Thread by @baconesq

Overview of @WithoutTheRope weekly AMA in the $STRONG Telegram ⬇️⬇️⬇️

$STRONG Q: go into the Telegram group RIGHT NOW and dispel all the FUD!

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope There always has been - & always will be - FUD on EVERY PROTOCOL.

“Bitcoin is unsustainable & the price will crash.”

“STRONG is unsustainable.”

“ETH gas prices are too high & everyone will leave Ethereum & go to Layer 2s & the price will crash” (1/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope I’ve been in crypto full time for 4.5 years, and for many years part time before that. I’ve worked with many protocols. I remember when everyone thought that Ethereum at $10 - and $250 and $500 and $1000 and $2000 and… - was overpriced. (2/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope I owned Bitcoin at $100 when $1000 seemed like crazy talk.

And it’s easy to look at CG or CMC and see that STRONG was at $13.90 on January 11th of THIS YEAR. (3/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Most FUD comes from people who got in late or just like to hate (I see what you did there, Moss). Don’t waste your precious time on FUD. I don’t. (4/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Trolls who make stuff up and bait you (or me) to ANSWER THEM NOW OR YOU’RE A FRAUD: Ignore them - don’t engage. They just want attention.

XRP rivalry: There is no “rivalry”. Someone made that up. To get attention. Ignore it. Don’t engage. (5/5)

$STRONG Q: What happens when the grant from the polygon and fantom nodes runs out? $MATIC $FTM

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope One of the challenges in creating nodes in any protocol is the core reason we created SB: most protocols simply don’t have the native ability to reward nodes. Instead, they reward miners/block producers, where the barrier to entry is very high (1/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope It’s only for whales. Most of the protocols we've spoken with arent interested in remedying this, as it would require changes to their blockchains. Instead they offer grants. But grants arent sustainable. So its often up to SB to bridge that gap. (2/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope When we need to bridge that gap, the approach we will be taking is to use treasury funds- perhaps combined with the grants from the protocol- to invest in/create pools that provide a perpetual source of native tokens and rewards for the protocol (3/4)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope we’re supporting. The second source of rewards can come from people and organizations paying for node and bandwidth utilization, i.e., revenue. That’s always going to be an option. (4/4)

$STRONG Q: Hi David, have you heard of Boson Protocol? If so, have you been in contact with them about a potential partnership to support their dcommerce infrastructure?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We haven’t talked with Boson. Do they need nodes and validators? Olympus and $Ohm do not, but we are still interested in seeing how we can work together, or perhaps just be inspired by what they’re doing. (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Like many suggestions made by the community, we’re happy to follow up. If you have a connection there, please make an introduction. (2/2)

$STRONG Q: Could Strongblock team look into sponsoring a pool on Sushiswap, maybe to replace the current Uniswap $LINK/STRONG pool that hardly has any volume? Maybe a STRONG/DAI pool?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Do you mean providing liquidity? Yes, the LINK/STRONG pool was from our original partnership with Chainlink. Most of that liquidity is not provided by us, and LP’s stake on our platform (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We’re fans of SushiSwap. We’re been approached by many DEXes to create liquidity pools. We’re working on integrating into other DEXes in 2022. That may also involve a bigger initiative with cross-chain bridges. (2/2)

$STRONG Q: Is there an eta on the cross chain bridge being tested?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope The cross-chain bridge for NFT’s (info on that got leaked) has already completed its testing. The smart contract will now go out for auditing. We have some new projects in the works that will utilize it, but it may not be released this year.

$STRONG Q: What impact does $Eth 2.0 have on our investment in STRONG? Will the STRONG nodes we have invested in remain valid and continue to provide a reward for our investment?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Ethereum 1.0 and 2.0 both use geth. Our understanding is that the RPC endpoints should be the same. Ethereum 2.0 uses POS instead of POW. There may be some changes in how the nodes will access the mainnet. We’ll make the necessary changes to (1/3)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Ethereum 1.0 nodes launched from the StrongBlock platform when there is guidance from the Ethereum core team and Ethereum 2.0 nears launch. That may be up to a year from now. (FYI, I’ve answered this question many times. (2/3)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope With all of the Ethereum 1.0 nodes the Node Army has created, it’s always relevant.) (3/3)

