Bitcoin to Business ADOPTING CRYPTO PAYMENTS

With a market of over 2.5 billion video game players existing today, the potential for growth and success within the blockchain gaming industry and crypto payments is incredibly promising.

In the last decade cryptocurrency has revolutionized the world of finance. Despite initial skepticism digital currencies have been widely adopted and are now accepted as payment in many industries. Businesses understand their potential - they offer secure, cost-effective and rapid transactions without needing intermediaries.

Crypto Payments for Businesses in the Gaming Industry

As the cryptocurrency market continues to develop and gain maturity, an increasing number of businesses are beginning to recognize the advantages that come with accepting payments in digital currencies. The gaming industry is one such sector that has been a critical driving force behind this trend, offering gamers the security, convenience, and reliability they need when making crypto-based transactions. For many players already familiarized with cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin being a prime example, it has become second nature to use them for their online purchases.

The future of gaming is looking more and more like it will be an immersive experience as a result of the metaverse and virtual reality technology. Blockchain gaming was identified as being the most popular sector for Web3 in 2022, and the trend will carry on throughout 2023. Furthermore Polygon could become the leading platform for games by the end of this year. Immutable, Axie Infinity, Decentraland and The Sandbox are considered to be prime candidates.

Since gamers are already comfortable conducting many online transactions through digital currencies, they are prime potential participants in blockchain-based games. With a market of over 2.5 billion video game players existing today, the potential for growth and success within the blockchain gaming industry and crypto payments is incredibly promising.

Challenges Remain

The recent changes and trends in the crypto market have made it easier for businesses to adopt crypto payments. For example, the rise of stablecoins, such as USDC, Tether, and BUSD, has reduced the volatility associated with cryptocurrencies

In addition, the development of new payment gateways and merchant services has made it easier for businesses to accept and manage crypto payments.

However, despite the growing popularity of crypto payments, there are still some challenges that businesses need to overcome to embrace this new technology fully. For example, many companies still need to familiarize themselves with cryptocurrencies and the associated risks and benefits. Additionally, some countries still need to establish clear regulations for cryptocurrencies, making it difficult for businesses to comply with the law and ensure that their transactions are secure.

To overcome these challenges, businesses must educate themselves about cryptocurrencies and their potential benefits. This may involve working with a cryptocurrency payment processor or engaging with the crypto community to understand the industry's latest developments and best practices.

B2BinPay - A Solution for Businesses

To fill the void between businesses and cryptocurrencies and to assist with adopting crypto payments, B2Broker created and launched B2BinPay. It is a payment platform that enables businesses to send, receive, store, exchange, and accept crypto payments with ease. B2BinPay covers all the necessary aspects of accepting cryptocurrency payments, such as secure wallets for storing coins; conversion services for exchanging fiat currencies into crypto; merchant services for handling payments; and a secure multi-signature wallet.

The platform also comes with a range of features that make it ideal for businesses, including support for more than 80 cryptocurrency coins and tokens, low fees and fast transaction times, an intuitive interface, and various currency pairs supported by the exchange. Additionally, B2BinPay has a dedicated team of customer support representatives who are available 24/7 to assist businesses with any questions or issues they may have.

B2Broker CEO Arthur Azizov saw the developing need for businesses to access secure and easy-to-use crypto payment solutions and knew B2BinPay could provide a comprehensive solution. Speaking with AIBC, he said "We created B2BinPay to make it easier for businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments. We understand the complexities of the crypto industry and strive to make it easier for businesses to navigate and benefit from this technology. We constantly monitor the latest developments and trends in the crypto market to ensure our platform keeps up with industry standards."

With an MBA from the Financial University and over a decade of experience in the fin-tech industry, Arthur Azizov has grown the B2Broker group of companies into one of the leading providers of cryptocurrency solutions and services. In addition to crypto payment solutions, B2Broker offers liquidity solutions, turnkey brokerage solutions, and a range of other fin-tech products.

Sheesha Finance is revolutionising the way new businesses are supported and nurtured. In this exclusive interview, Maria Debrincat sits down with Saeed Al Darmaki, Founder of the brand and game-changer in the world of Web3.

Tell us more about Sheesha Finance (statistics of investors, mentors, startups) you’ve worked with.

Sheesha Finance is a decentralised and tokenised incubator/ accelerator that supports web3 startups across various industries and blockchain networks. Our platform provides investors access to a diverse portfolio of early-stage projects, with a fully autonomous smart contract-based system that’s user-friendly for institutional and retail investors. Our team is composed of seasoned professionals in both traditional finance and blockchain and I personally have received recognition as Crypto Entrepreneur of the Year.

We currently have 75+ projects in our portfolio including investments and incubated/accelerated projects across 10 sectors. Our community is in excess of 50k, with close to 40,000 token holders who engage in staking our native tokens on our platform that provides up to 70% APY.

What makes Sheesha Finance different from other incubators?

At Sheesha Finance, we believe we stand out from the crowd with our innovative approach to startup financing and support. We’ve created a powerhouse network of industry leaders and strategic partners, unlocking a wealth of resources, expertise, and connections that early-stage projects desperately need.

