Conventional digital payment systems nowadays are becoming more and more outdated. Cryptcurrencies, while new and disruptive technology, are barely being used as a payment method when you take a look at the bigger picture. The UTRUST platform aims to combat these issues and bring the best out of the two worlds by creating a robust, secure cryptocurrency payment platform.
The UTRUST team, based out of Switzerland, managed to raise nearly $20 000 000 during the duration of their crowdsale.
UTRUST aids buyers by minimizing scam and fraud risks associated with online payments. The platform also acts as an escrow, providing full payment protection while minimizing fees associated with transactions.
For merchants, the platform aims to target a wider, untapped client base in the face of cryptocurrency holders, all while providing the merchants with the ability to receive their payments in fiat, combating the lack of trust associated with cryptocurrency payments.
The UTRUST platform provides value to token holders by burning UTRUST tokens with each transaction, reducing the circulating supply and driving the price of the token up.
The UTRUST platform’s payment processing services enables advanced buyer protection where the transaction is held until it is audited by a platform mediator. It also provides price-fluctuation protection by getting the best market rate and locking the transaction in, defending users from sudden market volatility. The fees associated with using the platform are also some of the lowest in the industry- 1% of the transaction.
The native UTRUST token is used to pay for products/services in the platform. Users who chose to pay with UTRUST are not charged with conversion fees. Each time a buyer uses any cryptocurrency to pay, a percentage of the transaction fee will be used to buyback UTRUST tokens, which will be subsequently burned.
Payment processing is one of the most highly competitive sectors in the industry. Not only is UTRUST competing with platforms like Request and Monetha, but it is also competing, in the grand scheme of things, with an industry giant like PayPal. The company has no working product at this point which puts it at a significant disadvantage. Also, there were some very heavy discounts during the private sale and pre-sale which is always a red flag when it comes to ICOs.
UTRUST’s future is unclear. There is no one practically well-known on the team and they’re lagging behind on development. Only time and the market will tell if there’s interest in the UTRUST platform, which definitely has some unique features for being in the boring sector of payment-processing.
The UTRUST Platform is a payment processor solution that enables merchants to accept multiple cryptocurrencies from buyers while receiving their funds in fiat currency. The project aims to establish our solution as the best in the market, offering a few distinct innovative features:
For Contributors, UTRUST aims to provide an opportunity to fund a platform with real value in its operating business model beyond mere token speculation. The UTRUST token will not only have a role in the UTRUST Platform as an accepted token alongside other cryptocurrencies offering the advantage of fee waivering, but will also be synergistically tied to the platform in a strategic value coupling. Each time a buyer pays with any cryptocurrency via the UTRUST payment platform, a small percentage of the transactional fee is removed from the market and burned in the form of a UTRUST token. This reduces the token supply further driving demand, the adoption of the platform, and the value for contributors. In essence, the higher the volume of transactions in the UTRUST platform, the higher the potential value of the UTRUST token for contributors in the future.
For merchants, UTRUST aims to provide a way to expand their client base and sale revenue by targeting a wider audience of cryptocurrency holders. This untapped market of users has amassed a large number of assets that continue to grow in valuation with limited outlets that stimulate spending. By providing the merchants the ability to receive in fiat currency, they will attempt to tackle one of the major gripes of accepting cryptocurrencies in a highly volatile economy, effectively shielding the merchant against crypto volatility and assuring the amount 11 received for the purchase. Additionally, the project will attempt to mitigate common risks associated with traditional payment methods by removing the possibility of chargebacks, stolen credit card information and fraud.
For buyers, UTRUST aims to minimize the risk of scams and fraud while paying online, providing full payment protection of purchases and acting as mediator of all transactions. The project strives to be the best choice for buyers, by minimizing the amount of service fees for each transaction in comparison to other system. Their goal is to increase the purchasing power of cryptocurrency by providing buyers more and safer outlets to spend their acquired crypto-holdings, which will further drive the variety of merchant offers, expand market consumption and size.
