With the Coronavirus pandemic, 2020 started as a fast transforming dynamic which has rapidly changed our perspective on everything we do. We soon knew that this sociological change, especially in terms of health and finance was here to stay. The global increase in awareness both in our respective countries and daily lives strongly encouraged to change our perception of banks, cash, value transfer and most importantly our actions.
Initially, the pandemic deeply questioned the status quo of business models and once again reminded everyone the importance of digitalization. As BiLira, our working model has always been based on remote working even before the virus. However, with the increasing need for social distancing, we adopted a fully remote policy which has been very effective these past few months. We are happy to share that our team is safe and working to improve our services.
Covid-19 did not only change the way we work but also initiated a strong sociological shift that changed our financial behavior, growing further away from traditional financial services. Given the findings that the spread of the virus is associated with the use of cash in daily transactions, entering a pin code on a POS devices as well as interacting with ATM’s, individuals were incentivized to find and adapt to digital solutions to protect their wellbeing.
As BiLira, we have witnessed this idea come to fruition and users who have taken action to be a part of the new digital age. In this period, we have observed increased user signups on our platform and a tremendous increase in TRYB issuance rates. Most importantly, the global pandemic triggered everyone to be more open-minded and accelerated the timeline for people and institutions to accept digital services to obtain physical goods.
Besides the influence of the pandemic, some discoveries along the way have helped us transition into this new state of awareness around the globe. For example, the concept of “Open Internet” has been a pillar for innovation that provides individuals instant and effortless access to share information and communicate with people all around the world. We imagine a future where personal and institutional finances can be as fast, easy to use and safe. The new primitive known as “Decentralized Finance”, in short, #DeFi, is like the equivalent of open internet for the economy. Financial applications that are freely built on top of blockchains and where individuals can transact by only trusting the code behind it.
Although DeFi is just a spark today, it has the potential to transform the future of finance for all of us. This spark allows people to be in total control of their finances, gives the ability to carry out transfers without intermediaries and use numerous investment instruments that would otherwise be unthinkable without decentralized financial primitives.
With this in mind, the BiLira team opened its doors to the public with the vision to connect anyone who is willing to be a part of the future of open internet and decentralized finance. The first stablecoin on Ethereum backed by the Turkish Lira launched in Turkey, Istanbul during December.
We as BiLira, have determined “transparency”, “stability” and “verifiability” to be the three pillars to building our vision in real world use cases.
After developing the core product for over a year and receiving domestic & global investments we gained enough traction to enter the ecosystem. Once we launched our product to the public our goal was to expand our horizons by increasing the use cases of BiLira with trusted collaborators both in the local and global landscape.
Since the first day we launched, we have been collecting our progress on certain milestones to connect BiLira to anyone who is willing to be a part of the decentralized finance of tomorrow:
- The max total supply of BiLira Token reached 30 million TRYB.
- BiLira was used in transfers cumulatively worth over 350 million TRYB.
- While more than 1500 individuals became users of BiLira’s platform, the BiLira community reached more than 2000 people.
- Approximately 300 digital wallet addresses were used on the BiLira platform.
- Today, the four banks can be used to issue and redeem BiLira, while the number of collaborating payment processors have grown to three.
- The BiLira team has grown from an idea that started with just 3 founders into an innovative startup of more than 12 employees and counting.
- With the great importance we place on current law and future regulations we decided to work with Ünsal Law Firm and BTS Legal to prepare for the future of finance.
- We as BiLira prepare a weekly Turkish newsletter curated to increase the awareness of citizens of Turkey about the developments in blockchain technology and emergence of cryptocurrencies.
As BiLira, we carefully select each company we would like to cooperate with:
We always work diligently for transparent, auditable and secure transactions;
BiLira is listed on 5 exchanges including on local exchange Icrypex with the TRYB/TRY pair, on global exchanges FTX Global and BTSE with the TRYB/USD pair and on decentralized exchanges Uniswap and Kyber Network.
