Pay & Get Paid in Cryptocurrencies
From simple payment requests to fully compliant digital currency invoices. Request helps you to get paid in crypto while providing full control over your financial data.\
You're in good company.
We believe payment experiences should be seamless for users and free from artificial barriers imposed by closed ecosystems.
We work together with leading innovators and organizations in the decentralized financial (DeFi) ecosystem, providing them with open products, standards and infrastructure to create seamless financial experiences.
REQ: the token that powers the network
The Request utility token, referred to as REQ, ensures the performance and stability of the Request network
How does Request work?
What you see
Request is a network that allows anyone to simply create, share or fulfil a request for payment.
When creating a request for payment, the user defines to which address the payment request needs to be allocated to and what the amount due is. Optionally, the user can define terms and conditions to the payment request, upgrading the simple request for payment into an invoice. After creation the user can share this request for payment/invoice, to make sure it’s paid by the other party. All these steps are documented and stored on the Request network, allowing everyone involved to easily keep track of their invoices, receipts and payments for (personal) accounting purposes.
Seems pretty simple, right?
What is happening in the background
In the background, there is a lot more going on to make it feel this simple. First, as the Request network leverages decentralized networks like Ethereum and IPFS for increased security, privacy and data ownership for the user, minor fees are required at each step in the process. This cost is often referred to as transaction fees; a cost required to broadcast a change to the blockchain network (like Ethereum, which Request uses). Transaction fees are used to incentivize operators (miners) of the blockchain to reach consensus on the state of the network, making sure data is consistent and trustless.
When creating a payment request using Request, an additional fee is required when broadcasting the payment request to the network. Upon broadcasting, this fee is sent to a smart contract called “Burner” on Ethereum, collecting all fees paid to create requests.
By calling a function on the smart contract, these collected ETH fees are periodically swapped into REQ tokens using an on-chain liquidity protocol called Kyber Network. Simultaneous to swapping ETH into REQ, the smart contract transfers the total amount of REQ tokens towards the Ethereum genesis address. This practically deduces this amount of REQ from the total supply, as no one will ever be able to gain access to this address.
That’s cool. What does a token bring to the network?
Why does the network require tokens?
Anti-spam
When creating a new payment request or invoice with Request, a minor fee is required before broadcasting to the network. This fee discourages people to use the network maliciously, keeping the network clean from spam and performant for our users.
These fees are collected in a smart contract on Ethereum and are burned periodically, lowering the total amount of REQ tokens in existence. While the REQ tokens are burnt on the Ethereum mainnet, transactions are mainly processed through the xDai Stable Chain. On xDai they are locked in a contract before being moved back to the Ethereum mainnet where they are burnt.
Governance
As the Request network is a decentralized protocol, we plan to implement a governance structure that allows network participants to vote on decisions which are critical for the network's long-term success.
In this governance structure, the REQ utility token will be leveraged to vote.
Staking
We intend to implement a staking mechanism as a requirement to deploy and operate a node. By locking an amount of REQ tokens, node operators can deploy a node to provide their end-users with a valuable service, abstracting the complexities of IPFS & Ethereum.
Discounts
Owners of REQ tokens will benefit from product discounts once they become available in their respective products. The discounts given will vary per product.
Independency
Users that currently create a request are charged a minor fee in ETH, the native currency of Ethereum, which is swapped into REQ after.
The REQ token allows the Request network to migrate, simultaneously run on multiple blockchains or even run on its own dedicated blockchain, without hurting the core mechanisms of the network. This makes the network independent from both the currency and technical infrastructure provided by others.