ChronoBank ‘Crypto’ Startup Attracts $3M Bitcoin, Forges Changelly App Partnership

Time-based cryptocurrency initiative ChronoBank, an ambitious project that aims to “disrupt the short-term recruitment sector” by connecting employers with freelancers on a peer-to-peer basis, has eclipsed $3 million in a crowdfund as it announced that is to integrate the Changelly instant exchange app right within its main wallet software, the ChronoWallet.

The development with Changelly comes as ChronoBank heads towards the final fortnight of their crowdfund via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), which since it kicked off this December had raised $3,231,443 at the close of January – equivalent to 3,326 bitcoin (BTC) – from 1,857 investors. The total dollar amount raised has increased by some $500,000 since January 19.

Labour Hour Tokens

The key to the project’s operation is Labour Hour (LH) tokens that will trade freely on the open market and be the native unit of currency that companies use to purchase labour from professionals. The main targeted professions listed by the venture span building and construction, e-commerce, finance, industrial, warehousing and freelancers.

The LH tokens are linked to average hourly wages in the host country I question and are backed by a real labour force from big recruitment and labour-hire companies. And, LH’s launch is slated to take place in a phases from the second quarter (Q2) to fourth quarter (Q4) this year

Specifically, ‘LHAU’ (Australia) is scheduled for a Q2 launch, ‘LHUS’ (United States) for Q3, and both ‘LHEU’ (European Union) and ‘LHUK’ (United Kingdom) are pencilled in for Q4.

Since these tokens are linked to labour costs in each token’s originating country, it is claimed by ChronoBank startup that they are expected to provide a sound store of value – and as an “inflation-proof asset” that could prove “attractive to long-term investors and traders wanting to park funds overnight.”

It is further asserted that the solution “far more sustainable” than any of the fiat-pegged or backed coins that currently exist in the crypto market. LH tokens will be “hyper-liquid” and accessible 24/7 via ChronoBank’s LH debit card.

(Image: Shutterstock).

Instant Liquidity

Sergei Sergienko, CEO and founder of ChronoBank, commenting in Sydney, Australia, said: “The ability to trade these LH tokens quickly, easily and without slippage against other national and virtual currencies is vital to the smooth operation of ChronoBank and confidence in our platform.”

A graduate of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sergienko is also co-founder of Edway Group Ltd, a leading Australian company in industrial training and labour supply. Born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 1982, he has won a number of business awards in Australia including ‘Hot 30 under 30’ and ‘Young Gun in Business’, and even represented Australia at G20 summits.

Liquidity on the platform will be achieved through the Chronowallet, which will have a small build-in decentralized exchange from Ethereum-based tokens to LH. ChronoBank’s founder told Forbes that the firm is in the process of “developing and testing market making bots that will be used in third party exchanges to provide more liquidity.”

He added: “That is why we are working to ensure they are listed on a wide range of exchanges. Moreover, we are implementing Changelly right within the core ChronoBank wallet.” It is claimed that this will make it easy for users to exchange LH tokens for bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies with “practically zero delay” according to the Russian-born executive.

As to the identity of those exchanges, at present ChronoBank is only able announce Lykke, an exchange based in Switzerland. Sergienko nevertheless added: “The other announcements form part of our marketing plan and will be announced shortly. Already though have at least five committed though.”

Changelly Instant Exchange App

Changelly, which launched back in 2013 as an instant exchange app, is similar to the well-known ShapeShift. Instead of being a traditional exchange that requires users register before trading against an order book – with variable depth and the problems of slippage that can result – it aggregates rates from the largest trading platforms and offers a single rate. The commission is currently 0.5%.

Dubbed a “smarter solution” to exchange cryptocurrencies in a simple and cost-savvy way, Changelly is a service developed by a group of cryptocoin enthusiasts who also created MinerGate, a mining pool that provides service for merged mining.

By using this pool one can mine different coins simultaneously without a decrease in the hashrate for major crypto coin. Supported currencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), Zcash (ZEC), Litecoin (LTC) and Monero (XMR) and Bytecoin (BCN) amongst others.

Strategic Partnership

As to why ChronoBank decided to form a strategic partnership with Changelly, Sergienko explained that as ChronoBank are planning to exchange fiat to LH within the ChronoWallet app, Changelly already possessed that capability. “We’re committed to giving our customers the best choice and versatility when dealing with us,” he said. “Partnership with Changelly provides just that, by being directly integrated into ChronoWallet.”

Described as “fundamentally rethinking” the way cryptocurrencies are exchanged, Changelly aims to remove technical impediments to customers engaging with this critical element of the cryptocurrency world’s infrastructure.

Sergienko noted on this point: “It’s a clean, reliable interface that we will integrate directly into the ChronoWallet to give our users another choice for trading – in this case, one that’s all about speed and convenience.”

The integration move is expected to allow anyone to buy LH tokens quickly, and then enable users to buy for services on ChronoBank’s labour exchange.

Next Steps

As to the next steps for ChronoBank once the ICO crowdfunding ends 14 February 2017, the CEO revealed to Forbes: “We’re engaging security experts as soon as possible to run through our smart contracts and perform a security audit. Once done we will release the beta of the software.”

Sergienko added: “Most of the funds will be used to develop the second phase of the project, which is LaborX, a decentralized marketplace where people in real-world professions will be able to sell labour-hours to anyone. This is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018.” This second project will require around 10,000 BTC to be raised according to ChronoBank’s roadmap.

With just a couple of weeks left now before their ICO fund raising concludes, he acknowledged that it was “too early to tell” what will be ultimately collected. And, as of right now he indicated that ChronoBank have no plans to seek further funding.