Welcome to the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight, curated by HackerNoon’s editors to showcase noteworthy tech solutions to real-world problems. Whether you’re a solopreneur, part of an early-stage startup, or a developer building something that truly matters, the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon is your chance to test your product’s utility, get featured on HackerNoon, and compete for $150k+ in prizes. Submit your project to get started! Welcome to the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight, curated by HackerNoon’s editors to showcase noteworthy tech solutions to real-world problems. Whether you’re a solopreneur, part of an early-stage startup, or a developer building something that truly matters, the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon is your chance to test your product’s utility, get featured on HackerNoon, and compete for $150k+ in prizes. Submit your project to get started! Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight Proof of Usefulness Hackathon Proof of Usefulness Hackathon $150k+ Submit your project to get started Submit your project to get started In this interview, we talk to Emmanuel Isika about Ravasend, a platform by Centry designed to help people in emerging markets receive USD/crypto and cash out to local bank accounts in minutes. Ravasend focuses on time-critical payments like rent, tuition, and healthcare by showing the final payout upfront for predictable settlement. Ravasend Centry What does Ravasend do? And why is now the time for it to exist? Ravasend helps people in emerging markets receive USD/crypto and cash out to local bank accounts in minutes, not days. It’s built for time-critical payments like rent, tuition, and healthcare, and income—showing the final payout upfront for predictable settlement. Now’s a good time for Ravasend to exist because legacy banking infrastructure in emerging markets often lags behind the speed of the global crypto economy, creating a critical need for a bridge that ensures funds are available immediately for real-world necessities. What is your traction to date? How many people does Ravasend reach? 1,500–2,500 people/month currently touch Ravasend across product + content channels. Product usage: ~700–1,200 monthly users (cashout sessions + repeats) Web traffic: ~100–300 visits/month to ravasend.com (organic + referrals) Social reach: ~3,000–8,000 monthly impressions from founder-led content and community posts (We’re early-stage; reach is growing as we ramp corridors and distribution.) Who does your Ravasend serve? What’s exciting about your users and customers? Ravasend is for people in emerging markets who receive USD/crypto and need local bank money on time—especially for time-critical payments. Primary users: freelancers, remote workers, diaspora recipients, and families paying rent, tuition, healthcare, and bills. Notable usage pattern: deadline-driven cashouts (end-of-month bills, school fees, medical payments) where speed and certainty matter more than features. What technologies were used in the making of Ravasend? And why did you choose ones most essential to your techstack? To deliver on the promise of instant settlements, Ravasend relies on a custom wallet and ledger system integrated directly with local banking rails. We prioritized native iOS and Android apps to ensure accessibility for our mobile-first user base, while implementing strict risk and transaction monitoring to secure the flow between crypto and fiat. What is traction to date for Ravasend? Around the web, who’s been noticing? Ravasend has verified its market fit with over 3,000 users and more than $30,000 in transaction volume processed to date. The project is actively demonstrating its utility through public product demos on YouTube and maintaining transparency through founder-led updates on social media. Ravasend scored a 49 proof of usefulness score(https://proofofusefulness.com/reports/ravasend) Ravasend scored a 49 proof of usefulness score(https://proofofusefulness.com/reports/ravasend) https://proofofusefulness.com/reports/ravasend What excites you about this Ravasend's potential usefulness? Ravasend solves a painfully real problem: in emerging markets, “money arriving late” isn’t a nuisance—it breaks lives and businesses (late fees, missed care, school holds, lost income). What excites me is that improving settlement speed creates a compounding usefulness loop: when users trust that money lands in minutes with the final payout shown upfront, they repeat, refer, and build routines around it. If we make “minutes-level certainty” the default for cashouts across emerging markets, we unlock a better daily financial system—starting with consumers, then expanding into platform payouts. Walk us through your most concrete evidence of usefulness. Not vanity metrics or projections - what's the one data point that proves people genuinely need what you've built? Repeat cashouts under deadline pressure. The clearest proof isn’t signups — it’s users coming back to cash out again when it matters (rent week, tuition deadlines, urgent bills). We consistently see returning users initiate a second and third cashout after their first successful “money landed in minutes” experience. That behavior is the strongest signal: once someone trusts the settlement, Ravasend becomes a default route, not an experiment. How do you measure genuine user adoption versus "tourists" who sign up but never return? What's your retention story? We separate users into three buckets: tourists (signup, no cashout), first-time cashout, and repeat cashout users. Adoption for us begins at first successful payout, not account creation. Retention is measured by repeat cashouts within 30 days and