In case you missed it, here is a transcript of the Parachain Domain AMA that covered SORA’s parachain strategy, Polkaswap, Many Worlds One Economy, and more.
On Friday the tenth of December, the Parachain Domain community hosted an AMA on their Telegram with SORA. This AMA has been cited and a few snippets have been shared across the SORA and Polkaswap communities, however, some people that were not able to join are not aware of the entire context of these quotes. Not to worry though, here is a verbatim transcript of the AMA, edited for easy reading and limited to the core Q&A’s that made this conversation so interesting. There is also a lot of quoteworthy content, so we hope you enjoy it.
The questions and answers have been edited for clarity
Parachain Domain: Hey Makoto! How are you? Can you introduce yourself?
Makoto Takemiya: I’m Makoto Takemiya, the co-founder and CEO of SORAMITSU. I am a computer scientist and currently a PhD student at the University of Tokyo. I got into crypto in 2013, and have been enthralled by the possibilities of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to improve the human condition.
PD: Can you please give us an elevator pitch for SORA?
MT: SORA is a new world economic system that combines on-chain, democratic governance with the ability to allocate XOR tokens for the creation of productive economic output. The goal of this is to provide the resources needed to push humanity forward technologically and to solve the countless problems we have.
PD: What problems is SORA solving? In as high-level terms as it possibly gets?
MT: SORA solves the problem of the creation and allocation of new purchasing power in an economy. According to Fisher’s equation of exchange, ΔMV=PΔY, new output requires the expansion of the monetary base, M. To be more precise, M should be created specifically and exclusively for the creation of Y, which are new goods and services.
In the context of SORA, this means that new XOR tokens should be created and distributed for investment into the creation of new goods and services that take XOR for payment. This will push humanity forward, realizing the creation of a supranational and democratic governance structure to allocate capital in a fair way. This could be through development loans for nations or equity investments in startups, where the new purchasing power can be used for production.
Many people are unaware of how important it is to allocate money in an economy. The problem that SORA is solving compared to other projects, is that most cryptoeconomic systems lack a rational way to allocate new tokens in their economies.
PD: On a more technical level, one of your fans told me KSM were coming to Polkaswap soon. Is it true? Do you build your own bridge or will this be based on the Moonriver “ERC20 converter” for KSM/Statemine token or just through XCMP when Sora will become a parachains ? Or something else ? Thanks
MT: Oh, great question. We are planning to set up a new network as a parachain, called somewhat uncreatively (I admit!) the SORA Kusama Parachain network (SKP). Once that is set up, we will just bridge to our existing SORA network to the SORA Kusama Parachain, to move tokens back and forth. This will still take some time to implement, of course, but we are planning to start joining the Kusama parachain auctions this month, continuing until we win!
PD: So you’ll run a one token strategy for both chains? Or a separate one for the new chain? Just so it’s clear for all members.
MT: Yes, both chains will use XOR. It is part of the Many Worlds, One Economy goal of SORA.
PD: Oh nice, so your Kusama parachain will be some kind of third relay chain in the ecosystem? A bit like what EWC has announced too?
Could you tell us what bring you to the conclusion you needed to do that ?
What would be the advantage of doing that instead of onboarding SKP chains to get a slot on Kusama?
MT: I wouldn’t call it a relay chain. The SORA Kusama Parachain will be a parachain, so it will get transaction finality from Kusama. It will just link to other networks in specialized ways as well.
There are several advantages to doing it this way. We can keep our existing network running with faster block times and independent/easy to evolve, while at the same time having an area of shared security and compatibility with the Kusama relay chain for some specific use cases. The first use case, of course, will be bringing KSM to the SORA network and to Polkaswap!
PD: Sora recently introduced the XSTUSD stable coin to the network. Can you please tell us more about this and how well has it been adopted by the community so far?
MT: Sure. Currently, over $700k worth of XSTUSD has been created, by burning XOR to mint XSTUSD. It is a stable coin that is pegged via a primary market maker on Polkaswap, that has infinite XOR, and will always buy your XSTUSD for $1 per XSTUSD. Conversely, $1 of XSTUSD is created by burning $1 worth of XOR.
