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

Digital Courses With Real World Applications

BeNFT is taking the boring online education concept into the 21st century with its metaverse institute. Integrating AI and blockchain, the platform will partner with some of the biggest universities worldwide to offer different courses. Ranging from cutting-edge programming and web development to the necessary finance, the wide range of courses offered will have something for every student.

Partnering up with globally renowned educational institutions, BeNFT will not only offer the courses but give the necessary tools and resources to study and complete these.

Using AI to enhance the learning experience, BeNFT will increase the prowess of the students. It will allow them to use their acquired competence to gain an upper hand in employment. Firms and organizations are always on the lookout for exceptional talent and with BeNFT, this is possible.

In the words of the BeNFT CEO, Guillermo Gharib,

“At BeNFT we are not just making education accessible, interactive and fun but, also building a hub that rewards efforts to keep the students engaged while they leverage the skills needed to face the world.“

Competence Strengthening Through BeNFT AI

What sets BeNFT apart from traditional online education is how it uses AI. The AI-driven courses are designed to be easy to grasp for the uninitiated with advanced skill enhancement for those who are looking to broaden or cement their talent in their respective areas.

As a metaverse institute, BeNFT will allow students to create their profile, complete with their avatar, along with the professor of their choice for their preferred course.

This is where the AI will kick in. The AI-based professors will closely follow each student enrolled in the course, understanding their speed of learning. The AI will adjust its teaching style to match every student. The quizzes, tests, and assignments will also be adjusted to ensure that students’ strengths are enhanced, while their weaknesses are also concentrated upon to bring them up to speed.

Learn-to-Earn Taken To A Whole New Level

BeNFT truly creates a practical Learn-to-Earn system. The students are given the most effective form of education through which they can learn and then earn by finding jobs in their dream organizations or even earning directly through gig work and freelancing.

But that is not only how they earn. During the courses, every time they cross a significant milestone, they are rewarded in cryptos and NFTS. The students will be able to utilize the cryptos to buy resources and tools in the BeNFT marketplace, while they can trade NFTs for profits.

The students will also be provided with soulbound NFTs and digital certificates as unique tokens that will reside permanently in their wallets. Unable to tamper or even transfer these, the soulbound NFTs will be proof of skill, expertise, and talent that they can showcase to potential employers and clients to get jobs and gigs.

The BeNFT’s native $BeAI tokens underpin the complete ecosystem, with a minting and public pool already launched. The roadmap for 2023 ahead has major milestones, including DEX and CEX listing, educational institute partnerships, and the launch of courses, while 2024 will see more CEX listings and the first alpha release of the BeNFT AI Learn-to-Earn ecosystem.

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

Jason Jones is a Full Stack engineer and budding technopreneur. Jones is the co-founder and CEO of a software development startup employing formerly incarcerated individuals on corporate and SME freelance projects. In the last three or four years of his sentence at San Quentin State Prison, Jones began learning computer coding through The Last Mile program. Jones had no previous knowledge of coding and said he was just excited to be able to access a computer. It didn’t take long, though, for him to learn to code and fall in love with it. Like Amanuel, Jason came from challenging circumstances, born and raised in a world with little family or support. He spent most of his adolescence without guidance, parental figures, or mentors. Early in his teenage years, he found himself in trouble with the law which eventually landed him in prison for a 13 ½ year sentence. 

Hiruy Amanuel is a returned citizen and successful tech investor. Amanuel has invested in eight tech startups between the US and Africa and co-founded four companies, including one Venture Capital firm that invests specifically in African tech companies. Amanuel’s life wasn’t always so bright and has been one of trial and triumph. He, too, recalls suffering in the criminal justice system stemming from his adolescence over ten years ago. Amanuel also served time but attributes his resilience in life to his difficult upbringing. The Last Mile is similar to REFORM Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to probation and parole, and is near and dear to Hiruy Amanuel. He believes deeply in the mission of “changing lives through tech” by preparing incarcerated individuals for successful re-entry with business and technology training. Helping to advance the underserved is nothing new to Amanuel, who comes from an immigrant background. “It was hard for us growing up. I was born into poverty and raised in crime-infested neighborhoods. Drugs and murder all around us were what we witnessed growing up in the ’90s in California.” Having been incarcerated himself, Hiruy was able to turn his life around and become a champion of criminal justice reform. In addition to his efforts to support The Last Mile and his successes as a venture capitalist, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur has turned his sights to Africa and is working to build a strong tech sector on the continent while also providing underserved youth with the skills they need to create a brighter future for themselves.