cashout frequency per active user — because the product is only valuable when funds actually settle. Our retention story is simple: users return when we consistently deliver predictable settlement and show the final payout upfront. tourists (signup, no cashout), first-time cashout, and repeat cashout users. first successful payout repeat cashouts within 30 days cashout frequency per active user If we re-score your project in 12 months, which criterion will show the biggest improvement, and what are you doing right now to make that happen? Evidence of traction will improve the most — because we’re focused on repeatable distribution, not broad awareness. Right now we’re tightening two things: Evidence of traction Reliability and payout certainty (fewer edge-case failures, clearer payout promises), andAcquisition loops where users naturally refer after a successful cashout (freelancer communities, diaspora-to-family flows, and “salary cashout” routines). In 12 months, the score should reflect stronger repeat usage and more third-party proof (partners, community adoption, and public usage signals). Reliability and payout certainty (fewer edge-case failures, clearer payout promises), and Reliability and payout certainty Acquisition loops where users naturally refer after a successful cashout (freelancer communities, diaspora-to-family flows, and “salary cashout” routines). In 12 months, the score should reflect stronger repeat usage and more third-party proof (partners, community adoption, and public usage signals). Acquisition loops How Did You Hear About HackerNoon? Share With Us About Your Experience With HackerNoon. I found HackerNoon through the startup and developer ecosystem — it’s one of the few platforms that rewards builders for shipping useful products, not just telling stories. The Proof of Usefulness format is refreshing because it pushes you to be specific about what exists, what works, and what people actually use. You mentioned having around 700-1,200 monthly users; are these primarily recurring users cashing out salaries, or is the user base mostly sporadic, one-time transactions? It’s a mix, but the strongest pattern is recurring cashouts tied to income and deadlines — freelancers cashing out earnings, and users converting when bills are due. Some users are sporadic (one-off needs), but the repeat cohort behaves more like a routine: they return when money needs to land on time, and Ravasend becomes a reliable path to local bank settlement. recurring cashouts tied to income and deadlines With a focus on emerging markets and specifically Nigeria, how do you navigate the regulatory volatility regarding crypto off-ramps while maintaining service continuity? We design for continuity first: compliance-by-default processes, strong transaction monitoring, and flexible rails so the business isn’t dependent on a single path to settlement. We also keep the product language and user workflows grounded in legitimate consumer utility — receiving funds, transparent payout terms, and settling to bank accounts — while staying disciplined about KYC/AML. In emerging markets, surviving regulation isn’t luck; it’s operational readiness and the ability to adapt rails without breaking the customer promise. continuity first Your "Notable usage pattern" highlights deadline-driven cashouts. How do you handle customer support or liquidity issues during those critical "end-of-month" spikes when users cannot afford a delay? We treat end-of-month like an “availability event.” Three things matter: Pre-positioned liquidity based on historical spike patterns,Clear settlement promises (we only promise what we can consistently deliver), andFast exception handling — monitoring, alerts, and a support workflow built around “time-critical” cases.The goal is simple: if a user is cashing out for rent or tuition, the system should behave like critical infrastructure — predictable, transparent, and responsive. Pre-positioned liquidity based on historical spike patterns, Pre-positioned liquidity Clear settlement promises (we only promise what we can consistently deliver), and Clear settlement promises Fast exception handling — monitoring, alerts, and a support workflow built around “time-critical” cases. Fast exception handling The goal is simple: if a user is cashing out for rent or tuition, the system should behave like critical infrastructure — predictable, transparent, and responsive. Meet our sponsors Meet our sponsors Meet our sponsors Bright Data: Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, empowering over 20,000 organizations with ethical, scalable access to real-time public web information. From startups to industry leaders, we deliver the datasets that fuel AI innovation and real-world impact. Ready to unlock the web? Learn more at brightdata.com. Bright Data: Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, empowering over 20,000 organizations with ethical, scalable access to real-time public web information. From startups to industry leaders, we deliver the datasets that fuel AI innovation and real-world impact. Ready to unlock the web? Learn more at brightdata.com. Bright Data: brightdata.com Neo4j: GraphRAG combines retrieval-augmented generation with graph-native context, allowing LLMs to reason over structured relationships instead of just documents. With Neo4j, you can build GraphRAG pipelines that connect your data and surface clearer insights. Learn more. Neo4j: GraphRAG combines retrieval-augmented generation with graph-native context, allowing LLMs to reason over structured relationships instead of just documents. With Neo4j, you can build GraphRAG pipelines that connect your data and surface clearer insights. Learn more. 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