The Importance of Market Research for Web3 Projects

Market research provides web3 projects with invaluable customer and market insights that can inform strategic decisions across all stages of the product lifecycle. Conducting research enables web3 projects to gain a deeper understanding of their target users including their interests, concerns, and product requirements. It identifies market gaps, growth areas, and new use cases to pursue. Research highlights customer segments to target and timely trends to capitalize on. 

Analysis through research allows web3 projects to differentiate themselves and provide unique value. Farrukh Shukurov, a CEO of Releven, a market research firm specializing in providing data-driven insights to web3 and blcokchain startups, said: “User-centric design, positioning, and messaging can all be improved through market insights.” This highlights how research informs core product decisions and positioning. Shukurov adds that research also aids in “segmenting users, choosing distribution channels, and sustaining competitive advantage.” He also notes that “most importantly, market feedback provides validation before allocating significant resources. Research should be an ongoing practice for enhancing product-market fit.” This validation is key for web3 projects to avoid costly missteps.

Testing concepts and prototypes with target users validates product-market fit and averts costly mismatches. Ongoing research enables tracking market shifts so products and strategies can pivot accordingly, minimizing disruptive impacts of surprises. In the dynamic web3 landscape, assumptions can be dangerous. Research provides the hard data and evidence needed to make decisions with conviction. 

Getting Inside the Minds of Target Users

The first step for any web3 project should be developing an intimate understanding of its target users. Their interests, concerns, motivations and unmet needs should guide product decisions. Surveys can gauge user sentiments at scale, while interviews and focus groups reveal deeper qualitative insights. For example, a gaming project could conduct focus groups with gamers to identify desired features and skepticism around blockchain adoption. Such research establishes user personas and use cases to inform product requirements.

Exploring the Competitive Landscape

While the web3 space appears wide open, competition still exists. Projects should thoroughly analyze direct and indirect competitors, substitutes, and industry best practices. This benchmarking helps carve out a unique positioning and value proposition. For instance, an NFT marketplace can compare transaction fees, product mix, and creator support across major platforms to find ways to differentiate. Ongoing competitive research also highlights new players entering the space.

Sizing Up the Market Opportunity

To secure funding and scale, web3 projects need a sizable addressable market. Estimating market size and growth by analyzing adoption metrics and trends is crucial. A digital payments project may model market share growth by studying web3 awareness and penetration by demographic. This quantifies the revenue potential to investors. Advanced projects can even survey high-potential customer segments to gauge their purchase intent if the product launched.

Validating Concepts and Pivoting Properly

Many web3 projects waste months building products that users don’t want. Cheaper and faster concept validation through research can prevent this. Testing a concept video or prototype with target users identifies flawed assumptions early. Projects should also leverage research to guide data-driven product pivots, rather than relying on intuition. For example, an NFT project may pivot to a new niche based on survey feedback indicating waning interest in their initial category.

Securing Buy-in for Research Initiatives

To leverage research fully, internal buy-in across the organization is vital. Research leaders should widely share findings and educate colleagues on how insights will guide decisions. They should surface key data highlighting market opportunities in presentations to leadership and stakeholders. Obtaining budget for ongoing research and external partners demonstrates commitment. Within smaller startups, founders may need to spearhead research efforts themselves initially.

Sustaining a Competitive Edge with Ongoing Research

In dynamic markets like web3, research cannot be a one-time effort. Regular check-ins with target users, re-evaluation of competitors, and tracking market trends sustains competitive advantage. Annual or biannual surveys and interviews, audits of competitor products every 6 months, and constant data scanning form a rigorous market research rhythm. Appointing a Head of Market Research role institutionalizes this.

Summary and Key Takeaways

For web3 projects, leveraging market research properly unlocks many benefits:

• Developing intimate understanding of target users’ needs and wants
• Discovering market gaps, growth opportunities and areas to differentiate
• Quantifying addressable market size to estimate revenue potential
• Validating product concepts quickly to avoid missteps
• Informing data-driven product pivot decisions
• Securing internal buy-in by sharing insights across the organization
• Sustaining competitive edge with ongoing competitor and market monitoring

In summary, thorough market research helps web3 projects identify the right product-market fit, make strategic decisions with confidence, and continually adapt to dynamic market conditions. It provides validation before committing significant resources to product builds. For long-term success, research must be embraced both pre-launch and on an ongoing basis.

