Waltonchain H2 2020 Community Q&A
Q1: How much money was raised through WTC ICO and sales? How much of these was used directly for WTC mainnet development, how much was used to fund hardware development which is the IP of Silictec, how much was used to fund nonrelated activities? Of the money used on Silictec R&D, will Waltonchain ever give benefit to WTC holders if the technology (eg smart box, clothes system) is sold to other companies like China tech giants? Or does Silictec and Mo Bing and team members keep the benefit for themselves even though the cost is from WTC community?
A1: Silictec and Waltonchain are two independent companies. In 2017–2020, Silictec provided paid core software and hardware support, child chain incubation and applied solution services. These are inevitable expenses for implementation and ecosystem expansion. Besides the above support for Waltonchain, Silictec also has other revenue from sales of software and hardware services and is fully capable of covering its own IP and R&D expenses. The products developed by Silictec for Waltonchain (RFID chip, miner chip and miner) belong to the core team members and partners of Waltonchain. Waltonchain uses a part of the product sales revenue for buyback and burn, and the rest for the Waltonchain ecosystem development.
Waltonchain ICO was 25,000 ETH.
Usage:
l R&D, testing and production of RFID tag chip: 15%
l R&D, testing and production of RFID reader-writer chip: 20%
l Design and test of RFID system scheme: 15%
l Development of application platform of project chain: 15%
l Salaries and rewards of R&D personnel: 20%
l Salaries of other personnel, and costs of operation, maintenance and materials: 8%
l Promotion of system application scheme: 7%
Besides ICO, Waltonchain spend 860,950 WTC from R&D Fund 0xE12E727deE902CBB27227F924003Dd421210cBB5
Q2: None of the child chains have been successful so far, what is the lesson to be learned from this and how will this be changed in the future? After all, the ecosystem revolves around the implementation of child chains. It is important to finetune child chain selection process.
A2: We continue child chain project search and analysis. Although building a fair and transparent human society is our ideal, with the current popularity of blockchain, the demand for it from traditional industries and business owners is not fully recognized or unified. Not all business models require open and transparent data endorsement. Therefore, we will incubate future child chains starting from the needs of individual enterprises and using the improved selection with:
l a higher security deposit
l clear development goals
l a system of fines for missed targets, the final one being expulsion from the ecosystem
l a sandbox mode/soft launch period to see whether the project’s development logic is right and parent chain transactions increase.
With these adjustments, Waltonchain wants to achieve a higher success rate of child chain projects.
Q3: Marketing. Most of the products are ready to be implemented according to Waltonchain, sell the idea. The plan was originally to start in June 2020.
A3: We think the first chance to sell the idea is already over. The current goal is to complete the mainnet tools (API, one-click access, SDK, DApp platform). Our CEO and Korean team leader Do Sang Hyuk connects various resources, including technical support, promotion, and project incubation. After getting these done, it’s our second chance to sell the idea: all is ready, welcome to #buidl. In the past, we had overexposure without finishing the homework. Doing so again would harm our ecology.
Q4: WTC is still in a development cycle, a long never ending development cycle. The development seems to change every 6–12 months and further delay the marketing phase.
A4: See Question 3 about marketing: https://twitter.com/Waltonchain/status/1305806692395831296. Waltonchain lacks public tools for mainnet. With them, the ecosystem will enter the stage of joint official + third-party development, that is, 5.0. But we cannot exclude force majeure events. There’s been plenty: ICO ban in China and South Korea, 2018 China App Store delisting and signature blocks later on, China cryptocurrency promotion ban, the dissolution of Shenzhen Silicon leading to change of our whole technical team. The progress is slower than we and the community expected, but we continue the work.
Q5: East Star Group is completely unknown to many, describe the activities and ambitions on a regular basis so that people become familiar with the plans.
A5: East Star Group was the exclusive ecosystem supporter in 2017–2019. The agreement with them expired. See information about our ecosystem supporters here: https://medium.com/@Waltonchain_EN/announcement-on-update-of-waltonchain-global-ecosystem-supporters-3549493df31a.
