Community AMA Recap
I. Intro
Slavian: Hello and welcome to one of the most anticipated AMAs we’ve ever had!
Welcome to all new faces in our ranks. We hope you come to love these events just like our early supporters do.
As usual, we’re going to check on our MDs, then go to some interesting questions you’ve been asking and finally go to your live questions and thoughts.
We’ll try to answer as many questions as we can. Don’t worry if we didn’t include yours. You can ask live (in the second part of the AMA) or wait for the next AMA, where we shuffle topics!
Let’s get started.
Hi Derek, hi Robert!
Derek Mayne: Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to all the new community members!
Robert Sharratt: Hello all. Happy to be here. Thanks for your support.
Derek Mayne: I didn’t catch how many total we had here last time, but we have that big jump over 2000.
As well, 2840 token holders as of right now, more than enough to get the token symbol changed on Uniswap…
A couple of things to clarify and update: As I said in the Medium article this week, the move to an IBAN model is big step forwards. There’s part of me that thinks that we were deliberately targeted in the Dodo hack so we are currently reviewing the plans for digital security around the whole system.
We currently have 70 community members signed up to test the demo product and we expect to be rolling out the demo to select users in the next few weeks. This will be done in stages with a small group of 5–10 community members as well as some of the advisors.
Slavian: Let’s get going, then.
Let’s jump right into some popular questions from the community. Thank you to everyone for contributing!
II. Community Submitted Questions
Slavian: Q. As far as competitors are concerned: are you aware of any of the big defi platforms going forward to offer a saving product with 100% insurance like you are going to? I am wondering why they have not done that so far.
Derek Mayne: A. We are not aware of any competitors at the moment. The concept is unique right now, but we know that it could be replicated with some effort. Regulation, Blockchain, and Insurance are the 3 pillars of CrescoFin.
Rob’s experience in the receivable’s space was invaluable in the early days when we were putting things together. I came from 10 years in the FX world and had 2 FCA regulated firms so was quite well versed in what we needed to have in place for regulation. When we brought Simon in on the insurance side, it all came together.
We don’t expect to be able to enjoy this space by ourselves forever.
Slavian: Q. Also, when products are up and running, do you see the insured savings account as an attractive alternative to a government bond? Would you describe them as safe as a government bond, or are they riskier/safer? Maybe pie in the sky thinking right now but if US treasury yields were to rise above 3% do you see this as something that could then cause a lot of withdrawals?
Derek Mayne: A. We think that our products will always outperform deposits, short term bonds or investment certificates. Our technology allows us to scale without the heavy load that banks have in the same space. We are focused on deposit taking and receivables, and here focus is the key.
With respect to treasury yields, a rise in yields will trigger a rise across all sectors in interest rates. This will have a knock on effect to all the competitors and bank lending across the board so we see that we would be able to track the rise in interest rates should they ever rise again in the near future. The current thinking is that we will always be able to pay our depositors 3% over and above the notional rate in USD.
Slavian: Q. What can you tell us about the app development team? How many devs, QA testers etc?
Derek Mayne: A. We have several teams working right now as the project has several aspects to it. The challenge of integrating traditional banking and planning for DeFi is not simple. In the next few months, we will be hiring more and more Devs and would like to give those inside the community a chance to join before we reach out to external hires.
Slavian: Q. If I stake in GYSR, I need to compete with others to get the most rewards.
If I am not a whale, after deducting the gas cost and $GYSR cost, I will basically not get any rewards.
GYSR’s stake is only beneficial to whales. This is not fair at all. If the multiplier can be exchanged for $GYSR, this game is unfair to most. Whales will withdraw rewards on a regular basis, which is likely to cause the available rewards to always remain below 1000 wCRES. Most people share a few Wcres together (maybe less than 100 Wcres, because the available rewards will remain below 1000.), even if they have staked for 120 days.
What can we do in response to this situation?
Derek Mayne: A. First on the subject of Geyser, we would like to announce that we will be minting an NFT for all the LPs that have participated. This will be a limited edition of 100. And no, you can’t see the design until it’s minted.
But Monty has approved it…
Geyser is meant as a long term solution for providing liquidity and receiving wCRES as a reward. We set the rewards and the multiplier (4X) so we would focus on the long term LPs. Simply example, if you were due 1 wCRES at the start for any given time period, at 120 days (ends July 4), you would be getting 4 wCRES for the same time period. I think this is a good subject for a small case study with the help of GYSR and we’ll get back to it with some hard numbers. We’re really happy with the results so far and hope that people will continue to join. I topped it up again just this morning…
There is obviously a cut off where it does not make sense to join, let us get back to you this week where we think it is
Regarding IL in the GYSR pool, I can repost but I worked out that the rewards for those that became LPs before the price swing, was about 1.6 for every token that was lost to IL. Again, the 25k rewards are not fixed and we will continue to monitor and make sure it is fair for everyone.
