Simplifying Global Payments with Blockchain with Candice Jarrett and Donna Mitchell

Donna Mitchell [00:00:02]:
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to pivoting to Web three. And I'm excited today because I have Candace Jarrett and Candace is the founder of xcova, I really should say co founder. I don't see her partner here with her today, but I was glad to get Candace because she's got a lot going on. She knows a lot about crypto. Many of us are not too sure what's happening with crypto, if it's good, bad or ugly, but she's going to be able to help us really understand what's happening and why, especially with all the emerging trends in technology that we're hearing about in AI blockchain and just so much going on, especially in today's world. So here you go, Candice, say hello to our audience and let us know how you ended up being the co founder of xcova. And what is xcova.

Candice Jarrett [00:00:53]:
Hi, Donna. Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm really excited to be on your show.

Donna Mitchell [00:00:57]:
So.

Candice Jarrett [00:00:58]:
So I guess we'll start with apologies first that my co founder's not here, but we are shipping a new feature of xcova that he's also a developer. So he's working on it like he's been working nonstop. So this has fallen to me, but I will carry the team.

Donna Mitchell [00:01:14]:
Oh, you'll be fine. He'll be fine. Let him keep working. Let him develop.

Candice Jarrett [00:01:18]:
Yeah, let him do his blockchain thing. So xcova is consumer infrastructure for. I promise it's cooler than it sounds. It's consumer infrastructure that uses blockchain technology but abstracts it so that way the blockchain is underneath. So you can think of imagine If Venmo or PayPal used blockchain but looked just as they do now. So basically anybody who already uses any payment app in the Web2world, which is the world that we all currently live in, can use these apps that we've developed with xcova and get the benefits of blockchain without that steep learning curve. So it looks just like a regular app, but it uses blockchain underneath.

Donna Mitchell [00:02:04]:
So with that said, blockchain is basically the foundation, the technological foundation of xcova. So your interface or your end user interface is pretty simplistic. Still looking like Web two, but it's really rolling on Web three.

Candice Jarrett [00:02:20]:
Yes.

Donna Mitchell [00:02:20]:
What is the benefit of having it on Web three or blockchain? Why is that underneath?

Candice Jarrett [00:02:27]:
Well, a lot it depends on who's using it. So just say you're a small business and right now you use Stripe with your, with your checkout when people buy things through E Commerce through your website. Well, people who use that know that you're going to be paying like 2.9% plus 30 cent transaction fees every time a customer buys something from you. But if you use Excava then you know, we can lower that by 80%. So you'll be saving so much money just by having people check out normally through your website and, and the end user doesn't see any difference. They just See Pay with PayPal, Pay with Stripe, Pay with XCOVA, or see Excava's white label infrastructure. So we can have companies, you know, purchase instances of xcova and use it themselves. So and they can each have their own different benefits to it.

Candice Jarrett [00:03:18]:
Like one of the things that we built in was cashback rewards. So if some, if a company is using an Excoba instance and they say they want to offer, you know, 2% cash back or whatever it is, then that's an additional incentive for both the, the, the E Commerce store using, using xcova and also for the customer to pay with Excava. So it, it can have a lot of different benefits. One of the other benefits is P2P payments. So just say you, you know, live in one country but maybe your family lives in a different country and you want to send them money that can be very costly and expensive and time consuming to do. Now with Excoba, it would be free to do P2P payments with, you know, one particular instance of it that we've developed that uses USDC and instant. There's no waiting days to get your money, you just get it in less than a second. So it's faster, it's cheaper by using blockchain as the payment rails instead of like the traditional payment rail system.

Candice Jarrett [00:04:22]:
So but Excoga doesn't just have to use stablecoins like the examples I've given you now are mostly for people who'll be using a stablecoin which is a coin pegged to a fiat currency like the US Dollar or like the Euro. But Excava as I mentioned were white labels. So it can also be used for what we call token economies. So we have, and this is what my dev is working on now, my dev co founder, he is creating a version of xpova that runs on Bitcoin. So that way you can do bitcoin payments lightning fast, super cheap. So not only P2P payments but also E commerce shopping. So yeah, it's, it's very exciting. So it can be any token.

