Covalent AMA Recap

01 Sep 202018:08

AMA

Covalent AMA Recap

Cryptodiffer Team

Hello, everyone!😁

We are glad to meet here:

Adrian Jonklaas CFO, Head of research at Covalent
Welcome Adrian, thank you for taking your time today!

Adrian Jonklaas

👋
My pleasure

Cryptodiffer Team

☺️
Our team has prepared 3 questions for you to start with!

Adrian Jonklaas

sounds good

Cryptodiffer Team

Let`s start with the introduction !

Q1: Can you introduce yourself to our community?

Adrian Jonklaas

Sure
I am Adrian Jonklaas. I am the CFO/COO and Head of Research at Covalent. I joined Covalent 2 months ago, so I am still relatively new to the team.
Though my academic qualifications are in Comp Sci, my professional career has been in market research, management consulting, and finance.
I first got into blockchain in late 2016/early 2017 when I cofounded a startup that became a regulated security token exchange.
That's a short intro :)
Blog post on why I joined Covalent: my blog: https://www.covalenthq.com/blog/adrian-joins-covalent/

Cryptodiffer Team

Perfect, thank you for the introduction:)
Now I think it is time to talk about Covalent 🚀

Q2: Can you introduce Covalent to us?

Adrian Jonklaas

Covalent provides a unified API bringing visibility
to billions of blockchain data points.
It can be useful to think of Covalent as the opposite of ChainLink. ChainLink brings data from the outside world to the blockchain. Covalent brings data from blockchains to the outside world.
Blockchain data is completely open and public (what we can see on Etherscan, for example)...so why do we need this?
simply because there is data that is not visible on Etherscan
and also because many use cases require cross blockchain data
(think user wallet perspective)
Covalent leverages big-data technology to create meaning from hundreds of billions of data points across 8 blockchains.
beginners guide: https://www.covalenthq.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-covalent/
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFinzg88sK4&t=15s

Cryptodiffer Team

Amazing, very cool explanation
Thank you Adrian for an answer 🙏
Here is the last question from out team before we open the chat for community questions part 👌

Q3: Let`s now talk about the milestones you have achieved so far and about your upcoming plans?

Adrian Jonklaas

Three big milestones since last Summer:
1) Grew the team from 3 to 30
2) Grew the number of projects building on Covalent from 5 to over 100
3) Number of blockchains indexed has grown from just one to over 8
Future milestones:
we want to index all EVM blockchains and all other major blockchains
1) Our public token sale is coming up on CoinList...on April 29 UTC 00:00 (not for US and Canadians)
2) Our decentralized network will launch very very soon - stay tuned!
also look at our whitepaper
https://www.covalenthq.com/static/documents/Covalent%20Whitepaper%20Apr%202021%20v1%20Branded.pdf
(the whitepaper provides a highlevel roadmap too)

Cryptodiffer Community

The unified Covalent API allow users to create entirely new applications or augment existing ones without configuring or maintaining infrastructure. What are the steps involved in creating an API with Covalent and how much funds will I be needing to acquire an API Key?

Adrian Jonklaas

API keys are free...you can sign up here: https://www.covalenthq.com/platform/#/auth/register/
there are some limits on usage (concurrency)...so if you are using it for your business you can upgrade to a paid tier later

Cryptodiffer Community

Is Covalent a very "friendly and easy to use developer tool"?

in connection with this

Do I need to be a developer to use Covalent at a research level?

Adrian Jonklaas

No. I am not a developer but I can still use it. there is a no code option too...since the API exports to .csv files which you can import into Excel or Tableau

Cryptodiffer Community

Could you mention some companies that are currently using the Convalent API? I would also like to know what other projects they are promoting your services with?

Adrian Jonklaas

zerion, chainguardians, reef, NFTX are some...you can look at logos on our website and read more about use cases: https://www.covalenthq.com/

Cryptodiffer Community

One of the most interesting features is undoubtedly the multi-blockchain support, but can you be a bit more specific and detail us for what type of chains does this support currently provide? Based on what criteria will you be incorporating others?

Adrian Jonklaas

Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Elrond are supported or in process...
Near and Polkadot too
other EVM chains will be priority first...simple answer is easiest for us to index

Cryptodiffer Community

- Can you tell us about Covalent Alchemist Ambassador Program and what roles are expected of Ambassadors. Are there any requirements before we can apply?

- Blockchain data can be messy and disorganized, Extracting them can be difficult and time-consuming. How does Covalent solve this?

Adrian Jonklaas

Yes, the Alchemist Ambassador program is our most important community program...we are recruiting 2000 in the first phase which is already 2/3rds done
there may be another 700 recruited...please look in our Discord and Telegram for the announcement when we have a new intake
you fill in a form and our team picks 700 ambassadors...based on criteria...we want people who are interested in blockchain and/or data analysis and/or education/training and/or finance and/or research etc
it is the best program to learn more about Covalent by completing some tasks and being rewarded CQT as well
this is solved in part by ingesting the data into a Postgres database using a standardised schema

Cryptodiffer Community

I really can barely understand what API means, but I still decided to participate in this AMA. I would like to know how those of us who are new to DeFi could contribute and benefit from Covalent?

Adrian Jonklaas

start here: https://www.covalenthq.com/docs/learn

Cryptodiffer Community

Would there be A
Private sale, public sale and presale?
How would you generate revenue to sustain projecT?
Do you solely depend on your team or Investors and community?