Slavian: Q. I was curious about your github but it is empty, any idea why?
Robert Sharratt: A. Our GitHub has the source code for the CRES and wCRES equity tokens, which are matched 1:1 to shares in CrescoFin SA. We are delighted to be the first regulated company to issue real equity shares in crypto.
This source code is designed to be “permanent” unless changed by community vote, so it won’t update. It is the code for the equity shares and not for the application.
You can read an in-depth article about it here: https://medium.com/crescofin/creating-defi-equity-tokens-1ca82cbb7dba
It is possible that we will open our application so that others can build on it and we may also offer SDK, API access in the future.
For our stablecoin, we plan to open source this code after testing is complete. Details to come.
Philosophically, we are strong believers in money legos and composability.
Slavian: Q. Do you see blockchain interoperability as a key aspect for Crescofin? (BSC, Opera, Solana, Avalanche and such)
Robert Sharratt: A. I am following other chains and L2 solutions closely. The chains you mention, except BSC, but including Fantom, Terra, and Polkadot.
For our Proof of Delivery, we hash *information* to chain. This requires low costs and will eventually be in large volumes, so not suitable for the current Ethereum chain. I’m a strong fan of Ethereum and I think that this will always be our main focus (I even went through the same school system as Vitalik in Toronto for high school) but, for this, it is just info not financials, so we need another solution.
I had a great conversation with Mounir from Paraswap last week about their cross-chain work. I’m also super interested in what Antonio and the team from dydx have done for L2, using zk-snarks.
In the future Cresco’s offerings will be cross-chain, for sure.
You can see me chatting with the Bankless guys about future plans for Cresco here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtsQhha41Wc&t=1126s
Slavian: Q. Are there any other plans in the future for token utility besides equity/dividends?
Robert Sharratt: A. No, it isn’t our model. Our vision is to offer amazing financial products in both fiat and crypto, ones that offer better return-risk parameters. We see customers having to buy a token from us as unnecessary: they can place money with us in USD, EUR, CHF (others to come) and also in crypto (DAI, USDC, etc.).
What we do have in mind is to give special benefits to you, our community, for holding $wCRES, like maybe special Tokenholder credit cards, waiver on transaction fees, early/special access to products, etc.
I’m loving the card design ideas. All community suggestions are welcome.
Slavian: Q. What hair products does Derek use?
Derek Mayne: A. I can’t believe it’s taken this long to get something like this on the AMA.
😂
I use Percy and Reed. https://www.percyandreed.com/
Long story, but I know the founder and I think the results are excellent. Sometimes they are a bit too good right?
Slavian:
And for the last one today!
Q. Are you open to doing video AMAs?
Derek Mayne: A. We think it’s a great idea, next one?
Slavian:
Great, it’s a deal then.
Thank you everyone! Let’s move on to the live questions now. I’m going to open the chat!
Chat is open!
III. Live Questions from the Community
W: Q. What happens if you have a 100mil deposit but you only have 50mil worth of invoices?
Robert Sharratt: A. Our model is matched funding + blockchain tech + insurance.
So, if we have excess deposit demand and cannot match it against supply, then we don’t take the savings deposits. We would have a waitlist for when we can match to supply. The market sizes on both sides (deposits, supply/trade finance) are enormous. However, there will be times when there is a mis-match. From a risk perspective, we don’t take on obligations unless they are matched. And fully insured.
Koploseus: Q. Is everything rolling on schedule for the end of April ?
Derek Mayne:
A. We’ll be issuing an updated roadmap next week once we confirm the integrations and security audits
JF: Q. Do you think we can get some other members of the team on the AMAs?
Would be interesting to hear their stories.
Derek Mayne: A. Great idea.
Robert Sharratt: A. As Derek said, good idea. We are probably going to move to other forums as well. Elsa has suggested Clubhouse, others are keen on zoom or some live streaming services.
Цезарь: Q. How’s the team, health and wellness?
Derek Mayne: A. To be honest, we’re all working really hard. The team retreat to Chalet Cressie will be a much needed break for all of us.
Terracrypt: Q. Any update on the institutional & sharia compliance front?
Derek Mayne: A. We have continued with our existing institutional clients and will start scaling once we roll out the Institutional app in the next few weeks. The Sharia compliance is also in progress, but it may need a segregated set up so the funds are not mixed. We’ll have this in the updated roadmap.
Dope Boy: Q. If I deposit money in CrescoFin, will have I to pay taxes on the 3% APY? Will I have to pay taxes on dividends?
Robert Sharratt: A. From a Swiss perspective, there is no tax on our savings product. That is because it is technically a capital gain and not interest. Switzerland is a very civilised country and there is no capital gains tax here. Just another reason you should all consider moving here.
You may have to pay tax in your home country, on the capital gains.