The key takeaway is that assumptions can sink web3 projects, while research provides the insights needed to de-risk decisions. With proper user, competitor and market research, web3 projects give themselves the highest probability of leveraging web3’s immense potential and achieving product-market fit, funding, and scale.

Conclusion

For web3 projects, proper market research moves ideas from assumptions to insights, from concepts to validated products, and from potential success to probable success. Projects that continuously research users, competitors, opportunities, and market dynamics can thrive even in uncertainty. In contrast, those relying on gut instinct risk disappointing failures. Research reveals what target users want, how to provide unique value, and where market gaps exist. The message for web3 projects is clear: embrace research, both before launch and on an ongoing basis. Success largely depends on it.

More Details About Nova-Dox

The project is a revolutionary and ingenious NFT staking ecosystem that integrates a self-developed $ETH trading software designed to help NFT holders earn more rewards. The rewards are exclusively in $USDT, and are strictly shared on the basis of the length of time you are willing to ‘lock’  the NFT. You can earn between 4-50% and still keep your non-fungible token. Additionally, 10% of all generated profits are earmarked for building shelters for stray dogs.

During the 2022 market crash, the Nova-Dox software generated massive profits despite the underlying assets’ value falling by 65%. You can only imagine the potential of the software during a market boom. The team has already launched the first 444 staking NFTs that enable holders to receive 10% higher vesting rewards (up to 55%) when they choose a 24-month staking period. Another good selling point for the Nova-Dox NFT staking platform is that it covers all customer fees and has no hidden charges or surprises. Once the maturity period has been attained, holders will still retain ownership of their NFTs. Although the Nova-Dox software does not guarantee the asset’s value, any value will be added to the staking rewards. Since the rewards are not dependent on rarity, the supply will be surplus. Although the first early investor collector has been completely sold out, the second round of early investor NFTs is still available on OpenSea. Those NFTs are not based on a staking basis. They have a direct link with the real performance of Nova-Dox with an even higher potential.

Partnership with Deribit

The Nova-Dox team recently announced a partnership with Deribit, the dominant crypto options exchange on the planet. This partnership further solidifies Nova-Dox’s stand as a top NFT staking platform. It allows it to leverage Deribit’s cash flow, security, and other features to provide top-quality services to users. Deribit handles an estimated $1 billion worth of transactions every 24 hours. Therefore, the exchange is capable of ensuring the safety of the funds of Nova-Dox users.

According to Nelle Jan Van Veen, the CTO of Nova-Dox, the security of users and the platform is their topmost priority. This is why they have allowed Bitcounts, a renowned third-party auditor, to safeguard all fiat and NFT assets on the platform. The team also deploys a three-signature system where all transacting parties must give their permission on all withdrawals.

Conclusion

The innovative approach of Nova-Dox to revolutionize NFT staking is highly commendable, and the prospect is undoubtedly great. Kindly check out the newest NFT collection and get started on your journey to earn 4-50% USDT in rewards.  

Tagged with: Nelle Jan Van Veen, George Vesters, Deribit, Nova-Dox, NFT Staking Platform,NFT Staking

He believes there’s clear market demand for a reliable stablecoin choice, given the collapse of UST and the recent instability caused by the de-pegging of USDC. Stabolut’s new Bitcoin-backed stablecoin, USB, aims to operate without a banking system and protect itself from regulatory crackdowns. It will power cross-chain transactions and work with Bitcoin-compatible wallets and other blockchain services. Stabolut claims to be backed by the founders of Dextools.io. The text also mentions that this month, USDC from Circle lost its peg due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Stabolut has launched a fully decentralized, dollar-pegged stablecoin called USB. The stablecoin operates without a banking system and aims to protect itself from regulatory crackdowns. It is backed by shorting Bitcoin via a Bitcoin inverse perpetual swap and eliminates the need for bank accounts. USB will power cross-chain transactions and work with Bitcoin-compatible wallets and other blockchain services. Stabolut is the issuer of the stablecoin and is building a complete ecosystem for payments around the globe. USB aims to solve the issues and concerns other stablecoins have, and its goal is to become one of the most widely used stablecoins.

