As you may (or should) know, Globee is a payment processor that accepts Monero among other cryptocurrencies. Our focus has largely been on Monero, for obvious reasons. Recently we were approached with an opportunity, by one of our business partners, to integrate with a series of very high profile merchants. Because of the scope and requirements, we are doing an FFS to raise half of the money required, whilst Globee will be putting in the other half.

Why is this good for Monero?

The merchants that will be accepting Monero will also talk about accepting Monero, which will have a material impact on Monero. This is a major coup, as these are merchants who currently do not accept any type of cryptocurrency. Their target demographic is extremely broad, but largely consists of younger people who are smartphone-entrenched, but aren't necessarily technical.

The integration will be Monero only, through a custom Globee interstitial that doesn't allow you to switch to other currencies.

This will also change the talking points about Monero somewhat; instead of journalists being interested in why Monero's price has gone up, or which darknet market is accepting it, they will have something else to talk about.

Accepting Monero is pointless, why bother?

One of the things that we'll be doing with these merchants is having unique and exclusive items that you can only purchase with Monero, thus strongly encouraging people who are not at all familiar with cryptocurrencies to figure out how to buy and use Monero. This will expose millions and millions of people, all over the world, to the process of getting into cryptocurrencies, and particularly to the process of using Monero.

Of course, this isn't a fantastic user experience right now, which is why we'll work closely with MyMonero and other thin wallet apps to make sure they are in the App Stores and ready for when this goes live. Additionally, we'll work with the community to make sure that there are video tutorials and blog posts demonstrating how to purchase and use Monero.

Will Globee make money from this?

Yes. Globee makes money from fees charged to merchants. It is for this reason that Globee will (excuse the pun) pony up half the funds. Because of the effort involved, and the fact that Globee has to pay its bills and is treating this as a loss-leader, Globee is committing to fund recovery in the following manner:

The first 4500 XMR Globee makes in fees will go to Globee to cover operating costs

The next 9000 XMR Globee makes in fees will be split as they come in, half will go to the general donation fund and half will go to Globee to cover operating costs

Anything thereafter (if that much is even made) will be for Globee's benefit

Of course, as a Monero company that makes money from Monero's existence, Globee supports Monero development. It is unsurprising, then, that Globee pays for one of the Monero contributors to work on Monero full time.

What is the timeline for all this?

We expect to have the first of these merchants fully integrated and ready for the December holidays.

Why do you need so much money?

Most of it (65%) is going to the merchants to cover their integration costs, legal fees, and marketing fees. A portion (25%) is going to the company facilitating this, as they are going to spend a lot of time working with the merchants, as well as putting together Monero FAQs and facilitating everything. A third portion (10%) will be set aside and used for general marketing for this effort, as well as some formal PR with a PR firm.

Globee is putting up half of the amount we need, so this FFS is only for the second portion. It is a LOT of money, but I think that the value in doing this is going to be infinitely larger. Moreover, if we don't pursue this, then this opportunity will be offered to other cryptocurrencies, many of whom are centralised and can tap into premines (and other mechanisms) to do this, and this is not an opportunity that will ever be repeated.

There is some time pressure on this, if we want to start launching these by the December holidays, but Globee putting up half of this is enough to get started.

Why the secrecy?

Revealing any details might allow others to get ahead of this opportunity, so we unfortunately need to keep it secret.