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Network Participants

The SFPY network mainly consists of the following participants:

  • Merchants
  • Customers
  • Developers
  • Borrowers

Merchants send requests for payments to customers by sending them a payment link or by integrating the API into their storefronts, websites or any platform that supports Web 3. Customers complete payments either using ETH or any valid ERC-20 token and in effect provide liquidity to pools in exchange for purchasing a good or service from the merchant. Borrowers can borrow the underlying liquidity through flash loans and repay the principle back to the pool with a 0.10% fee. Developers can integrate directly with the SFPY smart contracts or with the SFPY API to power new and exciting interactions with tokens, payment interfaces, retail experiences, and more.

At the end, these core network actors interact with each other to offer an alternative payments ecosystem to the one that currently exists, creating new economic incentives while levelling the playing field for all those involved.

Merchants#

Merchants need not be restricted to the orthodox idea of a retail operation accepting payments online, although that is certainly a group that will benefit from the lack of hefty, unfair fees, the ability to earn passive income and the permissionless nature of accepting payments. Merchants in the SFPY ecosystem could come from:

  • Individuals and freelancers that need to be paid in exchange for work and want to accept a stablecoin like USDC in place of using traditional payment services such as PayPal.
  • Creators and influencers who receive donations or payments from their fans for creating original content
  • E-commerce store owners that want to add new payment methods for their customers or who have trouble being permitted to accept traditional digital payment methods such as credit/debit cards.
  • Financial institutions or corporations interested in digital currencies who have to move large value payments at a fraction of the cost and time it takes currently.

Customers#

Customers, in the context of SFPY, are those actors that purchase goods, services or any other tangible or intagible products in exchange for their Ethereum or ERC-20 tokens. Customers can include:

  • Companies that hire freelancers or individual to perform a certain piece of work.
  • Fans who want to reward creators or influencers for content produced or to show support.
  • Donors who want to donate to a charity and support their cause
  • Consumers buying goods and services online in a retail setting
  • Institutions, corporations, suppliers and distributors who want a cheap and quick way to transfer large value across multiple geographic jurisdictions.

Developers#

Developers can integrate with SFPY in a variety of ways to take advantage of the protocol. The open source nature of SFPY allows developers to integrate and build new experiences either based on the API or directly with the smart contracts to offer countless UI/UX experiences.

  • By integrating with the API, developers can create plugins for various e-commerce platforms, or integrate directly into their websites. This method of integration relies on their customers using the SFPY front end interface to complete the payment. Its a low touch integration that takes one afternoon to complete.
  • By integrating with our smart contracts, developers can create brand new UI/UX experiences that donot exist yet. This method gives developers complete control over the front end expereince while taking advantage of the security, transparency and permissionless guarantess that the Ethereum blockchain offers. Additionally, since the SFPY front end is open sourced along with our SDK, developers can use these tools to build their own codebases.

Borrowers#

Borrowers in the SFPY ecosystem can be one of several types:

  • Speculators who spot an arbitrage opportunity on another DEX and use flash loans to profit from mispriced tokens.
  • Arbitrage bots seeking profits by comparing prices across different platforms to find an edge. (Though it might seem extractive, these bots actually help equalize prices across broader Ethereum markets and keep things fair.)
  • Smart contract developers that integrate flash loans into other popular DeFi projects like Uniswap, Balancer or Compound.

SFPY Team and Community#

The SFPY team along with the broader SFPY community drives development of the protocol and ecosystem.

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