Our incubation and acceleration program is like no other, with dedicated project coordinators that have diverse backgrounds, leading founders and teams through interactive, communicative, structured modules. Our high-touch approach ensures that our partners receive the support they need to succeed. With a well-structured program and a focus on constant feedback, our partners are telling us that we continue to be the perfect partner for any entrepreneur or business looking to take their project to the next level.

Which most recurring challenges are Web3 Founders facing in 2023?

Web3 startups are facing a multitude of challenges in 2023, including technical complexity, scalability issues, limited user adoption, a rapidly evolving regulatory environment, rapid advancements in technology, a lack of standardisation, limited investment in research and development, limited network effects, and regulatory challenges. These obstacles can make it difficult for Web3 founders to build and maintain successful platforms and achieve their goals.

However, Sheesha is well equipped to help Web3 founders navigate these challenges. With a strong focus on providing technical expertise and support, we help Web3 startups overcome the technical complexities involved in developing decentralised applications and blockchain technologies. Additionally, we assist in helping startups overcome scalability issues and attract and retain a large user base by providing the guidance and expertise so that projects have user-friendly interfaces, enabling their customers to have seamless experiences.

We also help Web3 founders navigate the regulatory landscape, focusing on helping startups set up their businesses in the MENA region and we ensure that their platforms are compliant with applicable laws and regulations.

Another important thing to address for Web3 founders in 2023 is the lack of standardization. Our experience has led us to providing best practices, processes, and tools to our practitioners. With a focus on investing in research, development and training we help to fill the gap in knowledge and competence faced by Web3 practitioners. Additionally, we help to connect practitioners through our network effects, sharing knowledge and information to support their success. By addressing these challenges, we aim help Web3 founders to build successful platforms and achieve their goals.

Can you expand on the most important criteria startups need to fill to benefit from your incubation?

To fully reap the benefits of our incubation program, startups must meet certain criteria that are crucial to the success of their projects. The first and foremost things we deep-dive into is to make sure projects have a strong and capable team. The founding team should possess a proven track record of success and possess the necessary skills and expertise to bring their blockchain or cryptorelated product/service to market. Additionally, the startup’s concept should be innovative, solve a real-world problem and have the potential for growth and scalability.

Another important aspect is having a solid business model. The startup should have a clear understanding of their target market and a sustainable business model that aligns with the broader blockchain or crypto ecosystem. A focus on DeFi, NFT, and GameFi is also desirable, as it shows that the startup is aware of and understands the current trends in the industry.

In terms of technical proficiency, the startup does not necessarily need to have a strong understanding of blockchain technology and the technical skills necessary to build and launch their solution as we can provide this for them. It’s also important for the startup to be open to mentorship and guidance from our network of industry experts and to be willing to work closely with our team. Finally, and something which has always been important to me since I founded Sheesha is that the startup must align with our mission to support the growth and development of the blockchain/crypto ecosystem, and demonstrate a strong commitment to making a positive impact in the space.

You focus quite heavily on DeFi, NFT and GameFi, why these 3 industries in particular?

We focus on DeFi, NFT and GameFi because these three use cases are at the forefront of innovation in the Web3 ecosystem. Coming from TradFi, DeFi always represented to me, a new and innovative way of conducting financial transactions, without the need for intermediaries such as banks. NFTs allow for the creation of unique digital assets that can be bought, sold and traded, and offer a new way of monetizing digital content, which I have always found fascinating. As a lifelong gamer myself, GameFi represents the convergence of gaming and blockchain, offering new and innovative ways for players, irrespective of their geographical location and financial situation to earn and trade virtual assets. By focusing on these three key industries, we are able to support startups that are creating the next generation of technology in the Web3 space.

We’ve created a powerhouse network of industry leaders and strategic partners, unlocking a wealth of resources, expertise, and connections that earlystage projects desperately need.

Web3 vs Meta & Google

In this cover story Adir Buskila, Founder and CTO at Web3m discusses how Web 3 is taking on Big Tech giants Google and Meta.

I’d love to hear more about the founding of Web3m. What was your inspiration?

The vision for Web3m was sparked by my background in cybersecurity and (later) marketing. I was 12 years old when I started hacking. I loved the freedom of information available on the internet. I learned about privacy and data security by witnessing other hackers exploit and manipulate people online. Cybersecurity became my first career and I even managed the largest cybersecurity community in Israel.

One day, something occurred to me. Every black hat practice in hacking—fingerprinting, tracking, phishing, etc.—had a white hat equivalent practice in online advertising. Big tech companies made money using many of the same tools and techniques as nefarious hackers.

At first, my three best friends and I saw this as an opportunity to play big tech advertisers at their own game. Long story short, we used our hacking and data security chops to build a marketing company. It worked! We got to $100m in two years.

Soon, my inner 12-year-old hacker got the best of me. Rather than using data to make money, I was reinspired by the same vision that first drew me to the internet: decentralization. The Web3 community was hard at work building a better internet— and I wanted to be part of it. My partners and I pivoted to build a marketing platform that put users—not big tech companies—in charge of their own data.

