Notes for community calls

Community Call
#1

I will likely be busy during the call on August 18th, but wanted to suggest some ideas in case it is helpful. Feel free to use whatever you like or ignore all of them!

Following the format of last week’s call:

Opening

Talking Points

  1. Relevant news recap
  1. Trustless proposed governance structure - legislative & executive
  1. Thoughts on using the Discord forum vs. the Discourse forum (forum.trustless.fi).

Q & A with the community

Closing

  • Any other challenges/concerns/points?
  • Action items & next steps

Extra topics to riff on, if needed (can be used for any call):

There is also this trilemma visualization from fluid.ch. stablecoin-trilemma-423x300

5 Likes
#2

Below are notes from the Trustless community call on August 25th. I will continue posting notes from community calls here, when I am able to do them. If anyone has a suggestion for a better place to post these, please do share.

Trustless community call August 25, 2022 notes

Governance discussion recap

-Lucas summarizes his forum post about the governance structure. It is important to decide which governance parameters to “turn off” control to, which ideally should be most of them”. Proposed Governance Structure: Legislative and Executive

-Steve explains the diagram he made showing a workflow & timeline for Trustless governance. During the 6 months after launch where Hue (and the algorithm) is finding its footing and becoming stable, Trustless will continue determining how to delegate jobs throughout the community. After that, the jobs are delegated and prioritized with deadlines.

Steve diagram
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-Putting parameters in code is important before launch. - Lucas

-The 6-month gradient metaphor is better than assuming a flat, steady experience in the first 6 months because we will have to try new things and experiment along the way. - Steve

-After it is decided what the community can control, then ask them what jobs they are willing to do. - Steve

-We must distinguishing three categories for Trustless jobs/operations:

  1. Things that can never be touched by humans.
  2. Things that can be touched, but are restricted.
  3. Things the community has full say over. - Lucas

-Defining “codification of controls”: First, examine the function or “lever” being considered. Is it run on-chain or off-chain? Is it run by human input? Can it be run by human input? Should it be run by human input?. E.g., what pools in Uniswap to incentivize, what TWAP prices to peg Hue to, etc. Also, how long permission should be given to the community to control certain parameters can be codified. - Lucas

-Last week, TnD mentioned that governance should be a ticking time bomb and this timeline should be made clear to the community. For many reasons, including setting expectations, risk reduction, and as a possible selling point.

-Should we plan to move towards fully-fledged executive and legislative branches leading up to and after launch, or should we start at launch with a fully developed structure? Regardless, our proto step should be making it transparent and, when possible, simple for the community. - Steve

-We should aim to be the C-Span of DeFi. What to call it? (web)3-Span? T(rustless)-Span? De-Span? - Lucas
(Editor’s note - C-Span [https://www.c-span.org/] is an American public affairs TV channel which broadcasts proceedings of the US government).

Trustless ethos

-Currently, it is the truth that we are entirely trusting of Miles’ code even though the project is called “Trustless”. However, this isn’t only true of Trustless but of many projects. We are aware of this contradiction, and it is important to be honest and transparent about it. That said, we are all working on this together and (hopefully) working towards the same goals. This is also why it is important for setting specific governance parameters before launch. It is all humans behind this. - Lucas

-This topic (recognizing the realistic limits of trustlessness and taking steps to reduce trust when possible) is also relevant to risk assessment plans, e.g. audits, crowdsourced bug bounties. Decisions to approve these could fall into category #2 of Lucas’ three Trustless jobs/operations categories. - JP

-Trustless is planning to make the code available to the public shortly after launch, so doing crowdsourced bug bounties could happen after that. - Lucas

zkSync news recap about dynamic fees

-News recap about zkSync, Ergs, and dynamic fees.

