Commentary for March 2023

‍At the business level, March saw a 53% uptick in the value of crypto payments transacted compared to the previous month, reaching a new all-time high.

This surge in activity comes on the back of concerns about the disruptions to payroll operations for startups banked with the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank. In contrast, not a single Request Finance user saw disruptions to their payroll processed in stablecoins, and on crypto rails using our app. 

While we cannot definitively point to a causal relationship, it would seem that with each crisis of confidence in centralized exchanges, or traditional banks, sees more activity on our app. 

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. 

At the product level. We recently released a new paid feature allowing enterprise teams to add roles and permissions to team members. This will allow Web3 CFOs to better delegate financial operations and reporting work, and collaborate with external partners like accountants without the security risks that come with password sharing.

To better support Web3 CFOs’ decision-making, we introduced a new dashboard so that teams can easily get an overview of their crypto cash flows each month, see their outstanding payable items, and forecast their projected spending.

On/off ramping between fiat bank accounts, and your crypto wallet is important to adoption. Many teams getting paid in crypto still have limited avenues to spend their crypto - without high fees. We are actively partnering with third-party solutions on integrations that will make it possible to pay into a fiat bank account from a crypto wallet.

New Crypto Payment Options

We recently added support for $d2o from @DAM_Finance, $HAY from @Helio_Money, $Premia from @PremiaFinance, and TRB from @WeAreTellor.

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. 

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

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New signups in March: 1,141

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 March, the number of users registered on Request Finance grew considerably month-on-month. The total number of registered accounts on Request Finance currently stands at 23,507 up 1,141, or about +3.35% from the previous month. 

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Active users in March: 2,018

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 408 more active users performing in-app activities like sending and paying invoices. This represents a rise of +25% in total active users from the previous month, bringing the total number of active users to 2,018. 

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Number of crypto payments in March: 2,924

The number of crypto payments made in March saw +36% rise in the number of new payments made per month. 

The total number of crypto payments made on Request Finance stands at 31,925.

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 March: $14.1m  

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 $301 million of cryptocurrency payments have been made through the Request Finance app. 

Of which, around $14 million in crypto invoices were paid last month in March alone. This represents a 61% increase in the monthly value of payments, or about $5.4 million more in new crypto payments than the previous month.

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Top cryptocurrencies: USDC, SAND, ANKR, USDT, cUSD

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

USDC continues to be the most preferred cryptocurrency being used on Request Finance, accounting for about 33% of all crypto payments made by our mostly enterprise users. 

The sustained popularity of invoices being paid in USDC on the Request Finance app likely reflects the growing confidence in Circle’s ability to withstand negative shocks like the temporary de-peg from pa with the USD, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank this past month.

USD-denominated stablecoins as a whole continue to be a popular choice for enterprise crypto payments, making up 63% of the crypto payments on Request Finance. 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.

The Sandbox’s native token, SAND comes in second, accounting for about 18% of the total invoices paid in Request Finance, followed by ANKR (14.5%), USDT (12.4%), and cUSD (3.61%). 

You can find the full list of currencies supported in the Request Finance app here.

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

The Ethereum network is clearly the preferred payment network, being used for about 71% of crypto payments processed through Request Finance. 

BNB took second place, with about 17.3% of the crypto payments volume in March. A slight dip compared to the previous month may reflect the lower transactions on BUSD, which has encountered regulatory resistance of late, when Paxos was directed by the financial regulators to cease new issuance of the stablecoin, following the SEC’s accusations of it being an unregistered security.

Polygon continues to grow steadily due its lower gas fees, coming in third, accounting for about 5.86% of transactions made through Request Finance. 

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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!