Stablecoins offer an alternative to traditional banking, that are made for cryptocurrency exchanges. The industry heavily relies on banks for customer deposits, making stablecoins vulnerable to various banking issues. Stablecoins, pegged to fiat currencies or other assets, unlock the necessary capabilities for the industry to function.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes points out that the industry needs stablecoins to mitigate counterparty risks, enhance user privacy, and grow beyond the limitations of fiat backed stablecoins. The recent collapses of three major crypto-friendly banks caused significant damage to the digital asset market, with the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC losing 10% of its value and Bitcoin experiencing significant withdrawals. However, the market has since recovered, with Bitcoin surpassing the $29K price level. The Federal Reserve, treasury department, and FDIC have also assured depositors that they will have access to their funds.

StartupFortune reached out to Stabolut for comment about USB’s approach to building a resilient and private stablecoin. This is what Julian Beltran, co-founder and CTO had to say:

Q: When did Stabolut start to work on USB?

A: The development of USB began in October of last year when developing the crypto wallet, stablecoin design, and pegging mechanism. Stabolut anticipates having a private beta shortly and a public beta by June 2023.

Q: What is your go to market strategy, are you focused on attracting Bitcoin holders?

A: Our go-to-market strategy is to target the broader crypto community, including both Bitcoin holders and holders of other cryptocurrencies. Our aim is to provide a stablecoin that can be used as a store of value and a medium of exchange within the crypto ecosystem, and we believe that USB’s unique features and benefits will appeal to a wide range of users. Additionally, we plan to partner with key players in the industry, such as exchanges and wallets, to increase the availability and adoption of USB.

Q: Do anticipate a lot of users from all over?

A: Since USB is a decentralized stablecoin that is not tied to any specific region or jurisdiction, it has the potential to attract users from all over the world who are interested in using a stablecoin that is censorship-resistant and not subject to the same counterparty risks as fiat-backed stablecoins.

Q: How have you designed your stablecoin to scale?

A: USB is designed to scale through a combination of technical and market-making mechanisms. Technically, USB is built on the Polygon network, which offers fast and low-cost transactions, making it scalable for a large user base. Additionally, USB uses a unique pegging mechanism that involves shorting Bitcoin using a Bitcoin inverse perpetual swap, which allows for efficient market making and arbitrage to maintain the peg. This mechanism ensures that USB is always backed by assets and remains stable at the US dollar value, even during periods of high volatility in the cryptocurrency market. Overall, these technical and market-making mechanisms allow USB to scale and maintain stability, providing a reliable and efficient stablecoin option for users.

USB will work with Bitcoin compatible wallets, protocols, and other blockchain services. Keep your eye on the Stabolut project, in its early stages.

Tagged with: Stabolut, USB, Arthur Hayes, Julian Beltran

Layer One X is focussed on solving the blockchain quartet—interoperability, security, scalability, and decentralization—and is working to deliver these core features without compromising integrity. The Layer One X team will release a set of NFTs to commemorate and immortalize this historic achievement in the blockchain space. Currently, a private sale round is on and will end on Friday, March 31, 2023. 

Decentralized Cross-Chain Transfer of Assets 

One of the many unique advantages of decentralized cross-chain asset transfer is the elimination of bridges, an expensive and insecure alternative. As the name implies, crypto bridges connect multiple blockchains, allowing developers and users to tap resources from other networks. Until now an essential tool, bridges are vulnerable to attacks. The infamous Ronin and Wormhole hacks, accounting for over 80% of the $1.4 billion funds stolen from bridges in 2022 alone, are substantial proof of the vulnerability of bridges. 

Layer One X’s decentralized interoperability innovation is a game-changer in the industry. First, it has the potential to eliminate the need for bridges, offering developers and end-users scalable, super-secure, faster, and cheaper cross-chain asset transfers. 

Secondly, cross-chain interoperability will open opportunities for developers to create more connected applications, increasing users’ asset choice pool. Finally, Layer One X’s groundbreaking work will unlock avenues for collaborations, creating an interoperable blockchain ecosystem where users can connect, transact, and communicate with other blockchain networks. 

