There have been several new developments in the blockchain space coming from Indonesia. Just two months back, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao invested in an Indonesian exchange that has launched its own Rupiah-backed stablecoin. But this may not be the only big break the 4th largest population in the world will make this Summer.
A startup from Jakarta, called Mandi Token, has been making inroads with the level of strategic partnerships it has listed publicly on their website. Currently, the asset valuation of its roster of strategic partnerships has crossed $120 million.
Recently, they have signed an MOU with E2Pay, a payment processing company also based in Jakarta. We had the opportunity to meet Wayne Wilson, one of the partners of the Mandi Token project, and ask him a few questions:
1. Please introduce yourself and provide some background on Mandi Token.
Hello, my name is Wayne Wilson and I am the Founder and CEO. Before starting Mandi Token, I was heavily involved as an entrepreneur in the government and private sectors in South Africa. Mandi Token is a project based in Jakarta, Indonesia, with the mission of bringing the revenue-generating assets of real-world businesses into a digital token-wrapped portfolio.
The portfolio is carefully managed by myself and a team of expert financial analysts called MnI. We have a vast network of businesses here in Indonesia that provide the engine for a circular flow of value between MnI and the Mandi Token economy. My objective is to keep that engine running with further inflows of capital through our ecosystem of retail and sophisticated investors.
2. These valuations emerging are quite impressive. Can you speak on what they mean for Mandi and their token holders?
Of course, so our capital will be allocated towards the financing of real-world businesses in Indonesia. These could span anywhere from mining, infrastructure, hospitality, real estate, etc. Our capital will be put into these businesses that need financing, with most of their assets (e.g. land) used as collateral for these loans. Any revenues generated will be routed straight towards the Mandi Token marketplace, where Mandi token holders will release that accrual of value.
Having these strategic partners lined up is truly important, as they are an important part of our revenue model. We have revamped our website to be very transparent about the partners we align with as well as the future contracts we will ink. I hope this becomes very useful to the Mandi community.
3. That’s right, you will also be having a cryptocurrency portfolio management application coming out for your community. Can you share why the community has this level of importance for Mandi?
Absolutely. We could have easily built MnI with our attention devoted exclusively towards a small circle of accredited investors and institutions. However, that leaves out the other 99% of the world who could contribute strategic value in addition to capital. Retail investors are barred from a lot of opportunities for stakeholdership due to high investment minimums, inaccessibility, and high management fees.
We are making the case that being inclusive of (non-U.S.) retail investors would be a forward-thinking maneuver for the traditional finance and cryptocurrency industries. Mandi Portfolio will be one of the ways we can engage such a large audience, create discourse, and gain further strategic alignment.
There will be features such as voting for strategic partners that the community wants MnI to prioritize. We hope that it gets utilized in tandem with the Mandi Forum. It will be accessible via desktop as well as mobile. It will include a Reddit-like forum where the Mandi community can discuss economic ventures in Indonesia, cryptocurrency, finance, etc.
4. What is an exciting partnership your team has signed recently?
We recently signed a $2 million deal with an Indonesian fintech company. One of their investment projects is a very large payments processing company called E2Pay. E2Pay addresses the tens of millions of people in Indonesia who are unbanked. Through its multiple software applications, they can empower their customer base with personal banking, microloans, merchant services, etc.
When these customers pay monthly interest on a loan, for example, there will be points issued to them. These rewards will be used to later earn discounts and other features within these financial products. Part of this deal is to explore what is possible when E2Pay buys Mandi tokens to back this point system with real-world value instead of minting another token. This customer base is over 100 million strong, held directly or indirectly by E2pay and their partners which includes Nahdlatul Ulams (NU), so there is great potential of expanding our community through this partnership.
5. What do you hope is the legacy Mandi Token leaves behind?
Mandi Token and MnI work with real-world projects. Some of the government contracts on our table have terms that are longer than the time Bitcoin has currently been around, so to us, this is nothing but a long term project. That is not to say we won’t hit huge milestones in the near future. We are undergoing a lot of forward momentum right now and are thrilled to keep our community as well as newcomers up-to-date with our progress.
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