PoC of Blockchain-Powered Fiat to Crypto Exchange Mobile Platform

Idea feasibility evaluation through comprehensive analysis and PoC

Client and Business Goals

Our EMEA-based client, offering cryptocurrency exchange services, is one of the most trusted Bitcoin and money traders in their country. At that moment, this region had no solutions allowing direct convertibility from USD to the local currency. Striving to be a step ahead of the competitors and deliver better service to users, they came up with an idea to create a specialized blockchain-led exchange mobile platform, capable of serving 300K+ users and compliant with country regulations.

Whereas specificity of the task, the company decided to delegate the platform creation to an external team with ample experience in blockchain development. Taking note of engineering capabilities, underpinned with a strong portfolio of successfully completed projects in the financial sector, AIS Novations stood out of a wide range of competitors and was selected as the contractor.

Solution

The team conducted a comprehensive elaboration phase with involvement of PM and developer, and delivered PoC. During the phase we checked third-party API capabilities, that would ensure smooth fiat to crypto exchange.

When the user passes app registration procedure, he/she purchases local currency, transferring US dollars to the payment system. The system purchases cryptocurrency (USDT) for clients’ USD and displays the available amount in the local currency. To withdraw funds, a user transfers the amount to a friend in the application, or withdraws to the wallet in local currency. When the second option is applied, a user buys local currency for USDT.

To ensure conversion into cryptocurrency and compliance with local and international regulations, the application was to be integrated with Moonpay API and local payment service provider.

System Capabilities

User Module

Two-factor authentication
Identity verification (KYC)
Pin setup
Profile information
Possibility to link a debit card to fund dollar wallet
Fund transfer from user Y to user X
Gaining rewards for new users invitation
Transaction history
Push notifications

Admin Panel

Log in / log out
Search and view registered users
CRUD operations on registered users
Set up of exchange rates
View users’ data and transaction history
Enable / disable user accounts
Tracking users’ transaction statistics and analytics
Edit user profile settings and details

Challenge

The deeper we plunged into the legislative peculiarities of the customer’s country of residence and analyzed the given requirements, the more clearly we understood that not all points outlined by the client can be carried out. The client's fundamental requirement was to convert currency without interim storage on the user's wallet to make transactions more clear and transparent. We conducted comprehensive research, spent extra time checking the alternatives but had to conclude that the legislative peculiarities did not allow direct conversions from one currency to another, while interim funds storage raised doubts from the users' side.

Tech Stack

Flutter
Node.js
React.js
Twilio

MongoDB
Node.js
Nginx

AIS Team

3Software Developers

1Project Manager

1Business Analyst

1DevOps Engineer

1UI/UX Designer

2QA Engineer

Customer location: EMEA

Project duration: 2 months

Results

The AIS team had conducted a high-grade discovery phase with PoC creation. We took into account all the requirements outlined by the customer and elaborated all conceivable ways to address the problem of interim funds storage. After extensive research we had to admit that there were no alternatives that could fulfill the requirements in full and reach the goals set. We gave the client a number of arguments, why the task was impossible, and he decided to stop the development in order to save the effort and investment in the knowingly unsuccessful product.