- In February, we collaborated with the popular digital wallet provider Argent in order to offer Turkish citizens the freedom to taste the most simple and secure smart crypto wallet.
- Also in February, we announced our new interface, which started to offer our users the opportunity to connect their digital wallets to the platform with the use of the new Web 3.0 integration which strengthened the UX.
- We are happy to be expanding our DeFi ecosystem with two popular projects Zapper.Fi and Zerion that allows individuals to manage, invest borrow and earn interest on their crypto assets.
- By adding support for DEX Aggregators such as 1inch, ParaSwap and Totle we aim to offer our users the ability to trade at the best price in the market.
- We added “Markets” to the BiLira platform which allows users to track trading pairs that are based on $TRYB or the Turkish Lira. We also added support for connecting more than ten non-custodial wallets including Argent onto the platform for better UI/UX.
- We added new user types to accommodate our growing user base. We know accept users who have a Blue Card, foreigners who have a residency in Turkey, citizens of Cyprus as well as national institution's.
As BiLira we are thrilled to share our knowledge with our community and be a part of an innovative global ecosystem:
- In December 2019, at Webrazzi Fintech Summit our CEO Sinan Koç made a presentation about the future plans of BiLira and our vision for the future of decentralized finance.
- Again in 2019, along with Inkube and Kanyon Joint Idea we officially launched BiLira to the public outlining our project to Blockchain enthusiasts and professionals in Turkey.
- In January 2020, our CEO Sinan Koç spoke on Ekotürk TV about the future of cryptocurrencies and the added value BiLira will provide to Turkish Lira in blockchain space.
- Our CEO Sinan Koç and COO Vidal Arditi were speakers at the panel on Fintech & Blockchain prepared for Wharton MBA students.
- At London Blockchain Week, we had the opportunity to meet the players in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) world and talk about the future of economy with the founding communities.
- To increase the awareness of Turkey about blockchain technology, DeFi and BiLira we started to host a biweekly event called the “ Traditional AMA”. You can watch our past streams on our Youtube channel.
- We also begun a “BiLira Use Cases Video Series” to ease new individuals into the practice of using our products and to answer common questions faced by many of our users.
- Our CEO Sinan Koç was a panelist at the event titled “Stablecoins: The New Currency of Global Trade” organized by the community with FinTech enthusiasts called Smart Investment Forum.
Your perspective on philanthropy will change!
“Can’t an act of benevolence be as easy and fast as sending a text message?”
One of our key missions is to explain the benefits of stable cryptocurrencies for non-profit institutions, organizations and individuals. We have made it a duty for ourselves to inform both charities and donors about accepting donations through cryptocurrencies in order to improve the finances and maximize the social impact of NGO’s in Turkey. As BiLira, we will soon be announcing our newest initiative, a foundation that aims to make an impact with philanthropic blockchain solutions. We are working to disrupt the traditional methods towards helping others by embedding much needed blockchain fundamentals such as transparency into the field.
- As BiLira we collaborated with the Kite Project to develop the necessary infrastructure to offer donations to 25 college students. In doing so, unlike traditional charities we aimed to provide scholarships to students without administrative cuts, overhead costs and totally transparent both to the donor and the receiver.
- With the new foundation to be announced and the Kite Project team we would like to raise awareness in Turkey about blockchain technology and financial freedom. Our plan includes financially and morally supporting projects that share our vision and offering individuals a new way to ask and receive the help they need.
We as BiLira, offer our users the ability to always issue 1 TRYB for 1 Turkish Lira and redeem 1 Turkish Lira for 1 TRYB on our platform. We place the value of transparency above all else. As such we like to ensure that all our progress and developments are open to the public at all times. To track all the transactions that take place on BiLira please visit our Etherscan page: https://etherscan.io/token/0x2c537e5624e4af88a7ae4060c022609376c8d0eb
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Contact Us: hello@bilira.co
