Unibright has had a very interesting first quarter of 2020 (Haven’t we all!). The team have made solid progress in several areas and now play a leading role in two key Ethereum initiatives; The EEA EMINENT Task force and also Baseline Protocol. Aside from this there have been some key developments in terms of token locks, the token model and the Utility of the token.

Token Usage within the Framework

There is an official blog post, I have written about this, others have spoke about it. There is so much information and discussion about this, yet I am often disappointed to see the same questions coming up again and again and again, even though they have been answered before and in-depth.

The Unibright team is relatively new to blockchain, but so is everyone, and in fact Unibright has actually now been in business for over 2 years now. But the team are not new to business, specifically the process integration sector. They have been in business as SPO.de for over 20+ years, and have an impressive list of clients that they have worked with in the past. The team knows what enterprise want. Their whole business and token model is built around this. You just need to read their Tokenization blog post to realise the wholistic approach they take when launching new ventures. People approach the token model and approach that Unibright have taken with the idea that there is some sort of hidden flaw or secret problem that no one has ever spotted. There are none. IF there was do you think others would not have noticed it before? Or that team would have addressed it? Sometimes it feels like many have a bad taste still in their mouths from other projects. Especially projects where their revenue streams rely solely on reselling tokens on the market for revenue (Something which Unibright does not need to do!).

The token model is designed to benefit all three stake holders within the Unibright Ecosystem; Unibright, Clients and Token Holders. Token holders hold all the circulating tokens, and therefore control access to the framework. UBT tokens are the only way to access the framework. Sometimes people ask what if this or what about changing to to this. No. The only way to access the Unibright framework is using UBT tokens. That’s it. Its simple. It’s not changing.

Once tokens are locked in the framework they are taken off the market. That means they are not sold on exchanges at a later date. Repeat. Unibright do not sell the tokens on exchanges. Clients cannot sell their rebought tokens on exchanges. Once locked in the framework, they can only be used for transactions in the framework. To date, 7,535,000 UBT of the 150,000,000 are locked in the framework.

Why is this good? Well, Token holders and clients can battle it out on exchanges for whatever price they consider fair to gain access to the framework. Unibright and Clients can negotiate with Unibright a rebuy contract (usually 14 cents) to buy more tokens for transactions within the framework. This means Clients can budget for a stable monthly fee (effectively a subscription), and Unibright in return receive a stable and steady revenue stream from the client.

The only variable that ever changes is the initial access to the framework. A lot of people say but won’t it be too expensive etc. in the future for new users if the price goes too high. Well, I have spoke about the savings in development cost, average transactions costs and so on in great depth in the past. But basically, not really, there are mechanisms built into the token model and adoption of the framework that address this. At this current point in time, with the market price of a UBT token sitting at around 10 cents, access to the framework is incredibly cheap. This presents a massive opportunity for companies to be early adopters of blockchain technology. The current price is negligible for a company looking to explore blockchain. Some might argue that this should be the case, as the technology is new and still has more theoretical benefits as a pose to proven ones. Clients are not investing in Unibright, they are buying tokens to pay for a service. Once blockchain is established and benefits are more quantifiable, then more clients are going to be looking for prove, tried and tested blockchain solutions. They will pay a premium for this. This has been the case with previous technologies, and is more than likely to be the case for blockchain.

Now there are a few other scenarios that people often bring up with a kind of “Gotcha” type attitude, mainly due to the deflationary nature of the number of circulating UBT.

What if all tokens are locked?

Firstly, that means that there has been incredible demand for the framework, and the team have definitely built something amazing. Secondly, if you are asking this from a token holders point of view, and getting a bit upset about it, then maybe think carefully about what all tokens locked must mean; it would mean you sold and are no longer a token holder. But then, people raise “concerns” about Unibright and its inability to onboard new clients if all the tokens are locked. Well, firstly, if all the tokens are locked, then the framework is generating approximately $21m per month from rebuy contracts, so I think company is doing great. But secondly, and Stefan himself has said this, if all tokens are locked then the Unibright team is happy. But what happens? Well it has not been decided, but at the point that all tokens are locked, there are no token holders left, which means one of the stake holders in the token model no longer exists. From the point that all tokens are locked in the framework, the token model as it currently exists would no longer be valid.

Why is a token needed?

The token is a voucher for transactions within the framework. It is that simple. An estimator for the MPA template is available on the website to give an idea of tokens needed.

Some argue that having a token, and making clients buy from exchanges adds “friction” to the whole process. To token is the key to access the framework. Once bought on the market, all future payments within the framework can be paid in fiat. Stefan has said many times that requiring a client to buy tokens off the market is not the barrier that many speculators perceive it to be. The biggest barrier towards adoption is in companies seeing benefits of blockchain as a whole. Remember that companies may not be keen for transparency, but as market forces, such as government regulations or consumer pressure, start to push for it then that is the time we will see blockchain start to go mainstream. If a client is interested in blockchain technology, then any persuasion that is needed to get a company to buy a token is negligible.

