WaBi — digital token backed by safe products



Independent Token Analysis



Source: wacoin.io website

Welcome to a guided tour of WaBi analysis!

First, we need to find several criteria. I will not make those criteria objective, impersonalised or anything like that: this will be a view of a live person with systematic approach, but also with like/dislike attitude. We will research following key aspects and estimate them:

Idea and vision: what is the intended use of the token? Is it viable and cool? Is the area crowded?

what is the intended use of the token? Is it viable and cool? Is the area crowded? Plan/roadmap: Is there plan for 3–5 years? How much is it done? How will the ICO money be spent?

Is there plan for 3–5 years? How much is it done? How will the ICO money be spent? Team and company: who is gonna build it? Do we know those people and do we like them? What is the jurisdiction?

who is gonna build it? Do we know those people and do we like them? What is the jurisdiction? Product: can we see it, does it work and is it actively built? Is it secure and reliable?

can we see it, does it work and is it actively built? Is it secure and reliable? Whitepaper: did you read and understand it?

We will try answering to all those questions and estimate how much we like all the answers. Based on those 5 numbers, we will do a round up for WaBi.

Idea and Vision of WaBi

Source: wacoin.io website

Screenshot tells us, you will be able to buy some “Walimai protected products” using those tokens.

Walimai is an RFID label attached to an “important to be genuine” product. It can be checked to be non-fake using a simple iOS/Android app. WaBi will be used to buy such items — using this mobile app. It seems good that already existing app will bootstrap initial WaBi users.

I hope, you are already thinking, why do not they just use Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin? Well, the idea is a little beyond simple payment system. Here are several quotes from their white-paper:

… every consumer who scans the Walimai label becomes a miner who is rewarded for their contribution with WaBi tokens.

“How WaBi can be used”, from WaBi whitepaper

“Bootstrapping coin adoption”, from WaBi whitepaper

This is how they show, that WaBi will be more than just for payments, so customers will actually tend to use WaBi to buy genuine goods. Is it viable and cool? Looks like, yes. Is this a crowded area? Yes, everybody likes buying something online.

Plan/Roadmap

Vision chapter sholud have already given us a hint on WaBi’s plan, but in terms of dates, it is as follows, based on white-paper:

Dec, 2017: start using WaBi to buy/sell those Walimai-protected goods; Establish more partnerships for baby food, alcohol and pharmaceutical products in 2018; Extend WaBi use for loyalty programs, insurance companies in 2019;

The plan exists for 2 years and looks good. On the other side, it is totally dependent on the amount of various goods that will be really marked with Walimai. If this grows, WaBi will grow. Besides, I am not really sure, why would insurance companies be interested in WaBi, since I have never heard about fake insurance contracts. Also, their ideas don’t go beyond 2019, so planning timeframe might be small.

The money is for:





“PreICO and ICO”, from WaBi whitepaper

ICO money and token usage, from WaBi whitepaper

In short, I do not like the idea of optionally buying back preICO tokens and using PreICO to do ICO. Walimai seems to be a good business. If you believe in WaBi, why not just spend some Walimai’s money to do ICO?

Other concern is they will push the ICO money to thier main business, Walimai and do not exactly state how. I’d be happy with: “20% will be spend to buy new types of goods and see how we can sell them”, “80% will be …”. Although, WaBi and Walamai depend on each other, I would like to see a more diversified token, that could be adapted to sell any good, rather than only Walimai-enabled things.

Besides, they will give $2mln to themselves (d), and keep 35mln tokens for consumers (e).

Overall, the plan is clear but has some odd steps and concerns. It looks like Walimai is more beneficial from this plan, rather than WaBi token itself, although their success is linked.

Team and company

We’re already got to know what Walimai does pretty well. There is a short video fragment on their site, where “one of Walimai founders presenting to prime ministers Li Keqiang (China) and Dmitry Medvedev (Russia).”

Everything in Walimai’s LinkedIn is 3 weeks old, and it has 12 people there.

Walimai is based in China with high regulatory risks, but WaBi will be (is?) outside China, in Singapore. So they will keep all crypto-activities outside China. Possibly, due to this, WaBi is not mentioned on Walimai’s site.

As for the team, everything looks good and 4 advisors are there. Except no one is specifically focusing WaBi (this is Walimai’s team), and their single “Blockchain lead” does not work in Walimai or WaBi at all. This might be just a forgotten profile.

Product

iOS Walimai app hasn’t received enough reviews, Android app has 100–500 installs. This is not massively used app, although it has 5 five-star reviews.

There is nothing to see specifically for WaBi.

Whitepaper

The whitepaper is good and understandable. The only concern (besides ones already mentioned based on its contents) is the following footer on every page:

Strange footer in WaBi whitepaper

Of course, I am coming from your site, guys. I would like to see the final version.

WaBi Round up

Idea and vision: (like) for bootstrapping users and idea itself; (concern) for strong dependency between Walimai and WaBi;

(like) for bootstrapping users and idea itself; (concern) for strong dependency between Walimai and WaBi; Plan/roadmap: plan is not rich, ends in 2019. Progress is less than 10%, as I see situation currently. (concern)

plan is not rich, ends in 2019. Progress is less than 10%, as I see situation currently. (concern) Team and company: Walimai team is actually listed, with one “blockchain lead” and 4 advisors. (concern)

Walimai team is actually listed, with one “blockchain lead” and 4 advisors. (concern) Product: Walimai app is ready, but not massively used. Nothing related to WaBi can be seen. (concern)

Walimai app is ready, but not massively used. Nothing related to WaBi can be seen. (concern) Whitepaper: (like), with small concern in the footer.

Overall, the idea and implementaion plan are good, but to me there are too much concerns. In my perfectionist’s eyes this is more a tool, rather than a game-changer.