Houdini Swap Proposal for Adding Non-KYC Liquidity Partners

What is Houdini Swap?

Houdini Swap is a non-custodial, 100% compliant platform for anonymizing transactions using Monero as a “tunnel”. Different from a virtual currency mixer, Houdini Swap acts as a conduit between multiple exchanges and uses Monero to break any on-chain links between both on-chain and cross-chain transactions. Virtual currency mixers have validated demand for anonymizing transactions yet exposed another issue: regulatory compliance is critical to long term viability.

Because we act as a conduit between exchanges; legal risk resides with the exchange, not Houdini Swap. The platform is structured such that it:

-Never holds custody of user funds -Does not accept payments from users -Is not a market maker nor has liquidity pools -Has no smart contract wallet for users -Does not require user accounts

How does it work?

Houdini Swap takes your input currency and swaps it to Monero with a non-KYC liquidity partner. We then send the Monero to another non-KYC liquidity partner and exchange the Monero for your output currency, thereby privatizing your transactions in a secure manner. Houdini Swap takes a small 0.45% fee off every swap that goes through our system.

Why are we submitting a proposal?

We submit this proposal with the focus on improving our ability to anonymize transactions using Monero. Houdini Swap has multiple liquidity partners that we use in our service. Adding non-KYC exchanges to our network increases the difficulty of tracking funds: our conduit system can randomly route swaps through a bigger collection of liquidity partners.

As a self funded startup, our proposal requests funds to help pay for the addition of at least two exchanges to our liquidity network, with the end goal of three exchanges added. Funds will go directly to our small development team and they will begin work in accordance with proposal timelines.

Timeframe: 4 weeks = 160 hours Total: 70 XMR = ~$9000 (1XMR = ~$130) Rate: $55/hour

Milestone 1 (Approx 10 Business days):

Implementation of first new exchange in our backend api core logic. This milestone will also include time for internal testing.

Milestone 2 (Approx 10 Business days):

Implementation of second new exchange in our backend api core logic. This milestone will also include time for internal testing.

Milestone 3 (Approx 10 Business days):

Implementation of a third new exchange in our backend api core logic. This milestone will also include time for internal testing.

We anticipate the deliverables for this proposal can be achieved in approximately six weeks and will include both development and rigorous internal testing before rollout to Houdini Swap user base.

We propose an expiration date of 8 weeks from proposal acceptance. This will allow us wiggle room of 2 weeks in case unanticipated business demands temporarily redirect our development resources away from the proposal deliverables.

Why it is important for Monero and the community

The team at Houdini Swap are huge advocates for privacy and anonymity; we view Monero as the best privacy blockchain and community out there. The platform is gaining traction, averaging $750,000 per week in swap volume. This, in turn, is raising awareness around the importance of privacy and Monero from new audiences.

While many in the blockchain community may be familiar with Monero most have never had any direct interaction with Monero and its benefits. We believe Houdini Swap can be a valuable addition to the Monero ecosystem by introducing new people to the privacy benefits Monero has to offer. Too often, mainstream narrative points to Monero as enabling illicit activity rather than the benefits. Adoption of Monero through use cases like Houdini Swap spurs education around why privacy and security should be synonymous. More education --> less stigmatization --> improved personal financial security.

The public nature of most blockchains creates a disconnect with the individual's inherent right to privacy. Houdini Swap aims to bridge that disconnect alongside Monero.

We are happy to have a discussion on how we can improve our proposal to better fit the needs of the Monero community.`