Recently, Amanuel has joined with Jason Jones, a returned citizen himself and a former beneficiary of The Last Mile program, for a mutually-beneficial partnership that will, in part, support Jones’ new business venture — Disrupt to Innovate. The two share synergies in tech and are both champions of criminal justice reform who regularly collaborate in the space. Hiruy’s companies have even contracted Jason’s company to manage and build some of their tech projects and mentor Jason as he scales up his company.

Past Challenges Can’t Hold Us Down

After dropping out of business college in 2012, Hiruy decided to sell cars and middle-man properties to build up enough liquidity to start a brokerage firm. He then began investing across the consumer and financial sectors while studying international capital markets. Tech was appealing, but after making a few failed investments into young startups such as META, he quickly realized that he needed to take his experience into less developed landscapes. This strategy would allow Amanuel to have more opportunities to invest in developing landscapes at lower risk and go on to co-found a tech fund that invests in scaleable African tech startups. Through Gullit, Hiruy continues to bridge the funding gap between early-stage startups and venture capital on the continent. The Gullit team focuses on lean impactful startups that can rapidly scale within the African landscape. In addition, Gebeya Inc., a company that helps to train and eventually employ skilled software developers in Africa, provides education and training in the tech sector to African youth who often don’t have as many opportunities to do so on their own. They also utilize a marketplace platform that outsources less visible tech talent on the continent. This is crucially important, especially as Africa has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Through Gebeya Inc. and Gullit VC, a team of angel investors that funds early-stage tech startups, Amanuel is doing his part to pay it forward.

Jason Jones Overcomes His Past

“I look at coding a lot like music,” Jones says. “You write a song or whatnot; no matter the race, the class, or anything, the song will impact people if it’s good enough. It’s the same thing with technology. You write software, your code, your script, whatever piece of software you put out in the world; if it’s good enough, it will impact people.”

Three weeks before he was paroled in September 2018, Jones signed a working agreement with a San Francisco tech company. It was “life-changing” since it was his first time having a real job, license, car, and insurance.

At the same time, Jones began volunteering at The Last Mile, teaching computer coding to young people. 

Synergies Between the Two

Jones worked his way up to senior manager of partnerships at The Last Mile, where he first met Amanuel, who was already a big supporter of the organization. 

As the two began working together with the organization, they realized they had a lot in common beyond just the fact that they were in tech and were justice-impacted individuals.

Jones said that Amanuel has been instrumental in helping him and his partner structure “Disrupt to Innovate,” helping guide them through the business plan creation and navigating the business world. 

The goal of Disrupt to Innovate, which has an official launch of January 2023, is also to host a platform where formerly incarcerated engineers can access gainful employment through projects sourced by the company. This will allow them to build their work experience through a team instead of being overlooked due to their criminal records. In addition, Jones and his partner want to fill the digital gap in the local population, where people often don’t have the resources to get into the digital space. As such, the company is working on designing a curriculum and workshops to fill the need.

Jones is also supporting Amanuel in many ways, too. For example, Jones was recently hired as the new webmaster for Amanuel’s company.

“Jason is not only a colleague of mine but also a friend,” Amanuel said. “We have both been through the criminal justice system and come out victorious on the other end despite the numerous challenges we faced upon release.

“We support each other, and now I am happy to say we work together, as Jason is our new company webmaster. Not only does he manage our business sites, but he also advises on optimizing affiliate websites as well.”

The Two Champion Criminal Justice Reform

Both Amanuel and Jones believe in criminal justice reform and are champions in the space. 