Candice Jarrett [00:05:05]:
It doesn't have to be just a stablecoin. So this helps mass adoption. Right, because like, there's so many token economies that have the problem of trying to onboard people because you have to explain to them how to install a wallet, how to add multiple networks, what a seed phrase is. And unfortunately, there's also a lot of scammers, like, anybody in crypto knows that, like people who are new to the space get targeted relentlessly by people trying to. Trying to drain their wallets, basically. So by flattening the learning curve, we believe that we're helping onboard people and make crypto actually fun for them to use and easy. So not just what I was talking about, like, you know, for stablecoins, but really for any currency, like Bitcoin, for example.

Donna Mitchell [00:05:56]:
So even though it's so easy to use, you have all the benefits of blockchain. Yeah, all the features of a blockchain, the security, the immutability. Immutability, everything is blockchain. So in my mind, that means anybody overseas or underprivileged or, or in any environment where fintech is taking place, or they don't have identity, they're still able to have some type of ecosystem around their community and they can build from there. Even with Excava.

Candice Jarrett [00:06:30]:
Yes, absolutely. So xcova can be helpful for people who are unbanked or underbanked, because you can open in just three clicks a business account with xcova and start selling things and creating commerce on the app without needing a separate institution in order to do that. And then within. Well, there's many facets to it, but I'll also mention that it's helpful for. For places that are hit by war, economic instability, rampant inflation, because those places can choose to transact in a more stable currency, for example, the US dollar. So there are places all over the world that are in these situations and many millions and millions of people who could benefit from an app that is incredibly easy to use, that you can ultimately select what kind of currency. Now you'd have to select what kind of currency by choosing which instance of Excobo you wanted to use. They're not all in one app.

Candice Jarrett [00:07:29]:
That's part of making it easy. But yes, it will help people who are in very desperate situations.

Donna Mitchell [00:07:38]:
So I'm kind of curious now. You got me thinking. I like the idea. It sounds good. Sounds too good. So who's your customer who can really utilize this in the United States or overseas? Africa. Who is really a customer? A business enterprise, small, a big brand.

Candice Jarrett [00:07:55]:
Well, it's a, it's a global, it's a global product, so it can really go anywhere. But the thing is that we are white label infrastructure. So XCOVA's direct customer would be blockchains, stablecoins and protocols. Any, any token economy. So we, as Excava, my co founder and I are going to be operating our own instance of Excava, which has a separate name, which is just like, you know, the Bitcoin version. Each one of the apps has its own name, but when you use it, if you know what Excova is, you'll be like, oh, I recognize this because it looks similar. It just has a different logo, color scheme, different token. So our direct customers are stable coins and protocols, but the masses, like regular people, will use it all over the world and they will be our customers.

Candice Jarrett [00:08:45]:
Customers.

Donna Mitchell [00:08:48]:
So how does AI impact this in any way? Is it a benefit? Has it clouded the issue or what is happening in that regard?

Candice Jarrett [00:08:56]:
Well, Excoba doesn't directly use AI itself, but I think that AI has done some very exciting things for the landscape. So I would say that people are, with the dawn of AI, with, have woken up a little bit to the fact that the world is changing technologically, like right now at this minute in time. And it's because people have been able to use AI at their jobs already and in their life. Like, I mean, I hate to say it, but kids are using it for their homework. Like, maybe they shouldn't do that, but. But it really has changed every facet of people's lives already. And so people are saying people are seeing how a new technology can change their lives, but that hasn't happened for cryptocurrency yet, unfortunately. And it's because of what I mentioned earlier, that learning curve is really steep for people.

Candice Jarrett [00:09:50]:
People are afraid to use it, they're afraid to make a mistake.

Donna Mitchell [00:09:53]:
It's.

Candice Jarrett [00:09:54]:
You feel like it needs to be, you need to be tech savvy in order to use it. But with what we have created, we do believe that blockchain is going to ultimately help people all over the world. And in order for that, in order to do that, we have to make it appeal to them. Not everybody says that they want to make people understand blockchain, which is great. And I agree. I'm excited about it too. I want people to know about it, but I think that it's more realistic to say that we should make it easy for people to use so that way they, they enjoy using it. They, they want to use it, they want it to be part of their lives without feeling like they need to take, you know, a college course in order to, in order to be confident with it.

Candice Jarrett [00:10:38]:
So we just make it look like web2, but it is web3.

Donna Mitchell [00:10:43]:
So since it looks like web2, but it is Web3, and if anyone's listening, they really want to get into it and say, okay, I'm going to try this. Is there anything on the market now that's using xcover or Use case where it would be helpful to let someone know. Okay. If you want to see how it functions or try to just go through the routine, what do you suggest?

