AMA held on March 21 with the ICOSpeaks Telegram group.
Before we go to the first set of questions, could you please do a short self-intro?
👨💻Tony | CEO |
My role with EXO is CEO/co-founder alongside @magn_s, I have a background in tech/infrastructure and became involved in crypto as an investor in 2017. I have been involved in supporting various projects since, particulalrly in the current/recent cycle.
👨💻 Magnus | CTO |
Hi everyone, I’m @magn_s — I’ve worked in tech for many years and been a crypto investor for much of that time. I took an interest in supporting crypto projects and over time have worked on a few teams. Eventually the ideas gained led me to co-found Exo with Tony.
Let’s get started!
Q: What motivated you to start this project, and what is the overall vision of what you’re building?
A: We’ve been involved in crypto projects in the past, and we noticed a lack of innovation in terms of what new and existing DEX platforms were offering, and saw several issues that needed solving for both investors and project developersToken projects in their early days frequently operate on limited budgets, with token taxes being one of the only reliable ways to generate income for expenses such as marketing or development. The issue here is that the project is then required to sell the taxed tokens back, hurting their token’s price and causing negativity within the community.
EXO’s initial concept was to solve this problem by allowing dev teams to instead take taxes in stablecoin/large cap crypto directly on the DEX. We then set about adding more features designed to enable new projects to grow, with the goal being to offer a complete end-to-end ecosystem where upcoming token developers can take their idea from conception, all the way through launch to being an established project
Q: Can you list the 3 killer features of the exo.fi project that make it ahead of competitors? What are the competitive advantages that you feel most confident about?
A1. exoSwap DEX: Allows project developers to set custom transaction taxes for uses such as liquidity, marketing, lotteries and more — directly on the DEX itself without having to sell back their own tokens. Token traders will have access to powerful trading features (such as limit/stop limit orders, indicators, trading view charts), and will also receive tickets for their trades to play our jackpot game with a chance to win large cash prizes (and more games to follow).
A2. Exchange Utility Token: Has a unique, deflationary rising-pegged mechanism, where revenue from our DApps is used to buyback and burn $EXO tokens to support the price when it drops below the peg. Holding the token unlocks extra functionality across our various platforms, and it can also be staked or farmed to earn extra income. Additionally, a portion of base DEX fees is redistributed to holders via a special dividend staking pool, making token holders into shareholders
A3. Launchpad and Flexible Liquidity Locking: Our launchpad will allow teams to design custom tokenomics, vesting terms, and set various fair launch options before launching their token directly onto exoSwap. Our flexible token locking service will allow projects to lock up their LP tokens or dev tokens, to prevent the possibility of a rug-pull, but they will retain the ability to access a limited amount of this liquidity for set purposes, such as transferring it to a CEX for market making. Conditional token unlocking will allow teams to set key deliverables that must be hit for tokens to unlock.
Q: Crypto is fraught with token launches that do not have a product for a long time, resulting in a lack of momentum and a token price slump. Can you share your roadmap and launch time frame?
A: Absolutely — and tokens that promise the world pre-launch, only to do a 180 and insist their community remains patient for months with no progress is a particular pet hate of ours too. In our case, we have taken steps specifically to ensure this is not the caseOur development partner has a track record of delivering high quality blockchain applications on time, and the EXO team has met initial development costs personally in advance of the presale in order for us to start work, and hit our phase 1 utilities as quickly as possible. As a result, development has been ongoing now for several weeks, with our MVP utilities (DEX, launchpad, liquidity locker) projected for deployment in late Q2.
Plus we’re also building out certain utilities in-house alongside this, such as the exoBot community management tool and lottery dapp!
Q: Is your team going to DOX?
A: Yes. We are already doxxed to each other internally and have doxxed privately to certain outside investors/third parties. Full public doxxing will come as a deliverable a little closer to the launch of our phase 1 utilities, and for added investor security, we are also applying for verification via Certik’s KYC service.
Q: Is your project audited?
A: Our token and utilities are still under development, but we are lining up an audit as soon as smart contracts are deliveredOur development partner already has robust internal security checks, and we have also budgeted for full penetration testing on any contracts/services deemed to be at high risk of vulnerabilities (such as cross-chain bridging, for example, where there have been several high-profile exploits in recent months)
Q: Can you explain how your $EXO token pegging works and how that benefits the user?
A: The pegged mechanism is intended to use fee revenue generated by our various utilities to back/support the token price during times of downward price movement. The peg shouldn’t be thought of as a ‘target price’; rather, the idea is to create a price floor for the token which rises over time, and is backed by sustainable income from trading fees on exoSwap and other utilities. When $EXO falls below its peg, fees that normally go into the team treasury, or to liquidity providers, for example, are instead diverted and used to buyback and burn $EXO tokens until the price is back above the peg.
Q: A major problem for DeFi is liquidity. How do you plan to attract liquidity to your DEX?
A: To answer the original questions, $EXO is not a stablecoin and the pegged mechanism has no impact on how quickly or how high the price can rise. It simply creates an artificial ‘bottom’ for the $EXO token price, because once the token price dips below the peg, we generate significant automatic buy pressure by using fee revenue to buy back and burn our own token (pushing price up whilst reducing supply).
