Bondex CEO: users of a talent network should own it, not just be the product

Ashton Addison: What is Bondex, at a high level?▶ 00:21

Julian Di Carlo: We're building an artificial intelligence-based, fintech-enabled global cloud ecosystem. The best way to think of us is as LinkedIn combined with PayPal and your local native bank account, all running on the blockchain and using artificial intelligence.

Ashton: What friction did you see that led you to build Bondex?▶ 00:46

Julian: With a background in both finance and talent solutions, I noticed tremendous friction between hiring organizations and the talent portals, such as Monster and LinkedIn. There's also a lot of inefficiency in cross-border payments to vendors. If you have tech talent in India, for example, and want to pay them, it can cost anywhere from $30 to $50. It also means either a trip to the bank or at least a 30-minute approval process in your online bank. That's just not needed. With blockchain-enabled technology integrated into one platform, we can solve restrictions that don't need to exist.

Ashton: How do you compete with existing talent platforms?▶ 02:19

Julian: In talent solutions you have horizontal players like LinkedIn, Monster and Indeed, and vertical players like Fiverr and Upwork. There's always a quality issue because they don't have the bandwidth to screen. If you want quality control, you go to recruiting firms, where you pay 20 to 25% of the salary as a fee, which is very expensive. Our industry partner, Ascot Group, has over 20 years of experience in talent solutions and is integrated into Bondex. That lets us build an AI layer on top that increases the bandwidth of the automated platform, while integrating payments and the user interface. On other platforms the user is the product, and their data is the product. LinkedIn only unlocks value for users when they're looking for a job, which happens maybe once every couple of years, while it monetizes their data. So we've built a tokenized revenue-sharing model. Every user adds value by being active daily, and we reward each user by sharing our revenue in tokenized form. Users are not only the product but also owners and stakeholders of the business.

Ashton: Walk me through the platform. How would I build a profile, get hired and get paid?▶ 05:07

Julian: What we've released so far is our MVP app, Bondex Origin, whose goal is to seed the ecosystem with talent. Users create an account and receive rewards in Bondex tokens for being active every 24 hours. They can also invite friends and contacts for more rewards. If you log in with LinkedIn, your profile information is pulled in and you earn at a higher rate, and your reward tier goes up with your engagement. In two weeks we're launching our credit card integration, the first step in our payment solutions. US users will be able to apply directly from the app, and we don't pull any credit reports. We've created a financial risk model that uses their banking transaction history over the past 90 to 180 days to determine credit limits and creditworthiness. The next version of the app, also about two weeks out, will have connections, messaging and a location-based talent locator.

Ashton: Can users still pay in fiat? Are there on-ramps and off-ramps?▶ 07:57

Julian: The credit card is already out in beta, but only for people on our beta waitlist. In two weeks US users will be able to apply directly from the Origin app. Within the next 45 days that will extend to Canada and the UK, and we hope to roll it out globally over the next few months. Our bank accounts launch in about 90 days, and they will be an on-ramp and off-ramp. You'll be able to have a Bondex bank account in 200 countries. You can have money you earn from projects or employment through the platform deposited there, then use it to buy Bondex tokens or any other crypto you want. We're very development-heavy, with about 13 developers across software and blockchain.

Ashton: How does the Bondex token work, and does it create a sustainable ecosystem?▶ 09:48

Julian: We want to align incentives with the platform. On centralized platforms you create a ton of value for them but can't capture it. We want our users to capture that value through the native token. Whenever your data is monetized, you see an ad, or you refer new users and grow the network, you're rewarded with the token. It can be used as a medium of exchange within the platform to get discounts on services, and it can be staked to unlock more features. Staking also gives you higher levels on the credit card reward program. Depending on the amount you've staked, you earn rebates. For example, if you pay for Netflix or Spotify subscriptions with the Bondex credit card, we'll rebate that amount in Bondex tokens. You'll also be able to pay for premium platform features with the token.

Ashton: Will you add more DeFi products as you build out the banking products?▶ 12:11

Julian: That's something we'll definitely entertain, but I want to touch on smart contracts, because they play a huge role. One great application is escrow, for people who acquire talent and the talent engaging in payments for jobs done on the platform. We want to bring those payment rails onto the platform. Current talent networks are pretty much just a launching pad for relationships, and then people branch off to other platforms for payments. Phase three of our roadmap is a Bondex launchpad. Other projects could be built on top of our human resource information systems cloud. We're building products that will compete directly with Zoom and Slack, but there are other HR-related products we may not build ourselves. Third-party providers could build and launch those on the launchpad, and the community can then govern and vote on funding for those new projects through our tokens.

Ashton: What are you most excited about as you build this out?▶ 14:29

Julian: By the end of 2021 we expect to have a fully functional payment rail and fintech product system, as well as the competitor to Zoom built into our platform. Within the next two weeks we'll have our location-based talent locator available. That's pretty much the goal for 2021. In 2022 we'll be fully delving into NFTs. One example is skills certification as a digital NFT that can reside in your wallet. It would be a verification from the Bondex platform that you have a certain level of skill.