Q6: What is the idea behind community nodes? Are they still paid because there is relatively little activity and input from this. That may also be required because more fruits can be reaped from this. No offense to community managers.
A6: Autonomous community nodes and WTA are both used to promote our strategy of Community Autonomy. The nodes continue the promotion of Waltonchain. Our most active nodes are WaltonchainUSA, Waltonchain — Capital Region, Waltonchain, Iranian Family, Waltonchain Dutch and Waltonchain Russian-Speaking Community. Autonomous communities need more progress on our side to reap more fruits. They receive rewards adjusted for the output in each period.
Q7: The website is still below average and not up to date. It doesn’t work smoothly, scrolling skips things and apparently we currently have 3 child chains namely Freyrchain, Moneynet and Fashionchain. It is no longer difficult to make this happen professionally. A first impression is crucial.
A7: The projects above were taken off our website in 2019. We keep the content up-to-date and recently updated the list of exchanges for WTC tokens and coins and put up the SMN/GMN token swap status page. We will start designing a new website at the end of 2020.
Q8: Will Waltonchain supply all the needed hardware for the WTA Foundation to market new child chains?
A8: Yes. Waltonchain and its software and hardware solution partners will jointly provide the necessary technology support.
Q9: Will the East Star Group still be supportive and collaborate with WTA Foundation?
A9: Since 2020, Waltonchain’s ecosystem supporters internationalized. As we don’t have the exclusive relationship with East Star anymore, Waltonchain and WTA Foundation can select the most competitive solutions from any of the ecosystem supporters, including East Star members.
Q10: How do you plan to fund WTA Foundation?
A10: WTA Foundation will manage 3% of the total WTA (the 15,000,000 WTA reward pool). Later, if WTA Foundation needs more funds, it can adjust the WTA distribution through governance voting. Also, WTC rewards shall be distributed to Directors of the Autonomous Foundation every 6 months as per their contribution to the community. The total reward pool shall be 30,000 WTC.
Q11: Will there be licenses to the WTA Foundation to manufacture hardware in different countries?
A11: WTA Foundation will not have its own hardware production team or licenses, but it will be able to outsource locally. Qualifications of the potential outsourcing partners referred by WTA Foundation will be among the important factors when expanding our ecosystem.
Q12: Will WTA Foundation be given detailed reports, without names, of all the projects worked on and why projects did not move forward?
A12: Sure.
Q13: What will be the roll of the current Waltonchain Team after the Autonomous community lands?
A13: Due to the 2020 epidemic, Waltonchain has already cut some positions and does not plan more cuts. After Community Autonomy lands, the current roll will remain. Now we have 10 members in business and operations, 21 technicians and 8 administrative members, total 39.
Q14: What all do you see being managed and marketed by the Autonomous community?
A14: Autonomous communities have been in operation for more than a year. The media and content promotion by them have been great. The Foundation sincerely thanks all community managers for their contribution to the local promotion of our brand. We see raising of local awareness as the key direction for the autonomous community. We believe that blockchain ultimately belongs to the community. After the global epidemic ends, we will distribute more tasks and decisions to WTC holders and communities.
Q15: Is KIRINMINER still able to be produced with the closing of Shenzhen Silicon?
A15: The key patents related to KIRINMINER have been transferred from Silicon Shenzhen to Waltonchain core team members. Waltonchain can produce it with other contractors.
Q16: Is KIRINMINER still being developed for better batches?
A16: R&D of the 14 nm high-end miner chip SZS6098 was suspended in 2019 due to the unfavorable development cost/yield ratio. KIRINMINER batches 1 and 2 have the 28 nm SZS6088 chip.
Q17: Will the WTA Foundation be supplied with KIRINMINER?
A17: No. WTA Foundation funding is detailed in question 10 https://twitter.com/Waltonchain/status/1308703325395722241. As for the child chains referred by WTA Foundation, they will have other incentives and don’t need ASICs for on-chain data endorsement in SMN PoL.
Q18: Is Waltonchain still well funded above and beyond the team’s monthly coin sales?
A18: Yes. The Foundation’s balance is 13.7M WTC.