Layer One X introduces higher scalability, speed, and interoperability levels. And will widen the scope for the influx of sustainable business models and new revenue streams for the industry. 

“We are excited for the opportunity this presents to allow projects and developers to build asynchronous features on blockchains through a decentralized source of truth,” Kevin Coutinho, founder of Layer One X, had this to say about this innovative cross-chain interoperability. 

A Catalyst for Global Blockchain Adoption 

Layer One X is committed to accelerating blockchain adoption globally, with the introduction of cross-chain decentralized interoperability. By offering the exchange of assets between EVM networks like Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, and Polygon and non-EVM chains like Solana. Layer One X is also built to deliver scalability, speed, and security. These core features will directly heighten blockchain adoption on a global scale. 

Kevin Coutinho and his team are working to deliver over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) and can utilize the world’s 8.6 billion mobile devices to enable micro-validation. This unprecedented consensus mechanism will ensure faster confirmations and higher throughputs. And users will earn rewards based on their contribution to the network. 

“We are now focused on bringing generic messaging and event-based interoperability with the same virtual machine in the coming few months that will open markets such as decentralized identification and multi-chain utility,” the founder further revealed. 

Layer One X is positioning itself as one of the most revolutionary blockchain-based projects. Scheduled to launch in August 2023, Layer One X is currently in a private sale round, expected to end on Friday, March 31, 2023.

Through cross-chain interoperability and elimination of the centralized, vulnerable, and expensive crypto bridges, Layer One X will usher in a new era of blockchain ecosystem where users can exchange assets across multiple EVM and non-EVM compatible chains seamlessly.

Tagged with: Layer One X, Kevin Coutinho

High-Performance: Astar Network stands out for its high-speed and low latency capabilities. This makes it ideal for real-time processing decentralized applications, including decentralized exchanges and gaming platforms.

Scalability: Astar Network is designed with scalability in mind to handle a growing user base with ease, allowing developers to confidently build and launch new applications.

Security: Security is a top priority for Astar Network with advanced features such as multi-layer encryption and secure data storage to provide users peace of mind.

Cross-Chain Communication: Astar Network enables easy cross-chain communication, connecting to other blockchain networks and opening up new opportunities for innovation and collaboration.

User-Friendly Design: Astar Network prioritizes user experience with its user-friendly interface, encouraging developers to create simple and intuitive applications.

Sustainability: Astar Network considers sustainability by using efficient consensus algorithms that reduce energy consumption and minimize the environmental impact of decentralized technology.

Supportive Community: Astar Network has a strong community focused on innovation and collaboration through regular meetups, hackathons, and other events.

Robust Governance System: Astar Network features a robust governance system that allows for decentralized decision-making and community-driven approach, ensuring the network evolves to meet the needs of its users.

Future of Decentralized Technology: Astar Network is leading the way for the future of decentralized technology with its combination of performance, security, and user-friendly design.

Join the Astar Network community to be a part of the future of decentralized technology with a fast, efficient, and secure blockchain network designed for real-world applications.

Astar Network offers a cutting-edge solution for real-world applications with its high-performance, security features, and user-friendly design. It is poised to revolutionize the DeFi experience.

The demand for and usage of SPC tokens has increased dramatically as Storepay brings its services to Southeast Asia’s 676 million clients. In addition, SPC tokens keep getting listed on decentralized (DEX) and centralized (CEX) exchanges.

Interestingly, on September 29th, Storepay will be listed on LBank. This will be the first worldwide crypto exchange for the company.

With the worldwide expansion in mind, the team has established Storepay Holding Pte Ltd in Singapore. Since then, they’ve been planning and reorganizing internally for their future global growth.

Further, the platform has also been working on expanding Storepay services into the Indonesian market since last year. Storepay is now a legitimate enterprise with a robust local staff in Indonesia. Since then, Storepay has moved on to the next phase, which entails securing necessary licenses and approvals and putting its infrastructure together.

SPC Is a Native Token for Storepay’s Fintech Ecosystem

The Storepay SPC token is the internal currency of the Storepay Fintech Ecosystem. The token fortifies the company’s business model by making up for flaws in the conventional banking system that prevent it from charging interest on B2C and B2B BNPL services.

