Fuse Network AMA Recap
CryptoDiffer team
Hello, everyone!😁
We are glad to meet here
Mark Smargon (Co-Founder at Fuse)
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Hi everybody!
Great to be here!
CryptoDiffer team
Q1: Can you introduce yourself to our community ?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
I am an entrepreneur from Israel started my first company when i was 14, my background is in ecommerce and my passion is building internet products. in 2013 I started an exchange when I first heard about Bitcoin back then. We also tried to push for Bitcoin payments which was very challenging at the time.
But I was fascinated with the technology and with several partners we opened Colu which was building the Colored Coins protocol on Bitcoin. Those were the pre-Ethereum days and we were lucky enough to be early in the game. So i am in the crypto space full time for the last 8 years 🙂
Last year we started Fuse.io and implemented everything we have learned in our long journey in crypto
CryptoDiffer team
Q2: Can you briefly tell us what is Fuse in 3-5 sentences?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Fuse is a self-service smart contract platform that enables businesses and communities to unleash the power of mobile payments. The easy to use Studio allows anyone with basic computer skills to mint or issue a cryptocurrency token, launch a customized mobile wallet, and begin onboarding businesses and consumers in order to create thriving micro-economies. Our focus is democratizing payments so that communities can retain wealth locally and create incentives to transact more with each other along with many other benefits.
CryptoDiffer team
Q3: Let`s now talk about the milestones you have achieved so far and about your upcoming plans?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
A lot of the building has been happening behind the scenes since mid-2019. We’ve built a powerful tech stack from the bottom up starting with our blockchain network which is a side-chain of ethereum optimized for payments and has a strong community of validators, Then the self service platform for anyone to create their own token … and of course the mobile wallet which is customizable and key to adoption.
We’ve also surrounded ourselves with great people including an experienced tech team of blockchain and web experts, marketing, PR, BD and an A-player network of supporters and advisors. We wanted to build the network from the bottom-up so we after it was live we already onboarded 10 local operators from 10 different countries all running on our infrastructure with their businesses
Examples including PayWise focussing on the unbanked in Trinidad, Digital Rand in collaboration from South Africa for management of their erc20 stable coin, WikiBank in Spain for people to provide token based grocery donations to those in need. And of course GoodDollar – the project launched by Yoni – CEO of eToro which functions on top of Fuse network and is growing exponentially in terms of value locked and transactions. More communities launched on Fuse daily!
On Thursday we are launching our first public liquidity release on Mesa – after creating the network and rolling up validators and communities we are ready for public distribution of the Fuse token for the first time you can read more here: https://medium.com/fusenet/fuse-public-release-on-mesa-decentralised-exchange-ce75c4534a60
CryptoDiffer team
Awesome, a lot of updates to come out!
Thank you for great answers!
I think it is time to start community questions round!
Cryptodiffer Community
1. Is the 1% transaction fee a fixed price per transaction regardless of how much or bulky the transaction is?
2. What will my organization do in order to qualify as a validator?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
1 – we charge 1 cent per transaction capped so it cant be more than that. This is the only way we can have great adoption, so merchants can anticipate the costs of the fees.
2. Just purchase Fuse token and lock at least 100K in a validator and you are good to go
Join our TG if you have more questions about that https://t.me/fuseio
Cryptodiffer Community
What benefits do $FUSE holders enjoy ?
Are we allowed to participate in the governance of the project ?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Yes! Fuse is a DPoS blockchain. On top of paying fees with fuse you can do Staking and Delegation which allows you to participate in the governance directly in indirectly (trough delegation)
Cryptodiffer Community
Can you give me killer features about your project to convince me and other big investors to invest in $your project for Long-term?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
First – We have the best cross platform Ethereum wallet and the first one that is fully open source with a vertical integration that makes on boarding non-crypto users possible.
Second – any user can launch a community using smart contracts without any technical knowledge which makes it useful for non-devs
Cryptodiffer Community
Q: Fuse is hyper-focused on building real-world products that impact the lives of ordinary people. What everyday products does FUSE take into account to improve and facilitate the current status quo?
Q: Releasing liquidity to the public is an essential step in distributing network ownership and decision making away from a central authority. Could you explain how the distribution curve Fuse will use next October 22nd? Will there be other pairs available in the guturo than FUSE/USDC?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
1st question: Cash is an everyday product that everybody use and using Fuse it’s possible to do much more stuff with cash once it’s digital. That’s only one example but there are thousands – every consumer club, market place, fan group etc… needs a way to retain value, monetize and engage customers and this is what our infrastructure allows for the fraction of the cost.
2nd question: We are doing a bonding curve distribution which after a lot of research is the best way to create fair early distribution and market price. Our curve will give better price to early investors in the sale – you can read more here: https://medium.com/fusenet/fuse-public-release-on-mesa-decentralised-exchange-ce75c4534a60
Cryptodiffer Community
How does Fuse Network engage governments and businesses using Fuse wallet?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Simplicity is the answer – removing fees, verification times, public keys or anything that the user doesnt really need to know about and making crypto as transparent as possible while keeping this non-custodial this is our gameplay
A simple to use product is the best way to create adoption, which is why we have built a product that is oriented around straightforward user experience. Access to a mobile phone with an internet connection is all that’s required to be able to test the Fuse studio and wallet.
