What is ZBU? All You Need to Know About Zeebu

What is Zeebu?

Source: Zeebu’s Website

The Zeebu project is the world’s first business-to-business (B2B) loyalty project built on the Ethereum blockchain network that is explicitly designed for the telecom carrier industry.

The telecom industry is a wholesale telecommunications sector that supports global communication through carriers’ and operators’ calls, data, and messaging services. While the industry is a vital piece that has turned the earth into a global village, it is plagued by challenges caused by inefficient financial infrastructures and costly settlements for cross-border transactions.

The Zeebu project is designed as a Web3-powered neo-bank for telecom service providers and their customers to conduct fast, frictionless cross-border transactions without complications and delays, which are prevalent in the traditional banking process, eliminating the need for conventional banking channels.

The platform’s loyalty feature is designed to provide loyalty rewards to participants of the ecosystem, allowing telecom merchants and customers to earn tokens for each transaction that is conducted successfully.

The Zeebu platform is segmented into the user interface, the payment settlement and processor (PSP), and the blockchain layer, Ethereum or Binance Smart chain, which the platform runs on.

History of the Zeebu Project

The Zeebu project was founded in 2021 to address the high cost of traditional B2B settlements in the telecom space.

The team began the development of the Zeebu token, ZBU, in 2022, and it went live on the Ethereum mainnet on April 22, 2023. The project then raised $25 million in funding through a presale funding round, and reputable names like Bankai Ventures participated in the funding round.

By the end of 2023, the ZBu token was listed in major exchanges like Gate.io and crypto data aggregators like Coingecko. The project has also announced groundbreaking partnerships with Broadband Telecom Inc., BBT Voice Limited, Novatel, d.o.o., and BridgeVoice Inc.

The Zeebu Team

The Zeebu team comprises Raj Brahmbhatt, one of the co-founders and CEO of Zeebu. He is a financial executive with experience in securities, investments, and finance technologies. He is focused on decentralization and tokenized assets, is part of the National Society of Leadership and Success, and has delivered a speech at the UN on the value of blockchain technology for start-ups.

The next is Keshav Pandya, also a co-founder and the COO of Zeebu. He is a serial entrepreneur capable of bootstrapping and scaling tech companies to global levels. He got into the blockchain space in 2012. By 2014, he had created startups that leveraged blockchain technology to solve problems.

The final member of the team is Raghavendra Hunasgi, also a co-founder and the CMO of the project. He is a global branding expert with experience helping Fortune 500 companies achieve their goals using insight-driven marketing. Havard and leading media houses have listed Raghavendra Hunasgi as a digital transformation guru, and he has worked with the UN as a digital evangelist.

Core Components of the Zeebu Project

User Interface and Experience

Source: Zeebu Whitepaper

The Zeebu platform is designed to have a mobile-compatible interface that is simple yet intuitive, allowing the merchant and customer to access needed information and tools across devices.

The interface consists of the wallet, settlement interface, and reporting interface. As a neo-bank platform, users can use the wallet to conduct transactions similar to a decentralized wallet, such as accessing their wallet balance, depositing, swapping, and withdrawing tokens, and conducting transactions in multiple crypto and fiat currencies.

The settlement interface allows merchants to generate invoices for settling transactions. These invoices are generated for a list of pre-approved customers, stating the currency of choice, the amount, the unique transaction number, and the payment status for each invoice. The interface allows merchants and customers to see the status of all invoices received and sent.

The reporting interface allows telecom merchants and customers to set and track KPIs for their businesses. The interface provides comprehensive details on transactions, token purchases, and sales with other critical information like settlement dates, transaction fees, etc.

Payment Settlement and Processor (PSP)

Source: Zeebu Whitepaper

The Zeebu platform is built to enable crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto transactions among participants in the telecom space, and it achieves that using the Zeebu Payment Processor.

This intermediary system allows telecom carriers to conduct transactions using the ZBU token. The system can verify transactions, convert ZBU to fiat or stablecoins, and move tokens to the appropriate wallet.

It consists of the AML, Zeebu DEX wallet, exchange gateway, and invoice settlement, integrated with the platform’s interface, removing the need to switch between applications or interfaces.

The transaction fees are lower than competing platforms, charging a fee of 1% as opposed to the industry standard of 2-3%. It also remits the loyalty tokens earned by the merchant or customer to their wallets after each successful transaction, which can be up to 3.5% of the invoice value.

OpenZeppelin Smart Contracts

OpenZeppelin is a smart contract framework for developing on Ethereum that provides a community-approved library of audited, battle-tested smart contracts updated with implementations such as the ERC20, ERC721, and ERC1155 standards.

The OpenZeppelin framework consists of tools like the contract library and wizard, the defender for monitoring events and function calls, the Hardhat and Foundry plugins, and the Javascript library for generating Merkle trees and proofs.

The Zeebu project uses the OpenZeppelin smart contract to control access and decide who can perform actions or events. Using the ERC standards, the project created tradable tokens, providing such utilities as verification, signing, and trustless settlement of transactions.

