In the TradFi system, "payment" is often seen as the endpoint of value transfer, whereas "PayFi" redefines the starting point of payment value. When Visa processes tens of thousands of transactions per second yet takes days to complete cross-border settlements, and when small and medium-sized enterprises bear a 6.5% cost for cross-border payments while still needing to provide upfront capital, this financial revolution sparked by on-chain payments is gradually fermenting through innovative PayFi protocols—PolyFlow endows payment actions with "time alchemy," allowing each transaction to mint credit certificates and accumulating financial potential with every payment.
"PolyFlow is building an open network that allows everyone in the world to easily spend cryptocurrency, earn rewards, and have a financial identity." In our conversation with PolyFlow CFO Chuck, we look forward to witnessing a future that enables instant settlement, helps 1.4 billion underbanked individuals bridge the gap of bank accounts, and transforms consumer data into interest-bearing assets.
How PayFi transforms payments from a cost center into a revenue engine
Reporter: As a CFO with 15 years of international investment banking financial management experience, how has your experience in TradFi inspired you to lead the strategy for Web3 projects?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck: During my time as the Chief Financial Officer in the Investment Banking Division of the Americas, I deeply realized that there are two core bottlenecks in traditional cross-border payments: the disconnection between information flow and capital flow. Taking SWIFT as an example, while its messaging system achieves efficient information transmission, capital flow is still constrained by various national clearing systems and foreign exchange controls, resulting in an average cross-border payment time of 3-5 days, with fees as high as 6%-10%. This disconnection is particularly evident in emerging markets—Philippine merchants can face comprehensive costs of up to 9% when receiving USD payments.
The underlying design of PolyFlow originates from this insight. We separate the information flow (PID) from the capital flow (PLP) through a modular architecture, making the blockchain a "highway" for value transfer rather than a "toll booth." PID (Payment ID) will build an on-chain identity system for users, ensuring that each crypto payment is not just about "spending money" but also about "recording," turning consumption into proof for future credit applications, unlocking data revenue, and participating in financial services; PLP (PolyFlow Liquidity Pool) attempts to seamlessly connect RWA and DeFi, linking on-chain financial scenarios to create a PayFi financial service ecosystem that everyone can use in the future.
For example, trade settlements from Brazil to China can be reached on T+0 through PLP pool smart contracts, reducing costs by 50%-80%. This "compliant self-custody" model not only retains the composability of DeFi, but also avoids the risk of centralized custody, and can also obtain the income generated from real-world payments, which is the embodiment of the integration of traditional financial risk control thinking and Web3 technology paradigm.
So the payment in PayFi is not the endpoint here, but the starting point.
Journalist: What is the essential difference between the so-called PayFi and traditional payments in the market today?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck: Traditional payment networks resemble "consumable pipelines," charging 1.5%-6% in fees without creating derivative value. The breakthrough of PayFi lies in building a "value-added pipeline."
Using PolyFlow's blueprint as an example, we hope that in the future, when Brazilian coffee farmers receive payments through the PLP pool, they will be able to achieve T+0 and generate more than 4.5% annualized returns on DeFi protocols. This "interest-bearing payment" model can not only save hundreds of millions of cross-border workers around the world billions or even tens of billions of dollars in foreign exchange losses every year, but more importantly, every one of their receipts and payments will be precipitated into on-chain credit through PID. When a certain amount of on-chain credit is accumulated, farmers from Africa are able to obtain loans through on-chain credit, obtain DeFi, and scatter the purchased seeds on coffee estates in Arabica.
The key battle for PayFi's implementation
Reporter: In your view, what innovations and attempts does PayFi currently have? How do you anticipate the growth drivers for the next 6 to 12 months?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck: Payments are a trillion-dollar market. We believe that the growth of PayFi needs to shift from the output concept to practical application scenarios, closely linking both B-end and C-end. Taking PolyFlow as an example, we are building a three-tier growth matrix.
Infrastructure layer penetration: As an on-chain identity protocol, PID will be combined with mainstream public chain ecosystems such as Solana, BNB Chain, Stellar, and Ripple in the future to create a more complete on-chain identity system for users. At the same time, we plan to achieve steady growth in PLP pool TVL within half a year to support future scenarios such as cross-border settlement and supply chain finance.
