MXRT/MartialArtsCoin: a cryptocurrency quest, without an ICO.

I’m Dan. I’m the CEO of a use-case-driven cryptocurrency company, built on the Stellar platform.

I know, “MartialArtsCoin,” the name can throw you off, but hear me out. We are going to capture 20% of the world’s market for martial arts international purchases, domestic and international billing /tuition transactions, event management, game-play with our cross-chain-erc721 collectables, and even sponsor a few fencers, boxers, mma fighters, and kata champions along the way.

Yes? Blah, blah, blockchain, blah blah, censorship resistance, blah. Sounds like a shill from one of those 2017 ICO scams. I get it. Stay with me, and I’ll tell you how we are different, and how we will most-certainly, and specifically, do what I’m claiming, in just a minute.

We really adore the Martial Arts, and we think cryptocurrency is the inevitable future for world commerce, hence, MXRT.

So, why and how? Obviously, a long story, but the tl:dr version is that we are a group of people, evangelists for cryptocurrencies, who have been involved in the Martial Arts business and practice for an average of 30 years each. (I started in 1973, so I’m the old guy)

I’m not a great believer in fate as an ethereal driver of inevitability, but the way this project came together was spooky. Just the mention of the idea that had been keeping me up at night, and more and more of my close friends, and black belt students from back in the day, came rolling back into my life with not just talents and experiences, but specific talents (systems development, digital analytics, banking management, auditing, information security, graphic design, writing, business, project-management, and game-theory) and decades of experience. They all came into the project, and immediately saw the potential to change the world, or at least our little part of it, for the better.

At the same time, after having spent restless nights reviewing white papers, weighing what our goals were, what functions would be required, and what platform would be our best route to this new, unstoppable, more decentralized future. We chose Stellar.

At first I was adamant that we launch a mineable coin (being a miner from the start of my crypto-journey), and perhaps, something with a masternode system to secure the network, but as weeks are like years here in the crypto-community, those concepts seemed almost antiquated for our actual needs by the time the project began to coalesce. The more we all discussed it, Stellar had the specific attributes we wanted for the token, which were:

Speed: Stellar. Try to blink between “send” and the “balance-change” in the receiving wallet on the Stellar network. This applies across borders, across-town, or across the world

Security: Stellar. If you have Ledger hard wallet, it’s gold. Using Stellar’s built in multisig protocol can add an additional element of security, so that even if you accidentally leak your secret key then you’re still as safe as you can be in any cryptocurrency transaction.

Ethics: Stellar. It matters very much to us. Issues such as environmental impact, and sociological impact in the developing world mean something to everyone on our team. Stellar is actively making the remittance market fluid, cheap, and easily accessible to anyone with a phone. The vast population of the Unbanked, both here in the US, and across the globe are served well by micro-transactions, very low fees, and ease of use.

The plethora of scam -coins and their ICOs have done real damage to public acceptance of ethically-developed tokens with specific plans for adoption, and actual use-cases during the past year. We have chosen not to launch an ICO, and to build our currency token organically within the cryptocurrency and martial arts communities. We are in for the long term potential as the world awakens to digital currency. We will build the infrastructure, to be ready, ahead of the coming wave. One cannot hope to ride a wave if one is not ahead of it.

Fun: Stellar is fun! Crypto is fun! MXRT is FUN!

We want to make the user experience, whether a kid, swiping her matching belt-color LUX PayBand® at the front-desk of her dojo, an MMA event attendee, or a gamer, working to collect and to earn points and power, in our MXRT’s Warrior Arts Universe®, Tribes of War®, erc721 collectibles, we want to build an ecosystem that is truly a blast.

So, Stellar it was! And MXRT was born.

“The MXRTplace, and Beyond.”

But how could you convince international suppliers and manufacturers to use weird innernets money to sell in the world-wide marketplace?

How can you convince instructors and martial arts billing companies to forgo the bank-credit card fees, and jump on the MXRT bandwagon?

It’s just a matter of time, and the cycle of adoption. We are early in this process. As the institutional investment grows daily, but slowly, the general public has no idea what benefits surround the use of cryptocurrencies, nor should they, yet. This, and the “tulip-talking fudmeisters” all around, give us plenty of time to get into place for the growing adoption matrix.

At the same time, it was clear that from the development of a MXRT-based online market with escrow, to proprietary software and the use of existing integration devices, we would need to integrate the new cryptocurrency driven technologies that vendors are developing in the areas of point of sale devices, contactless paybands, and various wallet types for actual adoption. MXRT would need to be convenient, easy to use, and as important to a martial arts student, athlete, or MMA event attendee as the Judogi she wears, or the Escrima stick he swings.

Why not just use Stellar?

Good question! Fair question. My answer to that, beyond the infrastructure being constructed specifically around MXRT/MartialArtsCoin, is to ask…

“Why don’t you just wear cut-offs to Taekwondo class?”

“Why not use a broomstick instead of a Bostaff to practice?” (ok. We’ve all done that, bad example.)

“Why not wear a nice leather belt instead of that BJJ obi?”

Because these things are made specifically for the arts, and the combat sports for which they are designed. It’s part of why the paradigm means something. MXRT is designed for you, the New World’s Martial Artist, by seasoned, professional Martial Artists.

I began teaching around 1977, and continued to study, integrate other styles into a rather unique program. I, and my business partner at the time, Damon have owned several studios, and a rather large health club in Brunswick/St. Simon’s Island, GA.

Back in the 80s, I was also a national and regional Martial Arts event promoter, competitor (lucky enough to have been number one in the South for the Fall of 1988) for over a decade.

I had also patented a kick training device back in 1977.

So, the reason for this self-shilling, is to let you know, we grok the business. I/We know it inside and out.

When we saw the opportunity to change the world with the benefits of cryptocurrencies, we jumped in with both feet. 24/7, and without a day off, we consumed every book, video and Reddit post we could. Within a few months, my wife, Tara, and I had built two Ethereum mining rigs, set up a Bitmain, Bitcoin miner, as well as a Burst coin farm.

I have taken-part in many, many ICOs over the last year. It’s informative, and a lesson in why we have no more interest in them.

And so, here we are, ready to launch, and we are in for the duration. And, we say to you, join us! Have some fun. Use cryptocurrency for what it was intended to be used-for.

Gooble-Gobble… one of us!

MartialArtsCoin.io