You can read about it here and here
PD: What are your priority target groups for network growth? Does SORA have a fleshed-out expansion plan? Or do you believe more in fully letting the ecosystem run its course and gradually expand its coverage? Build and they will come if you will.
MT: We want to focus on projects to build dApps on the SORA network, as well as other projects to use our financial infrastructure. For example, I would love it if XSTUSD could be added as a collateral of MakerDAO.
We are also working on expanding the ecosystem and we have started the SORA Builders Programme to provide support for those who want to build in the SORA ecosystem.
Additionally, we have an RFP process where anyone can suggest new features for development
PD: What are the next few steps for you guys?
MT: We aim to set up both Kusama and Polkadot parachains, and expand asset bridges to all EVM-based networks in the short term. Also, the Fearless Wallet team is working on adding support for the SORA network and ecosystem. So just building this basic infrastructure are the immediate next steps.
PD: Do you plan on using pallets from other DotSama parachains ? I’m thinking about Picasso obviously here and their many bridges to different kind of L1 and L2. Or does everything will be Sora made/remade ?
MT: Yes, we also use many standard pallets and our SORA — SORA Kusama Parachain bridge is building on Parity’s bridge code quite a lot.
PD: How would you describe the role that Polkaswap is playing for the project?
MT: Polkaswap is the decentralized financial market infrastructure for the SORA economy. It is the main liquidity source for XOR and integrates the XOR token bonding curve as the primary market maker for the token.
Polkaswap is the DEX for the interoperable DeFi future on Polkadot and is also where XSTUSD has its primary market maker. Bridges to EVM-based networks and links to the SORA parachains will make Polkaswap the best source for liquidity for all substrate tokens.
You can check out this article for more details as well
PD: You recently released your rewards plans for crowdloaners on Kusama, and I can tell you that in some corners of the DotSama space people are laughing at them. That’s always the case with projects having a circulating token already, it’s hard to beat the excitation that an uncirculating token is bringing, especially since MoonRiver.
My question is, do you have a plan to raise them to get a parachains slot faster? And aren’t you afraid of not getting one at all? Or do you think there will be plenty of slot and that one way or another you’ll get yours?
MT: I don’t think we will have any trouble getting a parachain slot. Kusama parachain auctions are not very competitive right now. It was precisely the anticipation of this that we have waited until now. It doesn’t make sense to hurt the long-term viability of our tokenomics just for a 10-month lease. So we offer only a token amount of tokens (see what I did there) and not very serious rewards because we don’t have to give out more. Users will get their KSM back at the end of the lease period, and they get some free tokens from the SORA ecosystem to show gratitude.
Also, we are not in a rush to get a slot, so we do not care if we lose at first. Eventually, we will win, no problem.
PD: I watched your interviews and I know you are not a fan of the Crowdloans is that still the case? This is an older interview with you.
MT: Yeah, I think it is bad in the long term for projects. So after we get KSM on the SORA network, we will just mint XOR via referendum to buy KSM and have a treasury.
Right now we don’t have a choice because we do not have a parachain and don’t have KSM on the SORA network.
PD: But don’t you see the PLO as a really good opportunity to further decentralize token holders right from the start, and create an even bigger user base/community? Or instead you believe the drawbacks outweigh the advantages?
MT: You are right that there are certain marketing outcomes from crowdloans that are good. However, it seems kind of weird still to have to go and beg for tokens every 10 months. It’s better to have a self-sufficient amount of KSM held by the ecosystem instead.
PD: As a developer still trying to get attention to your project in the relative starting phase. Do you partly look forward to the bear market? Where undoubtedly hype coins which have much marketing but no substance will be weeded out and discussions on the market go back more to fundamentals and actual progressing of an ecosystem? Or do you prefer the madness of the bull where the money comes fast? Hypes rise or fall in a week. And proper info often gets lost in the noise and you hope the right people and channels still pick it up?
