Request Finance In Numbers: August 2022

Commentary for August 2022

To better reflect the growing range of payment use cases on Request Finance going forward, we will replace our reporting of “crypto invoicing” numbers with the expanded category of, “crypto payments”.  While we started as a crypto invoicing app when we launched, we have since expanded the range of crypto payments tools to include salaries, with more to come including expenses, and escrow. 

Amidst the bear market, Request Finance continues to see double-digit monthly growth rates for enterprise crypto payments. Our team continues working tirelessly to retain the growth momentum of previous months. 

Nevertheless, it is prudent to remain cautiously optimistic in the face of stagflationary macroeconomic headwinds. Crypto asset prices, and by extension, the financial health of many Web3 teams are still highly correlated to risk-on assets like equities. Thus, sharp downward corrections in the revenues derived from fees, token, or NFT sales may dramatically impact spending activity in the crypto industry. The impact of further deteriorations in macroeconomic conditions may not be fully priced in.

However, it is worth noting that the entire crypto industry was born in response to one of the largest crises in modern macroeconomic history during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. In particular, Satoshi sought to create a better system of payments and finance. And for the first time in history, the world now has access to an increasingly credible alternative, internet-native financial system composed of crypto payment rails and DeFi platforms.

How this will play out remains to be seen. But we believe in the fundamental value propositions of stablecoins and a global financial system running on blockchain-based rails. 

We are closely monitoring the evolving debate involving DAI around the tradeoffs between censorship-resistance and scalability in various stablecoin designs. To mitigate our platform’s exposure to protocol specific risks, we embrace support for all stablecoin types. The availability of credible alternatives in constant competition for share of user’s wallets is both healthy and necessary.

We will also continue to partner with other players in the space to push for more real world uses of crypto rails, especially as the noise surrounding purely speculative financial use cases subsides amidst dampened appetites for risk assets.

New Crypto Payment Options

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! 

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. Secondly, 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 August: 1,191

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

In August, the number of users registered on Request Finance grew, up 31% month-on-month compared to June. The total number of registered accounts on Request Finance currently stands at 16,122 up 1,191 from the previous month. 

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New active users in August: 285

It is not sufficient to be content with having more new registered accounts, but actually users who are actively using the product on a regular basis to meet their crypto payment needs. 

The past month saw 285 new active users performing in-app activities like sending and paying invoices. This represents a 6% increase in total active users from the previous month, bringing the total number of active users to 2,314. 

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Number of crypto payments in August: 1,860

While we started as a crypto invoicing app when we launched, we have since expanded the range of crypto payments tools to include salaries, with more to come including expenses, and escrow. 

To better reflect the growing range of payment use cases on Request Finance going forward, we will replace our reporting of “crypto invoicing” numbers with the expanded category of, “crypto payments”.

The number of crypto payments made in August saw a 20.78% increase in the number of new payments made per month.

‍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.

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Value of crypto payments in August: $8.23m  

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 $219 million of cryptocurrency payments have been made through the Request Finance app. 

Of which, around $8.23 million in crypto invoices were paid last month in August alone. This represents a +6.30% rise in the monthly value of invoices paid, or about $0.48 million more in new invoices than the previous month.

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

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

USDC once again remains the most preferred cryptocurrency being used on Request Finance, accounting for about 30.4% 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 continue to be a popular choice for enterprise crypto payments, making up more than half, or about 55% of the invoices paid on Request Finance. 

The Sandbox’s native token, SAND accounts for nearly a quarter, or about 22.3% of the total invoices paid in Request Finance, followed by USDT (12.5%) and DAI (9.4%), and ETH (3.5%). 

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, ETH, AAVE, and AKRO also made it to the list of top 10 payment currencies. The rest of the currencies listed as ‘Other’ are: FTM, MPH, $CELO, GNO, NEAR, MATIC, FUSE, and several more included. You can find the full list of currencies supported in the Request Finance app here.

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

The Ethereum network is clearly the preferred payment network, being used for about 88% of crypto payments processed through Request Finance.

However, Polygon is growing steadily due its lower gas fees, coming in second place, accounting for just over 5% of transactions made through Request Finance. 

Celo (3.5%) trails closely behind as the third most used chain for enterprise crypto payments

For the second month in a row, BNB Chain is the fastest growing payment network at about +26% MoM.

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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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