$STRONG Q: With STRONG nodes supporting $MATIC and $FTM networks, will the original STRONG node holders benefit from these new nodes or do node holders need to re-invest in new nodes for a reward from the new networks. Do we need to invest MATIC, FTM, STRONG for the new nodes?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Again, a question I’ve answered many times. A node on an EVM-compatible chain like Polygon or Fantom is NOT the same as a node on Ethereum 1.0 or 2.0. There are differences in how the nodes interact with their respective mainnets. (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Our goal is to allow anyone to have one or more nodes on multiple chains. Having a node on one chain does not negate having a node on another chain. But each is unique, and they are not cross-chain compatible. (2/2)

$STRONG Q: Many holders are reinvesting their rewards in new nodes while some are cashing out At the current rate how long do you anticipate this project can be sustained without affecting rewards rate? How is the team looking at making the project more sustainable for investors?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Luke, are you new here? If so welcome! You won the trifecta for questions today! You’re describing the natural progression of how people participate in any protocol. For sustainability, we’ll be adding new protocols, creating fractional Validators (2/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope deploying treasury funds whose yields will support rewards, creating new pools based on rewards from Validators where locking STRONG yields higher rewards (ETH 2.0 for example). (2/2)

$STRONG Q: As we know, explosive growth can be a double-edged sword. STRONG has undoubtedly experienced another explosive growth spurt in node creation in recent weeks. The current rewards come largely from the reward pool and NFTs sales. (1/2)

$STRONG Q: Do you think that the team and you are fast enough to develop other revenue streams (through partnerships, more pools, etc.) to continue to be sustainable. (2/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Fast enough can be tricky. We want to make sure that we are moving fast, not being reckless. There is a saying in software development: Fast, Cheap, Reliable: Pick Two.

We have just partnered with another highly respected development shop (1/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope (people we’ve known and worked with for years, who have worked on major projects and protocols); there will be an announcement soon.

And many of the items you mentioned (pools, etc.) have been in parallel development for months. (2/3)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We anticipated the growth and have been preparing for it. Sustainability is - and always has been - our primary focus. But, yeah, lots of passion here to move fast while not breaking things! (3/3)

$STRONG Q: Not sure if there’s already a better solution for this but are you planning to have an API where we can fetch the data you already have for the nodes? Like how many are created in total, creation date, etc the use case will be to create nice stats for analysis

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We’re not sure about an API, but a Stats page is in development. What specifically would you like to see in API, and what do you see as the primary use cases? We already have a number of whitelisted API’s, some of which we can adapt and open up.

$STRONG Q: Would not it be beneficial for SB to have more resources available (updated FAQs or additional Medium articles) to help diffuse the FUD?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Please refer to the “MORE” menu item on the website:

strongblock.com/faq.html
strongblock.com/announcements.…
strongblock.com/simple-tips.ht…

And I am working on a new Medium post that will discuss how we’ll be leveraging the treasury with $ETH 2.0 and other pools.

$STRONG Q: Any word yet on the reward split/purchase split of polygon and fantom nodes? $MATIC $FTM

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Polygon and Fantom have only committed to one-time grants. We’re working on ways to make their rewards sustainable. And of course we’d like them to continue contributing, but that may not be in the cards. Those factors will help determine the split.

$STRONG Q: You mentioned that scarcity of the circulating supply was the main obstacle re sustainability. Would you be able to share some of the ideas to address scarcity of supply? Are any ideas not related to rewards reduction being explored such as creating a second token?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We of course can’t increase STRONG supply. The token Smart Contract for STRONG does not allow for burning or additional minting. When we burned 96% of the original supply, it was sent to the “dead” wallet. (1/x)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Our vision for sustainability is to have a “basket” of different kinds of rewards, using the treasury to supplement them alongside STRONG. We are not ruling out creating our own chain and a second token as well; that would (2/3)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope allow $STRONG to move toward its stated purpose as a governance token. We’re actively exploring that right now, actually. (3/3)

$STRONG Q: Will we be able to use existing nodes for fantom or polygon rewards or just eth 2.0. If yes will be able to toggle between rewards at our leisure or for a locked period of time? $MATIC $FTM

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope This was answered earlier, but to reiterate, a node for one protocol is different from a node for another protocol. You are welcome to participate in as many node protocols and pools as you like, but each of them are different.

