Today I would like to announce an exciting and major update coming to COIN.

As you may know, COIN launched as an “XYO Geodapp”. The idea centered on creating a fun game-like app. Something to incentivize people to leave the app running while they’re on-the-go. The goal was to get a large number of users. Then we’d integrate XYO’s Core Technology into the COIN app. As a result, we’d have thousands of edge nodes feeding the XYO Network data.

Since launching COIN on February 6, 2019, the app has experienced impressive growth. In fact, it’s taken on a life of its own. COIN has built an amazing community. It’s shown itself as being a business in-and-of-itself (not a mere vehicle to get XYO edge nodes out there).

Here’s a graph showing COIN’s impressive growth this past year:

Since the time it launched, the digital currency powering COIN has been XYO. This XYO rewarded has come from something called the “Cryptoeconomic Reserve”. Here’s a refresher on the XYO Cryptoeconomic Reserve (from the Lime Paper):

We conducted the XYO Token Main Sale from March 20, 2018 — May 20, 2018. A total of 14,198,847,000 XYO was distributed. The rest of the XYO Tokens were burned. During the XYO Token Sale, a pool of XYO was created, called “The Cryptoeconomic Reserve”. “The goal of the Cryptoeconomic Reserve is to provide incentives to network

participants in order to jump-start the foundation of the network.” The Cryptoeconomic Reserve is intended for the following items: 1. Incentivizing blockchain developers to create dApps that interact with XYO. 2. Incentivizing Geominers (Operators of the four types of XYO Nodes: Sentinels, Bridges, Archivists and Diviners) 3. Incentivizing XYO Token usefulness and network activity 4. Facilitating decentralization amongst nodes 5. Incentivizing artificial intelligence in edge nodes (Sentinels and Bridges)

With COIN, we’ve tapped the Cryptoeconmomic Reserve to encourage growth. We now have 76,000 monthly active Geominers using COIN! This is quite an achievement! Our entire team and community should be proud of this feat. The experimental idea behind “crypto token economies” centers on incentivizing behavior. We’ve made this not a “hypothetical”, but have proven that it actually works.

COIN’s Mission

After many lengthy debates, the COIN team identified the mission of COIN as follows…

The mission of COIN is to provide an easy way to earn crypto.

That seems like a simple statement, right? To the naked eye, yes. But I will tell you that each word in that statement was carefully chosen. We debated every single word. We traced each word down the rabbit-hole defending why this is COIN’s mission.

Mission statements are important. They provide clarity on what we’re even doing. So let’s break a few parts of it down…

First, note the word easy. Whether you’re a fan of us at XY/XYO/COIN, or whether you hate our guts, one thing is undeniable. We’ve introduced more mainstream people to cryptocurrency than any other project (besides Bitcoin). Period. We’ve found the new user experience of cryptocurrency to be too complex. Even today! Many projects don’t even bother educating new crypto users. We’ve always put the educational responsibility on our shoulders. Our philosophy has always been to make the new user experience of crypto as easy as possible. COIN’s mission holds this as something we value, and something we’ll continue to focus on. The word easy is there for a reason.

Next, note the word earn. With COIN, we aim to provide our users with ways to earn crypto in exchange for certain actions. Not to “buy”, or “trade”, but to provide ways to “earn”. The very first action we focused on was getting users to share their location-based data in exchange for rewards (aka “Geomining”). Then came the action of earning crypto via Geodrops (moving to specific locations). Next came earning crypto via “Geoclaims” (purchasing a stake in geographic areas). The key linking these actions together is the word “earn”. The word “earn” will continue to be something COIN focuses on, which is why it’s a part of our mission.

The Question That Kept Popping Up, Over and Over and Over…

Now that you know a little bit about COIN’s mission, the next question is, “Why does COIN use XYO as its native digital currency?” After all, XYO’s mission centers on building a decentralized network of devices. A network that collects and validates geospatial data. Our goal with XYO centers on creating a people-powered network. The ultimate use-case centers on providing confident data. A core focus is on geospatial data (i.e. location data). The aim is to solve one of the shortcomings of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). The most common GNSS being, of course, GPS.

In the beginning, using the XYO Token in COIN as its native digital currency was a good way to jump-start its growth. With 76,000 monthly active users today, it’s clear it did work! Yet as we thought-through the long-term vision of COIN, we kept coming back to the question:

“Why does COIN use XYO as its native digital currency?”

