The Tembusu Blogchain

The Singapore cryptocurrency developer puts its proprietary blockchain-based platform through its paces with local brick-and-mortar and e-shopping vendors

Singapore, 27 May 2015 – Local blockchain solutions provider Tembusu Systems will begin their first-in-Singapore real-world implementation of digital currency payments using the TRUST framework on 10th June 2015.

The TRUST system, a proprietary platform based on the blockchain technology that drives cryptocurrencies and digital economies, makes payment using different currencies – real-world, digital or even gold and silver – possible. The system was developed to integrate traditional currency platforms with the emerging blockchain technology that drive today’s commonly known digital currencies.

“TRUST is taking its first step into getting widespread adoption and integration with existing systems. We’re planning to try out several possible use cases with current payment systems in Singapore,” said Andras Kristof, Co-Founder and CEO of Tembusu Systems, “and the success of this trial will see the use of digital currency payment systems being extended into real-world context.”

A demo of the platform, conducted in local uptown bar The Spiffy Dapper – who also hosted Singapore’s first Bitcoin ATM in 2014 – showed how the TRUST framework could be easily implemented. The trial implementation only requires a computer or mobile device to be attached to existing POS systems, and successful integration will see businesses having a simplified, self-auditing, cashless payment system with low-running cost. With blockchain technology keeping each transaction in check, businesses like The Spiffy Dapper can expect easier reconciliation of their accounts from their daily sales as well.

At the core of the TRUST platform are a network of payment gateways which allows consumers to pay with any currency of their choice. The platform can also accommodate establishments with loyalty rewards programs such that users can pay using accumulated loyalty points.

Tembusu Systems will also be exploring human ATM applications as well; the TRUST platform allows consumers to withdraw cash through participating businesses by processing currencies from their digital wallets to the POS systems. Businesses will then be able to cash out the digital payment into cash for consumers over the counter.

With blockchain technology showing so much untapped potential, Jarrod Luo, Co-founder and COO of Tembusu Systems, is constantly looking for and experimenting with innovative ideas for TRUST to be implemented with, such as with online video game economies.

A small storm has been brewing around Prof. Yanis Varoufakis' connection to Tembusu Systems and some clarifications are in order. Greek publisher Proto Thema did not try to reach Tembusu Systems for comment at any time, which may explain many of the gaps in their reporting.

Prof. Varoufakis helped to build a key part of the founding strategy for Tembusu Systems towards the end of 2014 and served as our advisor in that respect. We continue to recognise him as our advisor because of his foundational contributions to the company.

His last contribution to Tembusu Systems was in December 2014, and he has not contributed to the company since he made the decision to stand in the Greek general elections.

It has also been misreported that Tembusu Systems is a Bitcoin business. Tembusu Systems develops blockchain technology for commercial applications, including payment systems, remittance and digital wallets. We do not deal with Bitcoins or any existing cryptocurrency.

We are keen to explore working partnerships with corporations and organisations that want to leverage the power of the blockchain for their operations, and can offer solutions that are more secure, more robust and that cost less to run than existing systems.

By Andras Kristof | Co-founder & CEO, Tembusu Systems

According to World Bank and McKinsey reports, there are 2.5 billion unbanked adults in the world. That’s half the world’s adult population without direct access to financial systems that they could use.

This means that they lack, or are severely hampered in, the ability to effectively save (short of stashing cash in their homes), invest, participate in non-cash transactions, borrow from reputable lenders or get paid when they hawk their skills and knowledge to the global market.

(Source: The World Bank)

One of the reasons why Tembusu Systems built the TRUST platform the way we did is because we believe cryptocurrency technology can help the unbanked get included in the global financial system.

It’s not necessarily a matter of income, or the rich/poor divide. A McKinsey insight piece reveals that a large proportion of those who currently have access to formal or semi-formal financial services are people living on less than $5 a day (adjusted for PPP).  

The largest barrier is very often the limitations of our current banking systems – it ultimately boils down to whether it is worth taking the risk to offer financial inclusion to the unbanked and because of various factors: the cost of offering traditional centralised banking services, the associated downside risk of that cost, geographical limitations, even manpower constraints.

One amazing technology that has helped clear the path for cryptocurrency solutions for the unbanked is mobile data. Smartphone penetration is high even in developing countries. Thailand boasts a penetration rate of 49%, and Indonesia has a 23% penetration rate out of a population of 250 million. That’s nearly 60 million smartphones in Indonesia.

Even feature phones, being essentially mobile computers, can support cryptocurrency technology. Using Tembusu’s TRUST system, banks or large corporations can begin to offer financial access to the unbanked through distributed systems. This reduces the need for expensive centralised resources and makes for a viable banking solution for the masses.

What this means is not just a matter of enabling people to put money into a bank  account and accrue savings. Financial inclusion is much more. Because TRUST has Proof-of-Identity built in, users can have a creditworthiness score for microloans, accept payments online for providing tourism services, local knowledge, or other microservices.

Since it was first created in 2008, the blockchain has shown us its potential to open up a slew of possibilities in the digital world, and not just finance. But what’s holding it back?

By Jarrod Luo | Co-founder & COO, Tembusu Systems

The blockchain is a very intriguing concept, flush with possibilities beyond its financial application in the digital world. As a business that began with bitcoin vending machines in Singapore, we were very intrigued by what the basis for today’s cryptocurrency revolution has achieved, and can achieve. Though we still believe in its potential today, over the time we’ve spent studying and working closely with cryptocurrency systems, these systems have also taught us what it can’t do. As great a technology as the current protocol presents in itself, it’s been hampered with flaws that manifested not from its technical make-up, but from pragmatic, real world considerations that have kept it from widespread adoption.

Those flaws happen to be the same features that made cryptocurrency so attractive an alternative currency in the first place.

Most popular cryptocurrency systems tout themselves for their ability to protect the identity of their users, offering a method of trade that shields transactions from prying eyes – or at least, makes tracing really difficult, while at the same time opening up every transaction in its system into a public ledger for accountability. Yet we’ve come to realise this feature has now created a perfect imbalance in legitimacy that poses natural barriers against cryptocurrency’s widespread adoption.

On one hand, the system is too anonymous for governments to endorse; locating transactions within current cryptocurrency blockchains would take humungous effort, not to mention identifying the individuals involved. In the case of Bitcoin, various nations have begun cautiously regulating the cryptocurrency not as a means of extending the financial capabilities of their economies, but to prevent proliferation of illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing. Two countries – Vietnam and Iceland – have even outlawed the use of Bitcoin.

On the other hand, current cryptocurrency protocols are too transparent for their end users to trust. Users will remain sceptical; conscious of the lack of privacy in their activity and the knowledge that authorities can see what is being traded, their transactions will be intentionally kept low, if they transact at all.

Just as we’ve seen big technologies evolve over the last 30 years – computers, the Internet, mobile devices, wearable technology – we know the cryptocurrency movement is evolving into a system of fully workable ideals that will gain worldwide acceptance. But the world must differentiate cryptocurrency from the blockchain technology which they ride on in order for a digital revolution to take root, because the blockchain can be so much more than a financial platform.

In fact, before the world even knows what the technology even comprises, there’s already talk about Blockchain 2.0, an innovation trajectory that has much more far and wide-reaching applications than we can imagine in this current space and time. The ideas and possibilities being poured into its making by the industry-at-large is what’s been keeping us excited and astounded.