For dividends, you will have to pay tax also in your home country.
i chart in log: Q. Is there any progress with recovering the final funds owed from DODO or is it still ongoing with lawyers? Since buybacks have been paused, are there any plans for the funds recovered so far (earmarked for marketing, staffing, etc)?
Derek Mayne: A. As we said originally, there will be no comment until this process is complete. The funds that we have recovered are earmarked for further development. The token listing was always a fund raising exercise so in a way, it solved a problem for us.
Dennis: Q. Is a coinbase listing planned?
Robert Sharratt: A. No. We are strong supporters of DeFi and are proud to be the first regulated firm to issue real equity tokens on Uniswap. What Hayden and his team have built is revolutionary. High gas prices suck, but centralised exchanges suck more.
JF: Q. Is there any long term agreement in place with the Lloyds syndicate? Is there any risk of losing underwriting capacity in the near term?
Whilst the captive is under development.
Derek Mayne: A. We feel that Lloyds has sufficient capacity at the moment as we speak to several different syndicate members there. The captive plans are moving ahead and we should have some movement in April. We will add this to the roadmap as it has several stages.
The institutional product has always been in place so we will be focusing back here first.
Adrien: Q. We saw hacks can happen. What other risks or black swans events could derail the march forward?
Derek Mayne: Q. We think the hack on Dodo was an early stage risk. We will not be listing there again until we need to and are convinced the security is sorted.
And in the current state, a black swan event is the global meltdown of the telecoms industry which we’re not sure would happen.
Michael: Q. If dividends will be paid out in the future, does the wcres token need to be swapped into the proper stock or will/can dividends also be paid out to Wcres?
Derek Mayne: A. You will need to do KYC and then unwrap to CRES. This will give you full access to dividends.
Linix: Q. When’s the VISA card going to launch?
Derek Mayne: A. It will be in V1.1 or 1.2 of the app. We’re focused on making the core product function as intended right now.
Dope Boy: Q. Since your equity is an ERC20 token, would a listing on NASDAQ be possible, for example?
Robert Sharratt: A. The ERC20 tokens are just a symbol of equity ownership in the company; they are matched 1:1 with the shares in CrescoFin SA.
So, a listing on Nasdaq is possible. I’d be disappointed if it didn’t happen as we grow.
Koploseus: Q. I’m a DeFI maximalist, I get that your DAI/USDC inside the app will be non custodial, but what happens if the company goes dark ? (worst scenario) how Llyods will refund us?
Robert Sharratt:
A. If you are in a savings product, you need to do KYC, regardless of whether it is held in crypto or fiat. So, you get paid directly, not via the company. Further, you will be identified and included as the Loss Payee under the insurance policy. If you don’t get paid and Cresco disappears for whatever reason, the depositor is covered directly and your identity is known.
If Cresco “goes dark” pick up the phone and call our regulator on +41 22 310 07 35
see their website here https://arif.ch/en/
and here https://www.finma.ch/en/finma/finma-an-overview/
and tell them that you suspect something is wrong. They are 5–7 minutes down the street.
This isn’t like some other companies in crypto.
Skinnjakka: Q. Any update on the custodian agreement?
Robert Sharratt: A. We are regulated in Switzerland to provide custodian services. For the custodial wallet idea, we are working on getting this insured by Lloyds, for normies.
There will also be a non-custodial wallet option. Working on both of them.
We hold some wCRES shares as custodians. For example, we hold Real Vision’s equity tokens as custodians.
Is this what you mean?
If I didn’t answer your exact question please ask it or DM me.
i chart in log: Q. Semi-serious question for the future, will I have to unwrap my cressies to attend shareholder dinners?
Derek Mayne: A. We’ll probably start with a meeting at a pub… I guess we need a wCRES secret handshake.
Robert Sharratt: A. Haha no! All $wCRES holders will be super welcome at Chalet Cressie dinners …
Tina (will never DM you first): Q. I saw on your website that you are dedicated to help non-profit causes like wwf. I think that’s pretty awesome! Will there also be an in app option for retail users to donate to those projects to further support them? One thing I hate about banks is how little they care about the environment and other ethical issues.
Robert Sharratt: A. Yes, you will be able to see in the app how much we have donated to charity.
Skinnjakka: Q. Cheers! 😁 can’t wait for the news. Would you guys think using wrapped equity as collateral on AAVE to be a bad idea? Or exciting?
Derek Mayne: A. We’re focused on getting CrUSD into Aave at the moment.
Thanks everyone, always great to drop in and be in touch!
If Rob and I are in the same place in 2 weeks, next one can be on video!
Robert Sharratt: Thank you to everyone for taking the time to join us! Your belief sustains us as we work on replacing banking with code!
Slavian: Thanks a lot for taking part in this AMA, guys. For the new people to know, will be scheduling regular sessions like these in Telegram (every 2 weeks)
Stay tuned for next time!
