Recap of bZx AMA
Blaze
Welcome my man, great to have you here
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
My name is Kyle J Kistner, I’m co-founder of bZx. My background is in Computational Biology where I have an MSc. My co-founder Tom is 15 year veteran of Nokia/HERE and has an engineering degree from Georgia Tech. We first started working on the project in 2017 and debuted publicly in the beginning of 2018.
bZx is a margin lending and trading protocol. We have two products: Fulcrum & Torque. Fulcrum is a DeFi trading platform for both beginners and professionals that requires no deposits to start. It also offers lending. Torque allows you to borrow assets just like some of the other lending protocols on the market.
tehMoonwalkeR
very impressive resumes!
can you explain what happened so far, and where BZX stands now?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
In 2017 we started working. In 2018 we released Stage 1 of the protocol to mainnet around September after being audited by ZK Labs. At that point we began working on Stage 2 of the protocol, which was tokenizing both the lending and trading positions; we called these iTokens and pTokens. In June 2019 we launched Fulcrum, which started steadily rising in volume, becoming the #10 dApp on Kyber the first month, #3 the second, #2 the third, and #1 the fourth. We launched Torque in October.
In December of 2019 the protocol started taking off rapidly, and in January we became the fastest growing DeFi protocol on the market for several months. Eventually our DAI pool became the second largest on the market after Compound, surpassing dYdX. Briefly after this the protocol was attacked.
Since March, we have been diligently working on protocol security. We upgraded our oracle to Chainlink and had two additional security audits plus formal verification performed. We anticipate that we will be relaunching again around or very close to August.
X Æ A-12 Musk
Hello, Kyle! It’s nice having you here. Can you talk more on how Fulcrum requires no deposit to use, please?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
We pull directly from DEX liquidity rather than having a matching engine.
tehMoonwalkeR
Can you explain how the LINK oracle benefits Bzx?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
No other oracle has secured more assets for a longer amount of time, which is the true test of security. Using an empirically reliable oracle like Chainlink protects the system from being manipulated or gamed.
Boss Bit
What makes this project unique/different from other Defi project in crypto scheme?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
We’re the only generalized defi trading platform. Our pTokens are also unique in that they can allow for margin trading to be added to L2, Hybrid DEXs, and CEXs as easily as listing an ERC20 token.
vizuaLz
How many fund raised in different sale? What’s the tokenomics?
Chris — Never PM/DMs 1st
We raised around $2.2M USD during ICO in 2018.
The tokenomics are based around 2 core principles, Fee sharing and Governance.
For a full break down I strongly recommend our comprehensive article on the topic 😊
https://bzx.network/blog/bzrx-token
tehMoonwalkeR
this is a very clever ecosystem I must say
Chris — bZx
Given the amount of time we spent sweating over it I’d hope so! Hahaha
tehMoonwalkeR
What are the rules for collateral concerning different loan types?
And can you talk about the insurance fund?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
We put assets into three buckets: low volatility (e.g., stablecoins), medium volatility (ETH), and high volatility (ERC20s). Depending on which type of asset you’re using as collateral, your minimum collateralization will change.
Our insurance fund is generated from fees and is designed to buffer any losses to lenders or users in the event that the throughput of the liquidation system isn’t sufficient.
Karan
There is manipulation of Oracle on fulcrum in Feb.
What were the major steps that were taken to Protect its User’s and specially Protocol Security and Oracles Audit etc. ?
And what about others whose funds were there in Fulcrum ?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
2 additional security audits + formal verification of the contracts for relaunch. We will be doing further audits, including an economic audit, after relaunch as well.
tehMoonwalkeR
Apart from locking up liquidity, how does staking BZX benefit the ecosystem?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Staking BZRX means you’re participating in governance by picking a representative, which is critical to the system running without a centralized admin key.
Calibean
what will be the minimum for staking?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
There is no minimum for staking. It also earns you a share of the fees the protocol earns, in addition to other fees like Balancer fees and BAL rewards. Moreover, the tokens are redeemable for the insurance fund and steadily accrue asset backing as the protocol engages in more activity.
tehMoonwalkeR
There is quite the amount of tokens released over the years, while it's going to take a while, how do you see it not putting pressure on holders?
Chris — bZx
The tokens are slowly vested from a 4year vesting contract, so as opposed to steep increased at a preset time like others, this is a constant trickle. Much more palatable
tehMoonwalkeR
How to provide liquidity for loans? And how to incentivize large loans?
Any ideas similar to $lend crowd loans?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Providing liquidity for loans is simple, you just deposit your assets into one of our lending pools. You earn interest via an algorithmically determined interest rate.
Woah
Will it be listed on uniswap?
Chris — bZx
That is likely after the token is unlocked yes. We will ensure everyone is directed to the correct token and away from scam listing’s 🙏
Woah
Ok but is the team going to list?
Chris — bZx
We don’t seek listings, but we are open to being listed.
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
That’s a good point, although we won’t comment on exchange or DEX listings.
Gates
How Bzrx tokens will be different from Bzrx LP tokens ?
Chris — bZx
BZRX tokens are the tokens themselves, whereas the LP tokens are derived from the BZRX trading pool and are stakeable as well as an incentive to liquidity providers.