Brief introduction of the Trustless NFTs concept

-The concept is to have Trustless artwork reacting as commentary to relevant news events. Example. - Barto

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-It is like taking a slightly antagonistic approach to NFT artwork as a way to promote the Trustless brand. We can use it as a trojan horse into other media channels and into the existing community. - Steve

-The goal is to find a balance between antagonistic and ambiguous without name-calling. We want to speak towards universal, yet inconvenient truths in crypto/DeFi and possibly the wider world. - All in agreement

-The Trustless NFT topic will be continued next week. We encourage community members to read and contribute to the forum topic about NFTs in preparation for the next call.

4 Likes
#3

Amazing, thank you for the summary! This helps because I wasn’t able to make the call this week.

2 Likes
#4

Most excellent Jaypow. Keep it up!

1 Like
#5

Trustless community call September 1st, 2022 notes

NFT Artwork

  • Unveiling of Barto’s NFT concept art. There are 3 pieces: A “Trust No One” pyramid, a person hacking apart the bad octopus/kraken, and arms pulling apart the centralized man. These concepts have been in the works for a while and have been simplified over time.

    Screen Shot 2022-09-01 at 3.36.12 PM
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  • The Trustless brand vision is to be slightly antagonistic by revealing the reality and truths of DeFi, illuminating the flaws and correcting them via provocative imagery (as NFTs). - Berry

  • Should the NFTs be poster artwork style vs. PFP (profile picture) style? NFTs should be aligned with our brand values. Instead of trying to compete with other PFP projects, let’s focus on the Trustless vision. It is the functions of the NFT that are valuable. - Steve & JP (note - another benefit of Trustless releasing its own NFTs is that royalty fees from NFT trading can go to a treasury).

NFT Launch

  • Should Trustless mint NFTs? Lucas thinks yes. BAYC is an example of how an NFT launch has been kept fun and exclusive, while adding clout. Cryptopunks are another, who benefited mostly by first-mover advantage. NFTs can be coded to include features and benefits. We found four NFT marketplaces launching on zkSync. We’re looking for one that is developed and functional, but also small enough that we can convince them to accept Hue only for purchases (after the Trustless mainnet launch?).

  • Ultimately the Trustless NFTs will be traded in other marketplaces on zkSync. We can’t predict which NFT marketplace will become #1 in zkSync, so it makes sense to focus on an NFT marketplace/launch platform that serves Trustless’ initial needs and then let the NFT market sort itself out over time. - JP

  • Minting/airdrop. How should it be done? How can we reach an external audience? We could work with the minting marketplace/protocol for ideas. - Lucas

  • Using task platforms like Project Galaxy or Guild is another way to encourage external participation and produce traffic. It may result in some people participating to gameify a future reward i.e. sybil attackers, but it will also produce some genuine interest. In these platforms, the NFT is shown prior to the task so that users can see what they’re working towards. Guild is recommended since they have more quality projects on there right now. - Drewbeefy.eth

  • Two other task platforms are RabbitHole and Quest3. - JP

  • Task-based NFT rewards feels similar to the Trustless discord roles, whereas an awareness-focused distribution would target a different audience. - Berry

  • Why not both? - Barto

  • Launch timeline: Some NFTs will be released prior to the Trustless launch, some will be released later. This would have an effect on using task/quest platforms like Guild or Project Galaxy, where most projects using these platforms are already on mainnet. - Berry & JP

NFT Functionality/Incentives

  • The important question is, what are we trying to incentivize via these NFTs? For example, should it come with an interest rate boost/discount? - Lucas

  • Interest rate benefits could be risky. We should focus on art features of the NFT first, and practical functions later. - Berry

  • NFTs are like stories. We should tell a meaningful story about decentralization via the NFTs, and that will generate some community interest on its own. There should also be community contributor incentives via the NFTs that focus on making Trustless and DeFi simpler for non-technical users, e.g. writing articles. - bitsmartgee_eu

  • Berry is skeptical of participation badges, but also recognizes that NFTs can be motivational tools that incentivize users to join the journey and realize the value.

  • Quick overview of some examples of NFT distributions and functionality from other projects. - JP

2 Likes
#6

Amazing summary @jaypow, super helpful for me to catch up!

