CRYPTO SYZYGY : AMA Session With INTERLAY
AMA On ,Wednesday January 18th At 03:00 PM UTC
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We were so pleased to host our Telegram AMA session with Interlay where we gave you the chance to ask the team anything you liked. And you certainly delivered!
Summary of the AMA
- Host Round
- Twitter Q & A Round
- Telegram Q & A Round
Mike Amaze: Hello Everyone!! Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening to this amazing SYZYGY community. SYZYGY has brought for you guys another project today which is of super high potential – Interlay. 🚀
We have with us today, Alexei Zamyatin, CEO and Co-founder at Interlay. Truly honored to have you here Alexei! Welcome to SYZYGY!
Alexei | interlay : Hey! Great to be here!
Mike Amaze: It keeps the whole SYZYGY community super pumped to meet fantastic projects here always and they are always eager to learn more about those via AMA! 😊
The community had been waiting for #Interlay! We hope you enjoy the session today!
Alexei | interlay: Looking forward!!
Mike Amaze: Alright!! Love your excitement already Alexei! Let's get started then!
We have few questions from our end first, then we will move on to #Twitter picks and Community round. So, to begin with Alexei…..
would really like to know more about you, your background, experience, and journey in Crypto space.
Alexei | interlay : Alright!
I’m Alexei, co-founder and CEO of Interlay - the team building the Kintsugi and Interlay networks. I’ve been working on Bitcoin research since 2015 and focused my computer science PhD on interoperability at Imperial College.
My co-founder Dom and I met during our PhDs and tried to design new features on top of Bitcoin. Then, we realized it is better to bring BTC to DeFi (rather than vice versa) - so we designed XCLAIM, the first trustless BTC bridge (that also works for any asset).
We then launched Interlay to build this trustless bridge and bring BTC to all blockchains, starting with Polkadot - here we received 2 grants from the Web3 Foundation. Later, we also raised capital from well known investors to scale the team and deliver faster.
We've been building Interlay for 2 years now and recently launched Kintsugi, our canary network on Kusama.
For those interested in our previous research, you can check it out here: https://docs.interlay.io/
Mike Amaze: I’ve been working on Bitcoin research since 2015 - We always love to meet early adopters here! No wonder your vision actually is leading you to C-execs position!
And totally loved to you know that you have been designing new features on top of Bitcoin!! This is some level of work that you guys are working on! Hats off mate to all of your team! I am sure you are going to see quite some hits on this page soon! 😃
Great! So, my next question is.
Can you briefly describe #Interlay? What is it trying to do in the interconnectivity space of blockchain?
Alexei | interlay : Interlay is a decentralized network dedicated to connecting crypto-currencies like Bitcoin with DeFi platforms like Polkadot and Ethereum. The Interlay network will be hosted as a Polkadot parachain and will be connected to Cosmos, Ethereum and other major DeFi networks
Our vision is a future where blockchains seamlessly connect and interact: anyone can use any digital asset on any blockchain, trustless and without limitations.
interBTC, Interlay’s flagship product, is Bitcoin on any blockchain. A 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset, fully collateralized, interoperable, and censorship-resistant.
Kintsugi is Interlay’s canary network, an experiment with real economic value deployed on Kusama. Kintsugi and Interlay share the same code base - with the difference that Kintsugi focuses strictly on innovation and will always be ahead in terms of features.
interBTC enables users to invest, earn and pay with BTC on any blockchain the true DeFi way:
- Secured by insurance: users can exit back to Bitcoin anytime they want, or they will be fully reimbursed in collateral assets.
- Radically open: anyone can help secure the decentralized system and users cannot be censored.
1) Lock BTC,
2) mint interBTC
3) use interBTC in DeFi - while your BTC are secured by decentralized multi-collateral insurance.
4) redeem interBTC for BTC anytime.
On a high level, interBTC is for BTC what MakerDAO/DAI is for the USD - but better.
An algorithmic stablecoin, secured by multi-collateral insurance and 1:1 backed by and redeemable for BTC.
Mike Amaze: Quite a demand of the time my friend! - decentralized network dedicated to connecting crypto-currencies..