Maintaining low network fees allows us to attract new innovation and projects that will help grow and expand the Fuse network for economies of scale.
Also governments love Fuse – we have discussions with regulators all the time especially since CBDC’s are hyped lately
Cryptodiffer Community
What are the issues of scalability and development infrastructure that can be solved by FUSE for the decentralized web?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
The main issue is that most of the world has smart phones but still most places prefer to use physical cash. And the reason is that digital money is powered currently only by banks and large tech giants. Fuse wants to change that so the technical barriers are lower and we can start to compete with the big guys!
Cryptodiffer Community
Is FUSE an international project
Can every local communities partake in it ?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Yes! that’s the cool thing we have people from all over the world that can just use it for almost free – all the code is open source and the fees currently very low.
We have 300+ people from about 30 countries using our Studio so far: https://studio.fuse.io/
The ground breaking aspect of Fuse is that everywhere in the world people need a good experience for money on mobile and most providers are not international (For example, Stripe, Square, Plaid etc only work in the US and a handful of countries)
Cryptodiffer Community
Many projects rug pulled and exit scam recently. Why should investors trust your project not to do the same?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
I have been working on this myself for the last 8 years. But you can also take a look here: https://github.com/fuseio with code commits that go way back 2 years ago and even further.
We are not anonymous and we are here for the long term – our plan is to outcompete Visa and take a bite of a huge industry
Cryptodiffer Community
How do you plan to make the user acquisition such simple that even the newbie players in crypto will understand it?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Simple – let anyone launch a community and a wallet without any technical knowledge. Fuse focuses on usability and scalability so consumers can use it without any friction and then we can offer an alternative to existing players
Cryptodiffer Community
How many validators do you plan to achieve by the end of 2020? What are your long term plans to host and maintain decentralization?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We aim for 100 validator at first stage – the network is DPoS that gives the power for any token holder to participate in the governance. We expect holder participation in voting and delegation as an important part of our plan to increase decentralization. Our goal is to create an ecosystem companies and individuals not only Fuse.
Cryptodiffer Community
Are there other functions of Fuse apart from trading?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Of course! go to our website fuse.io connect your wallet and create a community. You can also download the wallet to your phone and add functionality like fiat ramps, join bonus and more…
Cryptodiffer Community
What is the team’s orientation and development plan for 2020 in the Defi region, why do you think Defi, this immature term, has a future? What results do you expect to achieve?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We believe that Defi will grow fast and beyond Ethereum and we are here to help this happen – ETH will still remain important but fuse is helping to onboard non-crypto users which is the most important thing because crypto adoption must increase if we want this space to succeed.
Cryptodiffer Community
Where did you get the inspiration for this unique project idea? And what influence will we have on the crypto industry due to the project?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Thanks 🙂 The origin of the idea comes from Colored Coins. Fuse is some what a reincarnation of the project if you will. We wanted to “fuse” the 3 layers you see in our logo – network layer, operator layer and consumer layer together. The scope of potential industry influence is wide, as micro-payments can be integrated in many b2b, b2c and c2c scenarios
Cryptodiffer Community
Smart contracts are vulnerable to bugs, and even recently three big new DeFi projects were victims of this, costing users funds. How efficient and secured is your smart contract, and did you ever audit it via any external party?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
you are right this is why we use contracts that are battle tested, audited and already have a track record of running with real value in there for a long period of time. That being said his space is still experimental and early and this is why there are great opportunities side by side with risks
Cryptodiffer Community
Do you guys have Collaboration with Financial Institutions or Private Companies?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Actually we are in discussions with everybody – companies, fintech’s, banks, regulators. We are building a payments infrastructure which is a solves problem even for big players that can integrate to us
Cryptodiffer Community
Can you briefly explain how the Top milestones that the FUSE team aims to execute before the end of this year or going to execute in future, will help you succeed and What you may look like in 2020 and beyond?
Users often care less about technology, but rather the value of the token. How do FUSE manage to strike a balance between developing the technology and also improving the value of the token?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Didn’t announce it yet but we are Going to launch FuseSwap after the liquidity event you can get first updates here https://t.me/fuseio
This and more updates will be published right after Mesa! so stay tuned
Cryptodiffer Community
What is the structure of the company, is it a decentralised, open sourced protocol where everybody can contribute? If so, how does the governance plan on being handled?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
The devs are in Israel and the governance is based in Gibraltar. It’s all open source https://github.com/fuseio
The governance is DPoS and already we have 75 validators you can check it live here: https://explorer.fuse.io/
Cryptodiffer Community
Please share key performance indicators of the chain, such as the Number of blocks per second, time to completion of a transaction, transaction speed, cost per transaction, or something else? Can you compete with other payment networks?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We have a live Fuse explorer here – https://explorer.fuse.io/ – which shows all the network statistics in real time! One of our unique value propositions is a fixed fee of $0.01 per transaction, hard to beat that!
