If you haven’t heard of Initiative Q or received an invite to join millions of others that have already signed up to it, I am pretty certain that in the next few days or weeks you too will be invited to become part of the intriguingly named, Initiative Q.
This post is an introduction to Initiative Q and will cover some things that you need to know and ultimately answer the question, ‘should you Q?’
What is Initiative Q
According to the website, www.initiativeq.com, Initiative Q is ‘building the payment system of the future. The Q payment network will integrate the best technological improvements that have been made into the payment industry over the last few decades to create a flexible, easy-to-use and flexible payment network’. The website is full of high level buzzy marketing speak, quotes (not recent) from sources such as the Times of India which state the rather obvious ‘ If this works then the value of my existing credits can be of significant value’ and some FAQs.
From what I can surmise, they (more on who ‘they’ are later) are creating a new global currency, through the creation of a modern payment network, which will ultimately allow transactions to be carried out in the global currency at low cost in a safe and secure manner at speed. The creation of this global currency is illustrated in a 7 step diagram which explains the how and also identifies the issues and opportunities that have led to them at are leading them to take the step of creating Initiative Q. If you are interested there is a summary below of the 7 steps, otherwise just go to the next section, “Who are ‘They’”:
- Step 1. Identifies the issues – payment cards, cash, wire transfers are outdated – carrying multiple cards, different banks, networks etc is an example of this.
- Step 2. Gives examples of advanced payment technologies that are ready for use including MFA (multi-factor authentication) and Artificial intelligence to reduce fraud, one global currency to eliminate currency exchange fees etc.
- Step 3. Speaks to why a newer payment system hasn’t already been implemented given the opportunity. I am pretty sure that some smart people world-wide are thinking the same thing, the answers provided here are that there needs to be a critical mass for the payment system to be useful and widely used and remains a significant barrier to adoption of any new payment system.
- Step 4. Market size is dimensioned with a statement that a modern payment system which is technologically advanced and has overcome the challenges of adoption could see $20trn in transactions per year.
- Step 5. The payment system creates a dedicated global currency which is valued at several trillion dollars. They provide a link to detailed economic analysis in support.
- Step 6. Here the reader is drawn in with the promise of exclusivity – the Q currency is reserved for you if you join today – the earlier you join, the more Q you can reserve! The landing page of the site gives you an estimate of the future value of the Q made available to the next individuals to sign up. When I did the potential value was hovering around $11,000.
- Step 7. The intention of the grand plan is met as the previous steps lead to the value of the Q currency increasing and the rewards for early users and adopters are realised.
The steps were not the easiest to read and are partly theoretical as opposed to being a ‘how to’ of the Q and Initiative, there is a lot of information but it doesn’t really give us anything tangible to rely on.
Who are ‘They’?
This is a question that I didn’t stop to think about in detail until after I had signed up. Initiative Q was founded by Saar Wilf, described as a “serial entrepreneur who founded his first payments start-up in 1997 and who later founded a company that was acquired by Paypal in 2008”. The Paypal connection is used liberally in the literature for sign up and in almost every piece written about Initiative Q. There also headshots and brief bios of the 4 economists behind the initiative who also act as the Advisory board.
Google searches reveal little about any of the 5 gentlemen involved. There are no large individual digital footprints or other validatory information outside of the official website, facebook page, some articles written by newspapers and publications. Proceed with caution.
How can I join?
If you are still reading up until this point, it’s fair to say that you might be up for an adventure and risk. The website itself agrees and says to think of signing up as ‘a free lottery ticket’ and to be honest it is a pretty straight forward process:
- You need to be invited to join. The invite can be generated from the website directly or through their facebook page or you can click on a link sent to you by someone in your network
- They claim that you just need your name and email address. In reality to sign up you need to provide your email password. There were options provided to sign un up through gmail or facebook but they didn’t work when I tried. Wary of typing in my email password I created a new email address and signed up that way, insulating myself from any fallout.
- They promise to erase your data in the event that Initiative Q doesn’t succeed – whether that happens, where the data is stored etc, is impossible to validate.
The risks
I admittedly spent very little time prior to sign up thinking about the downsides of doing so. The invitation came through a trusted network of people and as more and more individuals in the group confirmed that they had signed up, the FOMO kicked in and I did the same, albeit with the new email address.
Giving it some thought, if ‘They’ actually store your email address and password, how much harm could they do with an email, password and your location metadata?
- Email address and password combination can be exploited in a number of ways:
- Scamming your contact list.
- Use of your email address to send mass mailings.
- Use of your email to access your accounts, gain access to your information, even delete accounts or social media profiles.
- Click through links on the Initiative Q site, sign up pages etc could be linked to malware and unleash issues for you unaware.
My advice is that If you must sign up, create a separate email account which is unconnected to your current life and hope for the best.
To Q or not to Q?
The last few months have been a rollercoaster of money making activity, daily we hear how more money is being made. In February the price of bitcoin reached over $46,000 and continues to rise and as I mentioned earlier the fear of missing out is at an all time high. After all we tend to regret the things that we didn’t do more than the things that we did.
I have taken the step of signing up and trying to limit the potential downside of doing so. If you do, I suggest that you do the same.
Thanks for listening!