A significant aspect of this is educating and training individuals who may have been incarcerated long enough to not be familiar with computers and then becoming a returned citizen in the digital age.

Jones is consulting with Google about creating resources for returning citizens and justice-impacted people. In addition, the company’s Grow with Google program teaches people the digital literacy skills they need to get into the space and help bridge the digital divide. And Jones is a big part of that.

As big supporters of The Last Mile, both Amanuel and Jones are working hard to help others overcome similar challenges to what they faced and succeed as they are today. “It is not where you start in life but where you end is what defines you,” says Amanuel.

The program uses NFTs and Smart Contracts to give the supporters the ability to financially back an athlete. In the long term, this investment will be returned to the supporter by giving them a share of the athlete’s earnings once they reach a professional level.

It is a win-win situation for both parties. The supporters get to help athletes and passionate sportsmen and women whilst making a return on their investment as the athlete grows. The athlete gets access to funding, giving them more time to focus on training and to continue their pursuit of becoming a professional athlete.

Chris Worsey, CEO at SportsIcon, said, “SportsIcon believe that every promising athlete deserves the opportunity to pursue their professional career, and every small investor should be able to back an athlete they believe in. Unfortunately, professional sport today has a high entry barrier – both for athletes and small investors.”

As well as the obvious financial gain, supporters may get access to unique perks such as meeting the athlete, attending events alongside them and even playing sports with them. As NFT utility goes, this is a big incentive to be involved over traditional investment opportunities.

How it works

1. An athlete will begin by estimating how much funding they need annually to continue their training and then set a goal they wish to achieve. This goal could be something like “Compete in the 2024 Olympics” or “Get signed by the national soccer team”.
2. The athlete will then declare how much of their income they are willing to share with investors and over which period. As an example, “25% for the next 10 years”.
3. Through the FutureIcons program, investors and athletes come together to reach an agreement such that the athlete gets the full amount they require to reach their goal, and the investors get an agreement on the return of earnings and period.
4. The contract is written as a Smart Contract to the blockchain and shared with all parties as an NFT commemorating the deal. The athlete then receives the funding that they need and can focus on training without financial worry.
5. Once the goal is reached, the contract will be triggered, and the earnings will begin returning to the investors over the period.

About SportsIcon

SportsIcon themselves are backed by sporting legends and other celebrities. These investors include rap icon Nas, Dapper Labs, Roham Gharegozlou (CEO Dapper Labs), Chad Hurley (Founder of Youtube), Andrew Bogut (NBA Champion with the Warriors), Mike Edwards (Argo Blockchain), Andrew Masanto (Founder of Hashgraph Hedera and Reserve), Sunny Madra (Ford X), Anand Agarwala (Founder of Spatial), Chris Ye (Ukon Games), and many others. The company certainly has the credentials to become a massive force in the industry. 

They have also already produced several exciting tools, including an impressive metaverse dedicated to athletes and fans. Here fans can meet with athletes virtually, attend events and watch live matches from within virtual clubhouses. Fans can also buy land and build their own fan caves dedicate to their favourite sporting legends and the clubs they follow.

It’s during times like these that small businesses require capital that is often hard to come by. Enter Everest Business Funding, an alternative funding firm that has been helping small and large businesses with the capital they need to sustain and grow their operations.

The firm provides working capital to businesses in every sector, specializing in revenue-based financing that allows businesses to access the capital they need with little to no hassle based on future projected revenues.

Everest Business Funding Stays True to Its Motto

When Everest Business Funding was launched back in 2013, it coined the motto “Let’s Power the World of Revenue Based Financing Together.” Nine years later, the company still holds true to that motto, despite major changes in the financial services industry, the needs of business owners, and the entire world around them.

Every part of the Everest Business Funding motto truly does encompass everything the company stands for.

Money indeed does “power the world.” Yet, business owners often have trouble accessing the funding they need to operate. That’s why Everest Business Funding approves so many businesses, no matter what industry and what size.