MT: The bear market is not an easy experience. I’ve been through many and even if you have high quality and good ideas, it is not enough. I don’t know if we will have a normal bull-bear cycle, though. USD is getting rekt.
PD: As far as XOR becoming a currency for Nation States, are you able to share any potential progress or hints towards this?!
MT: Some of the ideas are written about here. In general, nation-states can benefit from using a supranational token like XOR, where they can join in the governance process to request newly minted XOR tokens for productive investment. It’s much better than debt-based economies. However, I cannot talk about any specifics. If you have any countries you think are a good target, please just DM me and tell me what you think.
PD: Is XOR a utility token? Can you briefly list all the purposes it serves/will serve?
MT: Indeed, XOR is a utility token, or rather, THE utility token of the SORA network. It has quite a few uses, first of all, transaction fees (gas) on the SORA network are paid in XOR. It is also used to add liquidity to pairs on Polkaswap, and it is used to stake and to nominate validators on the SORA network (about 15% of the supply is locked up in nominating validators).
PD: Is there a road map? If so, at what stage is Sora at right now?
MT: Our roadmap is really defined by the motto: Many Worlds. One Economy.
PD: How has the network performed to date in terms of uptime, transactions, liquidity, etc.?
MT: Uptime has been 100%. So far there have been no problems with block production.
There have been 3,124,521 blocks and 3,064,608 transactions (according to https://sora.subscan.io/)
PD: Do you find it hard atm to onboard quality devs? Or do you have an abundance of choices in your region? What advice would you give to members looking to get active as a developer in the space? Do you see a lack of certain profiles you’d recommend to put focus towards?
MT: We hire a lot of devs and our company size has doubled in the past year. Additionally, there are other teams building in the SORA ecosystem now, like Ceres and Umi, and hopefully many more to come.
It’s always hard to find high-quality people. It just takes time and effort, but they are out there if you look.
PD: I noticed that you mentioned it briefly up there. Can you tell us a little bit about the token bonding curve and how does it work?
MT: In simple words, the token bonding curve is essentially an infinitely liquid, decentralized central bank. At any time, you can buy newly minted XOR from the token bonding curve using some specific reserve assets (such as ETH or DAI), or sell your XOR tokens (which are instantly burned) for one of those assets. There is constant upward pressure on XOR because it is burned with each transaction, so the TBC is used to meet the demand for the XOR token in an elastic way.
PD: Are you open to a multitude of exchange listings and believe the market regulates itself in time? Or are you very selective in cooperation with exchanges?
MT: So far we have not worked with any exchanges that have listed our tokens. I don’t think Satoshi went around begging people to list BTC. It’s my opinion that XOR/VAL/PSWAP/XSTUSD are a big part of the new world economic order and everyone will list them in due time.
PD: What are the main challenges SORA faces right now, going forward?
MT: SORA has to work hard to reverse trends of greater and greater centralization in financial resource allocation and planning. There are also significant global trends against human freedom and we have to work very hard to overcome these trends and bring liberation and empowerment to humanity. We can do this in part through the SORA Parliament, which is a decentralized global governance system that we are also working to set up
PD: What are your goals for the next year for SORA and Polkaswap?
MT: To become Kusama and Polkadot parachains and expand the bridges to all EVM-based networks!
Besides that, we are working on expanding the ecosystem and we have started the SORA Builders Programme to provide support for those who want to build in the SORA ecosystem. One year goes by really fast, but we think we can work with many teams in our ecosystem to build new and amazing features that users will love to use while bringing our goal of creating a world ecosystem to life.
PD: What is the strongest advantage that you think will make SORA lead the market?
MT: A deep understanding of economics and blockchain are unmatched I think. I personally have been working in the blockchain space since 2013, and I think the work we are doing is truly meaningful and is the correct path to push humanity and also decentralized technologies forward.
AMA shifts to audience questions
Audience Question 1: Bridge mechanism have any insurance, safety offer too?
