Gate.io. Telegram AMA
Host Marie Tatibouet asked Jason a few questions of her own before turning it over to the audience questions.
Enjoy!
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Marie: Hey everyone! So excited for the AMA with DeFiner! Hope you guys are making the most of this bull market.
Jason: Hello, guys. Happy to be here. How's everyone doing today?
Marie: A big, warm welcome to Jason Wu from Definer! We’re so glad you could join us.
Jason: Hi, Marie. So glad to be here today.
Marie: We will get to all of your questions, guys. But first, I will ask all of the background questions.
Jason: Yes, for sure.
Marie: I will let you all know when it’s time. Ask quickly then, because we have to disable fast due to all the questions.
Okay, first things first: Jason, tell us about how you entered the crypto space and how your background contributed to your early successes.
Jason: DeFiner is a decentralized financial network for crypto loans and savings. DeFiner was founded back in February 2018. Here is the story of how we got started.
Blockchain never fails to fascinate me. I got my first Bitcoin back in 2013. I was curious about Bitcoin and just wanted to play around with it. Automation and the effectiveness of transferring assets globally mesmerized me. With the automated network, transaction and settlement costs will be significantly lowered, and the service quality will be significantly improved.
Then came 2016, Ethereum blockchain goes live, and the smart contract functionality was well supported. I was also working on my CFA exams at the time. Then these two things came together. I thought to myself: “There is an emerging digital asset market. So there must be a need for capital allocation and movement going forward. The technology is close to being ready for it.”
And, there it was: I had the “light bulb” moment of the concept of decentralized finance – to create a decentralized banking service for crypto asset holders, to let the users own the power of finance, to have their own control of their assets – that was the birth of DeFiner.
Marie: Amazing! What is DeFiner exactly, and can you tell us more about your vision?
Jason: Since then, we won the U.S. [Detroit] Fintech Challenge back in the middle of 2019, and got in the Techstars accelerator in early 2020, then launched our second version of our product several months ago, currently on DeFiner platform – app.definer.org.
Users can deposit USDT, USDC, DAI, ETH, WBTC, and other crypto assets and earn interest ranging from 10-35%APY. The interest comes in two parts: the interest that borrowers contribute and from our native FIN token.
Also, users have full control of their assets, which was the goal from the beginning. They can deposit and withdraw anytime they want. For borrowers, they can come and get a crypto loan very quickly. For example, if an ETH miner or ETH holder wants some cash, they can come and borrow USD against their ETH.
Also, for business customers, they can raise capital through our platform and use their business equity or token as collateral. Users can access our services through the web (app.definer.org) or mobile (h5.definer.org) and mobile through Apple’s App store (upcoming). Then, it's a globally available service run 24/7.
Marie: Thanks for that clear explanation, Jason. What are some of the major milestones you guys have hit so far, and why are they important?
Jason: In early 2018, the company was founded. In the middle of 2018, we had our first version of the whitepaper released. At the end of 2018, we had built our first MVP for peer-to-peer lending.
In the middle of 2019, we launched our peer-to-peer product. We then won the U.S. [Detroit] Fintech Challenge in August 2019.
In early 2020, we were selected to the most reputable startup accelerator, Techstars. Also, we were named one of “Eight Undiscovered, Early Stage Fintech Startups from the U.S. to Watch out for in 2020.”
In October of this year, we launched our DeFi savings app, Taurus.
That's our major milestones.
Marie: Amazing! Can you tell us more about your business model?
Jason: Our business model is simple. As a decentralized bank, the platform helps users generate interest. Then DeFiner shares 10% of this interest. More important, we return this shared interest back to the token holders. That's the business model.
Marie: What are some of the competitors you’ve identified (crypto or non-crypto), and how are you different?
Jason: Thanks. Our competitors fall in the banking and lending industry. So for traditional players, it include JP Morgan Chase or any commercial banks.
Then, it narrows down to the crypto world. It includes CeFi players Blockfi and Celcius and DeFi players Compound or AAVE. How do we compete with them? Our product provides the best interest return by adding the aggregator functionality to allocate unused capital. Also, we have the best engineering team and well-established product development process.
Marie: Thanks so much for answering my questions, Jason. Now let’s turn to the community and start answering their questions.
Community Question 1: What are the differences between FIN and FIN-LP? Why are there two different currencies?
Jason: FIN is our native token. Token holders will share the profits of the platform, get mining returns, and get voting rights.
FIN-LP token, is the liquidity pool token generated by Uniswap. By providing the trading pair of FIN and ETH on Uniswap liquidity pool, you will get FIN-LP.
That's the difference.
Community Question 2: What's the source of the name "DeFiner?” Why did you choose it?
Jason: DeFiner stands for “Define the future of decentralized finance". We picked this name since the start. Because our vision is to build the decentralized finance network to return the power and control back to the people. That's why we put an “er” behind “DeFin”. So “De” represents decentralized, “Fin” stands for finance, and “er” is the people.
Also, “define” represents change and do something in a totally new way. So, that's perfect for the definers. That's why all community members in @DeFiner are “DeFiners.”
Community Question 3: Trust is very important in business. So, what makes investors, customers, and users feel safe when working on your project? And how do you gain the trust of many users who have negative thoughts about blockchain and DeFi?
Jason: Yes, trust is the most important and the fundamental of DeFiner. That's why since day one we put safety and decentralization as our first priority. We do our best to protect users’ funds and ensure security.
Community Question 4: Currently, most investors only care about the profits they receive but forget the long-term benefits. So, can you give your own opinion on why should they buy and hold these tokens?
Jason: I saw there is a question about the decentralized governance and token economics. So, for DeFiner it's easy to understand, because it's a bank and generates profits. The token value actually represents the value of the whole services. So it's similar to the traditional IT company for the valuation.
You can measure the user’s growth, capital growth, and revenue growth. Last month we had a revenue of $35K, and we will use those revenue to purchase back tokens so as to redistribute the profits back to token holders. In this way, we can continue to reward long-term holders, and then they can participate in the DAO governance and continue to help the community to grow.
Community Question 5: How can I stake DeFiner? Can you please tell me the process? And how much reward will I receive if I hold more than $500 in DeFiner? And can I unstake anytime, or is there a time-lock period?
Jason: The current net interest rate for FIN is 50%+. If you’re a token owner, you can deposit FIN into our platform through the web app (app.definer.org) or mobile wallet (h5.definer.org). Then choose FIN and hit “deposit.” Then you will earn FIN every day, and you can withdraw anytime you want.
For the FIN-LP staking, you need to get FIN-LP tokens first by adding FIN and ETH into the LP pool through Uniswap. Then, come back to the DeFiner platform and deposit the FIN-LP token. The interest rate for the FIN-LP token is over 200%. If you have any questions, please join our community @DeFiner.
Thanks for all the great questions. We don't have enough time to go over one-by-one, but we will document it and share it through our social channels and telegram channel @DeFiner.