This is truly Inspirational! Wow! I'd have more question with respect to where can we get invested into interBTC! Sounds pretty amazing! And yea #Interlay, leaving no stone unturned to stay ahead in innovation with Kintsugi - Superb Project here for everyone to see !
This should definitely excite you @Community! I'd be catching Alexei to help me out with minting process! 😄 Such great information! Many thanks buddy!
Moving on to our next one -
Where is #Interlay headquartered? Do you have any office space or you majorly work from scattered locations? How big is your team size?
Alexei | interlay :
We are a UK registered company but do not have a physical office. We are 100% DeFi and remote. From a company of few members, we grew into an extraordinary team of 17 people from all across the globe - UK, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, China and Japan. And we have over 100 community ambassadors volunteering to test, educate, and grow the community.
We plan to double our staff in the next eight months in sync with the planned biz expansion.
Our team members previously worked at PwC, Accenture, Google, WorldPay, Trivago, TEAM, Morgan Stanley, Hyperledger (open source), ... and we're hiring across all departments! https://interlay.recruitee.com/
Mike Amaze: Haha! Wow! Perfect example of a decentralized team! No physical office space but still doing wonders! I love it!
@Community - That is some great opportunity you have got to work with super talent colleagues! Maybe Alexei you might find my resume first on the page here! 😂
Great! So a couple of more from our end and then we move to the best #Twitter Picks. Here’s next -
Could you briefly share the roadmap of #Interlay, the way ahead, any cool updates we should be looking for the project?
Alexei | interlay : Right now, we are preparing to launch kBTC on Kintsugi (Kusama). Kintsugi is already 100% decentralized - governed by the KINT governance token. The next steps are:
1) Staking activation
2) Start Vaults and allow minting kBTC
3) Integrate with all major parachains on Kusama
In parallel, the Interlay network is participating in the Polkadot auctions via a crowdloan (you can check and support here: https://crowdloan.interlay.io/)
Once Interlay wins a parachain slot, the main network will go live in March/April:
4) INTR token launch and governance
5) interBTC on all Polkadot DeFi apps
6) interBTC on Ethereum and Cosmos (https://blog.cosmos.network/bitcoin-is-coming-to-cosmos-with-interbtc-16b1fc854728)
7) 1-click trustless BTC yield dashboard/wallet
For those who are new to the Kusama/Polkadot ecosystem and have never heard of auctions and parachains - you can read more on this website: https://parachains.info/auctions
A parachain is a blockchain that is fully customizeable - but is connected to the main Kusama or Polkadot networks and benefits from the PoS staking security. Parachains can easily talk to each other, similar to smart contracts, but are much much more powerful.
Our mission for 2022 is to become the largest decentralized wrapped Bitcoin across the entire DeFi ecosystem - challenging the centralized status quo (wBTC, renBTC, ...)
Mike Amaze: There you go! This is some vision - "challenging the centralized status quo (wBTC, renBTC, ...)" I am 100% sure you would be able to achieve it! Not just tech, but clearly you have that vigor and passion too!
Awesome!! One more from our Host round and then we move to #Twitter picks!
We would really like to know about any potential tie-ups/partnerships #Interlay could have in future? What are your listing plans and which exchanges are being targeted?
Alexei | interlay : One of our largest achievements, after two years of hard work, we won a Kusama parachain slot with Kintsugi, Interlay’s canary network, with 200,000 KSM (~USD 50mm) locked from 11,000+ supporters.
In December, Kintsugi launched as a 100% decentralized network following our commitment to staying true to Bitcoin’s vision of creating a new, radically open financial system. Kintsugi’s KINT has been enlisted already on Gate.io, Kraken and MEXC.
Currently we are running for a Polkadot parachain slot — Interlay’s crowdloan has already received the support of over 1.3 million DOT (~USD 32mm) from 6000+ supporters in a only a month.
We are working closely with all major Polkadot teams - the first integrations will happen on Kusama with Moonriver and Karura. We have also recevied a grant from the Interchain Foundation to expand interBTC to the Cosmos ecosystem.
Via Polkadot's Ethreum bridges, we will soon also bring kBTC and interBTC to Ethereum - so you will finally have a decentralized alternative to the centralized and institutionalized wBTC.