Candice Jarrett [00:11:05]:
Oh, we have actually a public beta up. So xcova isn't live yet where we're, we're new. So if you go to beta.excava.com you can try out the app yourself. You can see how it all works. So right now we made it so that way you can send cryptocurrency with just an email address. Like if I wanted to send you like $10, I would just put your email address in, put $10 and hit send and it will send you $10. And this all sounds like Zell.

Donna Mitchell [00:11:32]:
Wait, wait, hold on, slow down.

Candice Jarrett [00:11:33]:
Wait a minute. Yeah, it is.

Donna Mitchell [00:11:34]:
It sounds like. So are you on Zelle? Is Zell. Is Zelle using xcova or. It's kind of in that same business model.

Candice Jarrett [00:11:41]:
The Excava could be the Nextel. Yes, but, but on Blockchain. Yeah, I mean, it's exciting what we've, what we've done, but yes, and also we're adding we in the beta. We don't have it in, but we are adding text message functionality too. So if you wanted to, you know, text your friend, like money for pizza or whatever, you can just text them their phone number and that. And it all runs on blockchain. So right now, our demo, when you look at it, you don't even see the blockchain at all. You just, you go to it and just looks like a normal app.

Candice Jarrett [00:12:12]:
But everything happening on there, the, the points, like, because you get points for shopping, like the cashback rewards, the actual payments, all usdc, which is a stablecoin. So. But the version that we're going to be releasing like next week is, it looks the same except everything's bitcoin and that. And actually it's really interesting. I probably shouldn't leak the information. I'll just say this one little thing. So it's, you know, obviously bitcoin is very expensive, so it is, you know, impractical to just have bitcoin. So we made it so that people can, can transact in satoshis, which are a smaller unit of bitcoin.

Candice Jarrett [00:12:58]:
So if you want to buy a cup of coffee or as I mentioned, send money to your friend for pizza, but you can do that even in bitcoin. So. Yeah, and one of the cool things about xcova is once you have one excava login for like, just say you wanted to use the USDC version. If you wanted to use the, the bitcoin version later, it's the same account. So we call that a federated login. So that way you can use all your cryptocurrencies and you're just, you're you and you can use whatever you want.

Donna Mitchell [00:13:29]:
So my brains are going right now because you got something that's sounding like Zelle, you're using Web two in a way, but you're really using Web three. You got blockchain in there. So that economy is going to be exploding. It's white label. So there's a lot happening with this. So basically you have a fulfillment piece that can really help with the mass adoption of blockchain. And out of all the blockchains you run bitcoin, you just happen to be on the biggest one in regards to the monetary values at this time in some ways. And at the end of the day, it really sounds like you've got a new zeal, so it should really take off.

Donna Mitchell [00:14:09]:
What are you worried about?

Candice Jarrett [00:14:11]:
Oh, let me see. What am I worried about?

Donna Mitchell [00:14:15]:
When I, when I asked that question is it sounds really good. I'm glad it sounds so good because I was, I was really looking forward to this conversation. So I normally couch this as what's the good, the bad and the ugly or what raises your eyebrow? What raises your eyebrow and what do you worry about?

Candice Jarrett [00:14:34]:
Well, I would say that right now there's so much innovation happening that we are just heads down, working as hard as we can because we want to get this out. Like right now we're in our beta and so far we've had really amazing feedback from our early users. We have a couple hundred users already, but there are big people. Like, we're a small team. We're a small team that has a lot of experience in business. Like, we've both been business owners for 20 years, but we're a small team and you have giants that are working on this stuff. Not. Not exactly what we're working on.

Candice Jarrett [00:15:12]:
See, the thing is that we are thinking of things a little bit differently than everybody else. Like, there are people who do consumer infrastructure, but not like we're doing it, so we want to be the first. So I guess that's the thing, you know, like, we're just working as hard as we can to get our stuff out fast as possible, so that way we can be first.

Donna Mitchell [00:15:29]:
So I like the idea, you being first. I haven't heard of anything like this. I'm thinking about a lot of the conversations I've been in, and you've got really something going on here that's worth taking a peek at and making sure we pay attention to it. So when you look at the world and you look at the geographies and the governments, what's happening on the governance side? Does anything look like it's going to impede the decentralization going forward, or where do you think there's going to be the gatekeepers or those that are going to help push it through?