Through an Initial Exchange Offering, Storepay brought Storepay Coin (SPCFIN), a new cryptocurrency built on its current business infrastructure, to the market.

Notably, SPC is a BEP-20 token on Binance Smart Chain that offers convenient digital payment and purchase bonus options to retail consumers in Mongolia and around Asia.

With a plan that includes not just Mongolia but also Southeast Asia and the world at large, the SPC team has created a whole ecosystem around SPC, complete with wallet, savings, mining, and incentives features to attract a wider audience.

Storepay uses SPC to open up access to financial services for millennials and Gen Zers who, under the old system, would have a low credit score since they are less likely to own real estate or other assets that might be used as collateral. In addition to the usage of SPC as an incentive and a means of exchange, SPC can also be used to make and manage financial investments.

Further, Storepay SPC token’s long-term objective is to become a token with the highest practical and immediate value.

BNPL Has Gained Considerable Acceptance in the Banking and Payment Sectors

Research shows that the vast majority of credit card customers routinely pay late fees to their financial institutions. Credit card debts were over 121 million US dollars in 2019, most of which were interest and late penalties.

The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) financial model was developed to address the aforementioned issues. It has since gained broad acceptance in the financial and payment sectors, resulting in a sea change in consumers’ payment habits.

Regarding retail financing, BNPL companies are the most digitally native option because of their natural inclination to include user-friendly technologies.

Most notably, Storepay is launching a cross-border BNPL service for customers planning trips to Korean hospitals for cosmetic and preventative care. For the first time, the world has a token that is both widely applicable and intimately tied to a sizable ecosystem in the fintech sector.

Storepay’s BNPL service is available to a wide variety of businesses and institutions throughout Asia, not only shops and supermarkets but also medical facilities, hotels, car dealerships, and educational institutions.

Additional Perks of using the platform

Shoppers who take advantage of Storepay have more control over their money and may strategically use their funds. They can open an SPC savings account with set deposit conditions, save for the future or in case of an emergency, and receive interest on their money depending on the jurisdiction.

SPC savings schemes that enable users to save up regularly and additional benefits on purchases made with SPC tokens will help build a more significant demand for SPC tokens.

Notably, Storepay’s business strategy has provided the team with an environment that includes the retail industry and its 2,000+ merchants, 200,000+active users, and more.

A data library explorer for improved transparency

DIA can be seen as somewhat of a special case in the oracle landscape, as it strongly differs in nature in comparison to most other projects. Instead of aggregating existing data feeds from third party APIs and bringing those on chain, DIA takes a vertically integrated approach that enables full visibility of the data value chain from sourcing to delivery.

By scraping data directly from a number of centralised and decentralised exchanges, the platform is able to retrieve pricing data for literally any asset, as soon as it is traded. Users are able to customise any feed according to their specific needs. DIA also delivers the feeds via to all relevant, constantly growing networks in web3.

This results in a unique value proposition, as it allows DIA to cover long-tail assets that are not provided by other oracle projects. DIA’s new homepage features an app that allows the exploration of its entire library. 

Self-service architecture enables user autonomy

Not only does it show the real-time output of the feeds as well as relevant metadata like all the sources that are used for any given feed. Users are able to choose any available pair listed in the library and tweak the parameters of the feed to meet their needs. 

For instance, a DeFi dApp might want to receive data about the price of Ethereum only for specific markets that it executes on, or might want to increase the update frequency or change the trigger that causes an oracle update from a time-based method to a deviation-based method. This tool, named ‘xStream’, will enable DIA to serve the exponentially growing number of Web3 projects with much more specificity while increasing speed, efficiency and transparency.

“As an oracle provider, despite fulfilling such a fundamental building block of the web3 ecosystem, the nature of our business is often quite abstract, even for experienced industry veterans”, says Michael Weber, co-founder and Association President at DIA. “With this new release, not only do we make our immutable financial data library tangible and accessible, we also provide autonomy and transparency for our users by enabling them to create the exact feeds they need to feed their smart contracts.”

A new identity to match the progress

Despite not being a core product development it is worth mentioning that the team behind the Switzerland-based data provider has also launched a full do-over of its brand. While its name and domain remain unchanged, the new look aims to convey more technical depth and maturity of its product offering.