Application Layer Explosion: We have been exploring practical scenarios for PayFi, and a pilot collaboration with a Brazilian bank is about to begin, which is expected to bring an incremental monthly average of tens of millions of dollars. At the same time, we hope that crypto card merchants can achieve a significant increase in review efficiency through PID-KYC, while also reducing the chargeback rate.
Ecosystem Layer Expansion: We are about to officially launch the PolyFlow Dapp, with the core feature being Scan to Earn, allowing users to turn every payment into a force for building the future. At the beginning of April, we launched the PolyFlow points activity (Seed Season), attracting over 1 million uploads of consumption vouchers within two weeks, accumulating 1.4 million transaction data points to fuel the training of the on-chain credit model. The enthusiasm of users and the community is a significant driving force for us.
Reporter: What are the essential differences between PolyFlow's points mechanism and the "point farming" of other projects?
Chuck: The traditional points system has three major ailments: data sovereignty belongs to the platform, disconnection between incentives and real value creation, and cross-ecosystem circulation barriers. In this regard, PolyFlow has made a unique attempt:
Behavioral Rights Confirmation: In the PolyFlow DAPP, user consumption behavior is tracked through PID binding. Each uploaded receipt generates a verifiable credential (VC), forming a "digital footprint." For example, a Starbucks customer who scans their receipt can earn points and also choose to authorize desensitized data such as consumption frequency and amount range to the brands that need it, earning data rewards.
Scenario Integration: Point acquisition covers both B2C and B2B scenarios. C-end users can record each consumption through Scan-to-Earn, building an on-chain credit identity while earning points; B-end merchants, after integrating the PolyFlow payment tool, can convert the flow of invoices and factoring financing along the supply chain into "corporate credit points," enjoying better rates and liquidity support.
Dual-track economy: Points can be redeemed for future airdrop rights and can also serve as "on-chain credit certificates" to obtain lending limits.
Reporter: How is PID different from traditional DID? What problems do you think PID can effectively solve?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck:
Compliance Dimension: Through integration with major ecosystems, PID can achieve "light compliance," significantly reducing KYC costs while greatly compressing verification time and promoting user adoption of cryptocurrencies. We can envision a future scenario where an Indonesian merchant initiates a $50 million transaction with a Saudi client, and the system automatically retrieves the compliance certificates from both parties' PID, completing atomic-level settlement on the Solana chain, avoiding the repeated reviews by 5-7 intermediary institutions in the traditional path.
Currency Dimension: The mixed liquidity algorithm of the PLP pool reduces the reliance on fiat currency intermediary paths for traditional currency exchange routes, while dynamically matching the optimal path through PID credit rating. We hope to reduce the exchange costs and price volatility of emerging market currencies in the future through the innovation of PayFi.
Time dimension: The consumption data captured by Scan-to-Earn is recorded through PID and can be controlled by users to decide whether to authorize it. For example, when a user scans to purchase Starbucks, their consumption frequency, amount range, and other data are processed to ensure privacy and can be authorized for Visa to use for credit assessment, earning data revenue - this allows ordinary consumers to become participants in the data capital market for the first time.
The progressive payment revolution of PayFi
In Chuck's narrative, PolyFlow demonstrates a unique strategic focus: it neither engages in "financial Lego" that detaches from real-world demand nor falls into short-term traffic competition of "PVP". PolyFlow builds the foundational layer of value exchange through two key modules, PID and PLP, attempting to reshape the data production relationship with DAPP Scan to Earn. This progressive innovation "from payment to finance" may be the true key for PayFi to transcend cycles and achieve inclusivity.
Far from improving efficiency or cutting costs, the ultimate meaning of PayFi is to make the act of payment itself a declaration of financial sovereignty for ordinary people. When Indonesian fishermen leverage DeFi loans with a catch settlement record, when African coffee farmers' sales data is converted into on-chain credits, and when 1.4 billion underbanks connect to participate in global financial markets, the payment revolution led by PolyFlow is pushing Satoshi Nakamoto's vision of "peer-to-peer e-cash" to a wider scale.
The greatness of technology lies not in its speed of disruption, but in the power it gives to ordinary people. The PayFi infrastructure built by PolyFlow is rewriting the underlying code of financial civilization with the logic that "payment is infrastructure, data is capital, and credit is power": "In the next decade, everyone will be amazed at how they once tolerated such an inefficient financial system - just as we cannot imagine a world without smartphones today."