1 Like
#7

Trustless community call September 9, 2022 notes

Lead-in

  • We talked about jobs to be delegated two weeks ago and NFTs last week. Today, we will be continuing with the former topic.

Jobs to be delegated to the community

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  • There is of course a divide between executive & legislative branches. So, how much control should the community (the legislative branch) have vs. the executive branch? - Miles

  • A few things need to be controlled by the protocol early on, such as reward incentives for liquidating positions. However, the community could have control over where TCP should be launched, e.g. Should it go to a treasury, how should it be allocated, how to seed liquidity pools, etc. Also, should some of the funds go to a developer fund or elsewhere. Examples of investments for the fund could be investing in other tokens, voting incentives, purchasing liquidity for the protocol, etc. This is also where community input could come in. - Miles

  • Controlling money is a lot of power for the community to have. How much power should we be delegating, given the risks? - Steve

  • Interest rates (for Trustless) control the peg and money into the protocol. This is a lot of power and some of the fundamentals will under the control of the algorithm and not subject to DAO influence. However, should the algorithm be optimizing entirely for the peg, or instead optimizing to keep it within 1-2% of the peg while managing incentives to keep Hue on peg? This is to be decided. - Miles

  • Do any jobs fit into these models you have described? - Steve

  • Yes, some. For example, contract upgrades. The legislative branch could set deadlines and manage them. There could be some control delegated to the DAO for parameter decisions, e.g. managing interest rate bounds or adjusting the percentage of protocol income being diverted to stakers (currently, 1/5 of the protocol income is diverted to stakers). - Miles

  • Some of these makes sense, but some are fiddly and complex. For example, the specifics of code or interest rate mechanics could be hard to communicate simply in writing for a broad community to understand. - Steve

  • Maker’s interest rates have fluctuated wildly, which is one reason why they have changed the backing of DAI. As TnD has mentioned, Liquity’s “soft peg” for LUSD is between $1.00 and $1.10, so it is functioning as planned. If Hue was a directly dollar-backed stablecoin it could maintain a very tight peg. However, it is of course backed by ETH. Determining how closely Hue holds the peg has a lot of value for the user. - Miles

  • A friend of Steve’s said he would be interested in more DeFi protocols if they had FDIC insurance. Could there be a Trustless insurance policy for when Hue goes outside of a predetermined peg range? - Steve

  • Would be risky to have an insurance policy for Hue’s peg. However, there are insurance projects out there which offer services to many DeFi protocols. - Miles (Editor’s note - and some of these are integrated directly into the dapp UI of certain projects. This could potentially be worth incentivizing amongst Trustless front end providers).

  • Other possible functions of the DAO could include deciding on community grants, partnerships and integrations, and security/risk assessment funding. - Jaypow

  • Would partnerships mean voting on simpler, one-way type partnerships like having a token listed on an exchange, or voting on more reciprocal, interwoven partnerships such as shared liquidity incentives or where Hue is used as a reserve asset? - Miles

  • I am thinking mostly the latter. What type of partnerships require a DAO vote and what specifically the DAO can vote on in them should be determined prior to the DAO going live (Editor’s note - This would be a great example of something to include in TCP’s Decentralization Guide or Constitution. For example, Reflexer’s Governance Minimization Guide and Integrations pages in their docs could provide a useful starting point for inspiration). - Jaypow

  • The Trustless Foundation would be the executive branch, not a separate entity. It will be run by independent directors who have no affiliation with anyone. - Miles

  • If the Foundation becomes the executive branch in the proposed timeline, and if it is made clear to the community about the checks and balances that the legislative branch has (as well as the functions of both branches), then this governance structure would be acceptable to me and likely most of the community. Especially given the decentralization schedule, with complete decentralization looming on the horizon (the duration of which is proposed to be roughly 3 years long, but is being dicussed). - Jaypow

News recap about Maker considering a proposal to move DAI’s USDC backing into Coinbase Custody

  • “Betting the company” analogy, and why it should be avoided: Businesses/organizations must practice making changes throughout their lifespans so that they don’t have to bet the company on new decisions (such as, betting their future on a single decision). If Maker proceeds with this, it would be like throwing decentralization out the window. Observing the community’s reaction to it will be very telling of where we are in DeFi. - Steve

  • Maker had a vision and now it seems they are giving up on it. - Miles

NFTs & Trustless Partnerships

  • Miles spoke with the CEO of MintSquare. Let’s take a look at the Trustless NFT concepts and decide how to customize them with unique features. More to come on this.