Q19: Are you optimistic that Chinese regulation for public blockchain cryptocurrency will be positive in the future?
A19: Yes. Cryptocurrency is here to stay. You either adopt it or lag behind and lose a growing sector of economy. Interestingly, most developed and least developed countries have actively embraced it. Now look at BRICS. China, India and Russia have been cautious. China is supportive of blockchain, Central Bank of China deploys DCEP, tech leaders Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu have developments in the area since years ago. But the cryptocurrency part and respective regulations are the back burner. We hope that developed countries and the BRICS partners Brazil and South Africa will set an example for the trio, including China. Isolation does no good in the world that becomes more globalized and decentralized each day. Cryptocurrency and public chains are a growing industry that brings tax money same as traditional economy. All you need to do to reap this fruit is set clear rules.
Q20: Will you be willing to consider a donation or offer a bulk rate for 50+ Kirins to the WTA Foundation? Idea is to have 50 Kirin’s to offer 1 Kirin per as a sign on bonus to the first 50 child chains that launch through the WTA ecosystem.
A20: No. Please see Q17 about WTA Foundation, child chains and KIRINMINER: https://twitter.com/Waltonchain/status/1310572389781049352.
Q21: Has the team come up with a solution to on board new Child Chains by overcoming the pricing barrier?
A21: Child chain incubation is not a problem that can be solved entirely by reducing costs. The economic environment, the culture of the partner company (acceptance of open and transparent data), and the market’s demand for a trusted product itself also affect it. Besides, successful operation of a child chain relies on its product competitiveness and company management. Force majeure can meddle, too. For instance, we had been waiting for contract approval by the board of one prospective child chain since Xmas 2019 till March 2020. In March, when they knew about the closure of Silicon Shenzhen, they refused to swap for another hardware provider due to the lack of trust in it and the child chain didn’t happen. From our side, we continue the development of / search for the optimal solutions to offer to our customers and are flexible in our offers. Look at this: a farmer can get a Waltonchain Box + blockchain data endorsement package + 1-year maintenance for just USD 1,500.
Q22: What are the top 3 blockers for the team to on board new Child Chains?
A22:
1. Economic environment: as an emerging technology that adds value to products, blockchain will have greater market demand in a favorable economic environment.
2. Acceptance of data openness and transparency: does a company have the demand for open and transparent internal and external processes? A fair and transparent social system is the ideal we all aim for, but not every corporate manager is willing to sacrifice costs to achieve it.
3. Product: whether with high added value, of special origin, or with strict supply chain requirements, the product itself must have demand for blockchain endorsement. The child chain won’t succeed if the product owner follows suit or relies on government subsidies and has no permanent demand for our services. Child chain incubation is relatively easy when the above three points are secured.
Q23: If the main marketing will be via the autonomous communities, will there be a central marketing strategy outlined as a guide to be followed or the strategy will be left to the individual autonomous communities to develop themselves based on the reality on the ground?
A23: The main marketing will be through the team. After implementing Community Autonomy, Waltonchain hopes that the community can develop local market activities where Waltonchain will provide materials and financial support and play an auxiliary role. For activities carried out on a global scale (with major institutions and exchanges), Waltonchain team will still play the major role.
Q24: Will the Walton team engage in any form of marketing (if so, what type will it be) or all of the marketing will be left to the autonomous communities?
A24: Yes, will engage. Please see the above Q23: https://twitter.com/Waltonchain/status/1315595405376151554. Whether it is the team or autonomous communities who hold marketing events depends on the scale, region and budget.
Q25: All the rumours in the past of cooperations and connections with big companies, were they just rumours to hype the price or are there really some connections?
A25: See the relevant information about each connection under “Some information about East Star Group partnerships” here https://medium.com/@Waltonchain_EN/waltonchain-q1-2020-ama-official-release-635a84f1c361. East Star was our exclusive ecosystem partner in 2017–2019.
Q26: If I talk to people about WTC, the first thing they say is ‘shitcoin’ ‘OMG, I can’t believe I just won’ Are you gonna do something to change that image, in the near future?
