The strategy, extracted for development
Six layers · 4 phases
18 months
One advantage a wallet-only competitor cannot copy: the operator can lend — good behaviour buys cheaper, faster credit, not just bigger discounts.
North star
DAU/MAU
weekly stickiness — churn signal 2–3 months early
Hard constraint
2 h × 2
separate funds-received and security holds
Why Onramp exists
Rs. 25k
per day at Level 0 — confirmed cap
The one guardrail — the mercenary test
Extrinsic rewards spike in month one and fade by month three. Watch one pair of series, same cohort: Daily Habits and Moments engagement against Trust Score movement. Engagement up, Trust Score flat is reward-chasing, not habit formation — instrument both from day one.
01 · Design principles
01 Credit is the currency, not just coupons
05 A purpose bigger than discounts
02 Reward the moment, not the month
06 Design for redemption, not breakage
03 Keep the base layer boringly simple
07 Reward the KYC upgrade itself
04 Fund it with partners wherever possible
08 Daily engagement free, never compulsory spending
02 · Architecture — six layers by trigger frequency
Daily Habits
Streaks, fraud and literacy quizzes, light puzzles — all free actions.
Cheapest layer; points redeemed into the partner marketplace.
Moments
Instant transaction-triggered mini-reward, max once a day.
Fixed marketing budget, capped like a CAC allocation.
Foundation
Automatic real-time cashback, no ledger. The default experience.
The bank's own margin, deliberately modest.
Trust Score
Weekly score from volume, bill punctuality, savings — unlocks approval speed, limits, pricing.
Self-funding via reduced cost-of-risk; needs credit-model integration.
Marketplace & Purpose
Vouchers plus the purpose track — literacy, small business, community.
Merchant and brand partners paying for visibility.
Onramp
One-time bonus for biometrics and clearing Level 0.
Fixed one-time cost — budget as acquisition.
Deposit angle: ADB gating on Root and Harvest is a funding source, not a cost — low-cost retail funding, measured in basis points off blended cost of funds. Track it with Treasury, not Product alone.
03 · Tier ladder — illustrative
| Tier | Qualifying behaviour | Foundation | Trust Score unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Account opened, first three transactions | Welcome cashback credit | Baseline established |
| Sprout | Regular monthly transacting | Elevated cashback, two to three types | Score visible; first pre-qualification signal |
| Root | Sustained 3 months+, on-time bills | Marketplace unlocked | Faster approval; modest limit increase |
| Harvest | High consistent activity + savings held | Priority support; higher Moments rate | Preferential loan pricing |
| Legacy | Top-decile 12 months+, or purpose milestones | Full marketplace and purpose benefits | Best available pricing and limits |
Names and thresholds are workshop material; the layering is what to protect.
04 · Daily Habits — build spec
Requirement
One free streak freeze a month — a missed day must not reset progress.
Requirement
No shaming a broken streak. One neutral reminder is fine; guilt-based copy is not.
| Quiz starter bank — 2–3 questions a session, explanation after every answer | Answer |
|---|---|
| A caller from “your bank” asks you to read out the OTP you just received | No — never over a call |
| A prize message asks for a small fee via QR code to claim it | No — prizes never charge |
| An agent asks for your MPIN to complete a transaction for you | No — agents never need it |
| Check the displayed name matches the merchant before scanning their QR | Yes — QR swaps are real |
Track: quiz completion against fraud-dispute rates by cohort — if it holds, report the layer as partly self-funding. Games: Phase 4 only, tied to the purpose narrative.
05 · Regulatory constraints — confirmed
| Constraint | What it means for the build |
|---|---|
| Cooldown A 2 h · funds received |
Cash-outs, purchases and top-ups against newly received wallet funds are held. A Moments reward is funds received: credit it instantly and visibly, but say it becomes spendable after the standard window. |
| Cooldown B 2 h · all debits |
Triggered by registration, new-device registration, email or MPIN change. If the Onramp flow registers a device, expect a blanket freeze straight after — celebrate the bonus, sequence the messaging. |
| Level 0 ceiling Rs. 25,000 / day |
Confirmed against the source terms — and the reason the Onramp bonus exists: a Level 0 customer is capped out of the program until they clear it. |
| Points liability IFRS 15 |
Outstanding Points × (1 − Breakage Rate) × Cost Per Point. Model Daily Habits separately from Moments; one blended rate misstates it. Finance and Audit sign-off before launch. |
| Shariah framing if applicable |
Rewards as hiba tied to real transactions, never a promised return. Chance mechanics work where the entry is a transaction happening anyway. Named board sign-off on the mechanic, not the copy. |
06 · Roadmap
07 · Metrics, risks, scope
Engagement
DAU/MAU weekly · streak completion at day 7/14/30 · quiz completion and accuracy · session frequency by cohort.
Durability
The mercenary test · Trust Score to repayment correlation against a control · retention delta by engagement type.
Economics
Redemption rate rising, never minimised · partner-funded share rising · liability per layer, quarterly with Finance.
| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Becomes a discount-only clone during build | Trust Score as a funded, tracked workstream from day one |
| Regulatory or Shariah non-compliance in structuring | Compliance and the board in mechanic design, not marketing review |
| Liability understated — audit finding | Joint Finance and Audit model reviewed before launch |
| Loan margin cannibalised by generous Trust Score pricing | Controlled-cohort pilot; risk-model validation as a launch gate |
| Execution quality undermines a sound design | Redemption reliability and support responsiveness as core KPIs |
| One big-bang release delays time-to-market | Phase 1 ships on existing data, independent of Trust Score |
Out of scope for v1: games and puzzle mechanics (Phase 4) · the full Shariah variant (Phase 4, sign-off first) · a quantified financial model, which needs the MFB's real cost-of-funds and adoption inputs rather than invented placeholders · exact tier thresholds above Level 0, from the live Schedule of Charges.
Onramp, foundation cashback, credit-linked trust score, instant moments, free daily habits, partner-funded purpose. The names are workshop material; the layering is the part worth protecting.