Last October, Bitspark launched the [Zephyr Token](https://zephyr.bitspark.io/) supported by the [BitShares Blockchain](https://bitshares.org/) with an ICO that raised 1.3 million. The token is part of Project Zephyr, an ambitious plan to redefine the global remittance industry in a way that lowers entry to barrier for local entrepreneurs and increases access to money transfer services for the 2 billion unbanked citizens worldwide.
While there are many different reasons why crypto investors have set their sights on Zephyr, there are a few specific features that undeniably make this cryptocurrency especially interesting including:
* Token circulation tied to network growth and user activity
* 25% buy back mechanism applies positive price pressure
* Zephyr runs on the BitShares Blockchain, the fastest decentralised exchange
Before we get into what makes Zephyr an exciting incentive token, let’s take a quick look at the Project that launched it and why.
# Project Zephyr for a redefined global remittance industry
Currently, [around 2 billion people across developing nations worldwide do not have access to banking services](http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-unbanked-population-in-6-charts-2017-8/#the-vast-majority-94-of-adults-in-oecd-high-income-countries-said-they-had-a-bank-account-in-2014-while-only-54-of-those-in-developing-countries-did-the-middle-east-had-the-lowest-proportion-of-account-holders-with-only-14-on-average-1) and therefore mostly deal in cash. Relatives working abroad send money home for basic living expenses such as food, shelter and education. Today, the options available for sending money to and from [emerging markets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfjrhKGHrZs) are either expensive, slow, unreliable or all the above.
Project Zephyr is [Bitspark](https://bitspark.io/)’s plan to change all that for good by offering a way for [individuals](https://bitspark.io/mobile) to send and receive money that is cheaper, faster and reliable. Using cryptocurrencies as a medium to transfer funds, our services remove the reliance on banks for remittance networks. This means it will be a lot easier and more profitable for local entrepreneurs to set up a Monetary Transfer Operators (MTOs) business, and the 2 billion ‘unbanked’ will finally have access to sophisticated money transfer services.
In the new Zephyr world, money sent abroad will be exchanged into cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies – a feature powered by the [BitShares Blockchain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zi0isxCatU) and Decentralised Exchange. This removes the expensive process of changing money into fiat currencies for exotic currency pairings. Instead, it opens up limitless options for the world’s 180 fiat currencies to travel from market to market using pegged cryptos as cheap, fast and reliable vehicles. MTOs buy and sell fiat currencies which increases or decreases their digital fiat-pegged-crypto balance. With our web-based platform and mobile app ‘Sendy’, users can easily locate MTOs near them, top up their balances and transfer money to their relatives abroad.
# Zephyr as an incentive token
The network covered by this revolutionary new way of sending money already includes eight countries in the Asia Pacific and African regions including **Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria**. In order to take it to the next level and start to really scale on a global level, we have designed Zephyr tokens as an integral part of Project Zephyr.
# Circulation tied to growth and usage
Zephyr is an incentive token that rewards new members for joining the Bitspark remittance network. Together with the use of fiat pegged cryptocurrencies created for each new geography through BitShares, Zephyr makes it a lot easier for Bitspark to enter new markets. Next to unlocking the functional benefits on our network, an MTO now also receives Zephyr when signing up - which is worth real money. Financial incentives for joining our network are simply the optimal solution for guaranteeing growth at an accelerating pace across markets.
Besides distributing Zephyr tokens as rewards for joining the network, Zephyr will also be used to reward and stimulate user activity. Any action you take that is economically beneficial to the global remittance network is rewarded with Zephyr. This means that with every transaction and top up for a Sendy user, MTOs will receive Zephyr. The same goes for Sendy top up agents that will be rewarded with Zephyr for successfully topping up the digital balances for Sendy Users.
**You basically get paid to join and use the Bitspark network**, which is a great bonus next to the revolutionary benefits associated with the crypto-enabled money transfer services.
# 25% buy back
Next to tying the token to the growth and usage of our network, we’re taking it one step further to support the long-term utility and value of Zephyr. In what is a unique feature of our remittance platform, Bitspark will commit 25% of transaction fees it earns on remittance transactions to buying back Zephyr Tokens from the market on the BitShares Decentralised Exchange. This mechanism puts Zephyr at the centre of a positive feedback loop between network growth, usage and value which is to the benefit of everyday users, token holders and traders.
The way this works, is that with every user that joins the network, more coins are distributed. With every transaction that user undertakes, more coins are bought back from the exchange which applies a positive price pressure on the Zephyr Token. With every buy back that Bitspark initiates, the value of the token goes up making it more appealing for new MTOs to sign up and for existing members to keep using the platform.
“Zephyr circulation and value directly reflects the success
of the Bitspark remittance network”
# First round of Zephyr sales
We started circulating Zephyr with an ICO in October 2017 where we made 600,000,000 ZEPH available for early investors and raised USD 1.3 million after the 30-day sale. While our mission around transforming the remittance industry got everyone’s attention, that wasn’t the only thing that boosted the Zephyr token sale. Early investors were particularly interested in our offering because unlike many other token sales out there, Bitspark has a working product, global user base and a reputation in the industry as a pioneer since opening for business back in 2014.
That initial round of token sales served as the catalyst for the global rollout of our remittance network set to introduce transformational change in every country in the world using a fundamentally superior system than anything else currently available.
Want to get in on the action?
# Buy Zephyr listed on BitShares
After the ICO, trading of the Zephyr Token has now begun on the BitShares [Decentralised Exchange](http://docs.bitshares.org/bitshares/user/dex.html). BitShares was by far the best option for enabling Project Zephyr because of the ability to create fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies which is central to our growth strategy.
But there are lots of other great features of the Bitshares exchange that we think is exciting and that you should know about:
* It’s a decentralised asset exchange, minimising the counter-party risk associated with centralised exchanges
* With one account wallet, you have full access to the native trading app and many gateways to dApps, currencies and other exchanges (for easy withdraw/deposit options)
* On any given day, the exchange signs over 1 million transactions worth more than $100 million without even flexing a muscle
* It boasts handling 3300 transactions per second today, with the potential to scale to 100,000 transactions per second in the future (more than Visa and Mastercard combined)
* Digital tokens pegged to traditional assets like bitGold provide unparalleled stability that enables you to HODL during periods of volatility
* Sophisticated trading such as margin trading interest free loans, which means you can lend yourself currency against your own collateral
* And finally, Zephyr is available for trading on their exchange…which is reason enough to open a wallet and get going
Zephyr will have enormous social impact for the remittance industry whose constitutes are business owners and the bankless. It provides an opportunity to access wealth individuals and businesses may not have had access to before. Better yet, Zephyr is rewarded simply by doing what individuals have always done: sending money. Bitspark's remittance network token Zephyr is rewarded through every transaction, top up and verification; all tradable, investable, cash redeemable or transferable for a balance or next transfer. It's the only token which has this depth of utility for the user weaved in to Bitspark's platform and mobile APP in eight countries.
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