There are over 2,900 different types of cryptocurrencies on the market, with a market cap of around $900 Billion dollars. That is quite a substantial amount of money in digital assets. Before I really get into this article, there is a bit of a history lesson that needs to be addressed...

In 1950 the Diner's Club, which was started by Bloomingdale, allowed for credit to be given to its customers. Each month, any credit that was used, had to be paid back by the end of that month. By 1956 there were over 60 different types of credit cards of that nature. But in 1958, the first revolving credit card was issued by Bank of America, called the Bank Americard. This has been the gold standard for the last 70 years. 

So for almost 3/4's of a century the global exchange has basically used the same payment structures. True enough, the processes have changed where you don't have to have the retailer or vendor call to verify the cardholder. There are now online payment gateways, and only in dire necessities [e.g. power outages or the credit card machine is down] does the merchant use the paper impression machine. 

Now of course you still had cash, and checks. And the small "mom and pop" stores that would extend credit. Even some businesses would allow for you to run a tab, to be paid back on payday. That was basically it in the realm of credit cards, credit, and payment types.

NOW we usher in a new era: The Blockchain and Cryptocurrency!

We all know Bitcoin, and are all watching closely at the growth rate and attained wealth of not only it, but Ethereum, Maker, Stellar Lumen, Doge, etc (the list is literally too long)...

BUT THAT IS ONLY a small portion of the bigger picture. NOW COMES...

Intitiative Q  and  Argentas.io

These two companies are essentially planning the technological breakthroughs to get a global payment system in place. Both have their own unique aspects to them, so they do have similarities, but have different functionalities.

INITIATIVE Q:

Lets get some back story. There was a company called X.com; co-founded in 1999 by Elon Musk, Harris Flicker, Ed Ho and Christopher Payne. They merged with a company called Confinity, Inc.; which was formed a year earlier (1998) by Luke Nosek, Peter Theil and Max Levchia. If you aren't sure who Confinity, Inc is, its not surprising... you probably know it more by its name "PayPal". Now here's the kicker... why have I been giving you back story on these companies?

Because PayPal acquired a company called Fraud Sciences Ltd, for $169 Million Dollars in 2008. This company is the fore-leader in fraud detection for on-line retailers, with its automated anti-fraud systems including Spotlight VFX and Spotlight T2T.

So, to bring this together nice and neat for you, the co-founder of Fraud Sciences is none other than Saar Wilf. Both founders Wilf and Shvat Shaked joined PayPal's Technology and Fraud Management teams.

Saar Wilf. Let's take a quick look at his resume:

As a Co-Founder:

• Clarity Ray: Helps publishers and networks identify and prevent ad-fraud., Acquired by Yahoo for an undisclosed amount of money. 
• Trivnt: Provides a powerful transaction management platform in the emerging field of Mobile Financial Services (MFS). Acquired by Gemalto for $35 million dollars
• Rootclaim: Collaborative Analysts Platform
• PointGrab: Edge-analytics Sensing Solution for Smart Buildings
• Deep Optics: Self adjusting omnifocal eyeglasses
• Wikiwand: Wikipedia Modernized
• Bzigo: Autonomous mosquito detection solution
• Immersix: Next Gen in Gaze Tracking Technology
• Creditstacks: is now called Jasper! Credit Cards for people with out U.S. Credit History- a Mastercard program

As the First Investor:

• Supersonic: A Mobile Advertising technology platform which merged with Iron Source (with a Billion... YES, Billion dollar valuation)
• CallApp Software: Caller i.d. and contact information app.
• Red Hill Biopharma: Proprietary drugs for gastrointestinal and infectious diseases.
• Crosswise: Cross-device mapping platform, artificial intelligence, education, fintech, blockchain, and machine learning, acquired by Oracle.
• Moon Active: A subsidiary of Malsoft Games, making "Coin Master", a game which you might've played already. (I know I have, and I had no idea until I was writing this, that Wilf was part of that venture.)

And last but certainly not least, we have:

• BestMatch: or as the website reads: BestMat.ch: An advanced algorithm that has unbiased recommendations for products based upon customer needs.

Now that sounds like an impressive resume to me. Looking in to a few of the companies, and seeing exactly the kind of intelligence and foresight Saar Wilf has, can surely make anyone stop and think that he is on the right track. Yes, he doesn't divulge ANY information on the technical aspects of the global payment protocols... but the Initiative Q Economic Model is spot on. 

The plain and simple truth is all about the VALUE of money, where the Equation of Exchange is paramount.

What in the world is that, you ask? As defined, "The total expenditures (or income) in that currency, divided by the money supply (the total amount of currency in circulation)" Seems simple enough right? The only real problem with this is knowing exactly what monies are being spent at any given time. It could be said that over a 100 trillion dollars is spent or made every year globally. And that the amount of around 35-40 trillion dollars (calculated in USD, to include all currencies) is in circulation. This is to include all coins, paper money, deposits in checking or savings accounts. Now, there's approximately 1.2 quadrillion dollars (same calculation in USD) that is moved on stocks, investments, cryptocurrencies, etc. So its rather tough to delineate exactly the amount of actual tangible currency across the globe. For argument's sake lets just say a combination of the two is roughly $50 trillion, because we all know most stocks, investments and cryptocurrencies are more than not... held for the long haul. 

