Slash (SVL): Making Crypto Payments Effortless
One of the biggest crypto payment issues is the need to swap assets, sometimes more than once, to pay for a purchase. This is because there's often a mismatch between the tokens merchants are willing to accept and the assets held by a potential customer/payer. What’s more, the fees from these swaps can add up quickly on both sides of the purchase equation.
The introduction of stablecoins, such as USDT, USDC, BUSD and Dai, was supposed to solve these problems. However, these coins only partially addressed the issue, as different merchants still have various stablecoin preferences. In addition, cryptocurrency in general still struggles to move beyond the realms of blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi). The quest to make crypto as common as fiat money for payments is still ongoing.
Slash fintech (SVL), or simply Slash, is a decentralized project working to solve both issues. Slash aims to facilitate effortless, streamlined crypto payments both within and outside the DeFi domain, facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies preferred by merchants and payers.
Key Takeaways:
Slash (SVL) is a decentralized crypto payments solution provider that offers a number of products to facilitate efficient and flexible cryptocurrency-based payments.
Among the platform's key products are a stablecoin-collateralized credit card, and a new crypto payment solution that lets payers and payees transact in their preferred assets.
The platform's native SVL token acts as both a governance and staking asset, underpinning the operations of the entire Slash ecosystem.
What Is Slash?
Slash (SVL) is a decentralized app (DApp) that provides merchants with an easy-to-use, streamlined and secure way of accepting crypto payments. The platform's flagship products include Slash Payment, a crypto payment solution that lets users pay in their preferred cryptocurrency while enabling merchants to accept the payment in the asset of their choice, and Slash Card, an internationally recognized credit card utilizing established stablecoins as collateral.
Founded in 2021 by Japanese entrepreneur Shinsuke Sato, the Slash platform's operations were launched in mid-2022 on Mantle Network (MNT), an Ethereum virtual machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 2 rollup platform. Thanks to its utilization of Mantle, Slash can offer users negligible transaction fees and near-instant finality. In late April 2024, Slash launched its native token — Slash Vision Labs (SVL).
In order to enable efficient crypto payments, Slash sources data from various DeFi protocols and pools to offer users the best swap rates and lowest transaction fees. All revenues collected by Slash go back to the stakers of the platform's SVL token.
Slash Core Products
The project's ecosystem includes several crypto payment and non-fungible token (NFT) products. Among these, two payment solutions — Slash Payment and Slash Card — stand out as its main products.
Slash Payment
Slash Payment is the platform's primary crypto payment solution. It allows payers to use a crypto token of their choice to make payments, while in turn letting merchants accept the payment in their preferred cryptos. During transaction execution, Slash Payment checks in real time for the best swap rates and fees across numerous DeFi platforms to facilitate the payment. Consequently, payers can enjoy the lowest possible fees at all times.
At the same time, merchants pay no fees for accepting payments. Payment settlement is noncustodial and nearly instant. Another advantage of Slash Payment is the absence of Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, which adds a significant degree of privacy and flexibility for transacting parties.
At the moment, Slash Payment supports nine blockchain networks, including major smart contract chains Ethereum (ETH), BNB Chain (BNB), Polygon (POL) and Avalanche (AVAX).
Slash Card
Slash Card is a service offered by the Slash platform that allows you to use two popular stablecoins — USDT and USDC — as collateral to acquire an internationally recognized credit card for online payments. By offering the card, Slash bridges the gap between cryptocurrencies and fiat assets.
It's a known fact that using your crypto assets with products such as credit cards isn't a widely offered option online, especially in the stringent regulatory landscape of Japan. Yet Slash Card stands out as a rare crypto-powered credit card product approved by the Japanese authorities for use in the nation's market and payment systems.
Alice NFT
Alice NFT is a cyberpunk-themed NFT collection released by the Slash project. The collection consists of 10,000 NFTs, each depicting a cyberpunk-styled individual. The collection has 20 different cyberpunk characters, with the main character named Alice, hence the collection name.