Their easy application process is hassle-free, with funding ranging from $2,600 and up, and capital can be accessed within as little as 24 hours.

But, perhaps the most pertinent two words of the motto that has made Everest Business Funding so successful are “let’s” and “together.” The firm treats everyone like a partner rather than a customer, taking the time to learn and understand the needs of their business.

It’s through this teamwork, compassion, and understanding that Everest Business Funding is able to separate itself from the competition in the marketplace.

Accessing Capital Is No Easy Task

Businesses need access to capital if they are to succeed over the long haul. Only 20% of all small businesses survive past the first year of operation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Half of those that do survive fail by year five and only one-third remain in business beyond 10 years.

While there are many contributing factors to this high level of failure, the top reason is a lack of access to capital. CB Insights reported that 38% of small business owners said that their startup failed because they either ran out of money or weren’t able to raise new capital.

Accessing capital isn’t quite so simple for the owners of small businesses, which make up almost 99% of all companies in the United States. Forbes reported recently that large financial institutions approve less than 15% of applications from small businesses. Credit unions had an approval rating of about 20.5% at the end of 2021, while alternative financial institutions had the highest level of approval — around 24.5%.

For these reasons, Everest Business Funding has been able to carve out a successful niche in the marketplace. While most organizations are issuing blanket “no’s” to their small business applicants, Everest Business Funding is taking a different approach — partnering with them and saying “yes” overwhelmingly more than they’re saying “no.”

Affording Outside Funding is a Challenge, Too

Those small business owners who are lucky enough to be approved for funding may have a tough time affording the payments. After all, the amount of financing they received — and the repayment details and schedule — are based on what they need and can afford at the time they applied for the funding.

While traditional financial institutions make decisions on their small business funding based on future projections, the repayment schedule isn’t tied to anything concrete, and they aren’t flexible, either.

That may be fine when business is booming, but what happens when times get rough? Small business owners have no options other than to try to renegotiate repayments with their creditor, which is often an exercise in futility.

This is a very pertinent point to talk about today, as sky-high inflation continues to wreak havoc on small businesses across the country. In fact, the National Federation of Independent Business reported over the summer that inflation is the most significant problem small businesses face.

According to their survey, 56% of small business owners said inflation had a substantial impact on their bottom line.

How Everest Business Funding Allows Businesses to Grow

By contrast, Everest Business Funding takes a completely different approach, what is known as revenue-based financing. This type of funding allows business owners to access the capital they need for any number of purposes.

Unlike traditional business funding, revenue-based financing revolves around the future cash flow of the business. Through these transactions, Everest Business Funding essentially purchases a set sum of the small business’ future receipts at a purchase price the two sides agree on.

Instead of repaying the capital through a set repayment plan, the small business is instead only remitting a percentage of its future revenue. This provides them the flexibility they need when they require capital.

The revenue-based financing model Everest Business Funding uses is truly a partnership, rather than a credit-debtor relationship. If the business succeeds, then so, too, does Everest Business Funding — since their income is determined by the business’ future receipts.

One of the biggest challenges that companies face is accessing available capital without much notice. There are times when a company may need capital in a hurry, such as to pay for a big project, take advantage of an investment opportunity or purchase, repair and/or replace essential equipment.

If businesses don’t have the cash on hand to pay for this, they are forced to search for outside funding. Many times, unfortunately, that funding isn’t available through traditional means.

Everest Business Funding’s revenue-based financing serves a very important role for many businesses that find themselves in this situation. It gives them capital they need, when they need it, without hampering the rest of their operation.

In essence, the revenue-based financing model employed by Everest Business Funding is what has helped it lead the way in the alternative financing market. Combined with the fact that the firm is focused on being a partner with its clients instead of just treating them as a customer, Everest Business Funding is providing access to capital in a unique way that simply works for other businesses.

While this meant that investors were spoiled for choice for where and how to invest their money, it also caused a bit of confusion. Those who wanted to invest had to painstakingly decide where to put their money and even after the investments, had to track their performance across many different platforms. 

