Mark Smith
Lucrisma is a Metaverse-first company whose mission is to offer comprehensive financial services to metaverse & non-metaverse users.
Lucrisma is building compliant financial products over a blockchain which aggregates user’s assets across different metaverses & physical world.
The customers can use their entire portfolio, irrespective of where their assets are located, when they subscribe to the financial products. Our initial products include crypto deposit, Meta Mortgage, crypto loan and a prepaid Visa card.
Here are some of our documents:
One Pager: https://docsend.com/view/2wtxmfhru5jtra5n
Pitch deck (passcode Metaverse): https://docsend.com/view/ymdkr4gpwnwgnbwu
Prototype: https://www.figma.com/proto/c7kbXmuGQee1TDoVlnMLfZ/Lucrisma?node-id=757%3A133335
LCR Tokenomics: https://docsend.com/view/qv2vhaxcg84w4bqr
Litepaper: https://docsend.com/view/86vaa7aamwcnwsp7
Tell us about yourself?
I am a software engineer with nearly 25 years experience in domains like Telecom and FinTech. I have significant experience creating successful startups, including one unicorn (https://2degrees.nz/)). Over the last few years, I have played different technology leadership roles through which I got in-depth exposure to the prevalent technologies in the space of Blockchain (L0, L1 and L2s like Ethereum, Fantom, Avalanche, Algorand and Moonbeam), cryptocurrencies, DeFi, NFTs, web3, metaverse, AI/ML, AWS, and web technologies. Prior to doing Lucrisma, I was a contract CTO for DefyTrends between Jan-March 2022, where I built their data analytics platform to predict crypto trends. Before DefyTrends, I worked for a private Venture Capital (VC) firm in Sugar Land, TX called Edge196 (edge196.com) that invests in Web 3, Blockchain & AI based start-ups. At EDGE196, my work was divided into two streams – To review and evaluate companies that pitched to us for investment. And building an incredible engineering team that delivered multiple projects including a utility cryptocurrency token, a security token, a decentralized launchpad (fundingtree.io), a stable coin and a market place for startups & investor. Prior to joining EDGE196, I was the CTO at a Channel company called Datatel Solutions, Inc. (datatelsolutions.com) where I built a B2B Channel marketplace (www.mydboss.com) and a Channel-focused, multi-hierarchy, blockchain-enabled platform for Commissions, Loyalty, Payments called MaxCentive (www.maxcentive.com). Before Datatel, I co-founded a mobile telecom startup in New Zealand (www.2degrees.nz) and grew it to a billion-dollar valuation and over 23% of the country’s population using its network. During my 8 years at 2degrees, I grew the Technology team from 0 to 223 and gained invaluable experience across multiple skills such as engineering, program management, people management, stakeholder management, customer management etc. The following are some of my career highlights: • Co-founded a unicorn – A startup Telecom company in New Zealand (2degrees Mobile Ltd.) in 2008 and grew it to a billion-dollar valuation with 1400 employees and 24% of country using its network in 8 years. • Selected by CompTIA as one of Top-15 Technology Leaders in USA in 2019 (https://www.comptia.org/newsroom/press-releases/2019/09/03/comptia-names-15-tech-industry-leaders-to-advisory-councils-executive-board) • Elected as the Co-Chairperson for the Blockchain Advisory Council, CompTIA in 2019 and played this role for 3 years, during which I defined the best practices for blockchain implementation: (https://www.comptia.org/councils/industry-advisory-councils/blockchain-advisory-council/members) • Appointed Senior Ambassador for Moonbeam, a PolkaDot parachain (https://moonbeam.network/](https://moonbeam.network/) • Raised $223 million to build a national Telecommunications company in New Zealand, 2degrees: (http://www.trilogy-international.com/2degrees)
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
To have a plan in place for black swan events like the covid outbreak in 2020. We lost a lot of business at Datatel due to not having a crisis-management strategy in place. This led to financial losses and a need to change tracks.
What problem does your business solve?
No company currently offers comprehensive financial services company to both metaverse users and non-metaverse users and allows real-world assets to be collateralized in the metaverse or digital assets (cryptocurrencies and NFTs) to be collateralized for the real world.