Finally, we are going to onboard communities which actively rely on BTC as means of payment - where people do not trust the government's currency or the USD. Here, interBTC will finally offer a fast, efficient and trustless way to use Bitcoin
Mike Amaze: The whole community wish you lots of luck for the Parachain slot! With such a huge support on crowdloan, we have full confidence that you are going to win it! And I am pretty sure out of those 6000+, there must be some from SYZYGY community too!
Finally, we are going to onboard communities which actively rely on BTC as means of payment - where people do not trust the government's currency or the USD. - You have my vote already!!😃
This was awesome!
@Community – Keep looking out for interesting updates from #Interlay and for their Parachain slot! So now is the time we move to #TwitterPicks. @Community - The best one shared with me by #Interlay. Here is the first lucky one-
Twitter Q & A Round
Q1: (@IntidraK) Now in crypto the biggest problems are security in recent days there are many project that had been hack that took the user assets. So how do you insure the security of your project do you have any insurance for this and what are you doing for security of your platform?
Alexei | interlay: Users lock BTC with Vaults. Anyone can become a Vault - but they need to lock collateral to insure users against theft, e.g. 150%.
interBTC combines collateral with cross-chain cryptographic proofs - our parachain runs a Bitcoin light client and can check all transactions that happen on BTC. So if a Vault steals BTC, it will be liquidated and the collateral used to reimbursed users.
As a user, you always can get your BTC back - or, in the worst case scenario, you will be automatically reimbursed in multi-collateral at ~110% rate. Security is very important at Interlay.
interBTC is based on the XCLAIM framework - a top-tier, peer-reviewed academic paper. https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/643.pdf
We have written a 200+ page specification that we use for audits and in the future - formal verification of our code: https://spec.interlay.io/
Our code is 100% open source and has been audited by 2 companies (NCC and Informal Systems). A 3rd audit starts in 2 weeks, and there are more audits scheduled in 2022.
Mike Amaze: Our code is 100% open source and has been audited by 2 companies (NCC and Informal Systems) - There is no need to doubt on the security aspect of Interlay now! 2 audits and still standing shows the outstanding capability of trust factor!
Great question guys! Moving on to the second one-
Q2: (@muinlyreol) The SUCCESS of a project also depends on how big the COMMUNITY is. Do you have any plans to spread awareness to crypto users and non crypto users in the world? Especially non-English speaking countries that may be barred from accessing your Project?
Alexei | interlay :
This is a very good question!
Our community has grown from a few hundred to 6000+ on Discord, 4000+ on Telegram and 14k+ on Twitter (20k+ across all accounts) - in only 6 months!
We have over 100 active ambassador volunteers, with hundreds of applicants who want to help spread the word and educate people about Interlays' tech and vision. We have translation teams for Russian, Chinese and soon also Spanish, Turkish, etc.
We welcome everyone and actively help to build local communities across the globe.
Our on-chain treasury will be actively funding events, content, translations and communities to help people access BTC and use it via interBTC where it is most needed
Mike Amaze: Our community has grown from a few hundred to 6000+ on Discord, 4000+ on Telegram and 14k+ on Twitter (20k+ across all accounts) - in only 6 months! -- This is astounding growth in such a short span of time!
We have over 100 active ambassador volunteers, with hundreds of applicants who want to help spread the word and educate people about Interlays' tech and vision. - Lol me too featuring and applying for ambassador program already! 😂
The best part about SYZYGY community too you know Alexei is that they ask just so amazing questions! These types of questions and more disclosures from awesome C-execs like you help all of us build rock like confidence in the project!
So full of gratitude already! ☺ Moving on to our next one -
Q3. (@RSituo) What kind of partnerships with different projects/platforms/protocols can we expect from InterlayHQ in the future? Could you give us some examples of how other projects can leverage InterlayHQ?
Alexei | interlay :
Essentially, interBTC allows you to earn yield on your BTC in a 100% secure and trustless way - on any blockchain.
Use it in AMMs, lending, as collateral for stablecoins, decentralized derivatives, etc. etc.
You can use interBTC wherever you want! WIth our kBTC launch on Kusama coming close, we have an example list of use cases with Karura/Acala here: https://medium.com/interlay/featured-use-case-chaotic-btc-defi-with-kintsugi-karura-8b1a62b430d9
Similarly, we are pushing to get kBTC onto all the amazing DeFi applications on Moonriver. Then privacy features via Manta network or Phala.