MT: The HASHI bridge used on Polkaswap.io is a SORA ecosystem Systemically Important Infrastructure, so any losses due to hacks or exploits are promised to be covered by the ecosystem via minting XOR. This is part of the Social Insurance for Systemically Important Infrastructure
AQ 2: During these days, be a Multi-chain platform is an obligation to be considered a competitive project, so can you explain who how many chains are you able to support?
MT: Via parachains, we can support access to every parachain network of Kusama and Polkadot. Once the EVM bridge is ready, BSC, AVAX, EWC, and Klaytn will be added, in addition to Ethereum
AQ 3: Do the token holders have the right to participate in the governance of the project? What kind of decisions can they vote on about the project?
MT: Right now anyone with XOR can vote in referendums on-chain. In the future, the SORA Parliament will allow only citizens to vote via random sortition. Citizens will need at least 150 XOR.
You can read more here or watch this
AQ: Oracles on SORA! What can you tell us more about that? How is it related to synthetic XST assets?
MT: SORA has its own oracle protocol that is being implemented in Substrate. It will allow price feeds from oanda.com to be written on-chain, enabling the creation of XST assets for any currency supported in Oanda.
AQ 4: Do you have AUDIT certificate or are you working to AUDIT your project, so that the security of the project becomes more secure and reliable?
MT: In addition to this audit, we also got another audit recently and will publish results early next year I think.
AQ: Do we have Liquidiy on the networks? and what is the usecase of the normal sora network then? its a bit confusing in my eyes.
MT: Liquidity on Polkaswap.io can be seen here: https://tools.cerestoken.io/pairs
There’s pretty good liquidity for many token pairs.
The use case of the SORA network is the main network of the ecosystem, but other networks, like the SORA Kusama Parachain, are also full blockchains and can be upgraded by on-chain governance to become anything the community wants or needs in the future. Our goal is to create a world economic system, so having many chains using the SORA tokens and economic utilities will help to realize our vision.
AQ: Long time XOR/Val/Pswap holder/farmer/liquidity provider here. Also co-creator of the first white listed native polkaswap coin called TAMUcoin. Does the parachain mark the move from testnet to live? With that what is the timeframe for being able to more easily onboard Fiat? Like maybe through the Sora app or fearless wallet?
MT: What does TAMU coin do? I remember I saw it on the whitelist.
The SORA network is already live, so we don’t really consider the parachain to be that different from what we have now. It will just increase interoperability.
For onboarding through fiat, some countries will be able to use moonpay to buy crypto, as you can see on the testnet
However, it will still be quite some time before buying XOR will become easier. Right now it still is for professional shitcoiners.
PD: Makoto you were absolutely amazing. Very informative and obviously the community has some excitement for the project
MT: Thanks guys. Glad everyone is SORA-pilled now
About SORA, Polkaswap, and Fearless Wallet
SORA is a new economic system aimed at creating a supranational multiverse economic system with built-in tools for decentralized finance (DeFi). The SORA network implements a new way of parachain architecture on Polkadot and Kusama network, with the capability to bridge external blockchains (like Ethereum) to the Polkadot ecosystem.
One of the DeFi applications that will run on the SORA network is Polkaswap, a non custodial liquidity aggregating, cross chain AMM DEX designed uniquely for the Polkadot ecosystem with boundless liquidity through its one-of-a-kind Aggregate Liquidity Technology (ALT).
Fearless Wallet is a mobile wallet designed for the decentralized future on the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem, with support for iOS and Android platforms. An awesome user experience, fast performance, and secure storage for your accounts. Fearless Wallet will integrate Polkaswap for easy, decentralized swaps of assets.
Connect with Us:
SORA community:
Twitter | Telegram | Reddit | Youtube | Announcements Channel
Polkaswap community:
Twitter | Telegram | Reddit | Youtube | Announcement Channel
Fearless Wallet community:
Twitter | Telegram | Element | Youtube | Android App | iOS App
SORA x Parachain Domain AMA Recap was originally published in SORA on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
