Opportunities:
The team has extensive experience working in large financial institutions and MasterCard, and is able to leverage their connections to a direct signed contract with Mastercard. This sets it apart from its competitors.
Unlike most of its competitors, STK project’s scope is more than just a prepaid debit card and cryptocurrency wallet. The STACK app has rich features with elements of social media/network, which is icing on the cake, but if successful, it would lead to substantial potential and increased customer stickiness.
The CEO handled the AMA sessions and addressed all the questions very well, which demonstrates his knowledge in the industry and that he has a clear vision of the project.
Many of STK’s competitors that issue Visa card are suffering from Visa’s change in stance towards cryptocurrency, and are either scrambling to find a new issuer or at risk of having their services terminated. As a result, STK is in a prime position to capture the market left behind by those competitors.
Concerns:
The social media/network side of the app is unproven and may not attract enough users to gain the network effect necessary to maintain the ecosystem. Some users may not want to share their financial transactions for everyone to see.
The team’s expertise is clearly on the financial transaction side. However, STACK also has social media (STACK World Stream) and tools/advice to help users reach their financial goals, which may be too many different things for the team to handle.
Conclusion
Overall, we like the long-term potential for this project. We believe STK project’s scope and outlook, being likely the first cryptocurrency debit card in North America as well as a direct partnership with MasterCard, are better than its competitors.
Its competitors are currently trading at market capitalization in the range of $67 to $264 million (comparing to STK’s starting market cap of ~$26 million based on circulating supply).