And more DeFi via Parallel or Composable.
There are essentially no limits to where you can use interBTC and we cannot wait to see what the community comes up with.
Kusama/Polkadot are just the start though! Imagine you could use interBTC on Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, ... and no-one can stop you. No centralized exchanges or custodians who can lose, steal or have your BTC seized by governments. This is Interlay's vision.
Mike Amaze: Terrific!
Now we know what drives you - Imagine you could use interBTC on Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, ... and no-one can stop you , Goes me all thinking and recalling of some lines from Inception - An Idea can change your life! 😃
Moving to another one -
Q4: (@MdTanbi35716872) What is the most ambitious goal of Project ? I would appreciate it if you could share with us any Upcoming Updates?
Alexei | interlay: I think the most ambitious goal is doing everything 100% decentralized from day 1. 99% of the projects launch centralized, and slowly decentralize.
Interlay / Kintsugi make no compromise - our main product is Bitcoin, so everything must be 100% transparent and decentralized. Otherwise, it would not be Bitcoin anymore.
Kintsugi is already 100% decentralized. Our team has 0 control over the network and the community decides what will happen next - we only help build code and advise on the technology early on, but we do as the community decides.
This is something we are proud of - transparency and decentralization are two of the main values of Interlay, and we do not make any exceptions.
Mike Amaze: Alright!! This is awesome! And here comes the final lucky one from #Twitter picks-
Q5: (@huyenthuvu7549) Is there any governance priviledge on your system for stakers of your token an NFT's maybe?
Alexei | interlay : Our governance model is quite modern. It is liquid, optimistic and staked.
This means: all KINT holders can vote (there is no council), proposal votes are optimistic (if not many people vote, then proposals will tend to be accepted) and, most interestingly - you must stake your KINT to vote.
The longer you stake KINT, the more voting power you get.... and the more staking rewards. 5% of the initial token supply is distributed as staking rewards to KINT stakers.
The idea is simple: the longer KINT are locked, the more voting power a voter has, since the voter has a longer-term stake in the health and success of Kintsugi.
The same will apply for Interlay and INTR.
Mike Amaze: Well, that was quite an intense Q&A!
Thank you Alexei for answering those #TwitterPicks. Now is the time we move to our most high-voltage round – Community Round!
@Community – We always love your intriguing questions which help us gather more details about the project! Please shoot-out!
Telegram Q & A Round
Q1. Can you explain how is your Tokenomics Distribution? How many tokens Will be minted ? And How many tokens Will be locked by the team?
Alexei | interlay: You can find all details on the tokenomics here: https://docs.interlay.io/#/kintsugi/tokenomics and here: https://docs.interlay.io/#/interlay/tokenomics
70% of the tokens are distributed to the community who participate in the network. There is no public sale or ICO.
10% are put into a foundation reserve, to be used for development and ecosystem funding in cases where a legal entity is needed. Unused funds are planned to be returned to the on-chain treasury once the network is self-sustained.
20% are distributed to team (current & future) and investors
Yes, we have a bug bounty program here: https://docs.interlay.io/
Q2. Do you have any Bug Bounty to check for weakness? In what way do you plan to make Your project more complete??
We will be partnering with a few bug bounty platforms soon to make the process as smooth as possible.
We have a large budget allocated for security that will be made available for critical bugs and improvements.
Mike Amaze: Awesome!! 1 more to go! Let's see who will be the lucky one! 😃
Q3. Do you have an ambassador program available? If yes, how can I join it? And may I know what’s the benefit available for the ambassador?
Alexei | interlay: Yes!
You can read more about our ambassador program here: https://interlay.notion.site/Interlay-Ambassador-Hub-c0da3c78b2e44d53bde1e64de44835e6
Benefits are early access to products, exclusive events and meetings with the core team, merch and swag, community events, etc. etc. We are highly organized, have squads/teams for TG support, translations, testing, education, art, video and content creation.
Mike Amaze: Alright! With this we come to an end to our AMA with #Interlay. It’s been such a pleasure to host you here Alexei.
All of us from the community wish you all the luck to #Interlay and to all of your team, and look forward to the future partnerships and new listings of #Interlay!