UTRUST is a payment platform that enables buyers to use their favorite cryptocurrency in order to pay sellers (private or merchants). They provide sellers with the safety and convenience of receiving funds in fiat currency, and offer the best consumer-protection to buyers, by acting as trusted mediators. UTRUST aims to combine the best payment protection features of current generation fiat systems with the innovative features of blockchain while blending in the unique features provided by their own token. The project's core aim is to build a next-generation payment gateway allowing buyers to use their favorite cryptocurrency to buy goods and services with confidence from merchants, incorporating a robust PayPal-like consumer protection and dispute resolution scheme. They aim to drive adoption of the API by merchants by providing them a way to receive fiat currency directly from cryptocurrency buyers, shielding the merchant from market volatility and decreasing the risk of accepting cryptocurrency
Credit card and bank transfer options are fairly limited. We'd suggest you buy some ETH or BTC through Coinbase and then exchange it for UTK on either Huobi or Bittrex.
Huobi
Founded in 2013, Huobi is a cryptocurrency exchange with over a million users and more than $1 billion in assets under its custody. Headquartered in Singapore, the company has an international presence. Huobi offers competitive trading fees when it comes to its commissions, as the broker charges 0.2% on major crypto pairs such as BTC/USDT, whether your order is helping to create liquidity or take it away.
Bittrex
Bittrex is a US based exchange founded in 2013 and headquartered in Seattle Washington. The company was founded by Bill Shihara, Richie Lai and Rami Kawach, all three previously worked at Microsoft.
A 0.25% flat commission is applied to all trades. Trading fees are slightly higher on Bittrex compared to the industry average. Additionally, there are neither rebates for higher-volume trades nor incentive models for takers and makers.
As far as hardware wallets go, there are two obvious choices- Trezor and Nano Ledger S.
Hardware wallets are also called "cold storage", they are dedicated wallet devices, often in the form of a USB stick. Just plug it in to an internet-enabled device to transfer assets. Even though transactions are made online, the keys are stored offline. Thus, hardware wallets are one of the most secure methods of storing cryptocurrencies, in addition to being portable. Both Trezor and Ledger devices offer support for ERC-20 tokens, which means that UTK tokens can be stored in both.
Ledger
As for using the Nano Ledger S, the first step towards setting up your device is unboxing and checking if you have received all the accessories with the device. Once you have unboxed your device, you need to configure it and initialize it before being able to use it. The process is quite simple and will hardly take about 20-30 minutes post which you will be set to use your Ledger Nano S device. This video does a pretty good job at explaining how the setup works.
Trezor
As for Trezor, installing is really simple. To properly install it users should attach the unit to the computer. After that continue with installing the bridge which allows the Trezor to join with the computer. The first step is to connect the Trezor to device’s USB slot with the cable given in the box. After that, go to myTrezor.com and proceed with installing the browser extension. Trezor can also be used on Android or an iPhone, or on a Windows or Mac computer. Now, initiate the extension and myTrezor will direct you to pick a PIN. After this, you will notice nine buttons but the numbers are hidden. After this, users should check the Trezor’s screen to recognize which numbers are in which place because it switches every time. Now set the PIN. Shortly after, Trezor should present a 24-word wallet “seed”. In short, one word at a time. Note down this seed and save it carefully. If your Trezor device malfunctions or is lost, you can utilize the seed to reconstruct the complete wallet. This video explains how to set up your trezor quite well.
Trust Wallet
After getting acquired by Binance, Trust wallet has gained even more credibility. Trust is a mobile wallet that supports a plethora of ERC-20 along with UTK, as well as the new ERC-223 tokens. The private keys are only stored locally, and you are also provided with the option to interact with the Ethereum ecosystem and run dApps.
Exodus
Another good example of a desktop wallet that supports UTK is Exodus, which supports numerous other cryptocurrencies along with BAT and is pretty straightforward and easy to use. Just download the app from the official site(exodus.io) and get straight into creating your wallet. Exodus stores your Private Keys on the machine you choose and not on any server, providing you with a relative peace of mind when it comes to the security of your coins.
MyEtherWallet is like the de-facto wallet when it comes to storing ERC20 tokens. It is a web-based open source wallet which stores the data on your machine’s browser. The hardware wallets like Ledger Nano S and Trezor can be integrated to it, which is a very good feature of MEW.
MEW
Simply visit myetherwallet.com and set up your wallet with a method of your choosing, just make sure to store your private key somewhere safe. It's wise to have it written down on paper in case your PC/notebook malfunctions.
The only downside to using an online wallet like MEW is that there are literally hundreds of phishing scams out there to get your eth, so you better double check the address everytime and make sure to watch out for any malicious activity on your browser or PC.
