Kira Core AMA with Milana Valmont and Mateusz Grzelak at the t.me/amaroom
Eric: Hi Everyone!
Let’s start this AMA. Very excited.
Welcome @milanavalmont and @asmodat! Please introduce yourselves to the group first.
Asmodat: Hi everyone, my name is Mateusz, the CTO of the Kira Core. I am an electronics engineer, worked for Barclays Bank as R&D developer, then as lead infra engineer for US based Settle Finance then for the crypto exchange in Switzerland called Bity.
Milana Valmont: Hi everyone again, my name is Milana Valmont and I’m the Co-Founder & CEO of Kira Core. A little bit about myself. I grew up in LA, then moved to NYC to study finance and psychology. During my junior year I was a research intern at Roubini Global Economics. After graduating from Fordham University I started working as a Private Equity Analyst for few years before transitioning into blockchain full time. I joined crypto ecosystem in late 2016 first as an investor then in June 2017 I joined Binance as a community volunteer and then finally left the corporate world to pursue crypto full time
Eric: Impressive! Can you describe your journey into the crypto world?
Milana: Yes, so back in 2016 I started my journey as an investor then got really involved with the whole community. Got involved with Binance as a volunteer when they were first starting out. Left my corporate job and started working full time as a project manager for an ad tech protocol. In 2018 I went to Tel Aviv to join a trading platform called Knoks, as head of strategy, and started my advisory position with Sentinel.co, which I still hold to this day
Asmodat: Wow, that’s a long ride, I was mining BTC on my poor GPU before it was cool, I think that was back in 2011. Learned about it from reddit I believe. I was always interested in algorithmic trading so somewhere after MtGox I started paying with Kraken API which was and I think still is one of the best API’s out there.
Milana: Asmodat (Mateusz) and I knew each other from early slack days, and 2018 we both started as advisors for Sentinel.co. We finally met in real life during devcon 4 conference and started exchanging ideas about the future plans for crypto
Eric: Big fan of Sentinel.co! Did you know we were also one of their first AMAs?
So tell us, what is Kira Core?
Milana Valmont, [24 Jul 2020 at 7:20:25 PM]:
No way haha, yes they are fam.
Kira Core is a software development company and the main contributor to the Kira network, which includes — IX Protocol, MBPoS and IDO
Eric: What is this Kira Network and all its components?
Milana: Kira Network is a minimum viable full stack DeFi (blockchain application)
There are two main components:
1. Kira Hub — which is the settlement layer
2. Kira Zones — where the execution happens
IX Protocol is a state machine that enables trustless and permissionless asset exchange. It will be deployed on the Kira Network.
Eric: http://interchain.exchange/
I understand you just launched this ^ too
Milana: MBPoS is the underlying consensus mechanism that ensures security of the blockchain app
MBPoS natively supports staking derivatives issuances. Which enables you to stake any assets (earn revenue) and trade at the same time using IX protocol
Milana: Yes we just published it before the AMA, so that people can have more information about our token $KEX.
Eric: The project has a token called $KEX. what does it do?
Milana : KEX allows you to claim revenue from the block and fee rewards of the network. It acts like a reserve currency in terms of which staking other assets is valued
Milana: Our corporate company is based in Georgia, Tbilisi because we are operating staking services and soft dev which is legal in that jurisdiction. Our team currently 3 back end devs working on iteration 0, 1 front end dev working on IDO, and 1 senior dev working on iteration 1. And the management team currently has 3 people, myself, Asmodat and Ethan Frey
Eric Clark: @asmodat How has the tech progressed from inception? What has been coded so far? any open source repo people can check out?
Asmodat: Yes, you can check our codebase on https://github.com/kiracore
Docs repo is where whole documentation can be found including full spec for each iteration and improvement proposals which we call KIP’s.
You can also deploy Kira Network on your local as long as your CPU supports virtualization using a tool called “Kira Manager”. Info how to deploy the network it can be found here
So far we have backend for the IDO done, almost finished the minimal DeX/IXP PoC backend — Iteration 0. As Milana mentioned work on the IDO frontend already started. Work on iteration 1 (Gov + Consensus) already started after which we will have public testnet.
@milanavalmont this went viral. What was it like to meet Vitalik?
Milana:
oh no lol. It was during devcon 4 in prague, and asmodat asked me if I want to take a photo with V all of us together, i said sure, then it was only me standing there 🙄 he was shy, I was shy, we were both very shy 😂
Eric: So nothing developed after?
