Inside Request Finance

Request Finance in Numbers: October 2022

Over a quarter of a billion dollars in crypto payments - in 22 months. Is that a lot? It depends. We think this tiny milestone we’ve achieved is worth celebrating for two reasons. 

November 4, 2022

Request Finance in Numbers: October 2022


👋 Happy November, Request enthusiasts!

Welcome to another monthly edition of Request Finance in Numbers, where we’ll be reviewing our app’s growth and usage metrics since our last update.

This monthly report is aimed at providing transparency to our users, community, and others interested in Request.

Summary

User & Activity Growth in October 2022

📝 New signups on Request Finance: 964: -4.74% month-on-month, bringing the total number of registered accounts to 18,098.

📋 New active users on Request Finance: 318: +39.5% month-on-month, bringing the total number of active users to 2,298.

📈 Number of crypto payments monthly: 1,731: -2.86% month-on-month.

💸 Value of crypto payments monthly: $8.14 million: -54.1%, or about $9.6 million less than the previous month.

🧾 A total of over $254 million in crypto payments have been paid through the Request Finance app since launching in January 2021.

💰 Top 5 cryptocurrencies used: $USDC, $SAND, $USDT, $DAI, $ETH

💳 Top 5 chains used: Ethereum, Polygon, Celo, BNB Chain, Fantom 

Note: This report exclusively looks at usage data from the Request Finance product, not including other apps which may build on top of the Request Network protocol. This report excludes payments settled in fiat currency. We believe the most exciting opportunities lie in the adoption of programmable money for real economy uses like subscriptions, salaries, billing, etc.

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Commentary for October 2022

Overview. Over a quarter of a billion dollars in crypto payments - in 22 months. Is that a lot? It depends. We think this tiny milestone we’ve achieved is worth celebrating for two reasons. 

Firstly, for a crypto startup in the bear market, we did not see dramatic declines in user activity relative to other platforms which have seen up to >90% drops. Secondly, we celebrate the fact that crypto payments continue to prove their usefulness in the real world. 

But we have a lot more to achieve. According to EY, global cross-border payment flows in 2022 alone was estimated to be $156t. CoinMarket cap data suggests that in just the last 24 hours alone, over $76 billion in various stablecoins changed hands. Our work is far from done.

At the business level, October saw positive, but slower growth compared to the previous month. Our business development, growth and marketing teams continue to push to find new growth levers, experimenting as we go along. 

Crypto-native companies that make payments, or get paid in crypto remain our ideal customers. We are also actively looking to partner with new chains, and stablecoin issuers to power invoice, payroll, and expense payments in their ecosystems. 

Flagging returns in traditional finance may well drive more users towards decentralized finance. In the face of spiking inflation from rising energy prices in Europe, more individuals may turn to owning stablecoins denominated in fiat currencies like USD, or deploying their funds towards higher-yield avenues such as DeFi lending pools.

While nascent, and still contending with teething issues on the road to maturity, we may see growing adoption of an increasingly credible alternative, internet-native financial system composed of crypto payment rails and DeFi platforms. We will continue to partner with other players in the stablecoins and RWA space to push for more real world uses of crypto rails.

At the product level, we spend a lot of time talking with our users to understand what new features we should build. There is no better way to build useful tools that meet the real needs of enterprise teams, and DAOs managing crypto payments. We’ve come a long way since MakerDAO asked us to build a crypto invoicing tool that eventually became Request Finance. 

We’ve been working hard on new features in October which you can expect to see over the coming months. To better serve teams paying, or getting paid in crypto, we plan to introduce an expenses app, as well as a dashboard for financial reports, and allowing finance teams to set permissions and controls.

New Crypto Payment Options

Request Finance is a chain-agnostic B2B crypto payments platform. We can support invoicing, salary payments, and more in the preferred tokens of any new Layer 1 or Layer 2 ecosystem. 

