AMA Recap : Velotoken
Section 1: The Selective Questions
[two people joining — Super Mises (project lead) and Suvi (marketing manager)]
Q1) Can we start off by hearing a simple overview of the project?
Super Mises :
Well, one simple and quesion is — what is value?
One of the core questions of any currency and therefore also any crypto token is what value is and consequently what the source of value is.
People have long tried to find the ultimate and universal source of value. Ludwig von Mises is a prominent and well-known representative of the so-called “Austrian Economical School” that has seen the source of value in people themselves, specifically in human actions.
Uniswap Detective :
Ok and I know this has been done a million times before, but maybe you should give a brief description of rebasing?
Super Mises :
The VELO project is the first implementation of these insights in a real existing token.
Yes, the best question is always, I had X token in my wallet and now I have Y token — was I stolen!? 😊
Uniswap Detective :
Exactly!
Super Mises :
Seriously, the issue is, if we say that human activity is the source of any value, how are we going to measure activity in a token?
For a currency, the velocity is the unit of measure for the activity. This is not new, even Copernicus knew that some 500 years ago. The problem is that you can’t see a token its velocity. The VELO protocol solves this problem by translating the velocity of circulation into changes in supply. The rebase function fulfills exactly this purpose.
Uniswap Detective :
Rebases tokens have really come into their own lately and I really like the innovative and new approach you have taken.
What are the tokenomics of the project? Is there a team fund, and is there a supply ceiling / floor?
Super Mises :
We initially distributed 100M VLO using the fair distribution principle.
The community had staked in total about $3M TVL over a 4-week period. There is no team fund, nor was the project launched by VC investors. The team delivered exactly as described in the whitepaper.
The rebase function is not limited in principle, but additional VELO transaction costs are charged in addition to the usual ETH gas transaction costs. I.e. it becomes more and more difficult to generate additional velocity over time — a market equilibrium will be established. These accumulated fees belong to the community and only the community is allowed to spend them.
Uniswap Detective :
Ok so it was a fair distribution which is great.
There was high APY farming which has stopped now, this was also the main issue with the price dropping due to high inflation. There were some farming bots suppressing the price which I have noticed that they have now exited. Good news.
Thank you for the great explanation.
Q2) Why do you feel like rebasing by velocity is needed in the DeFi world?
Super Mises :
Is it not so that the velocity of circulation is something new and has certainly nothing to do directly with DeFi explicitly. It has always been there since the time when people start to trade. The main problem so far has been measurability — you can estimate velocity retrospectively, but not measure it directly.
On the blockchain, we can now measure velocity directly and immediately for the first time. This is exactly what is new and therefore it was possible to implement the VELO project now. The VELO Protocol combines old knowledge with new possibilities in the VELO token.
Uniswap Detective :
Ok and what specifically does the measure of velocity capture in the price of the token?
Super Mises :
Ok, THIS is the most important question. It measures and evaluates human activity. Blockchain and Crypto is not about blocks + chains not about elliptic curves, ECC signatures and not about consensus algorithms. But it is voluntary and free participation and activity of people and communities. This is the real source of value!
Whenever any token is used it is an expression of human activity. The VELO token is the tokenized human activity. From my point of view, it’s exactly what makes it so valuable.
Uniswap Detective :
Again a great explanation, I love the innovation and how well thought out it is to connect $VLO to real world examples!
Q3) What’s the “real world” equivalent to rebasing by velocity, and how is it used for FIAT currency?
Super Mises :
ok, this is where the story starts to get a little sad. Most people work hard for tokens they call fiat money. This money is created out of nothing by the banks as well as the central banks.
This is the social model we have “agreed” upon. However, it can be seen that central banks in particular are always eager to create too many fiat tokens and thereby increase the money supply. They generate inflation, first on the capital markets and later in the real economy. We are currently seeing this very clearly in the global indices like the DJI Index.
Rebase without the scaling of one’s position can also be called inflation. Inflation steals from people the purchasing power they have earned!!
Uniswap Detective :
Great and what about blockchain, as compared to FIAT currency, gives it an advantage for calculating velocity?
Super Mises :
Blockchain doesn’t forget anything. Every transaction is recorded, and we use the ERC20 standard to measure transactions and thereby the velocity of circulation. In contrast, the fiat money system is maximally inefficient with many frictional losses in the processes. It is simply impossible to develop a token like VELO in the fiat world.
Q4) The token has been out for some time now, and it’s now seen some decent volume pumped through it over the course of a few rebases — how do you feel the mechanics have performed thus far?
Super Mises :
We have now distributed the VELO token for about 4 weeks and are now for about 1 week in free trade phase including the rebase function. Honestly, we are surprised about the activity of the community!
We have just started to ramp up marketing and we are still early with a market valuation of $1M. We are not even listed on coingecko. It surprises me how quick people find the VELO projects and how active the community is.
Uniswap Detective :
Yes, it’s been great to see the increase in community actively lead by @suvirink. I was extremely surprised to see that no one had really been speaking about $VLO at all, so I was very happy to show our community and the reception was great as expected.
Ok, good to hear marketing efforts are going to be ramped up immediately. We are really here to see the start so thank you for joining us as your first AMA!
Q5) Alright, before we move onto the most important part of the AMA — the future of the token — can you touch on the governance of the token? How is it governed, and what actions can be performed via governance?
Super Mises :
Yes, this is only our first AMA!
The VELO token is managed as a DAO. We use the successful compound.finance approach. This means that all decisions about the future of the VELO projects are made with and for the community. We have quite a few things in the pipeline.
Uniswap Detective :
I understand the more movement or Velocity of the token the more the governance funds grows. This provides what’s needed to push the project forward. So a snowball effect occurs!
Ok, briefly just before we go to the announcements — how about the security of the project? Have there been any third-party reviews, or audits performed?