Iggy
You mentioned your Dai pool has been the second largest after compound. Do you expect quick growth again?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
I do. We’re far better known now, covered by the major crypto publications. When we first launched and were growing, we did so in relative obscurity, propelled forward by a belief in the technology.
Gates
When a person earns reward from staking its Bzrx token, Can one use its reward without unstaking Bzrx ?
Are there any options that one can stable coin for staking ? Or will be only Bzrx.
Chris — bZx
All unvested BZRX tokens will earn a share in the collected fees for the period they were staked for that are withdrawable.
You can lend stable coins on the platform for returns, but you can’t stake them the same as BZRX 😜
tehMoonwalkeR
Any future defi products planned? Or will the focus remain on lending/burrowing
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
We are looking at perpetual swaps right now.
Aluta Continua Victoria Ascerta
I am an ETHICAL HACKER, do you have plans for HACKATHON and BUG BOUNTIES to check the security of your ecosystem periodically and prevent hacks and security threats
Chris — bZx
I think I’ve seen this question before haha
We like the idea of a hackathon for the future! Otherwise, yes we do have a Bug Bounty planned for the near future to test the new version of our protocol 💪
Would love to see you there!
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
When we relaunch we will be offering $100,000 bounty for any critical vulnerabilities found.
tehMoonwalkeR
You mentioned it already, Ethereum defi, has been a source of attacks a lot lately, how can we protect it in the future, and what is your approach?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Security audits, bug bounties, economic audits, formal verification, and using the latest tools for static analysis, fuzzing, and symbolic analysis (e.g., Slither, MythX, Echidna, Manticore)
Kudo Shinichi
How is community important to bzrx project?
Chris — bZx
Our community is extremely important to bZx, especially given we are striving to transition to our DAO later this year.
That’s part of the reason why the team brought me on, to foster a strong and supportive community who believe in the project and what we want to achieve 💪
Kudo Shinichi
As a defi project, how does bzrx solve the defi liquidity vortex ?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
We were formerly the largest consumer of DEX liquidity in the ecosystem, and we expect that to be the case again. By driving volumes to DEXs, we play a significant part in accelerating their use and network effects.
tehMoonwalkeR
Please tell us more about the governance, what will token holders be able to vote for?
How about the possibility for proposals etc
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Our governance system works very similarly to governance systems you’re already used to, we drew from the 300 years of experimentation of liberal democracies. The three addresses with the most BZRX staked to them are the legislative, and they can pass proposals by a majority vote. There are time locks in place between each vote, and votes have to be signaled twice. There’s an executive, which is me and Tom at first, that can veto or pass proposals. We can be removed by a unanimous vote of the representatives. The judicial is simply Ethereum: code is law.
The legislative and the executive combined represent the power of the admin key, and so can upgrade the protocol or change its parameters.
tehMoonwalkeR
but it all comes down to 5 people?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Right, just like the Senate and Congress has 500~ people represent 300MM.
Kudo Shinichi
Thank you. Next question about partners : How many partners currently have trusted bzrx project and what benefits do these partners bring to your network ?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Our closest partner is Kyber, who we were working with to create a white label margin trading solution for their platform. We’ve also worked and coordinated with Augur to bring margin trading to their prediction markets when they reach a reasonable size.
The primary benefit of partners, in our view, is to drive activity to the protocol.
Kudo Shinichi
Great partners!
tehMoonwalkeR
can you disclose some stats on the lending protocols? like volume?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
At our highest we had 20MM TVL and were doing around 3MM in volume per day.
tehMoonwalkeR
wow
Kudo Shinichi
How will you Face regulation problems from Governments of countries, if you try to launch your project in different countries ?
Kyle KistnΞr | bZx + Fulcrum.Trade
Focusing on decentralization also reduces regulatory risk. When our DAO goes live, it will only be possible to target our front end. Our strategy of being a white label solution for other protocols and front-ends will give us the ability to offload the most difficult localization issues.
tehMoonwalkeR
I think that brings us to the end of this AMA
if anyone got any last questions for the BZX team?
Camo in vouge
Why can’t I find BZRX on cmc or coingecko?
Chris — bZx
It’s not yet tradeable or unlocked. That unlock will come on the 13th of July at 10am EST
Billy Big Bucks
Would they ever consider using Tellor as another oracle solution?
Chris — bZx
At this stage a single oracle solution with the most battle tested oracle in the ecosystem was our choice for the relaunch of the protocol. Moving forward we are open to implementing a multi-oracle solution but it’s not likely to be soon
Silverwolf,
What are the possible risks you might encounter? And how you face it ?
Chris — bZx
There are a lot of risks in DeFi and crypto in general with a whole lot of plausible attack vectors both known and unknown. I believe Kyle covered our security protocols and risk management procedures somewhere above which I’ll fwd
Security audits, bug bounties, economic audits, formal verification, and using the latest tools for static analysis, fuzzing, and symbolic analysis (e.g., Slither, MythX, Echidna, Manticore)
tehMoonwalkeR
thanks for beeing inhere and sharing all this amazing knowledge
going to def. keep an eye on future progress :)
Chris — bZx
Won’t be too long before we have some fireworks ;)
Some links to #DYOR
Fulcrum: Fulcrum.trade
Torque: Torque.loans
Website: bzx.network
Blog: bzx.network/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bzxHQ
Discord: https://bzx.network/discord
Github: https://github.com/bZxNetwork
brought to you by
tehMoonwalkeR
