Hi all - I'm involved in a Vertcoin payment gateway project called VertPay (if you're a regular on #bitcoin-assets and know me you will recognise that a deal has been struck and my payment gateway project has been rolled into this existing project). We're doing a private IPO, with a view to taking it to an exchange at a later stage (those exchanges I am comfortable will not implode will not look at a project like this at this stage). I'm doing the announcement here, as Peter Kuhn has just registered here and isn't in the OTC WoT, but he will be here to answer questions as well.
They say that an idea is great, but execution is everything. With that in mind, seed funding for VertPay has been provided by Peter Kuhn and Riccardo Spagni. This has enabled a small team to be put together to not only architect, plan, and begin development of the VertPay system, but also to begin seeking key merchants. For our final phase of development, our launch, and all of our marketing we have decided to open the project up to investment by the VertCoin community - a VertCoin driven IPO!
What's been doneAll of the ground work has been laid from a regulatory and legal perspective, including incorporation outside of the United States. The software architecture has been finalised, the initial bank of servers have been configured and are live. Work has been progressing on the core of the software for some time. Our rates API is live, for example, and updates every 10 seconds or so. You can use it right now to get the rates of
all of the fiat currencies supported, or the rate for any specific currency such as
USD,
GBP, or
EUR! Merchant acquisition has also been moving along, although that is more recent than the architecture and development, and we are aiming to launch with a few very well known and influential merchants.
What still needs doingOn the software side there is still some work to be done integrating with backend financial systems, completing the API core, and completing the Merchant Management interface. Ongoing code reviews by our Internet security partner have begun, but a more intense final code review and pentesting will happen closer to launch. There is much to be done on the merchant acquisition side, and a great deal of marketing that has to be completed and planned. This is where the investment opportunity comes in.
How the IPO is structuredThe IPO is going to raise a total of 200 000 VTC. To do this, VertPay will authorise 1 million shares (1 000 000), and issue a block of 200 000 shares at a nominal value of 1 VTC per share. On Monday, May 12th, 2014, a Vertcoin deposit address will be made available on
the VertPay.com website, and investors will be able to send a round number of Vertcoin to that address. A portion of the Vertcoin received will be converted to Bitcoin in order to be stored in a multi-signature wallet and thus prevent the misuse of invested funds by any person within the company. In the event of an oversubscription of issued shares, VertPay's management team will decide whether to issue new shares to meet the oversubscription, or whether to refund those that have invested too late.
Whilst VertPay shareholders do not have voting rights, from time to time the management team may seek advisory, non-binding votes from shareholders on issues that will have a significant impact on their shareholding. Dividends will be paid in Vertcoin to all investors on a monthly basis, although revenue will not exist to pay dividends until VertPay's launch. Dividends will be derived from profits made in that month, and will be paid fairly to all shareholders in proportion to the shares they hold. Dividend payments will be made to the Vertcoin address that was used to make the initial investment. For this reason, shareholders will need to control the address they send from.
About the share agreementsAll share agreements will be Vertcoin-signed by the investment Vertcoin address, and the signed agreements will be published for all shareholders to have access to them. Investors will be able to submit a Vertcoin-signed message with their backup email address, which can be used to verify a change in their dividend payout address in the event of them losing control of their original Vertcoin address. Investors will not be barred from trading their shares privately or running a pass-through, and changes in an investor's Vertcoin address can be made by means of a Vertcoin-signed message from the previous address. In future Vertpay may choose to list on a crypto-denominated stock market, in which case investors will be able to register there and have their shares issued to them on the exchange.
You can view a sample share agreement here.Additional information can be found on the VertPay.com website