Introduction
This week at Hamza Labs, we’re advancing a range of initiatives to enhance our platform and grow our community, guided by clear goals for each project. From expanding cross-chain, bitcoin, and fiat payment options to enabling seamless seller onboarding and discount code functionality, our Dev Team is driving technical innovation. Meanwhile, our marketing and community efforts are focused on educating users, generating buzz through campaigns like Hamza Crypto-tips, and building trust through homepage improvements. Investment and deal-making efforts are progressing with strategic meetups and AI-driven outreach, while a new SEO Improvement project aims to boost our site’s visibility. Despite challenges like balancing maintenance tasks and gaining investor traction, we’re committed to delivering user-friendly solutions and fostering community engagement. Here’s a detailed breakdown of our project updates and goals for the week.
Cross-chain & Bitcoin & Fiat Payments
Goal: To allow easier support of new EVM chains (without deploying contracts to those chains) with cross-chain settlement to escrow on Optimism, enable users to pay with bitcoin and other specific non-EVM chains, and offer payment options without requiring a browser wallet.
The Dev Team has been focusing on maintenance and consolidation following the recent release of our cross-chain and bitcoin payment systems. While progress on bitcoin integration was limited last week due to competing tasks like bug fixing and miscellaneous maintenance, these are not significant obstacles. The team is on track to deliver a feature-complete bitcoin solution by the end of this week, with a planned release in early June.
Discount Codes
Goal: To allow the use of store-specific discount codes on the site for percentage or dollar amount discounts and enable sellers to create and manage their own discount codes in the admin panel.
This project is ready to move into live testing, marking a significant milestone for the Dev Team. With no obstacles reported, the team is poised to proceed smoothly. If testing reveals no issues, the next steps will involve expanding support for various discount code variations to enhance user engagement and flexibility on the platform.
Seller Onboarding – Dev Team
Goal: To enable sellers to onboard and create their own stores with minimal friction and no assistance, and to allow sellers to easily add and edit product listings independently.
The Dev Team’s Seller Onboarding project is also ready for live testing, reflecting the team’s efficiency in preparing this feature for deployment. No obstacles are currently hindering progress. If testing goes well, the project will transition into maintenance mode, allowing the team to focus on other priorities while ensuring a seamless onboarding experience for sellers.
Homepage Improvement
Goal: To display more products on the homepage in an orderly, digestible manner, make the site feel more alive, exciting, interesting, and comprehensible to buyers, and enhance its trustworthiness.
The Homepage Improvement project, led by Luciano, did not have specific progress updates reported last week regarding progress, obstacles, or timelines. The team is likely in the planning or early development phase, aligning efforts with the newly defined goals to create a more engaging and trustworthy homepage. We anticipate more details in the coming weeks.
HNS Chat
Goal: To enable customers to contact sellers directly about specific orders and allow sellers to receive and respond to customer messages.
The HNS Chat project, managed by the Dev Team, lacked specific progress updates last week. No progress, obstacles, or projected timelines were reported, suggesting that the team may be prioritizing other tasks or preparing for upcoming work aligned with these goals. We expect further developments to be shared in future updates.
Seller Onboarding – Customer Success
Goal: To support self-onboarding of quality sellers with high-quality listings.
Jose’s Customer Success team has successfully onboarded the New York Bar store, with Global From Asia and The Living Crystal lined up next. The main obstacle is a lack of new information from other sellers in the onboarding pipeline, but this is not a significant barrier. Jose plans to follow up with these sellers this week to keep the onboarding process moving forward in line with the goal of supporting quality seller onboarding.
Venezuelan Campaign
Goal: To generate organic buyers within the Venezuelan community, gather feedback from buyers, and educate people about crypto.
Jose’s VZ Campaign is expanding its scope to include broader crypto education topics within our Telegram community, fostering greater engagement among Venezuelan users. The team has connected with an influencer to discuss Muney, an app for exchanging USDT/USDC with USD cash, and launched a Bitcoin Pizza Day promotion. With no obstacles reported, the campaign is set to continue driving community growth and awareness.
Decom Talks
Goal: To educate people, generate buzz, and create a community.
The Decom Talks on Twitter Spaces were paused last week due to a lack of new onboarded sellers, prompting Jose’s team to consider reducing these talks to once per month until seller onboarding accelerates. However, the team is exploring new media outreach avenues, including the Hamza Crypto-tips (English) and Crypto-tips de Hamza (Spanish) YouTube shorts and reels, with three new videos published last week, gaining seven subscribers and over 700 views. A Bitcoin Pizza Day promotion was also rolled out for the English-speaking Telegram DECOM Community. With no obstacles, the team plans to produce more Hamza Crypto-tips content this weekend to further these goals.
Investment Hunt
Goal: No specific goal was provided in the updated spreadsheet, so the focus remains on securing investment opportunities.
Mike’s Investment Hunt efforts are gaining momentum, with a Uniswap meetup scheduled for Wednesday (details at https://lu.ma/wcxzvxzf) and a contact suggesting exploration of the IDG incubator program. The main obstacle is insufficient traction to attract investors, but Mike plans to discuss a potential grant with Uniswap and explore opportunities with Pudgy Penguins’ abstract chain and Sonium (Sony’s L2) this week.
Dealmaker
Goal: To gauge interest and prove that investment is warranted.
Mike’s Dealmaker project is advancing with the creation of an AI lead generation outreach avatar (documented at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1scnKQlROYb-ltAFUHJYt5E6aWUDNalWhu112eNszbsw/edit?tab=t.0). Team members Anne, Manly, and Luciano have been onboarded to assist, and outreach has been made to 10-15 contacts. The primary obstacle is setting up the AI lead generation system, but results are expected by early to mid-next week as the system is refined to align with the goal of gauging interest.
Buyer and Seller Acquisition/Management
Goal: To increase activity on product pages, boost cart actions (add to cart), grow the number of unique, repeat, and active buyers, increase the number of sellers, and enhance the number of high-quality product listings.
Anne’s Buyer and Seller Acquisition/Management project did not have specific progress updates last week regarding progress, obstacles, or timelines. The team is likely in the early stages of planning or coordination to meet these ambitious goals, and we look forward to more details in future updates as efforts to grow our buyer and seller base progress.
SEO Improvement
Goal: To improve the SEO score of the site and fix any potential SEO-related issues or imperfections.
The SEO Improvement project, newly added and owned by TBD, has no specific progress, obstacles, or timelines reported this week, as it appears to be in the initial planning phase. The team will focus on enhancing the site’s SEO score and addressing any technical imperfections to improve visibility and user acquisition in the coming weeks.
Conclusion
This week’s updates and newly defined goals highlight Hamza Labs’ commitment to technical innovation and community growth. The Dev Team is advancing cross-chain, bitcoin, and fiat payment options, discount codes, and seller onboarding, all aimed at creating a seamless user experience. Jose’s team is driving crypto education and community engagement through campaigns and media outreach, while Mike’s efforts focus on securing investment and partnerships. The new SEO Improvement project sets the stage for greater site visibility. As we move into the week of May 25 – May 31, we’re excited to align our efforts with these goals, deliver feature-complete solutions, and continue building a vibrant, engaged community.