A26: Implementation and hard work is the answer. Our solutions help enterprises increase trust and efficiency, which will translate into our brand image.
Q27: How do you want to compete with VeChain? It seems like they have all the partnerships and real connections needed to be used by companies.
A27: We have different stances on decentralization and consensus, us running on PoW + PoS and VeChain running on PoA. We cover different target audience and have different entry barriers, ours being just $1,500 for farmers, for instance. NFC/RFID/QR-codes apart, Waltonchain has the Box. Thus, we want to co-exist. IoT market has enough space for many projects that offer distinctive services.
Q28: Will the current Waltonchain Team that is in charge of child chain solution development now, hardware and software, be the same team after the launch of WTA Foundation? Or will the WTA Foundation need to find and deploy a new team for child chain development?
A28: Yes, it will be the same. The core patents and technologies are in the hands of Waltonchain team. However, for the open source part, if the workload becomes too big, the team or WTA Foundation will be able to outsource the development, leaving QC/QA to the team.
Q29: Can we have an updated medium article release on East Star Group including what has changed and what is still valid from the October 2019 article?
A29: You can see our current partners in this official announcement: https://medium.com/@Waltonchain_EN/announcement-on-update-of-waltonchain-global-ecosystem-supporters-3549493df31a.
Q30: Waltonchain Telegram has ~5.200 users while Waltonchain Reddit has ~19.300 users. Why is Waltonchain putting more attention into a community with less users?
A30: This question is about AMAs. Our Twitter has 53k, too. But for events like online AMAs we need the most interaction and choose Telegram and the text format because:
- Twitter fits video AMAs, but our senior executives can’t speak English, so a real-time interpreter is needed, hence the poor productivity and experience
- we also tried Reddit AMAs in 2017 and it’s not best for real-time communication.
Besides, Telegram community is the most active. So, that’s a match.
Q31: Is CEO Do Sang Hyuk more involved in KBCI or Waltonchain? What are the benefits from KBCI to Waltonchain?
A31: He is involved in both, Waltonchain being the main position. Mr. Do is our project’s originator in Korea, too. KBCI is a non-profit institution. Its certification by the Government of the Republic of Korea is a great endorsement and affirmation of our work. Waltonchain has priority to hire KBCI graduates.
Q32: Can you give any progress on Waltonchain? What is Mr. Do Sang Hyuk currently planning for WTC? What’s developed?
A32: We work on the new blockchain explorer. It needs development of new APIs and better usability. A part of the APIs will be used in the new desktop WTCwallet 2.0 (also under development). WTCwallet 2.0 will be the first decentralized desktop wallet to support WTA tokens. With the above interfaces, access to rankings and third-party wallets will be easier for WTC and WTA, which will increase the exposure of our mainnet. After the wallet and explorer, we will start the development of mainnet tools for third parties. Mr. Do works on market promotion of Waltonchain. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we can share the progress.
Q33: Does Korea Blockchain Institute use Waltonchain mainnet/testnet for its training? Or do they only use Ethereum and Hyperledger?
A33: The Government of the Republic of Korea licensed Korea Blockchain Institute and approves all the training content according with the industry trends. This includes Ethereum, PoW and PoS Waltonchain is based on as well as Hyperledger. p.s. Waltonchain has no testnet.
Q34: Why should I continue holding this token? Waltonchain has absolutely destroyed my faith. From owning a GMN to getting sucked into mining that basically lost all steam.
A34: GMN airdrops have already started. GMN pool is enough to last for 7 years with total WTC ROI of 95% (4,750 WTC) per GMN. With the two airdrops in 2018 counted in (850 WTC), it is 112%. Miners already have ROI in WTC. The current ROI on 1,000 WTC in lock-up staking is about 30% for 360 days. In these programs, we guarantee WTC rewards, but there always is the price risk. On our side, we work on WTC utilization to decrease your price risks.
Q35: I would like to know how WTC plans to attract new token buyers. I do not know of the last successful campaign to attract buyers so I may have missed something.
A35: GMN, SMN, global autonomous communities, WTA are all successful campaigns. The next one will be the start of community autonomy / governance.
