What is Graft?
Graft stands for Global Real-time Authorizations and Fund Transfers. It’s a platform that allows merchants to receive payment through cryptocurrencies, cryptographic tokens, bank transfers, credit and debit cards. All of this is done using a decentralized API, untraceable blockchain and an open community of service brokers.
You’ll learn more about it in this video:
What is an API?
API means Application Programming Interface, it offers a variety of services in order to extend the basic functionalities of a software or application.
What is a service broker?
“Service Broker helps developers build asynchronous, loosely coupled applications in which independent components work together to accomplish a task. ”
Source
In Graft’s case, service brokers are used to implement the features that require a special regulation framework and/or can’t be performed by a decentralized network. For example, a broker that accepts payment from a credit card or a bank payout transfer.
Graft uses four types of service brokers. The buyer uses top-up and pay-in brokers when they make a payment through the Graft wallet app. Merchants use the other two types of brokers, accept and payout broker, which allows them to accept different currencies and receive their pay in the currency they want.
In this video you can learn more about how Graft works and a detailed explanation of service brokers:
How can Graft help merchants and their costumers?
The world of cryptocurrencies is a growing community, each day more and more people learn about them and start investing. One problem about using cryptocurrencies is that not many shops accept them and those who do, only accept Bitcoin. The merchants are reluctant to include cryptocurrencies as a form of payment because the amount of time the transaction takes in order to be effective; also if you want it to be faster then you need to pay a considerable fee, at least when using Bitcoin.
Where I live no shop accepts cryptocurrencies, I have a job selling pastries but sometimes I need to use what I gain in Steemit to buy the things I need. In order to be able to use the money, first I need to exchange the SBD or Steem into Bitcoin and then exchange them for VEF. In this process I pay about 10 to 15 USD in fees. To most it may not seem much, but in Venezuela 1 USD it’s worth 111.000 VEF and that price rises daily. If I pay 10 USD in fees, then I’m losing 1.110.000 VEF. That’s a lot of money and if I have only 10 Steem, then at the end I’m left with less than half of what I had. Not to mention that the whole process takes hours to complete.
Graft would help me a lot with saving money and time too. It also solves the main problem merchants have with accepting cryptocurrencies as payment, the time the transaction takes. Merchants want to increase their earnings and accepting new currencies is a sure way to accomplish it. If I go into a store and I want to buy a shirt but realize that I don’t have enough money without using what I have in Bitcoins, I’m not going to wait hours and pay the fees in order to exchange them into VEF, so I’ll leave; but if the store uses Graft then I’ll buy the shirt. And like me, I’m willing to assure you there are many others. Using Graft will benefit immensely both merchants and costumers.
Graft’s Initial Coin Offering launches on January 18, 2018. If you want to know more then click here.
You can learn more about Graft's writing contest here.