This question tormented us for months! We’d have an intense multi-hour whiteboard session, and we’d come away with an answer we felt certain was correct. Yet, a few weeks later, we’d run into another issue, and ask the question yet again. We’d end up having the same exact debate, but we’d come up with the exact opposite answer than the previous time! It went on like this many times over the past few months. Honestly, it frustrated the hell out of me! Constantly flip-flopping is hard. Especially on such a major component of our business. Yet we finally came to a conclusion we’re confident is the right route. We believe it will have the greatest benefit to COIN users and XYO Token HODL’ers.

Moving Towards COIN’s Mission Bit-by-bit (Pun Intended)

If you didn’t catch it, last week we launched a major update to COIN. We introduced the “Redeem Screen”. Here’s a picture of it below:

This hasn’t gotten much attention, but it’s a significant change. It’s a shift that moves us closer to our mission. Specifically the part in our mission statement about “earning crypto”.

One other keyword in the mission of COIN is “to provide the easiest way to earn crypto.” The mission of COIN is NOT to provide an easy way to earn XYO; rather, it’s to provide an easy way to earn crypto. This is an important distinction.

The roll-out of the Redeem Screen moves us closer to the mission of COIN. With last week’s release, one can use COIN to earn two other crypto assets besides XYO: Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH).

If anything, this change hurts us at XY because the XYO earned in COIN comes from the Cryptoeconomic Reserve. Meaning it doesn’t cost us at XY money “out-of-pocket”. But with the introduction of Bitcoin and Ethereum, it means it now does. Yet, we decided to go do this because it’s what adds the most value and benefit to our COIN users. And that’s our top priority.

Now you have some background on the thought-process going on behind-the-scenes. This brings us to the exciting, major update coming to COIN…

In the upcoming update, COIN will be powered by its own native digital currency, called… COIN!

One of the biggest complaints we hear about COIN is the declining price of XYO.

It’s been important to grow the XYO Network by rewarding users with XYO from the Cryptoeconomic Reserve. Yet, it has proven to also have some negative downsides. When users earn XYO while using COIN, it increases the supply of XYO in the market if the user withdraws their XYO. As a result this could have been a significant factor in the declining price of XYO on the market. The declining price of XYO makes XYO Token holders disconcerted (no shit, Sherlock!)

By introducing new XYO supply to the market, not only does it negatively impact XYO Token Holders. It negatively impacts the experience of COIN. Having XYO as the native digital currency hurts COIN users. XYO’s price fluctuates, so your earnings today could cut in half tomorrow. The declining price of XYO makes the rewards they earn while using COIN less worth it over time.

Until now.

Our goal is to stabilize the rewards for users. By switching to a native COIN digital currency, we are putting the control in your hands. You will now control whether you want your earnings exposed to the market fluctuations of crypto.

In the upcoming update, we will be introducing a native digital currency for COIN. The name we’ve settled on is… COIN! This switch will result in a more stable delivery of rewards.

This change puts the power in our users’ hand. You can decide to hold the COIN you earn in the app, if you think the price of the crypto will go down. Or, if you think the price of crypto will go up, you can redeem it using your earned COIN! You now get to choose whether you want the rewards you earn exposed to the volatile crypto market prices!

Here’s what the Redeem Screen will look like with the COIN native digital currency (instead of XYO):

This is good news for XYO Token HODL’ers because it means the XYO Token you hold won’t be distributed by default in COIN. Rather, the XYO Token will move towards its designed purpose of rewarding users for actions important to the core XYO network.

This is good news if you’ve been a long-time COIN user because it means you’ve been an opportunist. You Geomined XYO in COIN during the early days while you still could! XYO is a fixed-supply asset. This means it’s scarce. We can’t print more. With this change, XYO may likely become even more of a scarce asset.

This is good news if you intend to continue being a long-time COIN user in the future. The rewards you generate after this update, won’t tether itself to the XYO price. And thus you will not face the risk of continuing to decline unless you choose to redeem your COIN for crypto.

Basically, it’s good news for everyone.

FAQ’s

Last, let’s cover the most immediate questions you may have involving this update.

1. What will happen to the current XYO I hold in the COIN App?

Effectively, nothing! After the update, your in-app XYO will be converted to COIN. But you will still be able to redeem it for the same amount of XYO you held.

