Zeex is offering users the ability to exclusively use crypto when shopping at various outlets. Users will be able to directly purchase whatever items thy want from their brands of choice without having to convert their crypto into fiat.
The following video shows Zeex in action outside of the Consensus conference at a Starbucks, where the CMO Apan Amos Damri uses their beta version to buy a cup of coffee using Ethereum. The transaction was successful, but the verdict is still out on whether they were able to spell his name correctly on the cup.
The ZIX token is what the whitepaper calls a "core element" of the solution, which does three things. It covers a user's transactional risk until the trade is complete, it determines who can exercise what kinds of transactions when based on advertised discount rates and supplies, and it's also a login method to use the Zeex platform.
To the surprise of probably very few people reading this, Zeex is a spinoff sister company of a European marketplace for buying and selling gift cards called Zeek Group. For Zeex, the road is already paved in terms of getting access to close relationships with name-brand retailers and a multi-million dollar inventory of gift cards.
Zeek has been able to raise venture capital from firms such as Blumberg Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Scale Up Venture Capital and more.
Providing working capital to gift card suppliers, easing the transition for many businesses hesitant to get into the crypto field.
Financial services to support suppliers financially.
Operations support to help suppliers and users better understand and utilize the platform.
Provide business intelligence data to retailers on cryptocurrency users.
This sounds like either a huge tax headache or a huge tax advantage. If the current American tax law stands that the exchange of crypto for fiat (or gift card) constitutes a taxable event, the Zeex team would have to figure out a way to help users report their taxes on these events. If this is the case, a -2 would be added to my score. However, if there is some international gift card loophole where users can trade any crypto for gift cards and there not be a taxable event, that would be huge for the team (although unlikely, because Uncle Sam is gonna get what he thinks is his). If this is the case, a +5 added to my score.
We arrive at a +7/10 for Zeex. It's got a cool use case, already works (in beta), and a relatively strong partnership in place. If the appreciation of the token's value is correlated with the success of the app, investors would likely be pretty happy. However, if it's just another token limited to its own ecosystem, I don't see much use in investing into it unless you plan on using the Zeex app.
Hard Cap: $50 million U.S.
Barred from Participating: Israel, U.S., China, Lebanon, Iran.
Sign up for the Zeex email list to find the news for the public crowdsale on the Zeex website and check out their whitepaper.