With these numbers, its saying that the the rate of each would be 100/ 50 = 2. So the VELOCITY of MONEY is around 2. This means, essentially each unit of money will pass through someones' possession twice in that year. Also by comparison, it alludes to the fact that each individual has about half of their yearly income in savings. I find that hard to believe. If that were the case, we all could diversify our portfolios exponentially! 

In any event Saar Wilf and the team at Initiative Q does have something in common with Argentas.io, and that is their agreement on two aspects:

1) They both want to be the ones to bring a complete global currency to the mainnet/world.

2) They developed their different takes on how to do this by: Quantity Theory of Money

M= (P x Q)/ V

Where: M = Money Supply; V = Velocity of Money; P = Price Level (with 0 inflation assumed: P=1); and Q = Quantity of products and services transacted.

And that about covers the similarities between the two start-ups.

ARGENTAS.IO

The founders of Argentas.io have come up with an almost unique way of looking at the world of payments, money and the business as a whole. They call it the: 

"Architecture of Money ( AoM )"

"The AoM will profoundly disrupt, deconstruct and recreate the world of money, payments and banking as we know them now".

Its an End - to - End solution that has three key dimensions, which form this global distribution ledger technology (DLT) - based platform for all types of financial services. Those Key Dimensions are:

• Proprietary Blockchain Network with its native digital currency.
• The Network bridge entities and interfaces.
• Decentralized applications (coming soon)

Lets now talk about the HYdraNet:

The native digital currency is tentatively called "X", or AXU.

At Argentas, they are not looking to create another form of 'PayPal' on top of an existing outdated and technically obsolete infrastructure. A truly global payment system needs to be built on an entirely new platform, via the development and implementation of a Next Gen blockchain technology.

The NextGen Blockchain (DLT):

No one can say that the Bitcoin blockchain didn't start the world on a profoundly new technology. However it was more of a proof of concept. Remembering that it took almost 10 years to actually gain any substantial momentum. Argentas' HydraNet will enable applications through its advanced DLT, to incorporate such technologies with every day use.

Being Instant and Global:

Think of this for a second... Visa processes roughly 60,000 transactions per second!! That is a huge number, no doubt about it. The platform is designed to enable a more global volume that could eventually process 1 million or more transactions a second! (I know, right) This will be all possible through the 12 Super Nodes called the "Heads of Hydra". Any other structure of hundreds or thousands of nodes, would not be able to.

Privacy and Security:

The Cryptex in the HydraNet security mechanism which will encrypt and protect the blockchain. This will eventually be quantum attack resistant, a foresight on Argetas' agenda. (Now, i suppose you are going to ask what a quantum attack is, right? So i'll tell you... It refers to the act of a very powerful computer (quantum) breaking one of the three extremely hard mathematical problems that ensures cryptographic algorithms are secure. I looked into the process on how a computer could easily break these, and it would be done by using Shor's Algorithm. Sorry, but I'm going to leave that part up to you to do the research on). As current technologies are unveiled, various cryptographic services exist but will be obsolete in the future. That is why Argentas will constantly stay ahead of all practices that might be able to infiltrate the platform. I guess you could surmise that they are going to employ their own "Black Hats" to fulfill this.

Wallet Apps:

The HydraNet will interface wallets and other apps. For simplicity and ease of use, the wallet app will integrate the user's smartphone features, as in RFID proximity chips, fingerprint access, bar code reader, facial recognition for payment confirmation. This will also give one more level of security to protect the platform. 

Although this global payment platform will utilize NextGen Technology, there are some out there whom of which will prefer to use the 70 year old system of paying in person with an actual card. Argentas plans on accommodating those users. There will be a collection of payment cards enabling smooth global payments, especially in the areas in which Argentas' future proprietary payment network is not accessible yet.

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION:

Now that Argentas has defined the areas in which HydraNet and DLT will prevail, the banking app/wallet proves to be elegant and easily navigated. (see below). Its true that if the App works better than any competitor, the look of it really doesn't matter... But why not make it look as perfect as possible!

The DIFFERENCES IN A NUT SHELL:

• Initiative Q has the backing of a well versed individual and his team, which have proven time and time again, that they are leaders in A.I., payment systems, apps, integrated technologies, etc.; Whereas Argentas.io does NOT divulge any such information on its creator/s.
• Argetas.io has a clear definitive plan, road map, and roll out milestone, to where its expected to be on MainNet by 2024; Initiative Q is playing it cool, as not to let their proprietary information known to the public. Rightfully so, as they don't want anyone taking their ideas and beat them to the launch date.

Both are currently available to reserve your Q or AXU.

Here are my codes in case you would like to join my teams:

https://argentas.io/users/invite.php?invite=B7534A8330

https://initiativeq.com/invite/knCUb8fXP 

This is a close friend of mine just got on Argentas.io, so if you would like to be on his team instead of mine, here is his invite code:

https://argentas.io/users/invite.php?invite=CD2A72E3B6

BE SURE TO verify the email (from the email address that is used to register) that will be sent to you. Only then can you be verified!