaptAhab
https://dashwatch.org/files/1530053284712.pdf
Full proposal details here or https://goo.gl/YKwGtj
June 2018 progress highlights from Dash Uptake by UK Business – detailed report on progress or https://goo.gl/mj8h8g
DashBack pilot scheme launched on 18 June – 3 UK jewellers offering discounts for purchases made in Dash; further merchants interested in next phase;
Dash4Business website launched – www.Dash4Business.co.uk
POS pack produced
Coming up in rest of June;
meeting with National Association of Jewellers Chief Executive on 28 June;
invited to attend as a guest of the organiser the Vendorcom Future of Payments event on 28 June;
meeting with an independent payment consultant on 29 June to discuss some joint working and to help identify forward- thinking ISVs we might make progress with;
working with “Payments” team at TechUK to set up an event to raise awareness. Good introductory meeting held on 7 June, currently awaiting dates for event to be scheduled.
Full proposal details here - https://goo.gl/mj8h8g
June 2018 progress highlights from Dash Uptake by UK Business – detailed report on progress
DashBack pilot scheme launched on 18 June – 3 UK jewellers offering discounts for purchases made in Dash; further merchants interested in next phase;
Dash4Business website launched – www.Dash4Business.co.uk
POS pack produced
Coming up in rest of June;
meeting with National Association of Jewellers Chief Executive on 28 June;
invited to attend as a guest of the organiser the Vendorcom Future of Payments event on 28 June;
meeting with an independent payment consultant on 29 June to discuss some joint working and to help identify forward- thinking ISVs we might make progress with;
working with “Payments” team at TechUK to set up an event to raise awareness. Good introductory meeting held on 7 June, currently awaiting dates for event to be scheduled.
DashBack enables participating merchants to offer their products to customers at a cheaper rate in Dash than in Sterling. The discount given to customers is then repaid to the merchant from Dash.
Learning from previous Dash giveaways, the Dash4Business project team have designed the scheme to reward transactions in Dash through incentivisation either encouraging consumers to open Dash wallets for the first time or encouraging existing holders of Dash to buy products. Dash4Business hope the Dash community support these early adopter merchants and take advantage of the discounted products in Dash. These merchants will become very powerful advocates encouraging more merchants and customers alike to adopt Dash, if they have a positive experience in this first phase of their Dash journey.
What’s not to like? Dash to it and get buying. Take a look at our new website www.Dash4Business.co.uk and keep an eye out for our promotional activity over the coming weeks.
Dash uptake by UK businesses by CaptAhab
https://dashwatch.org/files/1527543780546.pdf
May 2018 progress highlights from Dash Uptake by UK Business - detailed report on progress (4-5 min read) see here https://goo.gl/mMrREY
- DashBack pilot scheme and documentation prepared and shared with Dash community for comment ahead of issuing to participating merchants on 24 May. DashBack to launch 14 June
- Dash4Business website prepared - for launch in June
- Work commenced with new sector;
- sponsorship of Future Payments Panel at British Independent Retailers Association (bira) annual conference on 10 May
- survey of bira delegates issued on 14 May
In the meantime we wanted to share the draft documentation on the DashBack pilot ahead of sharing with participating merchants next week. This also includes a risk document we have prepared for Dash colleagues
Any comments/ideas please let me know by 22 May. We plan to launch DashBack on 14 June.
We look forward to launching the scheme and getting some traction on dash sales going in this pilot.
Details of DashBack scheme can be seen here; https://goo.gl/uZ6x8d
An analysis of the options and risks we considered can be found here: https://goo.gl/UR5cUo
Dash uptake by UK businesses by CaptAhab
https://dashwatch.org/files/1524868685080.pdf
April 2018 progress highlights from Dash Uptake by UK Business - detailed report on progress (4-5 min read) https://goo.gl/zp8yg9
· First jeweller integration from the project launched - now accepting Dash.
· Guide on how to set up Dash shop with Wordpress,WooCommerce, GoUrl, Uphold produced.
· Practical paper on issues to consider ahead of trading in Dash produced.
· Three merchants signed up to "Dashback" trial to start in May. Dashback - Making it cheaper to buy in Dash.
· Article published in The Jeweller Magazine.
· Working with National Association of Jewellers on AML and continued promotion.
· Work with new target sector commenced - independent retailers, through British British Independent Retailers Association (Bira). Survey going out to companies and Future Payment Panel sponsored at Bira annual conference.
· Budget and milestones update.
