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Waves Enterprise Q1 2023 AMA Recap

  • Ivan Gramovich, Waves Enterprise Mainnet product manager

First, I’d like to tell you about our achievements in the previous year. The whole crypto world faced with a lot of problems. But I truly believe that this year we’ll see the results of our hard work.

The previous year also brought good news. First, I want to mention that we have moved to the new open source architecture. This will allow us to attract more developers into our blockchain, so they can create dApps, useful for the users and the ecosystem. Also, in 2022 we launched the DAO governance model, so our users can choose what projects they want to see in the ecosystem. And we started new tokenomics — WEST 2.0. This is forming the basis for the Waves Enterprise future. With this we aim to grow a reliable ecosystem for developers, investors, and enterprises.

Also, I’d like to mention some changes in the organization. Now we’re expanding globally, and the former Waves Enterprise has divided into Web3 Tech and Waves Enterprise itself. The first one is operating in Russia, mostly with private networks. The second is presented now in the USA and UAE. These are our global headquarters, where we start our global journey. In North America we also have Waves Labs that helps Waves Enterprise as an ally project, and we present our new entity there later this year. UAE gives a really good start for developing in Asia and the Middle East. We also have plans to start working with Europe but we plan to focus there after we have our first public projects in North America and the Middle East.

Next, I’m going to cover a few following steps for Waves Enterprise to create a better blockchain ecosystem. 2022 proved to us that we need to focus on reliability and sustainability. That’s why we plan to extensively upgrade Waves Enterprise stablecoin in the next month. EAST 2.0 will include multicollateralization with a variety of assets. The first release will include options for ETH, BTC, WAVES and WEST. Later we’ll give the community an opportunity to add new tokens via DAO proposals.

The new EAST will also include native staking for all assets included in the multicollateralization. Native staking will ensure a predictable and sustainable earning model. You will know how and where you will earn. EAST 2.0 is definitely not just about printing new tokens. With such big changes, we just have to issue a new token, but don’t worry, a migration plan is defined. A new token will be issued in equal proportion to replace the old token. And we will notify everyone before the migration starts.

I repeat: we’re going to introduce a totally new, reliable model, and we’ve almost completed its development. In a few weeks we’ll start EAST 2.0 audits, and in early March, I think, you can expect the release of EAST 2.0 — a cross-chain stablecoin across both Waves Enterprise and Waves chains.

Now about later plans for 2023. In Q2 we will focus on implementing our new governance model. Finally, LWEST/GWEST tokens will be launched, and our DAO will become 100% functionable in accordance with its white paper.

The new DAO model has already shown some nice results. In H1 2023 we’re launching a couple of important third-party projects in the Waves Enterprise ecosystem. First is Syndex, a dApp to trade synthetic assets pegged to real-world assets, like gold, gas, oil or others. For example, if you believe gold will grow in price, you can buy some synth gold assets and fix profit from it. EAST 2.0 will appear in Syndex as one of the collaterals. The second project with a draft name SwapWave is a decentralized AMM for exchange and trading in the new Waves Enterprise ecosystem.

Essentially, that’s what I wanted to share about our current short and long-term plans for 2023. Now I’ll move to your questions.

— Will the new EAST support USDN as a collateral?

First version or EAST 2.0 will not support USDN (XTN now) as a collateral. But if the community decides to add it, they can start a DAO proposal, and we will surely add XTN. The new version of EAST is to be released early March; still, we have a number of things that can slow us down, for example, the audits. But I hope this will move according to the plan.

— Do you think the cryptowinter is over and 2023 will be bullish?

That’s a very difficult question. We hope so. If we get a bullish market again, it would be great, because every step we make will then show a good result. E.g., the new EAST will boost the WEST price obviously. If the bear season continues, we will find other ways to help WEST feel better.

— Are you still partnering with BondAppetit in your EAST activities?

No, we’re not. We decided to split ways, and honestly I don’t know what’s happening with BondAppetit now.

— How will Waves be involved into EAST?

We hope that Waves will use EAST as a stablecoin of their ecosystem. I also remind you that EAST 2.0 will be native in the Waves blockchain. And WAVES will be introduced as EAST 2.0 collateral right since the launch.

— When will EAST be pegged at least? Now it looks very similar to USDN…

There are different things in the base of EAST and USDN. EAST is more similar to DAI. EAST is an overcollateralized stablecoin, so it always has more value. EAST provides native staking, so you always know how much you can earn. And the EAST model is transparent. When you liquidate an EAST vault, you get the assets inside; so when you liquidate a vault with 110% backing ratio, you earn the 10% difference (minus fee). Then the price of EAST is back to $1.

— When will EAST be pegged?

We’re working on it, and we need a little more time. According to the plan, it should happen right after we release EAST 2.0. The protocol itself will fix the problem we had before. Our backing ratio will be more than 100% again.

— What makes you believe in EAST against other stablecoins?