Adrian Jonklaas

there has been private sales in 3 rounds (seed, private 1, private 2)...public sale coming up on Wed on CoinList (not for US or Canadians)
enterprise pays to use the API
without throttling or less restrictions on concurrency number of API calls etc

Cryptodiffer Community

From your website :Our vision is to empower the pioneers of tomorrow by providing the richest and most robust data infrastructure for the entire blockchain ecosystem.

Who are those Covalent considers as Pioneer of tomorrow? Can you give sneak peek of the infrastructure you intend to provide them?

Adrian Jonklaas

the beauty of an API is that it is composable like primitives in DeFI
dozens of developers come up with new ideas how to use our API every month...we are involved in hackathons every month where we see these new ideas
many are dashboard, wallets, analytics
on NFTs for example
https://www.covalenthq.com/blog/nfthack-winners-announcement/
^^click through to the links
where you can see tools others have made using Covalent's API

Cryptodiffer Community

What are the benefits or advantages of using covalent?

Adrian Jonklaas

simpler to use than Graph...also provides more cross blockchain data
With the Graph, a developer needs to write indexing solution from scratch for each smart contract. this takes many hours.
Bottom line - time to ship with Covalent is 5 mins

Cryptodiffer Community

How does Covalent approach the scalability problem and what options does it use to solve it?

How do you secure Covalent data? What is the Covalent network's emphasis on security?

Adrian Jonklaas

we are currently indexing newer highly performant blockchains (e.g. Polygon) with no issues

Cryptodiffer Community

Could you tell us more about what #Covalent is and what it looks for in terms of transparency and security in it, for what purpose it was created and what contribution or strength does the community have within it?

Adrian Jonklaas

the community is growing everyday...much of it has been organic based on our hackathons and other campaigns that promote education, leveling up on data, etc.
the community helps improve the product
provides feedback on the API
builds use cases
showcasing our product
in the future we will have a marketplace for Class C endpoints...these are endpoints maintained by the community

Cryptodiffer Community

1. Considering investment is a key role in every project establishment, do you have any investors or partners that have helped in the establishment of your project
2. Many defi Blockchain have challenges and difficulty in adobting? What are some of the challenges you faced while starting the project and what are your long term plans to advance your project globerlly
And what is your revenue since you start your project and how do you plan being on top of your competitors in block chain

Adrian Jonklaas

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/80090/covalent-ethereum-data-funding
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/99202/blockchain-data-provider-covalent-2-million-decentralize-platform

Cryptodiffer Community

From which countries is the Covalent Alchemist Ambassador Program suitable for participants, are there any countries or regions that you prioritize?

Adrian Jonklaas

this is meant to be a global program...there are restrictions on US and Canadian participation

Cryptodiffer Community

In your documentation I read something about a ONE MILLION WALLETS could you tell us what this campaign is about? How can we take advantage of it? And if I need to be a developer to participate?

Adrian Jonklaas

we have several campaigns that we run with partners...eg. when we indexed Polygon we ran 1 million wallets with them
so the best is to be part of our Discord or Telegram and look for these periodic campaigns
there is also Dungeons and Data

Cryptodiffer Community

To be a great platform for both Investors, for its users Transparency & security are important. Can you tell us some details about Covalent's transparency & security mechanisms. Have you completed your project audit?

Adrian Jonklaas

the CQT smart contract is audited by Certik and Quantstamp

Cryptodiffer Community

Staking seem to be popular right now on many blockchain project. Can you please explain the detail about $ CQT staking plan and the benefits of adding “staking”?

Adrian Jonklaas

stay tuned for this...there are 2 types of staking we will offer...one for validators and delegating to validators and other based on DEXs

Cryptodiffer Community

The CQT Token will be a staking and governance token. How soon will users have access to this token? Which blockchain will the token be built and will there be any other way to earn the token apart from buying them?

Adrian Jonklaas

the token generation event will be shortly after public sale ends...there is an unlock schedule...option 1 in the coinlist sale has no unlock so from TGE they are unlocked

Cryptodiffer Community

As a platform owner, why should I pitch my tent with Covalent? And can you give me examples of platforms that have used Covalent successfully on their platforms without having any issues?

Adrian Jonklaas

Polygon

Cryptodiffer Community

How easy is it to use Covalent?
How does Covalent plan to dominate the blockchain market?

Adrian Jonklaas

"Data services" in our opinion is the 3rd breakout category in crypto after exchanges, and custodians...we are already a leading player in this space

Cryptodiffer Community

What is your background and how did you come to the idea to create Covalent project? Why did you choose the name Covalent ? Does it have special meaning and is there any story behind this name?

Adrian Jonklaas

The project name “Covalent” comes from Chemistry. Covalent bonds are a special kind of bond in Chemistry – and it's in line with our vision that we “bond” the current centralized world with the future decentralized world.
Also, one of the co-founders, Ganesh Swami, has a background in physics
Ok, thanks everyone for the great questions
I have to leave now...I hope the answers helped...there is a lot to learn about us but there already a lot of info online...check out our youtube channel too https://www.youtube.com/c/CovalentHQ/featured

Cryptodiffer Team

Thank you for your time
appreciate all the great answers

Adrian Jonklaas

Thanks