All the best
CaptAhab
Our first project surveyed companies to find out the answer. There are definitely merchants with genuine interest, and it definitely needs pushing.
It is of course far easier to promise adoption than it is to deliver it. Our experience of signing up merchants is seemingly far harder than some others appear to have found it.
We are progressing with the three more robust and ready expressions of interest, and hope two turn into reality shortly. When we mean real, we mean a merchant set up to accept Dash, with all the requirements to trade in place, and crucially actually expecting to accept transactions in Dash. The measure of success will be people actually buying from the merchants in Dash, not just signing up to it.
Interestingly, from my experience many merchants that “accept Bitcoin” have never done a sale with it.
Our survey of jewellers showed there are no fundamental issues that will STOP adoption, that there is interest in the technology, but that there is caution around the perception of crypto that needs to be overcome, particularly around AML. Companies, even the biggest, are interested BUT will not move to adoption until these worries are overcome. Our project aims to start addressing these issues. (To see the survey results click here.)
Frankly this is a good result, as it means there is an open door. But it doesn’t mean they are going to adopt Dash without dedicated effort. Properly becoming a Dash merchant costs the merchant time and money. At the moment there are also regulatory and accounting uncertainties in the UK that any company of size is going to want to see resolved before they could consider even making a decision whether to adopt Dash or not.
We need to continue to get Dash known, to overcome the perceptual problems, sort out AML concerns, so when the results of Evolution deliver we can progress adoption to a more receptive audience. So we need to continue to educate the sector, and we need a few first movers to adopt the currency and make a lot of sales in it, to become evangelists. We have others merchants who stand ready to talk with Dash once we have progressed the follow up work to the survey.
The key is to galvanise the interest in Dash which we have generated and publicise the merchant case studies we work with to interest others. And we need early adopters in order to help make Dash the go-to crypto of choice.
We are also scoping the Circulation of Dash model which will address some of the hesitance of merchants in being the first mover. And we are incentivising customers with our “Dashback” scheme.
We will be progressing work with ISVs and POS systems, though again our experience has been more challenging than others seem to have found it. We have had discussions but not yet found the open door, but are working on it!
Whilst posting photos of “Dash accepted here” signs and people in Dash T-Shirts outside businesses may demonstrate activity, it isn’t evidence of adoption. A merchant agreeing to use Dash is only the beginning of the journey, and marks the point when the real work begins. Successful adoption means a sustained volume of sales in Dash for the merchant. Our measures of success need to be evidence based informed by the merchant experience, and we think as a proposal owner we should be using for example transactions on the blockchain as evidence. To succeed, Dash needs merchants to make money and increase their business’s sales, and reduce their costs by using Dash. That for us is the real measure of adoption we are aiming for.
I bought Darkcoin in Spring 2014 and I am as committed to make Dash a success now as I ever was . But in the real world, the road to mass adoption of Dash is going to be a long and hard one. With your continued support, I think we are taking the first successful steps of that journey.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XaQ7TJwDtA-8lqwGkwd8qZXMGIuihBgx/view
We are grateful for the support we received. We know our report and proposal are detailed documents that some won’t want to read - do take a look at our video and diagram which set out the main points.
We will be taking forward work this month (albeit without funding for the start) and will aim to achieve the outcomes over the remaining duration of the project. We will keep you posted on progress and please do comment on our project if you have issues you would like us to consider
Walter
Cheers
CaptAhab
Dash used as currency in the UK. Voting YES.
Would prefer more high flow businesses rather than jewellery. You are setting foundations for successful retail adoption.
I think one key to this is the availability of fully-integrated Point-of-Sale solutions that won't cause additional queuing. This can happen when PoS vendors integrate Dash payment within the solutions that retailers already own. Brand new solutions will of course take much longer to penetrate established retailing.
For a currency to be viable you need customers who want to buy and merchants who want to sell. Many projects are working on consumer adoption - all good work in progress.
When speaking to merchants we confirmed that they think about who their additional customers will be when they accept Dash. Merchant perception of the current profile of potential customers is that customers with Dash to spend are relatively few in number but high in wealth.
With this profile the volume of sales is likely to be low so, to be worth a merchant’s initial investment, they need to be high in value. This is why the luxury markets are so appealing at this stage.
Merchants also worry about how quickly a transaction can be performed. Hence we are not focussing, for the moment, on such sectors as fast food and commodity essentials.
We are intending to continue work within Jewellery and look outside to sectors that fit these criteria.