In the end, that pivot resulted in Web3m, a decentralized multichannel ad network that allows advertisers to promote their projects across crypto.

Tell me more about launching multichannel campaigns in crypto. Why did you focus on that?

I should mention that Web3m is just the first tool in our ecosystem. There’s more on the way, like our innovations in the world of Inscriptions and Ordinals at digital-artifacts.io.

That said, Web3m is designed to help Web3 entrepreneurs advertise their businesses across crypto with the same ease as they advertise in Web2. The idea didn’t come out of nowhere. We consulted with dozens of marketers, entrepreneurs, agencies, influencers, and PR agencies. We inquired about the biggest challenges they faced when promoting their crypto projects.

Of course, many problems came up. Web3 is still fairly new. But there was one challenge that we heard about more than others: Multichannel advertising was highly inefficient.

The biggest online advertisers (like Meta and Google) were constantly changing their rules regarding which crypto ads were and were not acceptable. And if crypto marketers wanted to advertise on more niche websites, they had to manually negotiate each ad placement for every platform. Marketers needed a single platform to create, launch, and monitor all their advertising in one place. Web3m enables crypto marketers to do exactly that—and more.

Let’s return to the topic of data and advertising. What does the future of targeted advertising look like in Web3?

There’s no way around it: Advertising performs best for everyone (the advertiser, the consumer, and the network) with data. The biggest problem with small ad networks is their lack of data. Imagine selling banner ads on a casino website. If all the ad network knows about its users is that the visitor enjoys casinos and gambling, then the only targeted ads they’ll place are direct competitors to the website: other casinos.

On the other hand, a larger ad network can access more data. For example, if we know that the visitor just had a baby, and he is looking for a new stroller, we can sell the ad space on the casino website to a baby stroller company. The site visitor, the host website, and the advertiser all benefit from better information.

That’s where standard digital advertising ends. But Web3m takes the benefits two steps further. First, the data is much more detailed while remaining fully anonymous, giving advertisers better insights for every campaign. Second, we pay the site visitor (consumer) and the website for letting us use their data. It’s a data-forward advertising approach that rewards everyone.

Are you saying that Web3m users get paid when companies use their data in ads?

In Web2, effectively every website owner collects data about their site visitors. That data is sent to third-party companies essentially for free to be used in future ads.

Here’s where we flip the old model on its head. In Web3, websites still track data. But instead of sending that data to a centralized and walled garden (i.e. Big Tech), Web3m instead pays websites to send that anonymous web traffic data directly to the blockchain. We also pay the person whose data was collected.

This method decentralizes data collection and rewards both website owners and website visitors. Everyone gets compensated for their data. And their data remains anonymous.

How does Web3m adapt to changes in the digital marketing landscape?

Our goal is to put data back into the hands of internet users. The old model essentially locked up user data in a handful of major tech conglomerates. This meant that data power was centralized, offering almost no benefit to ad-hosting websites or consumers. It also meant that data became a walled garden whose dimensions (pricing and rules) could change at any moment. How many companies have gone out of business simply because Meta, Apple, or Google decided to tweak their ad platforms or change internal data policies on a whim?

Our model decentralizes that data by sending all data back to the blockchain, giving power to each user—and every advertiser—in equal measure.

In other words, we’re not adapting to the changing marketing landscape. It’s more accurate to say that we’re the ones who are changing it.

How does the Web3m protocol balance the decentralized monetization of data while protecting consumer privacy?

Without getting too technical, we have developed a non-intrusive way to fingerprint a device without sharing personal details (like name or email). All users are completely anonymous.

Think of it this way: Everyone can create a wallet that acts as their fingerprint on the blockchain. Content on the blockchain is transparent but you can’t tell who owns which wallet, keeping the anonymous owner in constant control of their privacy. From the anonymous wallet, we can gather information from each website visitor—their past shopping tendencies, for example— while ensuring that each user remains in control of their privacy.

What sort of data and analytics can advertisers expect to leverage in Web3?

One of our biggest innovations at Web3m is wallet-specific marketing. We launched Web3m Analytics to give marketers access to on-chain metrics of the visitors to your website. I know that’s a little technical. Here are a few examples of the types of data website owners can leverage in their ads: When was this visitor’s first transaction (How long they’ve been in the crypto space)?

What is their average investment size?

What is their preferred token?

What are their current token holdings (and sub-niches of interest)?

As I’ve iterated above, all of this information is completely anonymous. It is presented on the Web3m Analytics tool alongside the standard traffic analytics that we are all familiar with.

Web3m has fostered a large community of marketers. How important has this community been in the success of Web3m?

Communities are a beautiful thing that got a lot of attention with the rise of Web3. We believe that the secret to fostering a successful community is to never confuse community members with customers.

Strong communities are based on two principles: Sharing and building. The Web3m community is made up of marketers and entrepreneurs who love to share their experiences and knowledge. We’re all growing and learning together.

The community is also critical to what we’re creating at Web3m. The community believes—like I do—that Web3m is the future of marketing. They are contributing to that cause, supporting us, and guiding us to build useful tools for the industry. Web3m’s success is the community’s success. It’s a direct correlation.