A non-metaverse Customer currently has no way by which they can partake in the metaverse economy unless they jump into the metaverse.
Moreover, there is a technical barrier to entry for the average user into the world of crypto, web3 wallets, metaverse etc. The education methods available to an average user are archaic and overwhelming.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
The inspiration behind Lucrisma was an attempt to educate my teenaged son about crypto and the discipline of investment. I couldn’t find any tool or app that would make this process fun and intuitive. We then came across some recent studies that said that Metaverse is poised to grow to a $13 trillion economy with 5 billion Users by 2030. An ecosystem that big requires financial services that are built ground-up for that environment and are crypto-native.
So, Lucrisma was born as a metaverse-first financial services company for both metaverse users and non-metaverse users that will allow real-world assets to be collateralized in the metaverse or digital assets (e.g., cryptocurrencies and NFTs) to be collateralized for the real world. Lucrisma is a MetaFi company that will provide a comprehensive suite of blockchain-enabled financial products, that bridge assets between the real world and the metaverse. Lucrisma will utilize web 3 components, immersive product education, intuitive user experience and products like Meta Mortgage that enable users to take out mortgage on metaverse land against digital assets collateral. In the future, users will be able to setup Meta Mortgage by using real world collateral. Lucrisma’s products like Crypto Deposits, Crypto Loans, Meta Mortgage etc. offer a certain rate of return or loan interest rate to its retail (B2C) and business (B2B) Customers.
To provide a certain rate of return to Customers for their Crypto Deposits, Lucrisma will need to earn a higher rate by investing a component of those assets in high-yield protocols and exchanges. Similar functionality will be built for loans.
To generate profitable returns, Lucrisma will utilize it’s AI/ML based investments portfolio engine to find the best backend protocol (e.g. Aave, Compound etc.) for each investment and loans based on parameters like asset type (BTC, ETH, USDC etc.), amount, term of investment, overall portfolio balance etc.
Finally, the portfolio engine IP will manage its risk by incorporating all the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters and balancing its portfolio across a number of these protocols. Here are a couple of helpful documents: Pitch deck (passcode Metaverse): https://docsend.com/view/ymdkr4gpwnwgnbwu Prototype: https://www.figma.com/proto/c7kbXmuGQee1TDoVlnMLfZ/Lucrisma?node-id=757%3A133335
What is your magic sauce?
Our magic sauce is the infrastructure we are putting in place that will carry out the following functions. All of Lucrisma’s products will be built on top of this infrastructure to deliver compliance, security, and consistency. 1. Unify a user’s identity across different metaverses and the “real” world. 2. Enforce qualification (accreditation or not, as per jurisdiction) and identification (KYC/AML) thus adding only genuine Customers 3. Know Your Transaction (KYT) for all transactions 4. Alignment with ESG principles, which will attract ethical Customers to its ecosystem. Also, Lucrisma’s products cater to a wide variety of people across different generations, gender and experience levels. Being metaverse-first makes it attractive for younger generations, while access through web & mobile app attracts all kinds of users to access them and thus growing the ecosystem and speeding up decentralization. Another big differentiator is our team – We have a big goal and a competent team of Technology, Marketing and Legal experts that can achieve this goal. We understand the importance of Technology but also know that it needs to be aligned with aspects like networks, regulatory compliance and community building. So, in addition to developers, design, lawyer, and marketing, we have appointed two prominent crypto leaders to our Advisory Board. Our Advisory Board members are heavyweights of the Fintech, blockchain and crypto industry:
Manolo Sanchez: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manolosanchezrodriguez/) Nitin Gaur: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-gaur-75571a9/) Our core team is based in USA, Canada and India and includes the following people: Neeraj Satija, Co-Founder and Product (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neerajsatija) Mahesh Sashital, Co-Founder and Technology (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheshsashital/): Mahesh is the founder and president of the Houston Blockchain Alliance, and has led Technology teams at J.P.Morgan and Mercedes Benz Financial. Kamal Patel, Co-Founder and Operations (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamal-p-b900941b8/): Kamal is a blockchain and crypto veteran and an active trader. Kamal’s background includes stints at several Fortune 500 companies.