$STRONG Q: On the audit report on the website - said there were 2 issues - were those fixed? any plans for another audit in future?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Those issues were in regards to known issues in Ethereum, not in the smart contracts themselves, and were addressed over 1 year ago, when the audit was completed. (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We have a number of new smart contracts coming out, including Service 2 and ETH 2.0 pool. They will be audited by one or more smart contract companies before they are released. They are scheduled to be submitted to auditors next week. (2/2)

$STRONG Q: Why are our ETH nodes private?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Ethereum 1.0 nodes launched by StrongBlock are private for security purposes to avoid exposing our node infrastructure to DDOS attacks. @infura_io has the same approach and policy. (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope All full node functionality is available, and many node owners use their node RPC endpoints for their wallets and for accessing the Ethereum 1.0 mainnet. We’re working to expand that usage. (2/2)

$STRONG Q: When will the Ethereum 2.0 pool be available?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope ETH 2.0 nodes being prepared. Large amounts of ETH from the treasure are already committed (keep in mind it takes 32 $ETH per 2.0 node) & the ETH 2.0 pool smart contract will go out for auditing next week. We did the internal demo of the pool yesterday

$STRONG Q: Will I need an NFT to create a Polygon node?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Polygon nodes are now being tested. All NFT holders will be eligible for the pilot. After the pilot is successfully, everyone can create a Polygon node. (Insert Oprah giveaway meme here.) $MATIC

$STRONG Q: When Merch store?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope The merch store is being prepared with socks, hoodies, pullovers, bags, backpacks, mugs, sticker pages and more. I saw a preview of it last night. The company we’re partnering with has fulfillment centers in multiple countries. Anything else you’d like?

$STRONG Q: I would like to create a nice dashboard where people can go and see what’s going on with the nodes, how much money is on the table, at what rate we are growing, etc. Just nice things that I think it might help. Where should I find this whitelisted APIs you mentioned?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We dont have any published API endpoints for security/throttling reasons. We havent had the need to. Whitelisted API means that only the protocol has access to them right now, behind a firewall. Were considering adding some to open it up at a later date

$STRONG Q: if 528,000 is our max supply of strong. What happens once we hit that number?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Do you mean when all of the 528k are circulating? STRONG simply gets more scarce. It doesn’t disappear.

$STRONG Q: when do you think we will be able to resell nodes or separate/move to another wallet?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope May be a part of Service2. The issue is that compromised wallets are subject to the same transfer issues. We are working on opening up a marketplace for nodes. There are some other big priorities (sustainability initiatives) that will need to come first

$STRONG Q: You saved my financial situation. Can you tell us a little about the future of the project? Have you made a plan until when it will certainly work. Many are worried and would like to have security. Thanks very much 🙂

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Nearly all of my time is spent on strategizing and designing new features that will increase sustainability. I’ve mentioned some of them today. I’m in this for the long haul.

$STRONG Q: How many employees currently, can you give examples of some future positions you are looking into as well?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We have a core team that’s recently expanded. We’re very cautious about who and how fast we add to that team. We have two contractor partners. We typically look for automation experts, solidity experts, UI, etc.

$STRONG Q: Hey David, you mentioned rewards for FTM and MATIC are from the original grant and possibly not sustainable, which is new news to a lot. how was this not addressed during initial discussions with them and how does this not effect all similar protocols joining SB?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope Incorrect. The original press release from Polygon stated that there would be a one time grant. Most protocols are interested in grants; they don’t have any native rewards for nodes. That’s exactly why we’re doing what we’re doing. (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope And why we are considering our own chain so we can democratize participation in Validation/Block production. (2/2)

$STRONG Q: Bit of a personal question but think its be interesting t know what coins your portfolio consists of?

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope STRONG and $ETH

$STRONG Q: When can we expect the polygon node test to be completed? $MATIC

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope It’s just about ready, but the smart contract needs to be audited (it’s in Service 2).

$STRONG Q: When nodes fractionalization?
Many people are sitting on the sidelines waiting to invest in Strong nodes but they can’t afford a full node.

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We’re considering having Polygon nodes cost a fraction - say 1 STRONG - instead of the full amount, with proportional rewards. That will open it up to a lot more people. Fractionalization will be more important for validators. (1/2)

$STRONG A: @WithoutTheRope We’re building that for another chain, but are making it so we can utilize it for our own chain. (2/2)

That's it from this weeks AMA! Thank you @WithoutTheRope !

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