  • We will begin announcing more of our partnerships soon. - Miles

2 Likes
#8

Incredible notes @jaypow ! Your work is a huge help to the Trustless Community.

2 Likes
#9

Trustless community call September 15, 2022 notes

Opening/recap

  • Figma acquired by Adobe
  • Congrats on the Eth merge. Indirectly benefits zkSync, price action wasn’t crazy, mainstream still doesn’t understand. Many incremental upgrades still yet to come.

Fundraising slide deck - explanation & initial thoughts

  • Figma slides: https://www.figma.com/file/2lUVkSjI6EwZFaYGp9k70x/slide-preso?node-id=0%3A1
  • Thanks for the team and community who have been contributing and testing the protocol. ~40 days to go until zkSync 2.0 mainnet. We want to make sure the Trustless vision of true decentralization can succeed, and to do that we need more people involved, particularly in terms of hiring. This will require funding to help bring the protocol’s vision to fruition. - Miles
  • Miles & Steve had a chat a few weeks ago. We believe zkSync 2.0 is the future, and realize that we need to act quickly because competition is coming. We need funding so that we can elbow our way into the space. (Steve then goes through the pitch deck on Figma) - Steve
  • The slide deck’s narrative is concise, but it still requires trust in the team to do the right thing. - Barto
  • We don’t know if this will work with investors or not. It is like a fishing expedition. We are looking for investors who are aligned with our goals. - Steve

Fundraising slide deck - communicating the vision to investors

  • We are probably missing the point with these slides. From an investor’s perspective, it doesn’t demonstrate how it will bring a big enough return for investors, to offset the risk/reward. We need investors to think that this has the possibility to become one of the 100x projects in their portfolio. We should include these concepts: Building the onramp to zkSync, giving users the tools and resources they need to thrive, all while being completely trustless. - Miles
  • The complexity of that larger vision is hard to communicate on this deck. It would be good to allude to it, but this is a new business that is yet to be well understood. Few people know how a DAO works, how to value it, and how to extract value out of it. This slide deck is the start of a larger conversation. - Steve
  • I’ve been trying a thought exercise: Imagine that we haven’t done anything yet and Trustless was just an idea. What would those slides say? Something like, “We’ve looked at the ecosystem and seen a gap, so we gathered a team to build the solution.” However, we have something we’ve already built that works. - Miles
  • That is a strength, but we need to hire others to fulfill our vision and that vision should be included at the end of the deck, since it is a work in progress. - Steve
  • When making a big bet on a hope and a dream, that is worth something. Having something that is already working is almost less interesting than the hope and the dream. Still grappling with this discrepancy. - Miles
  • Is this a Reflexer-sized vision, or a Maker-sized vision? - Lucas
  • Perhaps Reflexer has failed in a sense thus far, given the size of its ambitions. I see this mainnet launch coming up as a small event in the lifespan of Trustless if the vision is grand enough. - Miles
  • With that big of a story, we may not know how much to raise. And it is okay to have that uncertainty. - Steve