Features of The Zeebu Ecosystem: Zeebu DEX Wallet and Swap Gateway

Zeebu DEX Wallet

Source: Zeebu Whitepaper

The Zeebu wallet is a decentralized wallet built on React and Javascript to bridge the gap between web2 users and web3. The wallet allows users to buy, deposit, and withdraw currencies such as ZBU and USD, using a multi-sig infrastructure to ensure the security of user funds.

It is built on the PSP layer to manage user funds easily, allowing them to settle cross-border invoices regardless of location and giving the users full control of the assets.

Swap/Exchange Gateway

Source: Zeebu Whitepaper

The Zeebu swap trading feature allows users to seamlessly convert between cryptocurrencies and stablecoin.

The swap gateway uses technologies such as Python and SoC2 with advanced security capabilities to achieve lightning-fast and secure transactions. This allows users to select the desired currency to convert with the ZBU token, review the prices, and accept the transaction. ZBU would be instantly transferred to the users’ wallet.

What is the ZBU Token?

Source: Zeebu Whitepaper

The ZBU token is the native token of the Zeebu platform built on both the Ethereum and BSC blockchains. The tokens are developed with the OpenZeppelin ERC-20 standard for merchants and customers to initiate and settle transactions or pay transaction fees.

Aside from settling invoices, ZBU tokens are necessary to partake in governance activities, receive rewards, and vest to lock a set of tokens for some time.

The token’s design includes a function that prevents users from accidentally sending ZBU tokens to the tokens’ contract address. The token has a total supply of 5 billion tokens and a market capitalization of $14.5 billion.

The ZBU tokenomics allocated 4% of the token supply to bug bounties, 6% to marketing and airdrops, 10% to the team advisors, 20% to market makers and crypto exchanges, and 20% to private sales.

The project secured funding on the 7th of September, 2023, raising $25 million through a Series C presale funding round. The team fixed a hard cap of 3% of ZBU tokens during the ICO and a soft cap of 37%.

The token is designed to be a loyalty token, allowing B2B companies and partners to offer loyalty rewards, and it has been made available to crypto exchanges for interested participants to acquire the token regardless of location.

Is the ZBU Token a Good Investment?

As the native token of the Zeebu Project, the ZBU token is helpful for settling transactions, paying transaction fees, distributing loyalty rewards, and rewarding governance activities. Early investors are given an additional reward for contributing to the project, and token holders are eligible for up to 3% of the value of each invoice settled in the platform.

Holders will also be part of the governance layer of the project, allowing them to decide the future direction and value of the Zeebu Project and, by extension, the ZBU token.

The Zeebu project plans to expand into Africa and list ZBU on more centralized exchanges, making the project more enticing in the long term.

Risk Analysis

Advantages

The Zeebu platform empowers telecom participants to conduct swift, simple, borderless transactions without spending heavily on transaction fees. The platform also incorporates loyalty features that entice users to join the platform.

The project is also decentralized, which gives its users control over their assets, ensuring transparency in each transaction. The Zeebu project is fostering a financially inclusive ecosystem as a global platform.

Disadvantages

The inherent risk of the blockchain and crypto space can be a major problem as it leads to fluctuations in the price of the ZBU token. This would reduce the company’s capacity to budget and plan for future transactions, slowing Zeebu’s adoption.

The Zeebu project is attempting to penetrate an established B2B settlement sector full of established competitors who wouldn’t give up market share without resistance.

Transitioning from web2 to web3 would pose a technological huddle for established merchants as it would require learning new practices.

Challenges

The decentralized nature of the Zeebu platform attracts bad players in the crypto industry, posing security concerns for the project and its users. This is coupled with the uncertain regulatory landscape surrounding crypto projects and currencies.

It would also be challenging to convince telecom industry members to embrace a new system of transacting, which would require building trust and demonstrating the values attached to the ZBU utility token.

Competitive Analysis

The Zeebu project is a financial settlement project within the decentralized blockchain space similar to Eco, designed to be a decentralized alternative to fiat currencies. While the two are designed to be financial settlement projects, the Zeebu project is focused only on providing utility to the telecom sector, while Eco is to create a stable payment ecosystem for its users.

Zeebu’s governance focuses on providing the best value for the holders of the ZBU token and participants of the Zeebu project. In contrast, the governance of Eco uses elected trustees to diminish volatility, protecting the token holders and their purchasing power.

The Eco project aims to maximize incentives by aligning the activities of its users along the mandate of aggregating wealth for the ecosystem, while Zeebu’s incentives are geared towards fostering loyalty to the web3 space by telecom participants.

How Can You Own ZBU?

To own ZBU tokens and become a part of the Zeebu ecosystem, users can follow a simple process:

Setup a Wallet

One way to own ZBU tokens is to purchase them through an exchange. For this, the user must create a Gate.io account, complete the KYC process, and add funds to the account to buy the token.

Utilize the ZBU Tokens

Once users have acquired ZBU tokens, they can explore the Zeebu ecosystem by partaking in invoice settlements, swapping tokens, and governance to earn passive rewards.

Useful References

For the latest updates about Zeebu, visit:

• Official Website
• Twitter
• Telegram

Take Action on Zeebu

Users can trade the ZBU token here.