And this is exactly the problem that Defiolio is working to solve. Defiolio is a platform that allows for the tracking of multiple DeFi projects from a single dedicated dashboard. This dashboard shows DeFi investments on different protocols and up to 20 chains at a glance. As such, rather than a user visiting the multiple projects individually to determine how well they are doing, all of this can be done at once. 

Ahead of Defiolio’s expansion to include new features like NFTs we speak to Julian Wells, CEO of Defiolio.

Why was it so important that Defiolio allow for tracking across multiple chains?

If you look at this space, there are several aspects that are missing and several people trying to enter this space. But most are hesitant because they don’t have a way to track their assets, or they are completely overwhelmed with managing all their investments, which essentially turn into a full-time job. There are other tools out there that do perform tracking services; however, they either take too long to integrate new projects or they collect data without users knowing. Since some are collecting data and selling it, what is the purpose or use of being in decentralized if data collected is centralized? Most of us on the Defiolio team are or were investors in the DeFi space, and the biggest issue was managing everything in one location and speeding up management. Which was what we aimed to solve, however, now the whole project has evolved, and we are aiming to become the next face of DeFi for both new and veteran users alike. 

How does your new NFT program work? What is the benefit for NFT holders?

Our new NFT program gives plenty of benefits and as we grow, we plan to expand on those benefits. A few of the benefits are but not limited to lifetime access to our hub, priority project onboarding, 25% profit-sharing, Private RPC points which are only available for NFT holders, Monthly giveaway only for NFT holders, and a few other things that are in discussion but not disclosed just yet.

Moreover, if users are looking to flip our NFTs to make a profit that could also be a smart move, especially since there will only be 12k NFTs total that will get the benefits mentioned above. As far as we are aware, these are the first cross-chain NFTs that are available.

The blockchain investment space has only expanded in the last few years. What do you see coming next?

Honestly, once things settle down, we see a strong adoption by corporations and other giants and see a massive boom in blockchain technology. Think about it, transparency is key in any business and if that transparency is legalized and adopted across considerable companies and corporations, foul play will be reduced tenfold because now everyone can see what every company is spending and making. So many new ideas are yet to be discovered and at this point we are just at the start of the movement. If you give it a few more years based on what technology has done in the last 20 years we are about to enter a new era in the next 5-10 years blockchain technology will be in the center of it. We will do and see things most of us as kids dreamed about.

What informed Defiolio’s decision to launch a wallet?

One of the major reasons we decided on launching a wallet in this space was because of how complicated most of these wallets are and cumbersome it is to set a wallet up. If you think about it, most of the wallets in this space are skins of the same primary wallet service (not naming a product in specific) offering the same features and functions not may offer different functionality. So, our goal with Olio Wallet is to be the outlier, a completely different wallet that not only encompasses an easy way to find what you hold as investments but track them directly from the app. Moreover find a better way to add discover tokens, networks, RPCs, and even new projects (with a full rating system that is influenced by users themselves). However, the twist between us and other wallets will be there will be a free version that will be limited heavily and a paid version that is a subscription model which will also provide access to the Defiolio Hub both on the web and by doing so, access to the wallet app. If a user holds an NFT, they will automatically have access to the feature and most likely be part of our beta testing group.

Tell us a bit more about your incoming wallet. Besides the wallet and NFTs, what else does Defiolio have in store?

There are lots of things that are happening and being built out. Most of which we do not want to share mainly because of how the space is we do not want others to jump ahead and steal any ideas giving us more competition. But to say the least look at our roadmap we have thus far and definitely expect close to double that for our upcoming features, most of which will be influenced and governed by our users. But one thing I would like to say is we are not like other projects who raise funds then start the project we have been developing day in and day out making this somewhat presentable before we even brought it to the public and from what we can tell everyone that has seen this idea loves it and everything that is coming up will be done in the same manner. Always under promise and overdeliver!

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. 

While not exactly market-proof, NFTs linked to IRL privileges – VIP access to a concert or yacht party, say, or a meet-and-greet with your favourite movie star – have a timeless appeal. Just ask Charles Read.