This is a no-lose situation for $EXO holders, because as the peg rises, so does the artificially-created price floor, and this is sustainable because the buybacks are funded by profits generated by users of our products, in the same way any traditional business makes profit.
At its core, $EXO is a utility token, and holding it unlocks various features across our platforms so significant demand is already built in. The first two governance tiers, which enable the advanced trading features, are designed to be extremely accessible, the idea being to make it affordable for a large number of users to hold a small amount of tokens long term, thereby reducing circulating supply significantly over time. Additionally, $EXO holders will have the option to stake or farm their tokens to earn rewards, while a % of DEX fees will be allocated to a dividend pool for $EXO holders — thereby making our token holders into stakeholders in the entire project.
$EXO has a fixed maximum supply of 100,000,000 tokens, of which 36% are allocated to rewards/emissions. Over time, this emission rate will halve (along the same lines as BTC), which alongside the buyback and burn mechanism built into the DEX, creates a significant deflationary effect. Additionally, because the peg is designed to rise in line with the reduction in emissions, the USD value of the emitted reward tokens should remain relatively stable long term.
Q: Binance Smart Chain provides low fees, fast transaction speeds, reliable and easy-to-use services. Do you plan to support other chains?
A: exoSwap will be a multi-chain ecosystem, and we intend to launch on all major chains including Ethereum, Fantom, Luna/Terra and more. The order in which we do this will depend on current market sentiment, and we also plan to allow our holders to vote on the chains they would most like to see us expand to.
Our NFT-based locking system allows users to lock up tokens/LP tokens and set custom unlocking criteria based on “and/if/else” inputs, where certain deliverables have to be hit in order for tokens to be released because the locked tokens are associated to an NFT instead of a wallet address, ownership of locked tokens can be transferred by sending the NFT to another address. In this way, the service can also be used as a vesting platform, where tokens can be held in ‘escrow’ and unlocked only when set deliverables are hit
Q: Locking up initial investors tokens is good to protect new customers at launch to stop dumping but this also deters investors that don’t want to be locked in. Can you share how your NFT supports locking liquidity but also benefits investors to allow them to sell or transfer the NFT before the unlock?
A: Our NFT-based locking system allows users to lock up tokens/LP tokens and set custom unlocking criteria based on “and/if/else” inputs, where certain deliverables have to be hit in order for tokens to be releasedBecause the locked tokens are associated to an NFT instead of a wallet address, ownership of locked tokens can be transferred by sending the NFT to another address. In this way, the service can also be used as a vesting platform, where tokens can be held in ‘escrow’ and unlocked only when set deliverables are hit
Q: Often someone has a really good idea and unique domain expertise for a project that could benefit from crypto and blockchain technologies but they don’t have the full team to execute that idea. Can you explain how the exo incubator and exo marketplace will support these entrepreneurs to take their project to market?
A: exoMarket is designed to be a peer-to-peer marketplace, where service providers, content creators etc can offer their services or advertise for assistance. We envisage exoMarket being a place where upcoming projects, or individuals with ambitions to launch a token, can come together and form teams or fill talent gaps in existing teams.The exoStart incubator fund is financed by a percentage of launchpad fees, and projects that meet specific vetting criteria will be able to apply for an incubation package, including funding from the incubator pool, promotion across our platforms/socials and more. Packages will be awarded based on voting by $EXO holders.
Q: What is the presale vesting schedule, and how do I invest?
A: Vesting period you can check on our website here.
To invest, please fill out the following application form HERE. We have a few different vesting schedules which reward you based on whether you want tokens up front, or vested over time. Choose the one that best lines up to your investing risk tolerance
Q: How can I stay updated about your project???
A: Please join our Telegram or Discord to stay up to date on the latest.
Q: Where can I buy your tokens right now what is your current contract and how can I buy them??
A: The token will launch on exoSwap directly, likely late Q2 or into Q3. For now, you can apply for a presale spot HERE.
Q: What is your strongest advantage that you think will make your team leading the market?
A: We’ve got a strong team and solid partnerships right from the beginning. We’ve spent a lot of time vetting our team and everyone has a track record of delivering high quality projects. As a project, EXO has unique features as a DEX, but it’s also one of the first DEXes to be tightly integrated with the ecosystem we’re providing (swap, launchpad, freelancer marketplace etc)
Q: Staking, NFT is very hottest, do you think you will apply NFT technology to your products in the achieved future?
A: As mentioned, we provide the ability to lock your liquidity in our locking tool. In exchange you are provided with an NFT that represents your deposit. This can be traded/sold without having to unlock the LP tokens.
Q: Do the token holders have right to participate in the governance of the project? secondly, you tell us about the motivation and benefits for investors to keep the your token in the long run?
A: Governance will certainly be incorporated into elements of the platform a little down the line. Token holders have several benefits already though, in the form of the rising peg mechanism, trading fee dividends, staking rewards and unlocking various features across EXO products.
Q: Can you tell me more details on the IDO? The schedule and contribution for each?
A: Please refer for presale.exo.fi for more details. You can get involved starting from today!
Q: Revenue is an important aspect for all projects to survive and sustain. So how does your project plan to generate profit and revenue?
A: All of our utilities have fees built in that will generate sustainable revenue.
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