Milana: you mean eth 2.0? :D
as you can see
Eric: yeah bummer
Eric: last one. nothing to reveal here?
Milana : so this is Jae Kwon. We’ve met various times during few conferences. Last one was devcon in Osaka
Eric: Jesus of Cosmos
Milana: exactly
Community AMA
Q: There are lots of Project coming these days & The Main problem with many project is Adoption, Why do you think that Kira Core will Achieve #Mass_Adoption?
A: We created a very cool positive feedback loop and placed strong focus on basic security layer for the protocol.
With increasing amount of assets at stake the volume and network activity increases, in turn that generates more fees for people that stake their assets. So there is interest to stake more and more over time. Whats unique about Kira is that the more coins are staked the more secure it becomes. You can stake any digital asset that includes even NFT’s so we can attract capital coming from outside of the crypto ecosystem.
This type of mechanism combined with our crowdfunding tool called IDO, will help us have a GO at mass adoption because it will finally be possible invest in projects without huge risk exposure like during IDO era, meaning IDO can be used by investors but also by any projects that want to raise capital — enterprise, non-profit etc
Q: What is main potential Threat do you see in the Blockchain Technology Currently?
What is the real life problem Kira is aiming to solve with Blockchain?
A: Biggest threat for crypto and PoS in general are 3 things
1. nothing at stake
2. death spirals
3. security leaks
which we detailed in our blog post here
Kira and our consensus solves all those fundamental issues that arise in the interchain — with growing value of assets (at stake) in the network our consensus increases security rather then decreases like in case of other PoS.
Q: What is meant by IDO Crowdfunding ? Is it similar to ICO & IEO or it’s Different? If same, then what are the advantages of IDO over current IEO/ICO System?
A: Initial Delegator Offering as a service, which is a novel crowdfunding tool that enables investors to maintain full custody over their existing assets and pull out 100% of their investment at any time, as opposed to the ICOs where investors had to liquidate their valuable assets for illiquid tokens as well as expose themselves to the risk of projects not delivering. IDO works by investors staking their assets rather than selling them for tokens.
Q: I am an ethical hacker and experienced developer, do you have plans for hackathon so as to check the security of your ecosytem periodically and also invite developers to build on KIRA? #kira
A: Yes we have allocated part of the tokens for that purpose, we will also support bounties and developer contracting on-chain. Goal is to ensure that Kira Network does not have to only depend on Kira Core to exist long term
Q: Why did you decide to build kira core on Cosmos SDK? What are the features and benefits of the Cosmos SDK?
A: We chose Cosmos SDK because it has the most mature interchain communication protocol aka IBC, compared to other interchain solutions out there, thanks to that we will be able to reach more networks sooner and in a trustless way
Q: Many Decentralized Networks have dependencies on centralized parties, & that a weak link, Are you guys fully Decentralized? What is the main Problem You guys facing in achieving that?
A: There is going to be NO single point of failure with Kira. There is not going to be any centralized party that will host a front end or other kind of gateway, users will communicate directly with the blockchain application
Q: The huge success of COMP token has paved the way for other DeFi project in the ‘yield farming wars’. What plans are in place for Kira core to provide liquidity and minimize market volatility in the #PolkaDefi ecosystem?
A: To ensure liquidity of our protocol we use staking derivates. With Kira all your assets are liquids while you make an interest revenue, which means we don’t limit you from using other defi at the same time or using Kira on leverage
Q: Since this runs on an MBPoS Consensus, how are you going to verify and make the traditional assets stake-able in the Kira network?
A: Tokens must be first deposited on Kira Network over IBC, then gov whitelist which assets can be staked, what interest rates they have and what % of all rewards they can earn. Because assets are on our own network state machine can detect that they are locked or not.
Q: Hi! Please tell us about the recent updates regarding staking, How much tokens has been allocated for Staking & What will be the Rewards?
What the plan to raise demand of KIRA CORE?
A: We have 3 validator nodes deployed. On Kusama, Cosmos and Polkadot, around $3M has been allocated. You will get KEX as a reward when you delegate to our validators during the IDO phase
Q: Recently You guys crossed over 500k ATOM in delegations. Can You talk about its Positives? Who can Be a Delegator?