The Hip-Hop Heavyweight… and the Heavyweight

28-year-old Read is the co-founder of Web3 investment fund Rarestone Capital and an avid NFT collector. Like many of his generation, the Englishman’s collection largely consists of tokenised art – CryptoPunks, CloneX and their ilk – though he is bullish about the sort of 1-of-1 tokens that confer real-world benefits on the holder.

Two recent purchases broadened Read’s mind about the potential of such use cases. One earned him a sit-down with pioneering hip-hop producer DJ Premier in his New York recording studio. The other, a personal training session with boxing icon Mike Tyson at the latter’s 418-acre ranch in Southern California. Tyson and Premier are just two examples of celebrities embracing the NFT model to bring more value to their audience.

“Blockchain has helped countless creators and artists, but it’s cool to see other public figures with large followings leverage NFTs,” says Read. “When I heard about the Tyson and Preemo drops, I knew I had to bid.”

Tyson’s limited-edition series included a range of unlockable experiences, from an all-expenses-paid trip to the fighter’s training facility to an ‘Elevate with the Champ’ session: ostensibly, that token entitled you to kick back on the set of Tyson’s Hotboxin’ podcast and blaze a blunt with the “Baddest Man on the Planet.”

“In the past, it wasn’t possible to get as close to your idols,” says Read. “Maybe you could grab a minute at a book signing, or ask a question at a speaking event, but that was as far as it would go. Now we’re seeing all kinds of cool use cases – and the issuer can maintain a level of control that they’re comfortable with.

“To be able to chop it up with Mike over the course of a day, and in a setting where he felt comfortable, was unforgettable. You’re talking about a living legend, the youngest heavyweight champion in history. There’ll never be another like him.”

Tyson is clearly all-in on NFTs; in April he released another collection on Binance, featuring signed merch such as gloves, shorts and workout gear. The boxer also teamed up with renowned crypto artist Henric Aryee to drop a never-before-seen painting. Interestingly, “Iron” Mike’s namesake – current heavyweight kingpin Tyson Fury – has followed suit by launching his own collection; one that includes signed and framed hand-wraps from his third showdown with Deontay Wilder.

Evidently DJ Premier shares the pugilists’ passion for digital tokens. Last year, the 3x Grammy-award winner dropped his Golden Era Future series, composed of unreleased beats and artwork, on Nifty Gateway. And Premier’s been on the buyer’s side of the transaction too, having purchased a Marshall Mathers Edition NFT from Eminem’s maiden collection.

“DJ Premier is a true hip-hop immortal, he’s worked with just about everyone from Dr. Dre and KRS-One to Biggie, Nas and Big L,” enthuses Read. “I grew up listening to Preemo and he’s been a big inspiration to me as someone who never seemed to slow his hustle. Spending time with him, you get an insight into just how much effort and passion goes into the craft. As a lifelong fan, it was really eye-opening to see how he works and does his thing.

“Rarestone actually threw a party out in Miami for Bitcoin Miami 2021 and it made sense that we honoured the drop – so we called the event Golden Era Future. Naturally we asked Preemo to come down and do a set, and he did. Something he wouldn’t usually do, so that was cool.”

Only the Beginning

NFT sales topped $17 billion last year, up from just $94.9 million the year before. But amid recent market turbulence, some NFT projects and collections have seen their value drop. NFT sales have also declined from last year’s peak, leading some to wonder whether it’s “the beginning of the end” for the sector. 

Read, who invests in both a personal and professional capacity, isn’t remotely worried. “It’s always the beginning of the end when things cool down or FUD causes a mass sell-off,” he laughs. “Sometimes you need to take a step back and assess where we are. We have media companies like Tally Labs turning NFT avatars into intellectual property for films, we have award-winning filmmakers like Kevin Smith tokenising movie projects, and we’re seeing lots of cool developments in the metaverse.

“Critics like to point at projects that tank or plateau and claim it’s indicative of a systemwide failure, it’s just not accurate. NFTs are here to stay.”