Cryptodiffer Community
Considering that Fuse is builded on the Ethereum Network, How do you manage the transactions fees? What are the technology advantages of the fuse chain?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Fuse is scaling solution for projects that have a currency on mainnet and want to use it with very cheap p2p transfers. So they can move their coins trough the bridge to Fuse in 5 minutes and have faster and cheaper transaction. This is called horizontal scaling and we can provide around 100 TPS for every token on mainnet for 1 cent per transaction
Cryptodiffer Community
What are the core features that create the value of YOUR CRYPTO? What does YOUR CRYPTO have that other projects don’t??
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We have the potential to grow beyond the crypto user crowd – We can onboard mainstream users anywhere and capture value in the “real economy” by creating a decentralized experience that “feels” like centralized
Cryptodiffer Community
Your main goal is to attract 100 communities over the next year. What communities are you targeting first? What are the geographic criteria?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Most of our pilots are in South America, Africa and Europe – we are looking to expand more into Asia. Our go to market strategy is local stable coin issuers – already we have quite a few that use our service, Also local marketplaces, local charity organizations and local payment processors.
Cryptodiffer Community
How many validators does Fuse currently have? Is there a theoretical possibility that 2/3 of the network validators will act maliciously?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We have currently 76 you can check here: https://explorer.fuse.io/
In the end of October we are activating Delegation that will prevent concentration of power with the validators and allow any token holder to participate in the governance and receive rewards.
Cryptodiffer Community
Fuse allows the creation of crypto communities that support any ERC20 token, but in the future also will be implemented the creation of ecosystem with others types of tokens? Like TRC20 or BEP-2?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Yes – we want to integrate with any blockchain that has a big enough users and stablecoin ecosystem. Right now Ethereum is the only platform that is big enough but i believe right now there are promising contenders that can also be relevant for us to integrate in the future like Cosmos, Polkadot and BSC
Cryptodiffer Community
It is unfortunate that some projects remain half way because their developers abandon the concept because they cannot achieve the desired capitalization in the long term; how do you plan to make this project sustainable for its development?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Very important question – we raised money from VC’s in our first round before we launched the product and our strategy was to create the Fuse token as a model for long term sustainability. Most VC’s will have a hard time to fund open source projects but with a token this transparency is mandatory and supported by the token economy.
Cryptodiffer Community
How can the community contribute to Fuse’s success? Is Fuse planning to create a self-contained, community-driven ecosystem and launch a DAO?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Yes! No DAO just yet but close, please pay attention after Mesa on our TG group, for announcement that are relevant to your question 🙂
https://t.me/fuseio
Cryptodiffer Community
Do you have support from the government or Start-Up in your country? What is the regulation on governing the Blockchain?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We are based in Israel and Gibraltar and between the two countries we are in a good place in terms of regulation. Even had meetings few months ago with the Israeli central bank. We are teaching them about Defi 🙂
Cryptodiffer Community
Can you share Fuse vision for decentralized finance (DEFI)? What features are built into Fuse to support DEFI?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
You can use any stablecoin or ERC-20 from mainnet on Fuse even Compound DAI! Just move cDAI using the bridge to supercharge it and give all the Fuse features and tools out of the box. And of course 1 cent transactions!
Cryptodiffer Community
Who is your investor? How do you generate revenue to sustain the project? What are your goals to the end of 2020 and beyond?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
You can read about our private sale investors here: https://medium.com/fusenet/fuse-token-distribution-9d82ddb0cc98
Mentioned about our roadmap in other posts here but make sure you subscribe to our updates because we plan to release our roadmap right after Mesa https://t.me/fuseio
Hinted here about some of our big announcements ahead 🙂
Cryptodiffer Community
What are the plans to educate and raise awareness and adoption among the community to make more people understand about the project easily?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We launched on Product hunt today! this is a great example of a crypto product launching on a platform for non crypto users:
Close to the top 🙂
Cryptodiffer Community
Can you have a short introduction about the structure of your ecosystem? What are the most outstanding use case you want the world to be remembered when talking about Fuse?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We want to create local micro-economies that are easily replicable and can be launched anywhere with mainstream audiences.
To keep the network decentralized, we have operators, validators and delegators. Operators run local economies on Fuse, Validators run the network and delegators are the economic majority – all the holders and users of Fuse.
Cryptodiffer Community
DeFi is one of the hottest topics in the blockchain field. Can you share your opinion about DeFi with us?
Do you think DeFi will destroy the existing financial system?
What’s your project Approach towards DeFi?
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
We believe that Defi will grow beyond Ethereum in the coming years and side by side with stablecoin adoption we will see more and more companies like Fuse which look beyond being an “Ethereum killer” and start aiming on the real challenge for our space- “Visa killer”
Co-Founder of Fuse, Mark Smargon
Thanks so much 🙏 Great questions!
Cryptodiffer TEAM
Thank you for your time! Thank you everyone who took part. Let’s finish the AMA!
