## Inspiration

More money, more problems.
Lacking an easy, accessible, and secure method of transferring money? Even more problems.

An interesting solution to this has been the rise of WeChat Pay, allowing for merchants to use QR codes and social media to make digital payments.

But where does this leave people without sufficient bandwidth? Without reliable, adequate Wi-Fi, technologies like WeChat Pay and Google Pay simply aren't options. People looking to make money transfers are forced to choose between bloated fees or dangerously long wait times.

As designers, programmers, and students, we tend to think about how we can design tech. But how do you design tech for that negative space? During our research, we found of the people that lack adequate bandwidth, 1.28 billion of them have access to mobile service. This ultimately led to our solution: **Money might not grow on trees, but Paypayas do.** 🍈

## What it does

Paypaya is an SMS chatbot application that allows users to perform simple and safe transfers using just text messages.

Users start by texting a toll free number. Doing so opens a digital wallet that is authenticated by their voice. From that point, users can easily transfer, deposit, withdraw, or view their balance.

Despite being built for low bandwidth regions, Paypaya also has huge market potential in high bandwidth areas as well. Whether you are a small business owner that can't afford a swipe machine or a charity trying to raise funds in a contactless way, the possibilities are endless.

Try it for yourself by texting +1-833-729-0967

## How we built it

We first set up our Flask application in a Docker container on Google Cloud Run to streamline cross OS development. We then set up our database using MongoDB Atlas. Within the app, we also integrated the Twilio and PayPal APIs to create a digital wallet and perform the application commands. After creating the primary functionality of the app, we implemented voice authentication by collecting voice clips from Twilio to be used in Microsoft Azure's Speaker Recognition API.

For our branding and slides, everything was made vector by vector on Figma.

## Challenges we ran into

Man. Where do we start. Although it was fun, working in a two person team meant that we were both wearing (too) many hats. In terms of technical problems, the PayPal API documentation was archaic, making it extremely difficult for us figure out how to call the necessary functions. It was also really difficult to convert the audio from Twilio to a byte-stream for the Azure API. Lastly, we had trouble keeping track of conversation state in the chatbot as we were limited by how the webhook was called by Twilio.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're really proud of creating a fully functioning MVP! All of 6 of our moving parts came together to form a working proof of concept. All of our graphics (slides, logo, collages) are all made from scratch. :))

## What we learned

Anson - As a first time back end developer, I learned SO much about using APIs, webhooks, databases, and servers. I also learned that Jacky falls asleep super easily.

Jacky - I learned that Microsoft Azure and Twilio can be a pain to work with and that Google Cloud Run is a blessing and a half. I learned I don't have the energy to stay up 36 hours straight for a hackathon anymore 🙃

## What's next for Paypaya

More language options! English is far from the native tongue of the world. By expanding the languages available, Paypaya will be accessible to even more people. We would also love to do more with financial planning, providing a log of previous transactions for individuals to track their spending and income. There are also a lot of rough edges and edge cases in the program flow, so patching up those will be important in bringing this to market.
## Inspiration

As international students, we often have to navigate around a lot of roadblocks when it comes to receiving money from back home for our tuition.
 Cross-border payments are gaining momentum with so many emerging markets. In 2021, the top five recipient countries for remittance inflows in current USD were India (89 billion), Mexico (54 billion), China (53 billion), the Philippines (37 billion), and Egypt (32 billion). The United States was the largest source country for remittances in 2020, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland.

However, Cross-border payments face 5 main challenges: cost, security, time, liquidity & transparency.

* Cost: Cross-border payments are typically costly due to costs involved such as currency exchange costs, intermediary charges, and regulatory costs.
-Time: most international payments take anything between 2-5 days.
-Security: The rate of fraud in cross-border payments is comparatively higher than in domestic payments because it's much more difficult to track once it crosses the border.
* Standardization: Different countries tend to follow a different set of rules & formats which make cross-border payments even more difficult & complicated at times.
* Liquidity: Most cross-border payments work on the pre-funding of accounts to settle payments; hence it becomes important to ensure adequate liquidity in correspondent bank accounts to meet payment obligations within cut-off deadlines.

## What it does

Cashflow is a solution to all of the problems above. It provides a secure method to transfer money overseas. It uses the checkbook.io API to verify users' bank information, and check for liquidity, and with features such as KYC, it ensures security in enabling instant payments. Further, it uses another API to convert the currencies using accurate, non-inflated rates.

Sending money:

Our system requests a few pieces of information from you, which pertain to the recipient. After having added your bank details to your profile, you will be able to send money through the platform.

The recipient will receive an email message, through which they can deposit into their account in multiple ways.

Requesting money:
By requesting money from a sender, an invoice is generated to them. They can choose to send money back through multiple methods, which include credit and debit card payments.

## How we built it

We built it using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We also used the Checkbook.io API and exchange rate API.

## Challenges we ran into

Neither of us is familiar with backend technologies or react. Mihir has never worked with JS before and I haven't worked on many web dev projects in the last 2 years, so we had to engage in a lot of learning and refreshing of knowledge as we built the project which took a lot of time.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We learned a lot and built the whole web app as we were continuously learning. Mihir learned JavaScript from scratch and coded in it for the whole project all under 36 hours.

## What we learned

We learned how to integrate APIs in building web apps, JavaScript, and a lot of web dev.

## What's next for CashFlow

We were having a couple of bugs that we couldn't fix, we plan to work on those in the near future.
## Inspiration

I used to work at PayPal and I sometimes give money to friends. I like using the PayPal app and Venmo to send money to friends, but there are issues, especially when you spell an email incorrectly (this can lead to permanently lost money on PayPal). I know that sending and receiving money (digital currency) is a HUGE (multi-billion dollar) industry with a lot of opportunity.

## What it does

This app is supposed to use the Capital One API Nessie and the Facebook API to connect your friends and send money.

## How I built it

I used a Swift single view application to create an application for iOS. I only wrote some of the main application views, as I ran into challenges that I could not resolve.

## Challenges I ran into

First and foremost, the biggest challenge was scope. I decided to build the app alone, as my original partner decided not to come, and implementing the Nessie and Facebook APIs was a little too bold. After I built the framework for the app and going to a few talks, I dived into the APIs. I have not done very much with services and HTTP. So, trying to do it on my own was a bad idea. Essentially, I was not able to implement any of the APIs I had set out to implement.

Second, I stayed to the end of the introduction ceremony and did not get a table. The bleacher seats are extremely uncomfortable. I'm also not a fan of using my laptop on my actual lap.

Third, the internet was unusable for a few hours at the beginning of the hackathon. I could use Xcode offline, but I had to try to view the APIs on my phone.

Finally, I was extremely tired. We left at 6:30PM (9:30PM EST) and had a 5 hour flight with a 2 hour layover. We got here at 6:00AM EST. I didn't sleep for over 40 hours. At around 10:00PM, I crashed. I had not planned on needing a host or sleeping, but ended up needing both. I slept until about 6:00AM and did not get much more done on the project.

## Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm a beginner in Swift development and Xcode, but the app looks decent for a beginner (in my opinion).

## What I learned

Scope is extremely important. If I had focused on just Nessie or just Facebook, I could have probably gotten more added. Sleep is also important. If I'm invited back next year, I'll be sure to bring or make a team and get here Friday night.

## What's next for Money With Friends

I may continue later, just to have the experience. For now, Money With Friends is cancelled.