Earning crypto when you’re shopping sounds like a good deal. Plenty of projects are already offering this type of perk but today I will talk about one of my favourite: Plutus and its Pluton token (PLU). This article will explain what is Plutus, how you can use it and analyze the token of the project as a potential investment. I will investigate the fundamentals of the venture and tell you why I’ve started investing in it for the long term.
1. What is Plutus?
Plutus is a finance app and card for money management that lets you earn crypto rewards for ordinary shopping (both online and in-store). Manage both crypto and your local fiat currency in-app with a UK Sort Code & Account Number or a European IBAN and track your expenses:
Indeed, it is up to 8% in rewards, which is a considerable amount if you’re using it regularly:
The rewards are paid in PLU (Pluton), the token of the platform:
Pluton is a digital Ethereum asset (ERC20 token) that is issued automatically to users of the Plutus app as a reward for using the Plutus Tap & Pay app (making payments with converted Bitcoin or Ether). The payment process occurs via a proxy conversion to a virtual debit card linked to your account.
It’s currently accessible in the UK and in the EU only:
2. How to use it?
First, you need to download the app here to get access to the cash back, perks and reward analytics:
You will also have to order your Plutus debit card:
And if you’re a user in the EU you can use their DEX to swap your PLU tokens:
Finally, you can get some perks when you buy with the following companies (impressive list):
One of the reasons why I’m bullish on the project is because of this list. I feel like it’s a very good sign that a project is able to connect with so many retailers, service providers, oil companies and supermakets. In a way it’s a hint to the addressable market.
3. The team and the project
The team has a combined experience of over forty years in payments, financial trade, and software development. The Plutus team is more than well prepared to revolutionise the usage of crypto-assets. Plutus aims to improve both the industry’s standards and its use of blockchain technology.
Danial Daychopan has been in the space since 2013 which brings the web3 credibility:
Jasper Tay has impressive experience in the corporate world, as a trader:
This duality matters to me when I invest as I like to see a duo with complementary skills and domain exposure.
The roadmap is also interesting with a lot to come:
Plutus NFT
Rewards will soon be NFTs: it will be tradable through the platform. This will give exposure to yet another market: digital art (and compete with projects like Curate).
Revamp Plutus Web App
The mobile app will be revamped to provide a better user experience
Curve Integration
Plutus is partnering with Curve so that you can leverage the best of both finance applications. This means they can offer features such as Apple/Samsung Pay, no Foreign Exchange (FX) fees, additional rewards, and more!
Pluton L2 Upgrade
Given the current high gas fees experienced by the Ethereum network, the team is pursuing a Layer 2 (L2) solution so that PLU can be transferred in a low-cost manner
Re-enable PlutusDEX (GBP)
Re-enabled for GBP customers alongside a range of DEX-related upgrades.
Plutus Wallet Extension
This year, Plutus is planning to release a wallet extension to a small group of people in the community.
Pool & Earn / PlutusDEX 2.0
The team will be releasing the upgraded version of PlutusDEX, one that is not limited to a single blockchain, to offer efficient Crypto-Fiat conversions with a built-in liquidity solution; faster, more reliable, and cheaper PlutusDEX swaps.
BTC Release
Upon releasing the Wallet Extension and upgrading the DEX, Plutus will then follow this up with the addition of Bitcoin (BTC) to the PlutusDEX. Customers will get to enjoy a MetaMask-like wallet extension that can handle Bitcoin, and spend this seamlessly via the Plutus Card.
The 2-year objective is ambitious:
The real juice is here. Plutus is planning to go international (USA) and get a banking license. If both projects are successful and you’re invested in the token, this is the moment where you can buy Michael Saylor’s villa in Miami.
4. PLU as an investment
Like most altcoins, PLU is under its average price on a year ($9.5) but if you look closely, you will notice that the volumes are maintaining themselves after the big drop of February:
Yes, the token is speculative and moves fast. It is not a bad timing to get in given the valuation. Also, the price is dropping but the number of addresses is on the raise:
I consider 7k as a critical point (as per this article): we’re above that level. Also, I always like to make sure that the level of centralization is going down, which is the case here:
Finally, the market capitalization is very small, making the investment very risky but potentially very rewarding:
The tockenomics looks good to me with a very opinionated allocation, I like to see that 85.75% of the supply is locked for rewards making the asset quite stable:
This leads to a fairly limited circulating supply but not very concerning because of the distribution above (a lot of coins are locked):
Another interesting thing I like to look at is the number of exchanges listing the coin:
It is interesting because a lot of exchanges are already listing it (like Coinbase and KuCoin) but Binance is not (yet).
It gives both stability (enough exchanges are listing it) and potential upside: when Binance will list it, this will lead to a major and sustainable move up. I start to look more and more at listings when I invest because it gives a taste of the adoption but also shed some light on a the potential future listing and what it would do to the valuation. In that case, a listing on Binance would likely bring a huge amount of volume:
5. Conclusion
To conclude, I consider Plutus and its token Pluton (PLU) as an opportunity. Banking will change, the time of the dinosaurs will come to an end. Soon, crypto will penetrate this world like water into a broken ship to transform it from the inside. I will be enjoying that journey, playing the violin on the Titanic sinking.
I will be investing in PLU because of the price, the growing number of wallets, the size of the market, the experience of the founders, the future expansion plans, the banking license plan and eventually the centralisation going down with time. However, I have to admit that this is a risky one. The regulation, the size of the team, the small market capitalization and the localization (EU/UK for now) makes it a real bet… That I will happily take.
Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: this is not financial advice