Candice Jarrett [00:16:01]:
Well, I think that, you know, like right now, nothing directs us, like impacts us directly. But I do think that I'm very excited to see regulations come out around cryptocurrency. I know that the Genius act was just up like two days ago and it didn't pass, but I think that's okay because, you know, concerns were raised. It's Biden Bipartisan stablecoin Regulation act in the United States, which needs to happen. So once that, you know, can something, you know, can get passed, I think that that will help institutions moving forward because you see all of these big institutions wanting to be involved in it. And I mean, I, I think that that's important and exciting. But I do think that the, you know, there needs to be a framework for people to work in so they know what they're doing. But we're going to see it.

Candice Jarrett [00:16:50]:
I mean, in the next couple of years, we'll see it for sure.

Donna Mitchell [00:16:53]:
Well, I was curious, I was going to ask you, I'm kind of curious to know, why do you think everyone else is ahead of us in regards to crypto? What happened? I wasn't paying attention without getting political.

Candice Jarrett [00:17:06]:
Well, I think that it's actually part of the learning curve issue, really. I mean, because people didn't need to do it. Everything was. There was no pressure. You know, if you were in a situation where you're facing, like, economic instability, that's a big incentive to get over that learning curve to try to use cryptocurrency. But for a place where there's not so much incentive, because life is just generally okay where you're at there's not so much like there wasn't that. That push, you know, so in other areas of the world, they had a push. But we need to show people that ultimately it can benefit you.

Candice Jarrett [00:17:43]:
I mean, here in the United States or in Europe or wherever you are. So, you know, making it. The choice between. It is as easy to use on both sides, but one saves me more money as a business and as a consumer. Well, they're going to use that one. And we do see big institutions coming out with their own stablecoins, and they're still having what I feel are high fees because they're trying to set a standard, because they have been, you know, charging nearly 3%. So they'll charge just, you know, a little bit less to use a stablecoin, but it's still a lot like 1.5%. So we think that they're trying to set it.

Candice Jarrett [00:18:23]:
We believe that the big companies are trying to set a standard now of, like, what people, what they can get people used to paying, but. But we think that ultimately with blockchain, we can. We can get those fees down.

Donna Mitchell [00:18:34]:
I'm excited about this. So are there any other events or projects that you like to share with us that you are looking at or thinking about or something that you can let us know about? Because I'm really excited about the work you're doing and the possibilities and the benefits. I'm really excited about this.

Candice Jarrett [00:18:53]:
Thank you very much. So I guess I won't talk about any other projects in that I don't want to seem like I'm promoting anything because I know that a lot of people just get really excited about cryptocurrency and they just want to invest in things. I don't want to give financial advice, but I will say that from my perspective, I see a lot of people getting excited about cryptocurrency. And one piece of advice that I don't see given often is that people should go on LinkedIn. I know you have a big presence on LinkedIn. You know, a lot of people rely on. And I'm also on TikTok and on those places. I think it's important to be on there as well.

Candice Jarrett [00:19:31]:
But going on LinkedIn, you can follow the investors, follow the foundations. Like, find out like, like, my company was chosen to be part of a tech startup incubator. Like, that is one of the things that helped us get off the ground. So if you look at other companies that are being chosen by these foundations or by these incubator programs, you can see who is aggressively building and you know, early. So that way you can see a project like ours that hasn't even launched yet. We're in beta.

Donna Mitchell [00:20:07]:
I'm excited. How can they reach out to you where you want them to go? How do they find you?

Candice Jarrett [00:20:11]:
So you can find us on any social media at Xcova Pay. We're on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. Oh, on LinkedIn, we're just excova. If you search there. My name is Candace Jarrett. I'm also very findable. I post a lot on X if you want to follow me there. Andy Jarrett.

Candice Jarrett [00:20:29]:
C A N D I J A R A T. But I'll give the links to Donna. Maybe you can share them in the video description.

Donna Mitchell [00:20:36]:
They'll be on your page. You have a whole page, video, audio links, everything about you. I'm really excited about having Candace Jarrett and xcover. I'm going to be following them very closely. Probably have a back and you're going to be seeing her quite a bit. So thank you so much, everyone for listening and shaping tomorrow together.

Candice Jarrett [00:20:57]:
Thanks, Donna.