We hope through our proposal and video we have set out our plans which are informed by our first project
Our report highlights insights into attitudes that we are sure will be helpful to many other project owners and it is really pleasing to see it is already helping others in the community
Fingers crossed for increases in our yes votes over the next few days. It is a stressful process!
We have a clear plan on next steps and are keen to get going.
thank you very much for your proposal. I will gladly vote yes. Your research from your previous proposal was very insightful for me and helped me relate the troubles which German vendors have. I'm looking forward to seeing the DASH Gold and Jewelery Cycle in action!
Best Regards from Germany
AnCapitol
@All:
I really don't get why this proposal hasn't been voted on so much. Did you guys read his Market research? No? Then do it now. The 25 Pages are really worth your time, if your interested in on boarding businesses in your area:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XaQ7TJwDtA-8lqwGkwd8qZXMGIuihBgx/view
Did you read the detailed 17 page proposal? Who else is trying to get a fully running DASH Cycle going? Please reconsider your NO votes. Real Business bring value to our network, not the nth Marketing scheme.
I would have liked to have information displayed only to Dash-er (I know there not an available option for that right now right now).
Do you think this is more of a perception issue from the businesses themselves? Are they open to onboarding customers and recommending as payment at POS? Thank you.
On a lesser note, the reports need to easier reads.. Hard to read so much text. Voting yes..
But the Intel is really worth it's DASH.
This new budget proposal seems to be a good way of tackling the issues that came to the surface and i have hope this approach will indeed lead to more merchants integrating Dash into their buisinesses.
You have my support, good luck.
When voting for this, please also consider that the United Kingdom is one of the big three marketing pushes / experiments that Core is pursuing; Spain, United Kingdom, and Venezuela. As such, proposals like this deserve special consideration.
So that people can see it more clearly.
I think it's a little fuzzy.
Thank you.
Our project is not entirely measurable by financial input and outputs. Much of our work is preparing the ground for Dash through promotion which in the long term will result in adoption but not necessarily in the time frame of the project.
But asking the question “what do we get for 316 Dash” is an important one for us to answer and not one to be ducked.
This is a fundamental project for Dash, because if Dash is to be adopted, as a currency, the businesses we are talking to have to adopt it, and be happy to do so.
The sector is probably more conservative than most, and not that impacted by online sales and technology. But is very important to the consumer as a solid way for them to exit crypto with a tangible asset, in some gold or jewellery. These companies are not the low hanging fruit, in Dash adoption terms, and that is good because it allows us to get to the pinch points on adoption faster and get to work on these earlier.
The potential ROI is huge. If one outcome of this project, that the Trade Association incorporates Dash transactions into its best practice codes, then the ROI is vast. Because it not being covered was a huge deal for merchants we surveyed, that would have stopped merchants venturing into Dash almost 100%. So by opening that door, it has an ROI of all the potential future transactions in the sector in crypto! Let's be conservative and say in a few years, 0.1% sales are in Dash, then the ROI on this project’s 316 Dash, is 0.1% of £7.5Bn (Turnover of the sector) per year, year after year.
At a more basic level, if after this project the sector has an increased awareness of Dash as a currency, some merchant adoption and a potential sign up of an ISV then that is a huge win. Because as cryptocurrencies mainstream in the months and years to come, it will be Dash this sector naturally goes to.
Escrow leads to centralization. Let's try to keep this system as decentralized as possible. Core has enough work in dev, let's not burden them with the legal responsibility of centralization.
There isn't really a reason for us not applying escrow - we just didn't and don't really see the need. We have a proven track record on delivering and are experienced at budget management throughout out careers.
I trust our updates and reports demonstrate our professional approach and our commitment to taking this work forward in the UK with a sector we have started to develop positive inroads into with Dash.
This is an important project that needs to be taken forward in the UK - without some dedicated focus on Dash in this sector and a roll out to a new sector we really do worry Dash would be missing a good opportunity we have prepared the ground for.
Sorry you have decided to vote no. Thank you for your time considering it.
Link current full budget proposal : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1th5VfWIPxCycxlYMBtZXSWv5WejAabcQ/view
Link previous full budget proposal : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XaQ7TJwDtA-8lqwGkwd8qZXMGIuihBgx/view
and Jewellery Sector” is complete and the report is available here (link to pdf). All milestones and measures of success were
met - with an increased awareness of Dash within this business community and its Trade Association, an
understanding of the barriers to adoption of Dash by this sector and an identified group of existing businesses from
our integration studies who are interested in becoming Dash merchants."