Currently, Waves and Waves Enterprise ecosystems have no common stablecoin, and this is a potential for EAST. The basic principles of EAST are very simple, we took the best market practices proven even in bad times like now. So I do believe in EAST success.

— So is it correct that the next stablecoin will be algorithmic again? If so, with everything we all witnessed the past year, why would anyone want to go through all that again?

I think you don’t take into account that it is a different kind of algorithmic stablecoin. I will try to explain another way. Our main purpose is to make a token obvious for the market to cost $1, so it includes overcollateralization. If you issue $1 backed by $2.5 you provide huge overcollateralization, so this model can work.

Of course, we will present to you all the real metrics of the stablecoin. Our main purpose is to show its real value to the market. There are cases when new tokens failed on the market, because their price could unpeg a little. But in our case we can prove it to be a working stablecoin with a real overcollateralization.

— How do you see the future of corporate blockchain?

I am more in the crypto part of the Waves Enterprise, which is the mainnet, so I’m not an expert in the corporate cases. I heard we have a lot of interesting products and cases on their way now, developed by Waves Enterprise teams in North America and the Middle East. Obviously, corporate blockchain has a bright future, many businesses and countries have already proved it.

— Is the DAO Government Council really interested in Waves Enterprise development like we, WEST holders? There has been no news since the DAO announcement…

It’s a little bit disappointing for me as well, but, as I said, the first launch of DAO in 2022 was a test one. We’re really putting more effort this year, and things should start working properly in a few months. Our schedule went through some changes, because many members of the team are spread around the globe. We succeeded in building the right workflow, so now our development is much faster than it was in the middle of 2022.

We have some delays, but soon we’ll show you the results, for sure.

— Will there be an option to run a node with the same wallets on different servers together?

I remember having this in our roadmap at the end of the year, I think, but I can’t say more precisely.

— Waves Enterprise is kind of Hedera hashgraph technology, right? So why are you guys better than them (with all these big partnerships on Hedera side)?

I don’t know why you think so. We have different quite technologies and approaches.

— Do you have any big plans for WE in general? I mean technology-wise. You have quite good blockchain but what’s next? Everybody is talking about AI or the next-gen blockchain these days…

The first thing we do is to build a very strong basis for different projects as an enterprise-grade L1 network. I think, by the time when really good AI products come out, we will have enough background to give a market what it really needs. It is very easy to build something unique, but only time will show if someone needs it. So we are concentrating on our own projects, own strategy.

— From your opinion, what is the fair price for WEST?

It’s a very tough question. WEST has a lot of opportunities and a great technology behind. We already have very nice products and expect more dApps to enter our ecosystem. On the other hand, no one knows what the future is going to bring. So I can’t answer right now; we’re exploring this from all sides.

— Do you have any connections with the Russian team?

We are completely separated in all aspects of our work. My team, responsible for global products, is located mostly in the UAE. I’m personally working from Poland. Sometimes we share experience with Web3 Tech, but from a legal perspective it is a totally different company with different goals, so we don’t have much in common.

— What is your position in Europe currently? Last year you talked about some changes planned in the region.

First of all, we created entities in North America and the UAE. Still have plans for Europe, but the focus is on other regions.

— When will you release LWEST/GWEST? Will WEST holders be able to earn here?

We’re working hard on it, expect the release in Q2 2023. WEST holders still will be able to stake WEST, the profit will be the same. I have no idea why users may use WEST instead of LWEST. Its main purpose is to return liquidity to the ecosystem, so you don’t need to hold WEST. You can just issue LWEST and use it, all your WEST will be there for you.

— You constantly mention some stealth projects based on WE, especially in the US. Can you at least mention what industries they are in?

I mentioned an NFT project developed by Waves Labs, it will be announced later this year.

— Will WEST participate in the PowerDAO airdrop?

We don’t have any agreements with PowerDAO for now, but maybe it’s a good idea, we’ll think about it.

— Who are these guys behind your new projects? Will they go public or not?

Now we are talking with them about it and of course we want them to go public. When we release the white paper and the project, you’ll be able to see the teams and get to know their experience.

— Can we expect some cooler projects on the mainnet, like Waves Ducks?

Of course! We have just announced the DAO and already have a couple of projects at the start. I believe their number will grow.

— What happened to Carlos?

Due to personal reasons, Carlos can’t participate in the project, but I hope he will be able to do it a little bit later.

— Will these new projects like Syndex have their own tokens?

Every project can issue a token, so if they want, they will.

— Do you have any plans for a WEST listing anywhere, finally?

We’re now at some interesting negotiations with many listings about it, but unfortunately, I can’t tell you about the results.

— I don’t really understand, sorry, but I’m sure we need a POWERdao/WESTdao pool… :)

Soon we’ll have an AMM-based DEX at Waves Enterprise, and anyone will be able to create this pool :)

That’s all for the questions, thank you! Please visit wavesenterprise.com and WEST DAO site, where you can find all the DAO votings