In an era of cryptocurrencies dominated by a wave of meme coin superstars, there are others not interested in being a flash in the pan, even if it means not getting a celebratory pump tweet from Elon Musk, Gene Simmons, or a run-of-the-mill B-list celebrity.
Telcoin — a self-touted blockchain-powered financial technology platform that connects with telecom and mobile money platforms globally – believes itself to be one of the scarce examples of crypto companies that doesn’t need a horse and pony show to make an impact.
Telcoin is a fintech firm that simultaneously manages to be a player that everyone is talking about and yet remains beneath the radar of crypto media.
With limited reach on exchanges, no aggressive marketing, and a quiet but steady approach to securing licenses and being as regulation friendly as any crypto company could ever dream of being, Telcoin is making headway confidently — almost arrogantly — with little regard for embracing the PR stunts, hype announcements, and moon talk that competitors seem to hang their hats on.
Then again, Telcoin doesn’t really have many “competitors” to speak of. The Los Angeles, California headquartered company that now employs dozens of battle-tested business minds and doting developers is in a league of its own, even if few have recognized this reality to date.
Understanding Telcoin’s position and potential comes down to understanding why the company exists and what purpose it aims to serve. While buzzwords like “financial inclusion” and “banking the unbanked” have always been pinned on Telcoin, these aren’t empty associations.
Earlier this year, Telcoin’s partnership with mobile money juggernaut Gcash officially commenced, with Telcoin launching fiat transfers between Canada and the Philippines (a service available on Telcoin’s official iOS and Android applications).
“The significance of Telcoin’s arrival in the remittance marketplace is rooted in the company’s cost-savings advantage to consumers who can use the service without leaving their homes,” writes Hayley Chowdhry of The Ritz Herald. “The global average cost of sending a remittance is 7 percent. Telcoin is targeting 2.5 percent or less to send a remittance using an iOS or Android smartphone.”
By Telcoin’s own admission, the opening of their inaugural remittance corridor is just the “first step” toward offering users a suite of digital financial products leveraging blockchain technology and digital assets.
This quarter, Telcoin will release the third iteration of their mobile app, giving users a reimagined mobile wallet that will not only store a broad swath of ERC-20 tokens, but provide a platform for swapping and staking.
A persistent criticism of Telcoin has been a lack of access to major exchanges, who all but certainly would want to list the company’s token ($TEL) in order to profit from the surging volume it’s experienced this year. Telcoin’s apparent answer to that criticism is: Why give profits to exchanges that should go toward rewarding $TEL holders?
The company says it’s emergent DeFi model will enable users to earn the fees that would normally go to exchanges.
As Telcoin’s overzealous community of supporters are quick to point out, Telcoin is destined to become a top 10 project. That remains to be seen until the rubber actually meets the road. But with Telcoin making headway at a pace that is only beneath the radar due to the company’s own established penchant for working in privacy and not tipping off major traditional competitors like Western Union to their long term plans, Telcoin appears to be at an ideal intersection of technology and timing that would be the envy of any fintech startup in 2021.
“What we are actually rolling out this year is much more than what we were initially targeting — particularly in terms of V3 and DeFi,” Telcoin CEO Paul Neuner wrote in a community update. “The market for what we are doing is evolving rapidly and growing more exciting with each day. We are lucky to be in the right place at the right time and are all focused on capitalizing on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“The scale of the community of people who believe in Telcoin and our vision is amazing — humbling even,” Neuner adds. “We all feel a deep responsibility to deliver on this vision and are all highly motivated to do so. As we finally roll out services, it’s exciting to see our community evolve into a powerful, positive force.”
Although Telcoin is quietly raising the bar for blockchain fintech, the company’s looming rollout next month of additional remittance corridors in the United States, Singapore, and Australia will certainly make plenty of noise.