Super Mises :
First of all — we are not newcomers in the crypto industry. Some of the members of the team have staked their self-mined 2011 BTC in the project. Also, we use some source code from the AMPL and YAM project.
In addition, we are in contact with at least two parties for independent audits. This is simply important because we want to protect the interests of the community and the higher the valuation, the more secure the on-chain contract code has to be.
Uniswap Detective :
I know myself as I speak to him often that Solidity Finance has the required information to perform the audit and he will be done by the end of this week. It’s complex code but he’s mentioned you and the team being extremely well organised with all contracts verified so it makes things a lot quicker.
He did also note that these contracts and any critical changes to them are controlled by ‘governance.’ In shady projects (CP3R for example) governance is just a normal ETH address with way too much control. Here, you have a robust governance mechanism that requires proposing changes and then voting on them during a defined period using a governance token.
Section 2 : the Future of $VLO
Q6) Alright, I understand that you have a few announcements to make — and will be discussing the future of the project. So please : you have the floor.
Super Mises :
First of all, I would like to thank the community on behalf of the team. Without you, we wouldn’t be standing here today!
At the same time, I must say that we were somewhat surprised by the success. Last week the project had a market cap of about $50K, today already over $1M without much marketing. We have also deliberately not worked out a strict roadmap from the beginning for one simple reason. The project does not belong to us, but to the community.
Nevertheless, we have the following have milestones in the pipeline:
- We are targeting a $10M MCAP as our next milestone. Among other things, this will involve reworking the website. Furthermore, we expand the visibility at the various portals such as coingecko, and we will expand marketing activities. A cooperation with a DEX and/or CEX could be interesting for the community, because it will increase the trading activity. Remember activity equals value.
- The VELO token is all about activity. The more people use the VELO token, the more valuable it is. And that is the interest of the community. The community is here for $PROFIT, no illusions here.
The reason why the project was initially launched on the Ethereum platform is because that is where the users are. So simple. Therefore, the next milestone in growing the community is to go where (more) users are. The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) Is an Ethereum compatible chain that allows us to quickly reach new users.
Therefore, we will work out a proposal together with the community to launch the VELO token at the Binance Smart Chain. It is a territorial extension of the VELO token to other platform and thus more users. The VELO Token is not about a dedicated blockchain or technology, it is about activity and users. Work is already underway on the technical implementation. - Internally, we talk about also the Project X. The idea is to extend the VELO principle to other tokens. Because every currency and crypto token has a velocity as well as volatility it is inherent included, otherwise the token is dead.
There is no reason not to make a kind of VELO index token for e.g. BTC, ETH, which represents a certain economic property in isolation. At this point, I note that no matter what further developments are made, the VELO community will benefit the most and is therefore in a privileged position! Thank you guys again!
Uniswap Detective :
Wow…there’s a lot there to take in but you guys definitely have some big plans for $VLO and your community. The BSC integration will be a great start to attract many more investors and users. Also, the expansion of the ecosystem in order to benefit $VLO holders sounds very promising, can’t wait to see what Project X entails if this is just the start👀
Thank you for the thorough explanation and giving us some more insights!
Summary of the announcements
Firstly, the high APY farming has stopped which was the main issue with the price dropping due to high inflation. There were many farming bots suppressing the price which have now exited.
However, the LP pool is open and paying great APY right now (Around 450%) which is great and attracting more LP’s which the protocol needs.
The marketing has not really begun until now but the plans are to bring in far more communities through AMAs, onboard trusted influencers and more community driven activities to raise awareness before the Project X release, this is starting right away.
The Binance Smart Chain integration will now commence, work has already begun for this which will bring access to an entirely new DeFi ecosystem and 10s of thousands of new users.
Security wise, there is an official audit of all contracts being completed right now from Solidity Finance and this will be done before the end of this week. However, the code has been checked already and confirmed that the governance model is robust and operated by the community.
Lastly the expansion of the ecosystem is planned and this will be to directly benefit VLO holders and expand the VELO principles to other tokens also!
This all sounds extremely promising for the future of $VLO and I’m extremely happy our community can be a part of this from the ground up and be the base supporters
Section 3 : Community Questions
Q1) DIGIMON3Y :
Moving forward, and not just surrounding rebase area/industry, what other aspects could velo bring to the table, that will atttact outsiders other than knowledgeable rebase followers?
Suvi :
So the first step is all marketing activities, listings, influencers, PR etc
Finance smart chain is VERY important step towards $GROWTH.
Uniswap circles are limited and only new capital will grow the mcap in the long run.
We expand to BSC first, there are thousands of users outside from these uniswap circles.
It is a holistic approach with marketing!
Q2) Raider :
What are your thoughts on implementing quadratic voting power into governance with a factor that skews the function in benefit of smaller holders? So they can voice their opinion without fear of whales taking control of governance.
Super Mises :
I know the concept. My observation from many project is that $WHALES are important part of the human society off — and on-chain. But we are open for proposals, of course.
Q3) Dookie :
If the Velocity causes a token reduction in the wallet and the token is worth what the price chart indicates on dextools… then what’s in it for HODLRS?
Suvi :
Velo protocol actually increases the price in this case.
The overall market cap is the most important part
And we are heading to aggressive growth
Simplified overview
Resources
Twitter : @Velotoken
DEV : @supermises
Telegram : http://t.me/Velotoken
Discord : http://discord.gg/rGnnKTR
Website : http://velotoken.fi
Contract : https://etherscan.io/token/0x98ad9b32dd10f8d8486927d846d4df8baf39abe2
The Selective Ape Community
Telegram Chat : https://t.me/TheSelectiveApe
Telegram Announcements : https://t.me/TheSelectiveApes
Twitter : https://twitter.com/ApeSelective
