The Cycles Pay points program started with our beta in March of 2026. Since that time, points have been awarded for completing a wide range of missions inside the app. We've also credited points for some efforts outside of the app, such as high quality feedback. When Cycles Pay migrated to Arc, beta users also received a bonus allocation for their early contributions.
The primary goal of the Cycles Pay points program is to reward the people using the app in these early days. We need users testing functions like depositing funds, sending payments, and creating invoices, and then telling us what didn't work or what could be improved. Quality feedback is extremely helpful for development. When someone files a detailed bug report, or provides feedback explaining how they think the app could work better, we read these and then credit points for it if we found it useful. It's a time consuming process, but in the end it results in a much better user experience in the app.
And this is critical, because Cycles is a project that aims to provide real economic value to businesses, grow its userbase, and earn revenue by charging fees for these services. Cycles Pay is not a DeFi-only app. There are elements of a crypto-based app, like the ability to access third-party DeFi protocols. But the larger goal of Cycles Pay is to create a credit system built from real payment behavior, and not just from collateral locked into a smart contract. Our initial target launch market are small businesses in LATAM countries invoicing on 30 to 60 day terms, and often can't wait that long to get paid. Bank loans get priced on collateral and audited accounts, which many of them don't have.
That's the gap we're going after and the business model will bring revenue from financing-related services, fees associated with services available through Cycles Pay, and fees from applications that plug into our credit and clearing infrastructure.
Many crypto projects are built on hype, with tokens that exist to give the people holding them a way out while the market is hot. So none of it requires a real customer or real revenue. But that's not what we're building, and our work requires a multi-year roadmap. Throughout this time, your points will keep growing if you continue to use the app for things like payments, invoicing, and earning a return on balances, along with referring new users and providing quality feedback.
The points program is specifically and carefully designed to give people who contributed early a clear advantage, without making it impossible for a new user to earn a valuable share of points too. Beta users received a bonus for their early participation, and the ones who keep contributing will continue to build on that head start. But someone who joins later, consistently uses Cycles Pay, and contributes meaningful feedback will still be able to earn a significant amount, and they even catch up to an earlier user if that user stops participating over time.
Either way, participation today will be recognized as Cycles grows, and here are some of the ways we're considering doing that:
- Conversion into a token, if Cycles launches one in the future. We think tokens work well for aligning the people who use a network with its development. However, launching a token too early would create a market before there is a real business underneath it.
- Redemption of points like airline miles. You earn them by flying and by spending on a credit card and later you hand them back for a free flight or an upgrade. For Cycles Pay, that means redeeming points for fee credits or the cold-hard cash Cycles helps everyone save!
- Qualifying via points threshold for access to benefits or features. The tiers would coincide with access to premium cards, lower fees, better vault opportunities, etc. Crypto exchanges run a version of this, where crossing a volume level puts you into a tier with lower trading fees.
The points program will adapt with the product. We don't want to force it to fit a token model, so we won't rush to launch a token. With that in mind, here's the main take-away of this article: we're confident that participating in our point program will be worth it to the people who already like the product (the private payments, the vaults, the expense splitting etc.) and to the people who believe in our multi-year mission to build the first clearing network for on-chain finance. But it may not be the case for others. Either way, we're very grateful to everyone who is helping us to do that.