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Exclusive Interview with PolyFlow CFO: When Payments Become "Time Alchemy" - The Financial Restructuring Equation of PayFi
In the TradFi system, "payment" is often seen as the endpoint of value transfer, whereas "PayFi" redefines the starting point of payment value. When Visa processes tens of thousands of transactions per second yet takes days to complete cross-border settlements, and when small and medium-sized enterprises bear a 6.5% cost for cross-border payments while still needing to provide upfront capital, this financial revolution sparked by on-chain payments is gradually fermenting through innovative PayFi protocols—PolyFlow endows payment actions with "time alchemy," allowing each transaction to mint credit certificates and accumulating financial potential with every payment.
"PolyFlow is building an open network that allows everyone in the world to easily spend cryptocurrency, earn rewards, and have a financial identity." In our conversation with PolyFlow CFO Chuck, we look forward to witnessing a future that enables instant settlement, helps 1.4 billion underbanked individuals bridge the gap of bank accounts, and transforms consumer data into interest-bearing assets.
How PayFi transforms payments from a cost center into a revenue engine
Reporter: As a CFO with 15 years of international investment banking financial management experience, how has your experience in TradFi inspired you to lead the strategy for Web3 projects?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck: During my time as the Chief Financial Officer in the Investment Banking Division of the Americas, I deeply realized that there are two core bottlenecks in traditional cross-border payments: the disconnection between information flow and capital flow. Taking SWIFT as an example, while its messaging system achieves efficient information transmission, capital flow is still constrained by various national clearing systems and foreign exchange controls, resulting in an average cross-border payment time of 3-5 days, with fees as high as 6%-10%. This disconnection is particularly evident in emerging markets—Philippine merchants can face comprehensive costs of up to 9% when receiving USD payments.
The underlying design of PolyFlow originates from this insight. We separate the information flow (PID) from the capital flow (PLP) through a modular architecture, making the blockchain a "highway" for value transfer rather than a "toll booth." PID (Payment ID) will build an on-chain identity system for users, ensuring that each crypto payment is not just about "spending money" but also about "recording," turning consumption into proof for future credit applications, unlocking data revenue, and participating in financial services; PLP (PolyFlow Liquidity Pool) attempts to seamlessly connect RWA and DeFi, linking on-chain financial scenarios to create a PayFi financial service ecosystem that everyone can use in the future.
For example, trade settlements from Brazil to China can be reached on T+0 through PLP pool smart contracts, reducing costs by 50%-80%. This "compliant self-custody" model not only retains the composability of DeFi, but also avoids the risk of centralized custody, and can also obtain the income generated from real-world payments, which is the embodiment of the integration of traditional financial risk control thinking and Web3 technology paradigm.
So the payment in PayFi is not the endpoint here, but the starting point.
Journalist: What is the essential difference between the so-called PayFi and traditional payments in the market today?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck: Traditional payment networks resemble "consumable pipelines," charging 1.5%-6% in fees without creating derivative value. The breakthrough of PayFi lies in building a "value-added pipeline."
Using PolyFlow's blueprint as an example, we hope that in the future, when Brazilian coffee farmers receive payments through the PLP pool, they will be able to achieve T+0 and generate more than 4.5% annualized returns on DeFi protocols. This "interest-bearing payment" model can not only save hundreds of millions of cross-border workers around the world billions or even tens of billions of dollars in foreign exchange losses every year, but more importantly, every one of their receipts and payments will be precipitated into on-chain credit through PID. When a certain amount of on-chain credit is accumulated, farmers from Africa are able to obtain loans through on-chain credit, obtain DeFi, and scatter the purchased seeds on coffee estates in Arabica.
The key battle for PayFi's implementation
Reporter: In your view, what innovations and attempts does PayFi currently have? How do you anticipate the growth drivers for the next 6 to 12 months?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck: Payments are a trillion-dollar market. We believe that the growth of PayFi needs to shift from the output concept to practical application scenarios, closely linking both B-end and C-end. Taking PolyFlow as an example, we are building a three-tier growth matrix.
Infrastructure layer penetration: As an on-chain identity protocol, PID will be combined with mainstream public chain ecosystems such as Solana, BNB Chain, Stellar, and Ripple in the future to create a more complete on-chain identity system for users. At the same time, we plan to achieve steady growth in PLP pool TVL within half a year to support future scenarios such as cross-border settlement and supply chain finance.
