EXCLUSIVE— Consumer blockchain startup Nuggets has just begun its ICO pre-sale, inviting users to purchase Nuggets Tokens to raise money for the startup’s development.

“The funding will be [used] for platform and product development, specific tie-ins with APIs, integrating with banks,” Alastair Johnson, founder and CEO for Nuggets, told Bank Innovation. “It will also be used for marketing and other standards, as if we work with banks, retailers, payment processors, we have to work with them on [their] standards as well.”

As Bank Innovation has previously reported, Nuggets is a company aiming to use blockchain technology to create a more secure platform for digital payments and identity authentication. Nuggets seeks to partner with banks and retailers, and says it will not store or share any customer data.

The pre-sale officially began yesterday, and potential investors (or potential donors, depending on who you ask) participating in the ICO can purchase Nuggets Tokens, under the ticker NUG, for the equivalent of $0.013 USD per token in the pre-sale, according to the Nuggets whitepaper.

A further breakdown of where the ICO funding will be applied can also be seen in the whitepaper.

Users can purchase tokens at this rate until November 14^th, when the pre-sale will end and the public sale will begin. The tokens will then be set at $0.016 USD.

Participants can buy these tokens using the digital currencies bitcoin and ether. Oh, and they can also use plain old U.S. dollars if they so choose (if they do, said users must contribute a minimum investment of $25,000 USD, Nuggets said).

Allowing investors to contribute using a fiat denomination of currency (like they would during an old, boring, venture capital round of funding) is a curious decision, even as regulations for Initial Coin Offerings remain under discussion.

“What’s interesting about Nuggets is that it’s a concept taught very well to the everyday consumer but also to the blockchain or tech consumer as well,” Johnson said on the matter, adding that contributing in USD “gives people an appreciation” that may not be present for cryptocurrencies.

Once both the pre-sale and the public sale are finished, users will have a short wait for their NUG tokens, but should receive them within 30 days of the anticipated December sale close, “to coincide with the Q12018 platform launch in the US & UK,” Quinn Lawlor, advisor for the Argon Group, told Bank Innovation.

The Argon Group, a digital currency platform, is running the Nuggets ICO through its own token issuance platform, token hub.

Once those tokens are received by their users, owners should be able to use NUGs for a variety of purposes including payment for goods, Johnson said.

“You can move them to your Nuggets account, where you can use them to purchase items,” Johnson said, adding that the company will have a “basic dashboard” set up so users can see where their money is going, including payments by token to partner retailers (the company declined to disclose retail or banking partnerships).

Users can also keep their NUGs in a third-party wallet, Johnson said.

Nuggets also has a mobile app forthcoming, with both iOS and Android versions, both set to launch in the U.S. and the U.K. in January 2018.