Q36: Can I get Doppa Hats tracked on Waltonchain?
A36: You can track any objects of value, both physical and digital. Doppa hats, too.
Q37: Are there any partnerships or potential child chains that we do not know about in the pipeline?
A37: Yes, we’ve been discussing new partnerships you haven’t heard of yet. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we can share it publicly.
Q38: Can you tell me a reason why you think the WTC SDK has not been released in 3 years after ICO?
A38: The time after ICO is not the key point. The key point is demand. The demand was low, so we either developed ourselves or noted things for further consideration (like DApp inquiries). The chain was not ready for third party development all three years. It was ready only after the full launch, exploit fixing and a successful security audit (the latest being last September). Now we scheduled SDK release for the end of 2020.
Q39: Why were the pictures and names of team members deleted from the website?
A39: Regulatory reasons and shifting to community autonomy combined. It’s hard to do other business in China if you are a face of a cryptocurrency project, and we need to do other business because we also have hardware / IoT. Example: If someone filed 2 complaints on a team member’s name about illegal activity (just complaints, even though they may be false) you would face cease and desist. Some projects reveal their team, some not (BTC). We removed the team page out of considerations of the regulatory policy of the team’s location and the operation focus on community autonomy. We are saying the team is here. We choose the autonomy / decentralization path in part because we also don’t want to receive the cease and desist notice. As for other crypto projects who work publicly in China and target the Chinese investors, they either don’t reveal some information or have some connections we don’t have. Due to the November 2019 force majeure when Central Bank of China prohibited the promotion of cryptocurrency and Binance and Tron’s accounts in Weibo were reported, crypto communities started moving from Chinese media to Telegram and so did we. We also had to cancel a major media promotion contract in China. These are adaptive adjustments that have nothing to do with running.
Q40: WTC is going lower and lower in marketcap. The more you work the lower WTC gets in marketcap, do you consider another way of working? I believe good developments are being made, but it doesn’t reflect the price.
A40: We are up for constructive advice on the way of working, if the community has something to offer.
Just note that discussion of price reflection gets us to weird places legally and cryptocurrency market goes with the risk disclaimer. We focus on more and better developments, though.
Q41: What is your view on attracting new childchains in 2020–2021? Do new childchains arrive this year? Or aren’t childchains not a focus point anymore in the future of the Waltonchain company?
A41: We summarized the factors affecting child chain incubation in [Q22] (https://twitter.com/Waltonchain/status/1315592055318482946?s=20). We have mastered technical docking of child chains with Waltonchain but long-term operation of child chains themselves is a complex process. We admit problems with incubation of previous projects and are now more rigorous in discussion, rating and announcement of new child chains. We’ve been continuously in touch with potential projects and will reveal the details when the projects are mature.
Q42: Why are you doing another ICO if you haven’t finished building main chain?
A42: WTA had no ICO. There was pre-mining and all its participants will get their locked WTC back. Walton Chain Foundation manages WTA now and WTA Foundation will manage it after it is in place. WTA is the autonomy/governance token. We rejected the WTC-for-WTC voting plan. Also, voting with points is not transparent, so we issued the WTA token. p.s. The main chain is complete.
Q43: Why did Mo Bing leave, does he not believe in the project anymore?
A43: Mo Bing did not leave. He is our Chief Expert now and has joined 2 online AMA sessions this year.
Q44: The team seems silent. Who of the core team is still with you?
A44: The number of public events in the blockchain industry decreased both in South Korea and China, but development is ongoing. Lin Herui (Xiamen IOT), Wei Songjie (Nanjing Sleewa) and Kim Suk Ki (Quanzhou Silicon) are with us.
Q45: Can you confirm that GMN holders will still be allowed 1 more swap address in order to move it to hardware wallet once proper Ledger support is complete?
A45: Sure, after the token swap completes. Email us for an address change: services@waltonchain.org.
Q46: Is Waltonchain subsidiary still in partnerships with Alibaba Cloud? Are developments with Wuzhi New City still ongoing? If so, what type of IoT has been implemented and what impact does this have on the Waltonchain blockchain? I noticed the original partnership article is “unlisted” so I wonder if there is still a connection.
