smartPM

Challenge

Cash works because it is fungible, anonymous and does not lose value while it sits in your pocket. Digital payment rails work because they settle in seconds and travel anywhere. smartPM was built to combine the two: a Swiss platform for paying in physical gold, with two coordinated surfaces - a mobile app for end users, and a web console for the accredited storage providers (gold-trading shops and banks) who hold the metal. The bar: a payment experience as simple as messaging a friend, on a back-office platform regulated providers can actually run.

Approach

We worked with smartPM alongside Arpage AG at the proof-of-concept stage. Arpage led the application development; Luzid was the concept-level partner - shaping the requirements, framing the UX on both surfaces, and running test cycles alongside Arpage’s development sprints.

What the PoC explored:

• User mobile app - pick a recipient from the phone’s contact list, type the amount in grams, watch the live CHF equivalent. The transaction would settle on-chain as a micro-payment, not through a multi-day clearing window.
• Provider web console - the back-office surface for accredited storage providers (gold-trading shops, banks): inventory and reserves, drop-off / pick-up flows, compliance trail and auditor-facing reports.
• Drop-off and pick-up - hand physical gold to a deposit centre to top up the wallet, or pick it back up. Digital balance and metal stay fungible - and value does not bleed in your pocket while it waits.
• Air-gapped signing on an iQey dongle - every transaction would be digitally signed on a dedicated, air-gapped iQey hardware dongle, doubling state-of-the-art security standards for a payment app.
• Swiss multi-currency tradition - stored gold treated as a first-class currency alongside CHF, EUR and USD - true to Switzerland’s history of multi-monetary commerce.

On the Luzid side: requirement engineering, UX/UI shape, software testing - shoulder to shoulder with the Arpage development team during build sprints. The PoC did not go to production.

Outcome

A two-sided gold-payment concept demonstrated end-to-end: mobile app and provider console, drop-off / pick-up flow, air-gapped signing on an iQey dongle. The smartPM team and Arpage built the prototype; Luzid kept the requirements honest, made sure the UX held on both surfaces, and ran test cycles during the development phase. The PoC validated the experience without taking it to production.