The announcement also vaguely hints at DIA’s plans for the foreseeable future. As can be read in full in the project’s Medium blog, key focus areas will be the further development of its data offering to provide more sophisticated feeds, providing a trustless architecture that ensure stability and security and improved risk monitoring tools.#

About DIA

DIA (Decentralised Information Asset) is a cross-chain, end-to-end, open-source data and oracle platform for Web3.

The DIA platform enables the sourcing, validation and sharing of transparent and verified data feeds for traditional and digital financial applications. DIA’s institutional- grade data feeds cover asset prices, metaverse data, lending rates and more. DIA’s data is directly sourced from a broad array of on-chain and off-chain sources at individual trade level. This allows DIA feeds to be fully customised with regards to the mix of sources and methodologies, resulting in tailor-made, high resilience feeds, setting a new paradigm for oracles.

DIA’s oracles are available to developers on all relevant layer 1 and layer 2 networks including Ethereum; Solana; Polkadot, and parachains Moonbeam, Astar, Acala; Kusama, and parachains Moonriver, Shiden; Binance Smart Chain; Polygon; Fantom; Avalanche; Arbitrum; Celo and many more. 

To bring about a turnaround, the Alox Token team had these concerns right from the start of their project to make the music industry decentralized. Hence, the emergence of Audiolox.

The original idea for Audiolox was to create a blockchain streaming application. The Audiolox team, on the other hand, witnessed how difficult it was for artists to meet commitments with the plethora of record labels and streaming behemoths.

Audiolox’s creative concept combines high security and transparency with “Like” internet streaming features. Remarkably, this was accomplished by fusing blockchain technology with artificial intelligence.

The First Completely Safe, Quick, and Eco-Friendly Music Platform

Primarily, existing music platforms mine user data and target advertising, resulting in a meager revenue stream for the music industry.

Notably, the Alox Token project’s overarching goal is to restructure the music industry to distribute benefits fairly among listeners, creators, and service providers.

A novel AI framework developed by Loxsync Technologies forms the basis for Audiolox. The Ai’s neuromorphic brain is equipped with nano optic technology, enabling it to exchange information with its neural network and particle data environment.

Among the perks, a real-time client management system, internal banking, data monitoring, and on-demand security are all features of the neuromorphic AI brain. This revolutionary system is contrary to today’s traditional data storage, which has several drawbacks and incurs hefty maintenance costs that may reach billions of dollars yearly.

In addition, due to its infinite resources across the neural gates at light speed, Audiolox’s Ai to Ai optic nanoparticle data utilizes a tiny portion of that. Every three to five seconds, the AI creates an algorithm to remove any data that may be read or played, leaving the remaining information passive.

Enjoy Your Favorite Songs Everywhere You Go

The music industry’s underlying infrastructure has seen better days and must be updated. However, this endeavor aims to reform the present music industry so that all parties involved, from listeners to performers, share in the financial gains on an equitable basis.

Have you ever been without a signal and unable to listen to music? It happens everywhere, but it’s a different story with Audiolox. Because there are no files to stream once you have placed your chosen song or music video into your library online, you can now play them offline and enjoy your favorite songs wherever you are, even offline.

In addition, Audiolox users will benefit from their unique involvement, rating contribution, and chart development.

Some Other Perks of the Platform

It is impossible to hack into Audiolox’s non-binary system, which means your privacy is protected, and your royalties could increase by 700%. In addition, cutting-edge technology prevents streaming and guarantees private listening.

Impressively, payments to musicians return right away once a song is acquired. This first ecologically friendly music application also allows offline music playback with no data consumption or storage on mobile devices.

When it comes to music, Audiolox is coming to the limelight. As the library grows, more genres and regions will be represented, including but not limited to Rock, Alternative Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Rap, EDM, K-Pop, and more. Additionally, the Audiolox app can get downloaded through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

The significant decision-making component of Audiolox will eventually migrate to the DAO, transforming it into a community-driven project.

The Audiolox Ecosystem Runs On the Utility Token ALOX

Owners of ALOX tokens are a member of the decentralized organization that governs Audiolox and have the power to influence the platform’s growth by establishing standards for the most well-liked artists and songs.