Blake Rizzo, Legal (https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakerizzo24/): Last 5 years of Blake’s 24 year legal career focused on representing start-ups and high net worth individuals in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Blake’s expertise is in business formation, fundraising and all things crypto. Andrew Higdon, Design (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahigdon/): Andrew is a two decade veteran of the design industry and has worked with some of the biggest brands in the country. Andrew brings extensive design knowledge in crypto, web3 & metaverse. Audrey Nesbitt, Marketing (https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-nesbitt-mba-pmp-0388a52a/)): Accomplished marketing leader in the blockchain, NFT and DeFi arenas, entrepreneur, writer, and proud core member of CryptoChicks (http://cryptochicks.ca/). Our Developers have built several Tokens (utility, security, NFT etc.), and projects in web3, DeFi and metaverse space across multiple chains.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Our competition includes the following companies: TradFi: Merrill Lynch (ml.com/), Fidelity (fidelity.com), BlackRock (blackrock.com) etc. CeFi: Crypto.com, BlockFi (blockfi.com), Nexo (http://nexo.io/), Celsius (celsius.network) DeFi: Aave (aave.com), Compound (compound.finance), Yearn (yearn.finance), Curve (curve.fi) NFT Finance: NFTFi (nftfi.com) We have several short-term and long-term goals and our 5 year goal is to offer a comprehensive suite of financial products, similar to those offered by TradFi companies like Merrill Lynch, Fidelity etc. The big difference with TradFi offerings is that our products will be powered by digital assets and will be available in multiple environments including different metaverses. We have defined a 5 year product roadmap that specifies the timelines of these deliveries. Lucrisma’s initial product offerings of Crypto Deposit and Visa prepaid card will compete against the CeFi companies. Lucrisma’s Meta Mortgage product currently has no competitor but NFTFi.com has partial functional overlap. Currently, there is no MetaFi company that is planning to offer a comprehensive set of financial products and services. This is predominantly because of two reasons – hazy regulatory landscape and technology shortcomings. The regulatory guidelines will become clearer over the next few years and we will have to stay on top of them to ensure we are aligned with them. Our Chief Legal Officer will lead this effort. The technology is also going to evolve and come up with new standards e.g. ability to accurately price a NFT based on its attributes like rarity, collection etc. Since a lot of our products need these technological advancements, in some cases we will build our own and in some cases, we will leverage some partnerships. We currently have the following partnerships but we will forge many more over the next few years: 1. Avalanche – We have received approval to utilize the Avalanche subnet and been given access to their core team for business development, architecture and community development. 2. Arweave – We have been allocated a grant by Arweave and are also part of their next cohort (OWF7) of startups that they are looking to fund. 3. Harmony – We have received a approval for a grant from them based on achievement of certain milestones
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Our biggest challenge has been the ever-changing technological challenges with different L1s and L2s. Initially we considered building Lucrisma’s products on Cardano but had to change our decision due to significant technical challenges and also availability of good experience programmers. We then carried a lot of due diligence on Solana including their technology, community, roadmap etc. We built a proof of concept with Solana but around that same time, the Solana chain suffered two major crashes. So after another round of comprehensive research and another proof-of-concept, we have now finalized on Avalanche. We are deeply engaged with the Ava Labs management and also their wider community.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We have hired a crypto veteran Marketing expert (Ms. Audrey Nesbitt) as our CMO and she has put together a comprehensive marketing plan that has the action plan for building a vibrant community for Lucrisma’s products and services. A brief summary of this marketing plan is including in the pitch deck and the following are some of the high-level tasks it includes: 1. Run marketing campaigns aligned with product releases e.g. 10K club, 100K club etc. These campaigns will target the acquisition of our first 10k/100K customers through special rates, airdrops, NFT avatars, and invitations to special events in the metaverse 2. We have already started building and engaging our community through Twitter, LinkedIn and Telegram 3. We are planning to launch a 24×7 managed Discord channel couple of weeks prior to our Release 1 launch