Here’s an example to help illustrate:

Y̵o̵u̵ ̵h̵o̵l̵d̵ ̵1̵0̵0̵,̵0̵0̵0̵ ̵X̵Y̵O̵ ̵i̵n̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵C̵O̵I̵N̵ ̵a̵p̵p̵.̵ ̵A̵f̵t̵e̵r̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵u̵p̵d̵a̵t̵e̵,̵ ̵t̵h̵i̵s̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵c̵o̵n̵v̵e̵r̵t̵e̵d̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵1̵2̵0̵,̵0̵0̵0̵ ̵i̵n̵ ̵C̵O̵I̵N̵ ̵d̵i̵g̵i̵t̵a̵l̵ ̵c̵u̵r̵r̵e̵n̵c̵y̵.̵ ̵I̵f̵ ̵y̵o̵u̵ ̵w̵i̵s̵h̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵r̵e̵d̵e̵e̵m̵ ̵i̵t̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵ ̵X̵Y̵O̵,̵ ̵y̵o̵u̵ ̵c̵a̵n̵ ̵d̵o̵ ̵s̵o̵ ̵v̵i̵a̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵R̵e̵d̵e̵e̵m̵ ̵S̵c̵r̵e̵e̵n̵.̵ ̵Y̵o̵u̵ ̵c̵a̵n̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵n̵ ̵w̵i̵t̵h̵d̵r̵a̵w̵ ̵i̵t̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵o̵r̵i̵g̵i̵n̵a̵l̵ ̵1̵0̵0̵,̵0̵0̵0̵ ̵X̵Y̵O̵ ̵y̵o̵u̵ ̵h̵e̵l̵d̵.̵ ̵Y̵o̵u̵ ̵c̵a̵n̵ ̵e̵v̵e̵n̵ ̵c̵h̵o̵o̵s̵e̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵r̵e̵d̵e̵e̵m̵ ̵i̵t̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵ ̵B̵i̵t̵c̵o̵i̵n̵ ̵(̵B̵T̵C̵)̵ ̵o̵r̵ ̵E̵t̵h̵e̵r̵e̵u̵m̵ ̵(̵E̵T̵H̵)̵,̵ ̵i̵n̵s̵t̵e̵a̵d̵!̵ ̵(̵T̵h̵e̵ ̵e̵x̵a̵c̵t̵ ̵a̵m̵o̵u̵n̵t̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵s̵u̵b̵j̵e̵c̵t̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵c̵h̵a̵n̵g̵e̵ ̵d̵e̵p̵e̵n̵d̵i̵n̵g̵ ̵o̵n̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵p̵r̵i̵c̵e̵ ̵o̵f̵ ̵X̵Y̵O̵ ̵b̵e̵t̵w̵e̵e̵n̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵t̵i̵m̵e̵ ̵y̵o̵u̵ ̵d̵e̵c̵i̵d̵e̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵r̵e̵d̵e̵e̵m̵ ̵y̵o̵u̵r̵ ̵C̵O̵I̵N̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵ ̵X̵Y̵O̵)̵.̵

2019–10–21 UPDATE (For Clarity)

Below is an updated example which should provide a bit more clarity on what to expect after the COIN native digital currency rollout:

You hold 100k XYO in the COIN app. After the update, this is converted to 100k COIN, but could be worth 120k XYO (depending on the underlying price of XYO at the time).

2. What does this mean if I’m a Plus User, Pro User, or Master User?

Nothing changes here! Your reward bonuses as a Plus, Pro or Master user will still apply to the new COIN native currency.

3. Does this mean I should expect to earn less now using COIN?

Nope! You will not earn less. And on top of this, your in-app earnings will not be subject to a decrease in value if the price of XYO goes down.

4. Is COIN a cryptocurrency? Also, how can I look up the value of COIN on sites like CoinMarketCap?

COIN is not a cryptocurrency but rather an in-app digital currency redeemable for cryptocurrency (XYO, BTC and ETH).

5. What does this mean for XYO?

It’s good news for the XYO Network. It’s also hopefully good news for the price of XYO! The XYO Network is focused on becoming a people-powered geospatial network. With this change, it will add even more focus for the XYO Network. XYO Tokens will now move back towards being used for their designed purpose. That is, to incentivize use directly within the XYO Network ecosystem.

XYO is a scarce asset and will continue to be scarce. Further, XYO will now potentially be even more scarce. This should hopefully ease a healthier token price economy.

In case it’s not obvious, this might be a good time to buy XYO while the price is low.

Here’s a detailed video walkthrough for how to buy XYO on the Kucoin exchange: https://medium.com/xyonetwork/kucoin-update-buying-xyo-on-kucoin-2-0-926788833508

All, in all, this is a major update. Our team is excited about this change! It’s been something we’ve inevitably needed to do. With the update, we’re excited to see how this benefits COIN users, XYO Token Holders, and our entire community.

We realize this may cause some FUD, and meltdowns on the socials, so we’ll be making sure to watch things closely. Please feel free to comment below, tweet us, post on our Facebook page, Telegram, etc. with any questions.

Thanks and press on!

Warm regards,

Scott Scheper

CMO, XY — The Persistent Company