The premium in-app things, such as individual subscriptions and online merchandise, may be bought using the in-app tokens and can be gifted to other subscribers.

Additionally, ALOX owners are permitted to stake tokens in several staking pools. There will be several such chances made available by the team.

That’s the idea that lies behind an entirely new system dubbed interact-to-earn (I2E). Essentially, the notion is that users receive daily rewards for engaging with their favorite brands online. In addition to crypto payouts and loyalty points, users get to receive relevant content tailored to their exact specifications, while brands benefit from reaching a large audience that is receptive to their message.

In short, it’s a win-win – and it promises to belatedly bring the advertising industry out of the dark ages. At least, that’s the message emanating from the Solana-powered Crowny platform. 

Advancing Advertising Via Blockchain Technology

A privacy-focused loyalty and marketing platform, Crowny aims to solve many of the inefficiencies of the existing online advertising model, chief among them the fact that most web users find ads intrusive, annoying and irrelevant. Incredibly, around half of digital ads go completely unseen.

In spite of these realities, global ad spend is predicted to grow by 4.6% in 2023 and 5.8% in 2024, with digital constituting 60% of ad budgets by 2024. Given that the use of online ad blockers is climbing, however, it’s becoming harder to market products and services to users without their express say-so.

Crowny’s solution is to make consumers partners in the process: the hidebound advertising model becomes a two-way street that takes account of both parties’ interests. Once onboarded, brands can create campaigns that reach receptive users via push notifications, geofencing and online/offline QR codes. What’s more, rather than serving up passive, flavourless ads, they get to create fun, gamified interactions for their community to inspire brand loyalty.

As with existing tools, Crowny provides brands with a swathe of features such as real-time campaign overviews, granular data analysis tools, and preset campaigns based on the company and industry. At the outset, advertisers select their target audience (gender, age range, etc), create an ad, specify their call to action, and set the reward.

A big part of Crowny is the brand-facing loyalty system which allows businesses to ‘mint’ brand loyalty points, which are actually Solana-native tokens that are then distributed to customers through things like QR codes that can be scanned using the Crowny mobile app. On the other side of the equation, consumers can save up loyalty points that entitled them to certain discounts once they reach a redemption threshold.

With privacy being a major concern for online consumers, Crowny anonymizes user data by default: customers retain full control of their advertising profiles and preferences via the user-friendly mobile app. Consumers can also choose to follow and/or block companies, prevent a single advert from ever being repeated, and modify the frequency of trigger types (or turn one off altogether). 

Rather than such user control being viewed as a negative, Crowny believes that brands will appreciate the fact that ads can be precision-targeted and personalized for a responsive audience. In theory, and providing campaigns themselves are compelling, the interact-to-earn model should lead to superior conversion rates across the board.

Crowny Achievements

The Crowny app is currently available in beta, with a full launch expected later this month. Its native $CRWNY token, meanwhile, is available to buy and trade on top-tier exchange AscendEX, a platform that boasts over a million users.

2021 was a breakout year for Crowny, as it welcomed investment from several high-profile venture capital firms and forged partnerships with fellow Solana projects such as 8Pay and Coin98 Wallet. Over 10,000 consumers were also onboarded to the beta app as word quickly spread about the venture’s plan to revamp online advertising as we know it.

According to a recent poll posted to Crowny’s official Twitter account, the availability of crypto rewards and exclusive offers, coupled with a focus on data safety, motivated users to download the beta app. The true test of the project’s success, of course, will come when the full release makes its way into app stores later this year. Based on the strides it has taken thus far, Crowny’s coronation could well be imminent.

But it isn’t that simple, especially for the average investor. First, there is the commitment of locking away tokens for any period of time. What if there is a bull run and they want to sell their tokens for a profit? What if there is a bear run and they want to sell their tokens to avoid a loss? 

The loss of access to tokens has far-reaching implications for users and this is what StaFi, a cross-chain staking protocol, is working to solve. Today, we speak to Liam Young, the Founder and CEO of StaFi about the business model and how it is changing the face of crypto staking.