A: Anyone can be a delegator as long as you have — ATOM, DOT or KSM, there will be more token that are within the interchain ecosystem that you can stake during the IDO, eventually thanks to MBPoS you will be able to stake other assets.
Q: Why does #Kira use the Multi-Bonded Proof of Stake (MBPoS) consensus rather than other consensus: Pos, PoW? What are different?
A: MBPoS is custom designed by us to be secure in the interchain environment. N/B/DPoS consensus are not secure because if you deposit more value then the value of assets at stake then validators have incentives to misbehave. Those types of consensus mechanism are fine for masterchains that assume there will exist no other token then their own
Q: As i see, KiraCore Project is working on DeFi, Staking .. But Could you explain which types of DeFi services are offered by KiraCore Project?
A: on Kira you can stake any asset while earning revenue and trading at the same time by using staking derivatives. You can stake on multiple networks at the same time. Finally — leverage staking is possible
Q: Kira’s technology is powered by The Multi-Bonded Proof of Stake (MBPoS) is powered by Tendermint , which once brought a huge discussion in the community. Can you briefly introduce and elaborate on this Consensus? what are the advantages so you use it?
A: MBPoS is a breakthrough for securing interchain networks — it increases security with growing amounts of assets deposited (on stake), other consensus mechanism decrease their security the more foreign assets are deposited. We also natively building in derivatives issuance so that stake is liquid. That prevents security leaks as mentioned above.
Q: What areyour plans in place for global expansion, are you focusing on only market at this time? Or focus on building and developing or getting customers and users, or partnerships? #kira
A: We have huge plans on expansions, when we will be targeting different jurisdictions. Kira Core has a diverse business model where we will partners with projects on blockchain (enterprises and non profits) who want to raise money via IDO. We will target investors who want to participate in those projects. We will target users who want to use our protocol to stake any assets and earn revenue. We will also target NFT reps to make it possible to stake real world assets such as art, real estate, luxury goods etc
Q: How is the Web3 and Interchain ecosystem different from other infrastructures? How does this infrastructure provide freedom in the creation and distribution of distributed applications
A: Most importantly individual network can specialize in delivering specific/scalable/dApps that no one has to trust. You no longer have a single net craping all use cases into one and taking all the apps down the second something goes wrong. Failures of one network no longer propagate in the interchain ecosystem.
Q: COVID 19 has slowed many economies around the world but crypto business has it affected you negatively or positively? Secondly, are you still on track to achieve your targets as the road map says?
A: Luckily for us covid brought more focus and resilience to Kira. We worked hard, achieved a lot in such short period of time, connected to amazing people in the industry
Q: What’s with Kira Interchain Exchange, how is it different from other exchanges, what unique features have you introduced that cannot be found in similar state-of-the-art DEXs ?
A: There is going to be NO single point of failure with Kira. There is not going to be any centralized party that will host a front end or other kind of gateway, users will communicate directly with the blockchain application
Q: Is your aim, to become the number one (leader) in the building decentralized Applications platform ? and if so what will you say is your biggest strength to achieve it?
A: #Question19 Our biggest strength is to not only build but to ensure that they are both independent — fault tolerant from the masterchains and secure
Q: Why did Kira adopt “User can vote only if you were elected to vote by gov” model so what is the special benefit of that?, In spite of the limitations of PoS, so Why did Kira use PoS? Is Kira have any plan of changing the POS consensus algorithm later in the future?
A: because tokens over time always centralize in the hands of a few which destroys PoS security assumptions — in Kira every identifiable actor has the same voting power as any other. Kira uses MBPoS to ensure there is real value at stake, not just artificial tokens. We have our own custom consensus it will definitely evolve over time
Q: How will the demand for ($KEX) will increase in the future? or What steps would you take to increase the demand? May I know how do you plan to attract more business partnerships to your project?
A: we are only distributing little over 25% of tokens. KEX holders have the ability to become part of the governance and the validator set of the Kira Network. Kira’s governance has the ability to define interest rates for staking foreign tokens which in turn increases security and liquidity of our exchange protocol. KEX acts as a reserve currency in terms of which staking all other assets is valued.
Thanks to this mechanism governance can ensure that staking KEX is not only the most profitable in comparison to other tokens but also attracts other token holders and increases network activity.
