Millicent: directed acyclic graph (DAG) cryptocurrency designed for ultra low-fees, nanopayments, price-stability, mass adoption, and regulatory compliance.
Lead Participant:
GLOBEX INNOVATIONS LTD
Abstract
**Millicent combines the benefits, and eliminates many problems, of fiat and cryptocurrency_---_creating a global payment system for the future.**
When you woke up this morning, you likely turned on the light, and had a shower. Did you think about the fractions of a penny doing either of those actions cost you? Probably not.
But why - given we can make these fractional payments with ancient technology - can't we pay for things in the same way online?
The answer is: a financial system decades behind the times, and too many middlemen who each want a cut. With fees of up to 4% of the total sale price, _plus_ a fixed fee of 20p, small payments are impractical/impossible.
High fees are bad for larger transactions as well. In 2019, card providers took £65bn in transaction fees alone!
_These high fees hit small businesses and sole traders especially hard._
**Blockchain is often touted as the future of payments, but it suffers from fundamental flaws.**
The linear sequence of blockchain transactions causes slow settlement times, and the need for third-party transaction verification requires the payment of network fees.
**An emerging alternative to blockchain is Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)**. With DAG's branching structure, **transactions can occur simultaneously**, greatly improving transaction speed, and, as users also perform verification, it can **completely eliminate network fees**!
**DAG opens up a myriad of use cases.** For example:
* Clicking on a paywalled newspaper article to find the publisher charging 5p to read the article, instead of £10 for a monthly subscription.
* A social media network powered by passing value back and forth between users, instead of big tech collecting private data to power personalised ads.
* Small businesses saving thousands of pounds in transaction fees.
Millicent is based on **fiat-pegged stablecoins like the mGBP**, tradeable one-to-one for Pound Sterling, its price never fluctuating so everyone always knows exactly what they're spending/earning.
Currently, we are creating an **easy-to-use DAG-powered e-wallet** (available as a browser extension and iOS/Android apps), **as well as components to integrate with existing tech** (payment systems, platforms, apps), **powering them to accept ultra-low fee payments and nanopayments.**
Without a network of real-world users, new financial systems are just academic, so **we have developed a radical adoption incentivisation program to ensure rapid initial traction.**
**We believe DAG is the key to a host of improvements for the global financial system, and we've got huge plans for the future.**
When you woke up this morning, you likely turned on the light, and had a shower. Did you think about the fractions of a penny doing either of those actions cost you? Probably not.
But why - given we can make these fractional payments with ancient technology - can't we pay for things in the same way online?
The answer is: a financial system decades behind the times, and too many middlemen who each want a cut. With fees of up to 4% of the total sale price, _plus_ a fixed fee of 20p, small payments are impractical/impossible.
High fees are bad for larger transactions as well. In 2019, card providers took £65bn in transaction fees alone!
_These high fees hit small businesses and sole traders especially hard._
**Blockchain is often touted as the future of payments, but it suffers from fundamental flaws.**
The linear sequence of blockchain transactions causes slow settlement times, and the need for third-party transaction verification requires the payment of network fees.
**An emerging alternative to blockchain is Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)**. With DAG's branching structure, **transactions can occur simultaneously**, greatly improving transaction speed, and, as users also perform verification, it can **completely eliminate network fees**!
**DAG opens up a myriad of use cases.** For example:
* Clicking on a paywalled newspaper article to find the publisher charging 5p to read the article, instead of £10 for a monthly subscription.
* A social media network powered by passing value back and forth between users, instead of big tech collecting private data to power personalised ads.
* Small businesses saving thousands of pounds in transaction fees.
Millicent is based on **fiat-pegged stablecoins like the mGBP**, tradeable one-to-one for Pound Sterling, its price never fluctuating so everyone always knows exactly what they're spending/earning.
Currently, we are creating an **easy-to-use DAG-powered e-wallet** (available as a browser extension and iOS/Android apps), **as well as components to integrate with existing tech** (payment systems, platforms, apps), **powering them to accept ultra-low fee payments and nanopayments.**
Without a network of real-world users, new financial systems are just academic, so **we have developed a radical adoption incentivisation program to ensure rapid initial traction.**
**We believe DAG is the key to a host of improvements for the global financial system, and we've got huge plans for the future.**
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| GLOBEX INNOVATIONS LTD | £306,832 | £ 208,032 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Stella Dyer (Project Manager) |