A46: Xiamen ZhongChuan is a partner of Alibaba Cloud. It provided sensors for Wuzhi Smart City construction, the project term was May through November 2018, you can see the details here https://linkmarket.aliyun.com/tms/case2. Xiamen ZhongChuan is our ecosystem partner that produces sensors. The article is unlisted because it has Waltonchain in it. There is no legal connection between Waltonchain and ZhongChuan as for regulatory reasons we didn’t manage to register Waltonchain Group in China. Waltonchain Group would have been the mother company for all companies previously presented as our subsidiaries. Therefore, without the Group and the legal connection, it was incorrect to put our name next to Alibaba Cloud.
Q47: Are Waltonchain team members and subsidiary team members allowed to trade tokens on the Waltonchain ecosystem? I see China has been cracking down on insider trading and would like to know if these laws and regulations on trading carry over to cryptocurrencies.
A47: Waltonchain ecosystem has no trading functionality. Centralized cryptocurrency trading is altogether prohibited in China and the team follows the rule. Insider trading is prohibited in Waltonchain. As cryptocurrency is deemed property, Waltonchain has plans to add the decentralized token exchange functionality to make P2P exchange available for anyone.
Q48: What is the typical background of a KBCI student before starting school? Is it a skilled software developer who takes a course in blockchain or is it a career changer who takes a course in blockchain but has little to no knowledge of software development?
A48: KBCI has courses both for students new to blockchain and for experienced developers. The new/experienced ratio is about 80/20.
Q49: How many GMNs, MNs, and SMNs are left?
A49: As of October 30, 2020, there are 397 MNs, 865 GMNs and 13 SMNs.
Q50: Looking at Chinese news sites about Waltonchain, there are some articles claiming that Monitor Chan sold a significant portion of WTC before leaving. Is there any further information or clarification to those articles?
A50: Release of the team’s tokens started only in 2020, while the news you talk about circulated in spring 2019. The information was false.
Q51: The sentiment towards Walton is very low within the community and the project is seen as somewhat of a joke within the crypto space. What practical steps will Walton team take to address this huge problem?
A51: We add missing pieces to our layout. App Store is already covered, next are desktop wallet and explorer upgrades, DApp platform, autonomy/governance, and mainnet tools, all aimed to increase the project exposure.
Q52: Will there be any announcement about DMTC?
A52: DMTC has operation difficulties, they shut down mining and the community is disappointed. Due to upgrading of the cross-chain system in 2020, Waltonchain suspended endorsement of child chain data on the parent chain. If DMTC’s operation problems persist and there is no data endorsement demand from them when the system is restored, Waltonchain parent-child chain data endorsement mechanism will automatically cancel their child chain status.
Q53: We need periodic community AMA’s to restore internal sentiment and better incentives programs to retain developers and people with networks, only the quality of people in these communities we will decide the success of WTC in the future.
A53: We have AMA’s twice a year, but due to the time limits, we can’t answer all questions. So such Q&A’s like this are useful for the community, as the core team and us can have more discussion time. As for incentives, we have Waltonchain Outstanding Contributor Reward Program since Nov 2018: bring a child chain and get 3–5% of the contract value (https://medium.com/@Waltonchain_EN/waltonchain-outstanding-contributor-reward-program-5387d0026df2). Also, when WTA governance starts, community members will be able to propose ideas and vote on them.
Q54: What’s the deal with China nowadays? Will you move your business out of China if they keep banning crypto and promotion of crypto? How can you run a commercial business like that?
A54: We don’t plan to move, we work around the ban: no promotion & no coin sales in China (coins can be mined legally, transactions happen outside China between overseas entities). There is good news coming from Hong Kong which we consider the policy change indicator: https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3108240/hong-kong-plans-ban-retail-trading-digital-currencies-and. Now retail trading is banned there (same as in China) and crypto exchanges have mandatory licensing (which is a new thing that hopefully will also come to China). Also, since 2019, HK has regulations for STOs. We see Hainan and Shenzhen as potential sandboxes for all these.
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