Application Layer Explosion: We have been exploring practical scenarios for PayFi, and a pilot collaboration with a Brazilian bank is about to begin, which is expected to bring an incremental monthly average of tens of millions of dollars. At the same time, we hope that crypto card merchants can achieve a significant increase in review efficiency through PID-KYC, while also reducing the chargeback rate.
Ecosystem Layer Expansion: We are about to officially launch the PolyFlow Dapp, with the core feature being Scan to Earn, allowing users to turn every payment into a force for building the future. At the beginning of April, we launched the PolyFlow points activity (Seed Season), attracting over 1 million uploads of consumption vouchers within two weeks, accumulating 1.4 million transaction data points to fuel the training of the on-chain credit model. The enthusiasm of users and the community is a significant driving force for us.
Reporter: What are the essential differences between PolyFlow's points mechanism and the "point farming" of other projects?
Chuck: The traditional points system has three major ailments: data sovereignty belongs to the platform, disconnection between incentives and real value creation, and cross-ecosystem circulation barriers. In this regard, PolyFlow has made a unique attempt:
Behavioral Rights Confirmation: In the PolyFlow DAPP, user consumption behavior is tracked through PID binding. Each uploaded receipt generates a verifiable credential (VC), forming a "digital footprint." For example, a Starbucks customer who scans their receipt can earn points and also choose to authorize desensitized data such as consumption frequency and amount range to the brands that need it, earning data rewards.
Scenario Integration: Point acquisition covers both B2C and B2B scenarios. C-end users can record each consumption through Scan-to-Earn, building an on-chain credit identity while earning points; B-end merchants, after integrating the PolyFlow payment tool, can convert the flow of invoices and factoring financing along the supply chain into "corporate credit points," enjoying better rates and liquidity support.
Dual-track economy: Points can be redeemed for future airdrop rights and can also serve as "on-chain credit certificates" to obtain lending limits.
Reporter: How is PID different from traditional DID? What problems do you think PID can effectively solve?
PolyFlow CFO Chuck:
Compliance Dimension: Through integration with major ecosystems, PID can achieve "light compliance," significantly reducing KYC costs while greatly compressing verification time and promoting user adoption of cryptocurrencies. We can envision a future scenario where an Indonesian merchant initiates a $50 million transaction with a Saudi client, and the system automatically retrieves the compliance certificates from both parties' PID, completing atomic-level settlement on the Solana chain, avoiding the repeated reviews by 5-7 intermediary institutions in the traditional path.
Currency Dimension: The mixed liquidity algorithm of the PLP pool reduces the reliance on fiat currency intermediary paths for traditional currency exchange routes, while dynamically matching the optimal path through PID credit rating. We hope to reduce the exchange costs and price volatility of emerging market currencies in the future through the innovation of PayFi.
Time dimension: The consumption data captured by Scan-to-Earn is recorded through PID and can be controlled by users to decide whether to authorize it. For example, when a user scans to purchase Starbucks, their consumption frequency, amount range, and other data are processed to ensure privacy and can be authorized for Visa to use for credit assessment, earning data revenue - this allows ordinary consumers to become participants in the data capital market for the first time.
The progressive payment revolution of PayFi
In Chuck's narrative, PolyFlow demonstrates a unique strategic focus: it neither engages in "financial Lego" that detaches from real-world demand nor falls into short-term traffic competition of "PVP". PolyFlow builds the foundational layer of value exchange through two key modules, PID and PLP, attempting to reshape the data production relationship with DAPP Scan to Earn. This progressive innovation "from payment to finance" may be the true key for PayFi to transcend cycles and achieve inclusivity.
Far from improving efficiency or cutting costs, the ultimate meaning of PayFi is to make the act of payment itself a declaration of financial sovereignty for ordinary people. When Indonesian fishermen leverage DeFi loans with a catch settlement record, when African coffee farmers' sales data is converted into on-chain credits, and when 1.4 billion underbanks connect to participate in global financial markets, the payment revolution led by PolyFlow is pushing Satoshi Nakamoto's vision of "peer-to-peer e-cash" to a wider scale.
The greatness of technology lies not in its speed of disruption, but in the power it gives to ordinary people. The PayFi infrastructure built by PolyFlow is rewriting the underlying code of financial civilization with the logic that "payment is infrastructure, data is capital, and credit is power": "In the next decade, everyone will be amazed at how they once tolerated such an inefficient financial system - just as we cannot imagine a world without smartphones today."