The Positive Feedback Loop
Users deposit and stake assets on the Kira Network, this increases Network security and the IX Protocol increases in liquidity. Furthermore, due to growing amount of liquid asset, trading activity increases which in turn means that rewards from network fee grows. This incentivizes deposits and staking more foreign assets, repeating the cycle itself.
Q: Can you explain more about Multi-Asset Staking using Kira Protocol and what mechanism has Kira Protocol put in place to prevent malicious behaviour of network operators?#kira
A: Kira uses gov curated validator set, this ensures that you can’t join validator set by simply stealing coins or by finding an exploit and printing infinite amount of some token. Also each validator has an equal voting power (chance to propose a block) regardless of the amount of assets at stake they have. Validators that do not obey a Code of Conduct can be evicted.
Q: Say we stake/lock $Kira on IDO. then we got another token. How can be we mined another token.? Can you explain please?
A: you stake tokens that you already have and instead of block rewards you will receive our token
Q: Cosmos a big partner of Kira? What benefits does #Kira receive when working with Cosmos? Any big partnership?
A: Cosmos is a decentrilized network it does not partner with projects, projects use it to inter connect
Q: Are there any new partnerships and interesting upcoming use-cases?
A: We recently have partnered with Persistance, which is an enterprise blockchain similar to hyperledger, and few more projects that later will be revealed
Q: How are the private validator nodes deployed to any distributed network, and can your agents be affected by potential risks that may occur in these networks? (Like cyber attacks)
A: We deploy or validators in a private DC in Malta, we run KMS and HSM, risks of faults are common for all PoS, on our end we mitigate all risks best to our knowledge.
Q: In your opinion, what is a full stack DeFi ecosystem? What tools does Kira Core provide to support DeFi? Do you think the DeFi trend is only short-term and only a reason to attract investors?
A: Full stack DeFi — means a self sustainable network. We want for our MBPoS to be reused among as many projects in the ecosystem as possible which is a perfect consensus for any DeFi — That is our main contribution to support defi beside the market access. I personally think that DeFi trend will be with us for quite a bit as it does not require huge throughput in comparison to social apps from previous paradigm so should be sustainable on-chain
Q: What are #Kira’s advantages over centralized exchange (CEX) and decentralized exchange (DEX) ?
A: Most importantly Kira does not form honey pots like typical CEX’es or DEX’es, but increase security with growing amount of assets. Kira is also one of very few solutions where users communicate directly with the blockchain app without any middleman. Most DEX’es have operators that host you fronted — and if that fronted is DDOS’ed you will have no access to your app. Kira is more DeFi than DeX, the exchange protocol is just a first showcase how MBPoS can be used to induce liquidity into the network to fuel a blockchain/DeFi app.
Q: What is your long-term vision of the industry where the Kira Core works? Are you afraid that one day there will be another project with more innovative technology that can replace Kira Core?
A: Kira is a layer 1 and its consensus is designed to be reused by as many projects as possible. Kira makes more money the more staking assets and their derivatives are available in the entire ecosystem. We can also interconnect with any decentralized or centralized network whether or not that is over IBC, XCMP or other protocol. We are looking forward for future innovative technologies to arise, we will definitely look to incorporate them in the future
Q: What’s your outlook on the future of cryptocurrencies? What can you do to keep increasing adoption?
A: IDO and MBPoS is our answer to that question, MBPoS brings security to crypto while IDO attracts capital from outside of the ecosystem to fuel it
Q: What are the benefits of cross-chain transfers and frictionless trading? What problems are the exchange (CEX + DEX) facing? And how can Kira Protocol solve it?
A: Main benefit is that you do not have to trust anyone when depositing tokens. All exchanges suffer from lack of liquidity and honeypot forming, Kira solves it by introducing concept of liquid staking — which both increases security and liquidity
Closing Remarks
Eric: Ok. What an AMA! Let’s wrap up!
@milanavalmont @asmodat please invite everyone to the Kira channels and groups.
Milana: Thank you so much everyone for your questions! I hope we answered them as efficiently as possible. If you still have more questions you can ask them in our group 😀 https://t.me/kirainterex
thank you @ERCSU for organizing this AMA
Eric: Awesome. @asmodat anything you wanna add?
Asmodat: There is also a private channel for Kira delegators, if you are staking ATOM, KSM or DOT with us you can PM me for the access
Can also follow our twitter here
and check out blog posts on our medium
Eric: Alright. that concludes our AMA with @kira_core