The collection is based on the Ethereum blockchain. In early April 2024, Slash announced the launch of a bridging solution that facilitates the transfer of Alice NFTs (see link in this sentence) from Ethereum to Mantle.
What Is SVL?
Slash Vision Labs (SVL) is the platform's native cryptocurrency. It's an ERC-20 token based on Mantle Network, and its main functions include governance and staking. The governance function is enhanced by timelocking more SVL (and for a longer period) in the Slash Vision Portal.
The SVL token is also used to facilitate the revenue-sharing arrangement on Slash. SVL stakers are entitled to 100% of the protocol revenues generated from the Slash Payment and Slash Card products. The protocol uses the revenues to buy Mantle Network's native MNT token off the market. These funds are then distributed to holders of SVL TimeLock NFTs, which are soulbound non-fungible assets issued to SVL stakers.
The SVL token is a deflationary asset, with a total and maximum supply of 10 billion. Token supply allocation shares are per the chart below.
Staking SVL Tokens
SVL TimeLock NFT
When you stake your SVL tokens on Slash, you’re issued a soulbound SVL TimeLock NFT. Soulbound tokens (SBTs) are nontransferable assets tied to a particular wallet, and typically serve as a form of decentralized identity. SVL TimeLock NFTs are used as confirmation of your staking and entitle you to other benefits, such as participation in on-platform governance processes. Upon un-staking your SVL funds, the NFTs are burned.
KeyNFT
In addition to SVL TimeLock NFTs, the staking process on Slash involves another type of NFT — KeyNFT. Only certain whitelisted NFT collections on Mantle can act as KeyNFTs. These NFTs grant you the right to access the SVL staking process. Thus, they act as a form of cryptographic key for staking. In contrast, an SVL TimeLock NFT is issued upon staking and serves as a "confirmation certificate" for your staked funds.
The abovementioned Alice is one of the whitelisted NFT collections that can be used to access SVL staking. Another collection whitelisted for KeyNFTs is VeryLongSlash NFT, an SBT whose airdrop Slash carried out in late April 2024.
SVL Airdrop Staker Genesis NFT
Among the collections that can be used as KeyNFTs is SVL Airdrop Staker Genesis NFT. This special collection was distributed by the project via an airdrop in late April 2024 to celebrate the launch of Slash Vision Portal version 0.75. As part of the campaign, SVL stakers earned Genesis NFTs and were eligible for a share of the 50,000 MNT prize pool. These NFTs also entitle their holders, as early adopters, to additional on-platform benefits in the future.
Where to Buy Slash (SVL)
The SVL token is available through Bybit's Web 3 Swap portal, a platform for decentralized, efficient and low-cost crypto asset swaps. It supports tokens from various blockchain platforms and offers other benefits, such as no KYC requirements, one-step swaps, support for new tokens unavailable on most other platforms and fully on-chain transactions.
In addition to Web 3 Swap, the SVL token is also available on Bybit's Spot market (SVL/USDT). Bybit's Spot and Derivatives markets provide you with opportunities to trade hundreds of cryptocurrencies and crypto-based products.
From Apr 29 through May 10, 2024, you can earn from a 33,000 USDT prize pool from trading SVL, split equally between new users and existing users. If you don't have a Bybit account, you can easily register for one to join the event now and access our extensive range of crypto products and assets.
Closing Thoughts
Navigating numerous exchanges and liquidity protocols to find the best swap rates is a challenging and time-consuming activity for crypto users. Slash’s unique platform greatly simplifies this process. In fact, with Slash Payment, there's no need to bother with swap operations at all — it's all automated to deliver you the best rates for a given transaction. Additionally, Slash Card is a unique product and valuable tool for anyone who would like to put their cryptocurrency funds to use outside of the web3 environment.
With these innovative products, Slash is bound to gain notice among the broader crypto user and merchant communities. As crypto payments become more actively used, we'll undoubtedly be hearing more about Slash fintech and its unique products.
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