1. How does StaFi work?

StaFi is the first DeFi protocol unlocking liquidity of staked assets. Users can stake PoS tokens through StaFi and receive rTokens in return, which are available for trading, while still earning staking rewards. rToken is a synthetic staking derivative issued by StaFi to users when users stake PoS tokens through StaFi rToken App. rTokens are anchored to the PoS tokens staked by users and the corresponding staking rewards. rTokens can be transferred and traded at any time.

2. Where did the idea of StaFi come from?

We have been providing Staking Service since 2018. At that time, many of our customers do not really understand what Staking is or what PoS is. More are attracted by inflationary benefits. Then we put a lot of effort into generalizing our ideas, such as holding lectures, to familiarize users with Staking. But we realized no matter how we convey our ideas to them, many still couldn’t understand why the lock period of Staking is that long in PoS public chains. In our mind, more blockchains will adopt PoS consensus in the future, so that is an issue that must be tackled. Why don’t we design a product that helps users with that? That was our Eureka moment.

3. Would you say that crypto investors are bigger on flexibility and control than investors in more ‘traditional’ assets?

Yes, the Blockchain technology has given the full control of the users assets from the central party, like Bank or institutions, to the owners themself. No one could move your assets if they do not have the private keys of your blockchain address. On the other hand, it does have more flexibility such as being easily integrated or transferred between different DeFi DApps. Users could circulate them in thousands of DeFi DApps to gain rewards. But we have to admit, that crypto assets and DeFi DApps are still in the early stages, its risks are relatively high for the ones who have little learning about blockchain and DeFi. I personally think all these barriers will be broken along with the gradual maturity of crypto space.

4. How has the market responded to the rToken so far?

StaFi has provided liquid staking solutions for 8 PoS projects, including Ethereum (ETH), Binance (BNB), Polkadot (DOT), Kusama (KSM), Cosmos (ATOM), Matic Network (MATIC), Solana (SOL), and the native StaFI token (FIS).   A couple of months ago, the TVL of StaFi has reached above 100million USDT.  Now StaFi’s total locked value(TVL) reached about 53 million $USDT at the moment due to the secondary market’s influence. 

StaFi now has built a fast-growing ecosystem for these staking derivatives, which we call rTokens.This ecosystem has included: 1) the third-party integrations, like Curve, Yearn and imToken; 2) DeFi DApps on StaFi chain, like the Exchange-Rate Discounting (ERD) solution called rSwap, and decentralized trading platform rDEX.

5. What do you think is the future of DeFi? 

StaFi will keep building the Staking Derivative infrastructure in the DeFi space. Now we are initiating to build a parallel chain called StaFiHub based on the Cosmos SDK, in order to serve the Staking Derivatives of Cosmos ECO. StaFiHub will be an important part of the expansion of the StaFi rToken ecosystem to the Cosmos ECO.

In addition to building the StaFiHub to serve the Staking Derivatives of Cosmos ECO, StaFi will also build a Polkadot Parachain to serve the Staking Derivatives of Polkadot ECO. Both StaFiHub and StaFiParachain will be the parallel chains of StaFi Chain, and assets will circulate freely among them through a cross-chain bridge. The future StaFi rToken Protocol Stack looks like this:

6. What is next for StaFi?

We have a lot of things planned for 2022. In Q2, we plan to release our  StaFiHub mainnet and the liquid staking SDK services to build a fully open platform for Cosmos Ecosystem. This is very important because with the StaFiHub and the liquid staking SDK, we can do much more. 

For example, we can Quickly and efficiently serve all Cosmos ecosystems (which consists of over 40 Cosmos SDK Projects) and provide them with a Liquid Staking Solution. We can also Promote Adoption with a more friendly user experience for Cosmos ecological users while enriching the ecosystem of StaFi’s rToken.

7. How will StaFi address liquidity issues?
   

This will be done through rDEX, our AMM DEX. rDEX will provide our users with decentralized transaction services for rTokens by offering features like Continuous Liquidity, Lower Slippage and Asymmetrical Deposit. Users can access rDEX through its Website, official rDEX App, Twitter, Telegram, and Discord.

8. How Can users use and find out more about StaFi?

Users can enjoy our PoS staking options and earn rTokens for their efforts and learn more about us from our official Website. They can also enjoy our rToken App and follow us on Twitter, Telegram, Discord, and Forum. We share all of our updates and new features on these platforms.