Fundraising slide deck - numbers vs. technical info vs. broader ideas

  • There is probably a minimum amount to raise, around $5 million, and a maximum amount around 20-25%. Have spoken to a variety of investors, and the most consistent feedback has been “Show me the numbers. How can I deliver on the returns I have promised people who have put money into my fund?”. We don’t need to actually put out numbers, but we need to paint a clearer picture than we have so far about the scale and vision (either one or both). - Miles
  • I’m more focused on the big brushstrokes. We want to create a DAO-based ecosystem on zkSync 2.0. Current DeFi is centralized and compromised. We have a vision of a Trustless DAO ecosystem to build those products. Insert money here (for the additional growth cost). What are the numbers/handles for the return? That is the big question. Outlining all the mid-level details is a big task in a pitch. Let’s stick to the high-level concepts & valuations. - Steve
  • In terms of numbers, we could include token values of other projects, interest earned by other projects (e.g. Maker), etc. Maybe it’s like the “city in the sky” symbol that Barto created. We need to distinguish Trustless from the other protocols that exist, and communicate that “This is a turning point. Trustless is the new one-stop shop for DeFi, newcomers and experienced alike.” We need the investor to feel that, and to imagine the scenario in which we would win. I want to see the possibility of outsized returns, a vision that gets me excited, and a team that makes me think they have a good track record and can fulfill this vision. We need to show that we have an incredible team and are capable of executing, that this is a huge opportunity and the launch is coming soon. - Miles
  • There is a lot of implied value about layer 2 in the deck. Not sure how much investors will know about the value of it, and may lose some investors. - Barto
  • We can include something about layer 2, just don’t need to have many details. - Miles
  • “Layer 2 is dope, next slide.” - Steve

Communty members on stage

  • It’s a good idea to raise funds, but tokenomics and “raising trust” in the community is more important. It should not be too expensive for people to participate, e.g. if there is a TGE. Security is also important. - The Pristine (community member)
  • Gitcoin Grants round 15 is happening now, which is a fundraising option. There is also Nouns DAO NFTs, which are another option. - bitsmartgee_eu (community member)

Closing

  • We will work on this. More slides to come, probably next week. - Miles
1 Like
#10

Trustless community call September 22, 2022 notes

Opening

  • The focus of today’s call is workshopping the slides that we retooled since last week’s call. These new slides are focusing on telling a larger story of Trustless. - Steve

Updated slide deck with an improved story arc

  • Link to Figma slide deck: https://www.figma.com/file/O2LR17jrK9aM0lHrFqgWY5/Trustless?node-id=3156%3A208
  • Most of the discussion outcome is summarized in the above Figma slides :point_up:.
  • Initial summary of the new slides, version 1: Trustless is building the first truly decentralized stablecoin on zkSync. We believe we have a great brand. Other major protocols are giving up on DeFi (e.g., Maker), but we are leading DeFi forward. We’re planning to raise a certain amount and we have a cool team. We want investors to realize that we are building a decentralized stablecoin, we’re building it on a layer 2, and we have a superb team. - Miles
  • Initial summary, version 2: We are taking market share. DeFi is centralized, but we are at the verge of layer 2. We are building a brand of foundational products and have an incredible team. We have a vision to build out a whole slew of interconnected products that replicate the best, most successful protocols and build out DeFi and own the entire ecosystem. The potential returns are massive (see hundreds of millions of dollars in other DeFi protocols). Here is our cool team and our timeline. - Miles

Closing

  • We have some meetings and workshops coming up where we can improve this further. We’ll have more to share next week. See you then!
3 Likes
#11

oh! great news!! i can`t wait for you, trustless finance.

#12

Trustless community call September 29, 2022 notes

Opening

Roadmap

  • We wanted to make our roadmap more public. Its progress will depend on zkSync’s roadmap.
  • We’re going to start referring to the protocol as Hue instead of TCP going forward. - Miles

Pre-launch

  • We have some legal work to continue. Not immediately launching a DAO makes this easier. - Miles
  • There are also a few more engineering tasks that don’t involve the DAO, and will be restricted based on the state of zkSync:
    1 - Revamping how the contract upgrade logic works
    2 - Removing some TCP token logic in the system, so that certain mechanisms can work without the TCP incentive
    3 - Integrating Charm

Post-launch

  • Certain protocols will be whitelisted to deploy on zkSync. We will deploy TCP to the chain then (in its baby alpha testnet stage, likely 0.1 ETH capped deposits). We will plan to shutdown and upgrade as zkSync slowly increases their limits. - Miles
  • When zkSync goes mainnet they will have an artificial cap (0.1 ETH), which reduces risk and expectations. This is a good thing, especially for a new technology. - Steve

