Like the KRRX Bot — how much does it cost to create a similar bot?

Switching to Telegram brings us to a simple bot control menu. Here, the user will not find anything more than the social network offers: an intuitive menu consisting of buttons and emojis, the most informative messages and a logical UX. So all of the above features are concentrated in the KRRX Bot, and user support is handled by another chat bot: @KRRX_support.

What is not visible to the average user?

Considering the functionality in Telegram, it may seem that we have some simple solution, assembled almost in the constructor, so such a solution will not cost much. In fact, this is a key mistake that average customers can make. Let’s try to determine what parts this bot consists of in order to most accurately determine the cost of a similar solution.

1. The software part of the bot. The first and main part of the solution is, of course, the backend — completely custom code created directly for a specific case. Object-oriented programming languages are suitable for writing it. We will evaluate the solution using Python, an excellent language for creating high-load projects with complex calculations and the ability to scale;
2. Admin panel for managing the bot. Yes, for any chatbot, including KRRX, there is its own control panel, without which nothing will work. This part of the project is strictly for administrators — people who make decisions, study statistics, provide technical support or conduct audits. We will ignore the custom design issues in this case, but it is worth understanding: this is an extremely complex and well-thought-out control panel, where any options for managing the product are provided in the desired and convenient way;
3. Integration with Telegram Bot API. Despite the declared simplicity and accessibility of Telegram methods for developers, each of the buttons in the bot must be assembled, named and configured, which in total takes a lot of time. To facilitate the development, it is quite possible to use the graphic method of prototyping, when all the future functionality is created in advance by the designer, for example in Figma. At the same time, both the developer and the client can see as accurately as possible all possible changes while working with the bot, correct errors or add functionality long before the actual development begins;
4. Integration with AML. Anti Money Laundering is a mandatory procedure without which no project with cryptocurrencies is possible. Checking the purity of cryptocurrency is an extremely complicated and expensive process, so considering the development of your own AML for a crypto-bot is a waste, only integration with a third-party ready-made service;
5. Integration with crypto exchanges. To buy and sell cryptocurrency, it is necessary to provide access to platforms designed specifically for such operations, that is, crypto exchanges. For reliability, there can be several such integrations.

So now that we know the components of the project, we can calculate its approximate cost. For the best understanding, we will not count money, but hours of development. Thus, at any moment you can find out the value in fiat currency by the usual substitution of the developer rate , which is also not a constant value.

Cost calculation

Now we will talk about rather controversial things, when you may have questions like: “Why so long?” or “Why is this necessary?”, but we want to say in advance that these calculations did not arise on a level playing field. The BeFund`s development team has already implemented a project similar to KRRX-bot, so they have invaluable practical experience and know where to expect difficulties and surprises for those who want to have their own cryptobot.

backend development from the simplest and fastest to the longest. Let’s do it with comments and life hacks for the best understanding of the situation.

• Connecting AML. Of all the possible challenges, this one, despite the complexity of the checks themselves, is the simplest. Today, there are many services that provide cryptocurrency verification services and detailed documentation on API usage. The essence of integration is also quite simple: send data for verification and return its result. There are no special requirements and difficulties, except for an interesting fact: in fact, the system creates not 1 wallet for each user, but 2. The second one remains invisible and is needed for crediting cryptocurrency — here the previous chain of its origin is checked. So, in the case of “dirty” assets, only the client’s “shadow” wallet will be affected, not the main one. There are usually three checks: when depositing cryptocurrency , at the time of transaction, and for withdrawal. In the latter case, only the recipient’s address is checked. Therefore, the last place in the rating and 20 hours of work by programmers;
• Integration with the exchange. Establishing cooperation with cryptocurrency exchange services will be more difficult. That’s right, services, and not just one resource, since you will need at least two of them. In a serious project, you should not only hope for constant success, so it is necessary to foresee ways of insuring the users of your product. The crypto exchange is a service of high demand, which can be exposed to various attacks, peak loads and other adverse factors that make it difficult for the system to work indefinitely. Therefore, at such times when the exchange does not respond, there must be an alternative way to carry out transactions. It is worth emphasizing that it is practically impossible to cooperate with several exchanges at the same time due to the urgent need to maintain liquidity, which is tied to significant amounts of money. Therefore, one main exchange is usually chosen, and the other (or the rest) is kept in reserve. It takes about 100 hours to integrate with one exchange, so in total we will get 200 hours for two;
• Telegram is the third place. To this stage, we include the involvement of a designer to create an interactive prototype. Note that further on in the designer’s project, the a priori is not needed. It takes up to 30 hours to prototype a project similar to the KRRX bot from scratch. However, in return, we will get a visualization of the project for users, who can make improvements in advance if necessary. Setting up the API itself takes about 300 hours;
• The dashboard. In the penultimate place, we placed a stage, the existence of which most readers did not even think about at the beginning of this article. But this software really requires a lot of time and effort, since the ability to control the bot depends on it, to obtain correct statistical data, on the basis of which timely business decisions can be made. Even without the use of custom design (templates simply do not exist), development requires a whole list of unique elements that will have to be created purely manually: individual commissions, filters, reports, criteria, controls, charts, pages, access rights — all this makes a custom control panel cumbersome in terms of time consumption. In addition, the backend provides for the creation and support of other crypto-bots for partners and customers. Each of the following will require its own server, but statistical information still flows into a single control center and should be displayed in an understandable and useful form for an administrator or accountant. Therefore, 400 hours is a strictly necessary minimum;
• Integration with blockchain. Our rating is completed by the most complex part — the stage of integration with distributed databases. The key issue here is the customer’s access to the network node required by the developers. If such access is available, development time, or rather time spent on testing, will be significantly reduced. However, in most cases, customers of cryptobots do not have them running in mainnets nodes , and reach this level already in the process of project development. Therefore, we will assume that in our case we will also enlist the support of blockchain service providers and build our product using the provided API. To carry out transactions with individual cryptocurrencies, you need to specify your own settings. So, it will take at least 800 hours to develop this part with the cryptocurrencies declared for the bot (BTC, ETH, LTC, USDT (ERC-20, TRC-20), XRP, TRX) .

So let’s summarize the hours of development. In total, we have about 1750 hours to create, release and debug a product that replicates the capabilities of the KRRX-bot. This number of hours can vary as follows:

1. Decrease in the case of a reduction in functionality (for example, a decrease in the number of supported cryptocurrencies ), API improvements from third-party project partners, minor changes to the technical task that do not require additional study of issues and search for solutions;
2. To increase in the case of large-scale changes or additions, the appearance of new products that need to be studied, but at the same time are more economically beneficial for the project.

It is worth noting that the developers of our team independently found answers to many questions that will not require detailed study in further development. It gave us invaluable experience that will definitely be used in future projects.

Associated costs

A careful reader has already noticed that a simple calculation of hours gives an approximate cost of the project and the time frame for its implementation, but leaves out of consideration the obvious associated costs. That’s right, because in addition to development, there is also payment for services from various providers. In this case, we will limit ourselves to the dry numbers that our development team deals with, because the market value and supply are constantly changing, and each project has its own requirements. However, our example can be used as a guide regarding the level of associated costs during the month for a bot with an average load level:

• Server fee — $650;
• The payment for the API of the blockchain provider is $3,000, or in the case of direct connection to Noda, about $600 should be invested for each of the decentralized networks;
• AML usage — $500.

We hope you now have an informed view on the cost of a similar KRRX bot product from development professionals. We will be happy to help you create a similar solution, and even a much better one.