Request Ecosystem Update February 2023
Hey Request community,
Welcome to the Request Network ecosystem update for February 2023.
Request Network Ecosystem Update focuses on protocol usage and our vision to build an ecosystem of decentralized apps for payment requests. Here you will find our ecosystem update, major news and announcements, network usage and community events.
Request Finance is the first successful app/company of the Request Network ecosystem used to generate, track and pay invoices, serving more than +2,000 companies, DAOs, freelancers, and web3 native projects such as The Sandbox, Aave, and The Graph.
For a glance at how integrating with the protocol looks like, check out ‘Request Finance in numbers’, which focuses on reviewing the Request Finance application’s usage metrics, an example being the cumulative value of crypto payments made through the app.
Ecosystem Update
TransferableReceivable NFTs
ETHDenver 2023 saw the introduction of TransferableReceivable NFTs, previously referred to as RequestNFTs. This innovation allows payment requests created via the Request protocol to be transferred such that the holder of the NFT becomes the payee of the payment request. This unlocks a new range of possible applications, most notably web3-native invoice financing and factoring. This innovation was the result of months of work by Huma Finance to support their ETHDenver 2023 MVP launch.
So far, the ERC20TransferableReceivable feature (including minting, payment, and payment detection) has been merged into the core Request Network codebase. It supports ERC20 requests.
Ideas for next steps include:
- Support native token requests and conversion requests (denominated in USD but paid in digital currency)
- Consider a burn mechanism for after a request is paid in full
- Fractionalization support
- Senior/Junior traunch support with the Junior traunch serving as the first loss piece
Add Stakeholder to Payment Request
Over the past few months, Request Network has developed the ability to share encrypted payment requests with new stakeholders after the request is created. This is an important milestone in our efforts to build an ecosystem of financial applications on top of Request Network. It enables web3-native income-backed credit and risk assessment, a critical building block for invoice financing and factoring.
Payment requests on the Request protocol can be stored in the clear, unencrypted, meaning that anyone can read them. In practice however, payment requests are almost always encrypted, such that only stakeholders of the request can read them. For example on Request Finance, all invoices are encrypted before they’re stored in IPFS and hashed on-chain (Gnosis Chain). Access is limited to the counterparties and the Request Finance team.
The current AddStakeholders implementation allows sharing an entire request. This is a good first step, but it raises privacy concerns: not every piece of request metadata is needed for every application. To allow for privacy selective disclosure where only the relevant parts of a request are shared.
The next steps are to:
- Implement the AddStakeholders feature in the Request Create app
- Prototype selective disclosure using separate encryption channels or ZK proofs for each piece of metadata within a request.
Grant to Copra Finance
The Request Foundation has approved a grant of $12,000 for Copra Finance, to develop a protocol for users to borrow future invoice income using NFTs.
Copra aims to provide the platform to allow any individuals and organizations to collateralize their on-chain future income as NFT, to borrow against.
This is a new use case for on-chain income based financing for the protocol, whereby borrowers will create new invoices on Request and borrow against them using newly minted NFTs.
The grant will be delivered in the following tranches;
- $1,000 at the project launch
- $1,000 on completion of Phase 1 (Closed beta)
- $10,000 on completion of Phase 2 (Public launch) and the first real end-to-end use of this integration
Copra consists of 3 full time and 3 part time employees, and we wish the team best of luck delivering their MVP in the coming months.
Major News and Announcements
New Protocol Lead
Francisco Pinto joined during the month of March as the new Protocol Lead. Francisco has been tasked to grow adoption, mainly onboarding new projects developing on top of Request Network Protocol. So far our builders include Request Finance, Huma Finance, and Copra Finance.
Previously Francisco worked in Process and then Product Engineering and created a web3 startup called XCROW, a platform for social disputes designed to settle social disagreements using smart contracts.
Francisco spends his free time reading about different subjects, mostly business, finance, and psychology books, actively participating in web3 communities and advising small businesses. Also, he is currently advising a decentralized recycling and waste treatment protocol designed to protect our water, air, soil, and environment.
Open Roles
Are you interested in building an open, inclusive and interoperable financial future?
A Communications and Community Manager role has opened up to deliver a world-class experience to the communities around Request. This role will require you to be the bridge between the core team and the community, and be able to communicate to a wider public on the use cases possible using Request.
If you believe this role is for you, apply here or reach out to us directly on Discord.
Network Usage in February 2023
Request network transactions (i.e creation of invoices, approvals, rejections of invoices) is illustrated in the above chart. February saw a monthly rise of 43%, totalling 10,169 transactions. The number of transactions is in line with the transactions in 2022. Also the uptick in transactions in February is attributable to activities on Request Create following the official launch of Huma Finance at ETHDenver 2023. The total number of REQ wallets grew to 42,731.
Also worth mentioning is the amount of adoption Request Finance is bringing onto the blockchain. The app has registered cumulative payments of $287million, of which $8.76million in crypto invoices were paid last month in February.
Check out the app here, if you’re interested in having an all-in-one platform to generate, track, and pay crypto invoices.
About Request Network
The Request Foundation’s mission is to re-invent accounting and finance by creating a decentralized network of interoperable apps that promotes transparency and real-time reporting.
We inspire and educate developers, partners, and authorities to use the Request Network and build an ecosystem of financial applications together that is open source, seamless and interoperable.
We’re building a network that connects businesses around the world, giving them ways to make business at the speed of the internet.
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