Mid-term

  • After we get into a rhythm with zkSync and we continue opening up limits while managing risk, we start shifting our focus to additional protocols. Could be a debt protocol like Compound, or pursuing the zkSync-native stablecoin thing, or launching a DAO when the time is right. - Miles

Long-term

  • 6+ month vision. We want to capture DeFi on zkSync, bring protocols together, and get our brand name out via marketing. - Miles

Updated slides

Closing

  • More slide updates to come, but it is looking better. See you next week!
1 Like
#13

Trustless community call October 13, 2022 notes

Opening

Devcon 2022 update with Miles

  • “Devcon” stands for developer conference. It is aimed at developers in Ethereum and other relevant communities, and thus the talks can vary from dense to more accessible. Some of Miles’ favorite talks so far have included a presentation about hardhat developer tools and… (jaypow couldn’t hear the other :sweat_smile:).
  • Although we are in a bear market, the mood has been positive. This conference has also been better organized than the previous devcon in Japan was.
  • Miles prior crypto conference visit was at ETHDenver, and the way he communicates about Trustless to others has evolved since then. The reception to Trustless at Devcon has been positive. People he has spoken to have liked the focus on decentralization and everyone seems universally aware of zero knowledge technology, though not everyone knows a lot about zkSync yet. Generally speaking, people are excited to use DeFi, not pay much to do so, and have it work very quickly.
  • Not much talk at the conference about The Merge or layer 1 protocols. The meta narrative about The Merge has come and gone. Most discussion is about layer 2s and scaling Ethereum, as well as some about GameFi. But the primary focus is on layer 2s, and there is still plenty of infrastructure being built. For example, zkSync is discovering numerous improvements they need to make in the process of their testnet, which is a good thing.
  • Miles’ “Trust No One” shirt has not worked the same as in ETH Denver, since Devcon is a more technical audience. He is using a different approach, and has been networking and discovering leads as much as possible.
  • Projects that other people are working on whom Miles has run into: People working on Dogecoin, identity proofs, more layer 2s, and some NFTs & NFT Fi.
  • Most people who aren’t working on the Ethereum base protocol are thinking about what’s next. The focus is on the long view, which will take years to build and scale. The Ethereum ecosystem developer community is going to keep building no matter what happens, and aren’t so interested in the mini hype cycles.
  • Miles’ plan for the rest of the conference is to attend a few talks, but mostly talk to people, test out the Trustless pitch, and see if there are any investment leads.

Community members on stage

  • From community member KhanAtik: What rewards will there be for the Trustless community?
  • Answer: We are trying to have an informed, engaged community that build value and believes in the direction we are going. Sprinkling airdrops around is against what we are trying to achieve with Trustless. We are trying to align the incentives with people who will stick around and use the protocol. Completing the courses and contributing to the community are ways to demonstrate your involvement. We don’t have anything specific to share otherwise. - Steve and Miles

Closing

  • Another team meeting about the pitch deck tomorrow. Lots to be excited about. See you next time!
#14

Thanks again for the awesome summary!

1 Like
#15

you are best info man :slight_smile:

1 Like
#16

Trustless community call October 27, 2022 notes

Trustless Administration

  • We’ve come a long way from nothing to a trustless and censorship-resistant option for DeFi. We haven’t been able to launch yet due to zkSync getting their complex tech up and running, but it is coming. Everyone has been putting in a lot of hard work. Now, Miles is thinking about how we want to set ourselves up for the future. - Miles
  • Currently we have one technical person and four non-technical people on the team. Miles has been realizing that getting things done will involve allocating resources. He is considering splitting up responsibilities, such as the CEO/CTO role and making other changes to improve the chances of success. - Miles
  • Would this happen with or without funding? What is the best way to break the roles up? - Steve
  • These changes would encompass raising funding. Some of the main non-technical categories involve things like evangelizing, networking, fundraising, and maintaining relations with other protocols. - Miles
  • Miles is capable of handling many roles, but perhaps something like an empowered COO position makes the most sense. Management and business are different skills from early execution and vision. - Lucas
  • When building an early stage project, it’s important to choose people to be on the team you feel good about, then divide up the main tasks so that they feel good to people, then hire people to handle the remaining tasks. Regarding the composition of leadership, e.g. founder led vs. Harvard led, it doesn’t matter as much as choosing the right people. Both leadership styles/backgrounds are capable of success or failure. - Steve
  • Miles has been talking to a friend who he thinks may be suited for a leadership role in Trustless.