Some people argue why a stable coin or other cryptocurrency was not used. That kind of misses the point of tokenizing transactions within the framework. Some see it as an opportunistic way to raise funds for the project. There is nothing wrong with using the ICO to raise funds in my opinion. If there had been no ICO you and me would not have the opportunity to invest in the project. All the money has been spent on development and building the ecosystem around the token. The cryptocurrencies collected were cashed out to fiat ($13.5m), and the soft and hard caps were chosen for specific reasons; it was how much they needed to launch the project. With all that said and done, the ICO was two years ago, they have been building and the company is doing well, and is now entering the next stage of life as an established leader in blockchain integrations for enterprise. The token is the only way to access the framework. And that is the way it is. It is not changing!

Freequity Liquidity Pools – A New Utility for the token

Unibright’s 360 degree vision for their security tokenization platform, called Freequity, was shared in late 2019. Since then further blogposts have been shared that go into greater depth on tow of the components; Cryptocurrency Custody and Automated Liquidity. The second of these, the Liquidity pools, highlighted one way in which the new platform would make use of UBT Tokens. Every time a trade is executed against the Liquidity pool an amount of UBT will be needed. What was even more interesting was that in their recent team interview with Nicholas Merten (aka DataDash) Stefan and Marten mentioned that they already have one token issuer signed on to use their solution.

With regards to the custody solutions, and other components of the final framework, the exact way in which they will utilise UBT has not been shared. But what has been shared is that the team plans to launch some of the key components of the platform as stand alone offerings before launching their full service. Custody and Liquidity seem to be the main two for this.

Workshops – Consultancy to educate potential clients is a key utility.

At the end of 2019, following discussions with their lawyers, the team announced that they would accept the UBT as payment for their workshops. Up until that point they had been accepting on fiat. At this point it is worth pointing out that Unibright has been extremely cautious and careful to ensure that it is compliant with all regulations. They have had extensive contact with their lawyers and BaFin prior to launching their ICO, and continue to do so for their Freequity Tokenization platform. Similarly they filed their ICO with the SEC and work to comply with their regulations as well. A further example of their dedication to being fully compliant is that they were the first token to pass the IDEX review process since updating their US listing requirements.

What I am trying to say is that Unibright goes to great length to be compliant, and following this they confirmed that they are allowed to accept UBT in place of Fiat for their consultancy workshops. These workshops cover a wide range of topics, they are bespoke and personalised for clients and their needs. Details on the types of packages they offer can be seen on their website along with prices. Initially UBT was accepted at a rate of 14 cents, no matter what the market price. But as the market price edged past 14 cents, the team restated their view that they value the token higher than the market price and said they would accept the token at a fixed rate of 42 cents. Then, finally, as the price headed towards 30 cents, the team said that instead of constantly revising the price in UBT, that they would accept the token at 2x the fiat value.

We strengthen our statement that we will always value our voucher higher than fiat, and will therefore give a 50% discount when using UBT tokens for our workshop packages (we uprate UBT at twice its current USD market price), until further notice.

This is an incredibly generous offer from the Unibright team, for both token holders and clients looking into blockchain. It helps dispel the myth that the rebuy contract price caps the market price at 14 cents, something that many who only skimmed the token model worried about. But most importantly, it means that there will now always be demand for UBT no matter what the market price is, as there will always be a 50% discount for clients. Following the announcements around Unibrights involvement with the EEA and Baseline Protocol, demand for workshops rose considerably, and the team also introduced a “fast track fee” to be paid in UBT, which further increases the amount of UBT being bought and taken off the market.

Closing Thoughts

There is a lot still to come for Unibright, and the strengths of the token model are yet to kick off fully, but as of 3rd of April 2020 there are a few key points to consider:

- 7,535,000 UBT are locked in the framework

- UBT can be used to pay for bespoke workshops at 2x their fiat value (50% discount for clients)

- Clients are being onboarded, such as the Renewable Energy company Wasserkraft Mittelrhein

- German Government Research proposals were successful, with provisional start date of June 2020

- Freequity discussions with banks and custody are ongoing, but a contract is signed for the Automated Liquidity Solution

- The EEA taskforce "EMINENT" has launched, and resulted in a rise in interest in workshops and what Unibright are doing

- Baseline Protocol has launched, Stefan is on the TSC and the UBT Framework is "Baseline Ready"

And finally, to quote from the end of 2019 summary blog:

You can take our word that we will continue our work with the Unibright Framework and all our additional services . We will always have in mind ways to create additional usage for UBT — heading towards UBT being the “Universal Blockchain Token”!

LINKS

The UBT token is an ERC20 token, used as a voucher for the Framework, and it is the only way to access the Unibright Framework. For further details on the above, I recommend checking out these links:

Official Telegram Chat: @Unibright_IO

Official Website: Unibright.io

Official Medium Account: @unibrightIO

Official Twitter: UnibrightIO