The number of cryptocurrencies supported on Request Finance is second to none, and continues to grow each month. Freelancers, DAOs, and crypto project teams can now send and receive payments in 150+ cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, 9+ fiat currencies, and 14+ blockchains. 

If you’d like to see a token or chain supported in Request Finance, reach out to us on Twitter

Our extensive support for new payment options enables projects across different chains to transact seamlessly with each other in their preferred token.

New signups in October: 964

One important metric is the growth in the number of new accounts created, or “signups”. They represent new companies and freelancers ready to use Request Finance to pay, and get paid in cryptocurrency.

In October, the number of users registered on Request Finance grew slightly less month-on-month compared to August. The total number of registered accounts on Request Finance currently stands at 18,098 up 964 from the previous month. 

New active users in October: 318

Having more new registered accounts is one thing, but more important is to have users who are actively using the product on a regular basis to meet their crypto payment needs. 

The past month saw 318 new active users performing in-app activities like sending and paying invoices. This represents a slight dip of -2.92% in total active users from the previous month, bringing the total number of active users to 2,298. 

Number of crypto payments in October: 1,731

The number of crypto payments made in October saw a -2.86% decrease in the number of new payments made per month. The total number of crypto payments made on Request Finance stands at 18,571.

Note: Depending on contractual payment terms, it can take more than 20-30 days for payment requests like invoices to be paid from when they are issued, sometimes longer. That means that some invoices issued last month are still pending for payments likely to occur this month.

Value of crypto payments in October: $8.14m  

A key success indicator at Request Finance is the dollar value of crypto payments made through the app. Since January 2021, a total of over $254 million of cryptocurrency payments have been made through the Request Finance app. 

Of which, around $8.14 million in crypto invoices were paid last month in October alone. This represents a -54.1% dip in the monthly value of invoices paid, or about $9.6 million less in new payments than the previous month.

This dip represents a correction from a spike due to one-off payments made by a single large user in the previous month.

Top cryptocurrencies: USDC, SAND, USDT, DAI, OCEAN

Another data point to keep track of is which cryptocurrencies are most often used on Request Finance. 

USDC continues to widen its lead as the most preferred cryptocurrency being used on Request Finance, accounting for about 35% of all invoices paid on Request. The popularity of invoices being paid in USDC on the Request Finance app likely reflects a flight to safety in the stablecoin market in the wake of UST’s collapse.

USD-denominated stablecoins as a whole continue to be a popular choice for enterprise crypto payments, making up three-fifths, or 61% of the crypto payments on Request Finance. 

The Sandbox’s native token, SAND accounts for nearly a quarter, or about 23% of the total invoices paid in Request Finance, followed by USDT (14%) and DAI (9.2%), and ETH (3.7%). 

The popularity of stablecoins can be explained with many of the same reasons why most people do business in fiat, rather than settling payments in shares of tech companies listed on the NASDAQ. Their stable prices make them ideal as a medium of exchange, and unit of account - two of the three defining features of money.

GRT, OCEAN, AAVE, and RARE also made it to the list of top 10 payment currencies. You can find the full list of currencies supported in the Request Finance app here.

Top payment networks: Ethereum, Polygon, Celo, Fantom, and BNB Chain

The Ethereum network is clearly the preferred payment network, being used for about 86% of crypto payments processed through Request Finance.

However, Polygon is growing steadily due its lower gas fees, coming in second place, accounting for about 6% of transactions made through Request Finance. 

Celo (4%) trails closely behind as the third most used chain for enterprise crypto payments. 

Notably, BNB Chain is the fastest growing payment network on Request Finance by about +14% month-on-month

Through this monthly report, we hope to provide an overview of what’s happening with Request Finance, and the data driving our product development decisions. We hope that our commitment to transparency will inspire new users to take their first steps into invoicing and payments with cryptocurrency for their business.

Want to see what's going on with Request on a daily basis? Visit the Request Activity Dashboard for more exhaustive data on the Request Network.  

Any specific metric you'd like to see covered in the following report? Feel free to get in touch through email or by joining the Discord channel!

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