Fundraising

  • We talked to an investor outreach person from a leading exchange. He demonstrated that he read about the protocol and cared about what we were doing. He said that their investing arm doesn’t necessarily do lead investor themselves, but that they might like to co-lead. He said they will put Trustless in touch with some other co-leads. - Miles
  • We should be contacting and reaching out to everyone at the same time. Personal connections, reinforcing existing relationships, and telling our story is key. - Steve

Testnet update

  • The testnet is still down. ZkSync is introducing contract requirements that do not allow for Uniswap v3 references, so the Trustless code is being upgraded before the newest testnet is launched. We will plan to have that up and running for the community and potential investors to play around with. - Miles

Have a good day…and TRUST NO ONE.

“That was epic”. - Barto

#17

Trustless community call November 17, 2022 notes

Opening

  • Catching up about the FTX & SBF debacle of the past week and how it has affected public sentiment about crypto. It reminds us to think critically about what crypto is for and why Trustless was created.

Relevance for Trustless

  • From a business perspective, this event has affected investor (and institutional) appetite for leverage. Leverage is a poisoned well right now. Trustless and layer 2 has a spot in the wider crypto ecosystem, but this event has impacted sentiment about everything, and that likely has affected the willingness for investment. - Steve
  • As a result, perhaps we should rewind and consider a different approach to the Trustless decentralization schedule. - Lucas
  • If we are building in a chaotic environment like this, a project like this should probably be built by a centralized entity. The door has shut on the brand promise and opportunity we had. - Steve
  • Does the market still exist, do people still care? These are all good questions. Everyone is still processing what happened. Miles has been asking investors how they see the current environment. Generally, people don’t raise money during the holidays. So, we wouldn’t have been able to raise around this time anyways. Having some time will help us to regroup and see how sentiment is later. - Miles
  • I see this as helping clear away the mess. In hindsight, this will be great for crypto. For example, things that were actually useful emerged from the bursting of the dotcom bubble. If Trustless doesn’t have utility, what are we even doing here? This has saved us a lot of time. - Lucas
  • From a brand perspective, we have a lot of ammunition. From a business perspective, that ammunition might have been turned back against ourselves. - Austin
  • We need to be realistic about what this business is. Trustless works in terms of brand advocacy, but as a business it requires asking for some trust in the beginning and that will not go over well with investors. There is no backstop for crypto projects who fail. We may see a swing towards more utilitarian crypto in a more highly regulated environment, but this market environment is becoming less advantageous for this business. I don’t see a practical way forward without a seismic shift in the market. If I was starting over from scratch right now, I wouldn’t create a project like this. I don’t see a big difference between centralized and decentralized in the market right now. - Steve
  • Appreciate the honest thoughts. In crypto circles at least, this news has been seen as a good advertisement for DeFi. We need to find which investors are aligned with that vision. - Miles

Closing

  • This hurts. Let’s keep our heads straight, wait a couple weeks and take it all in. No call next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. See you in two weeks. - Miles
#18

Thanks for this jpow! Were you able to make it to the latest community call on Thursday? We got deep into what’s next for the project, including the three paths forward that we see.

1 Like
#19

Looking forward to it! I wasn’t able to attend last week due to job commitments, but will do my best to be there this week. These calls happen at 4am in my local time so they are a challenge sometimes.

#20

4am!?! Wow, that must be brutal. Thanks for attending and everything that you do for Trustless!

1 Like