Intro
Last month’s Founder’s Update provided an overview of the state of the industry amidst the collapse of Terra and reflected on realities such as the space’s continued volatility and other factors that remain top of mind for most blockchain enthusiasts, insiders and project veterans alike. Particularly with the example of Terra, we saw the catastrophic results of short-term thinking versus long-term planning and accountability. This reflects a theme that we have witnessed in the space as a whole as we continue to see with regularity that any projects that don’t offer real, long-term fundamental value and utility coupled with functional and scalable technology will fail to survive.
I want to spend today’s update largely addressing the state of the AXIA Project since the launch of the AXIA Network at the end of April. Many community members have had questions about the resumption of trading of AXIA Coin (AXC) on global exchanges, the re-integration of the AXIA Network dashboard on AXIA.global to see all vital network information (as well as weekly coin burns), and a series of other queries — the majority of which are tied to the recent unveiling of the AXIA Network blockchain.
All of these items will be covered in today’s update, as well as a thorough overview of exactly how and why the project team has been going live with different items and features over the past few weeks to strategically set up AXIA and its community for long term, sustainable success. This always has been — and will continue to be — the focus, as the goal of AXIA as a non-profit is to create an ecosystem that can create a better future for its community amidst the economic uncertainty and stability that is increasingly prevalent in every corner of the world.
There are some important updates that I hope will crystallize much of the vital work that has been going on behind the scenes to serve the AXIA community. With that in mind, I intend to get straight to the point today on some of the aforementioned items that the community has been requesting more information on. The AXIA team prides itself on active listening and community engagement; any feedback, commentary, requests and other forms of community interaction is always taken into account by the team as well as myself personally and actioned into the strategic planning and decision making process, where possible. The main objective has and will always remain to be to do the utmost to serve our participants in the best manner possible while keeping their interests in mind. So without further ado, let’s dive in.
AXIA Network launch analysis
The launch of the AXIA Network continues to be a defining moment for AXIA and its global community. The blockchain will be the hub through which much of the AXIA Ecosystem and DeFi platforms are realized, while also serving as an ideal complement for all of the other organizations, partners, developers, products and technologies associated with the project.
Immediately following the network launch, the team had two immediate goals as far as getting it ready for public usage while also ensuring it can maintain the highest levels of security and scalability:
- Ensure the protection of would-be users by conducting a thorough and rigorous security audit with industry leading blockchain security firm, PeckShield.
- Confirming that the network was ready for mass-scalability to be the most inclusive in the market by offering the highest levels of interoperability and unmatched throughput via a series of developmental testings post-mainnet.
While there have been no significant findings from PeckShield’s ongoing security audit of the network that would have restricted AXIA from opening it up for public access, there were certain items that were uncovered during the developmental testing that led the team to a series of improvements and upgrades that could be made in order to greatly strengthen the long-term viability of the network.
At AXIA, doing things right will always be more important than doing things quickly and haphazardly. Therefore, when our team was running its initial post-mainnet testing and recognized the opportunity to make a series of improvements that would significantly augment the blockchain’s performance and overall quality for the foreseeable future, it became important to learn from these findings as well as investigate both the timing and what was involved to implement these network upgrades. These improvements have already begun and will make the network significantly more scalable and ensure it is that much more inclusive and decentralized while setting the stage to enhance its overall growth capacity. Furthermore, these upgrades will also allow the network to run at least three times faster overall than was originally planned.
As outlined in the last Founder’s Update, the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry is rife with competition but the market today is built off of projects that have deficient technology, unsound economic models, no utility and are often simply fueled off speculation and hype. Knowing this, it’s incredibly important that AXIA offers a blockchain network that not only delivers a product that can be a solution to what ails the industry, but can also be a standard bearer within the space.
The team is targeting July 5, 2022 for the completion of this network upgrade. Following the completion of these significant developments, the AXIA Network can be fully opened up to bring on public Validators and Nominators, and also begin to invite developers onboard to build on the network, plus AXIA can truly begin promoting its blockchain — a network that can now be looked upon as an industry leader based on all of its strategic advantages.
After careful consideration using all information accumulated both internally and externally, taking all known variables into account and thoroughly thinking through not just first order consequences, but second and third order consequences as well, the team made the crucial decision to undergo this vital network upgrade knowing it will also impact other forthcoming project items. In the next section, I will cover what this upgrade means across the project as a whole.
Network upgrade and its impact on wider project
Exchange trading
First and foremost the listing of the new AXC, the native coin of the AXIA Network, on public exchanges should be addressed. This is an essential step in terms of returning live trading data to sites like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.
It was previously mentioned that AXC was slated to be listed on OKX in the project’s community channels. Although no formal press releases or joint statements had been officially released by either party this had been communicated and so this was understandably the expectation amongst the community. However, once the team determined that the upgrade to the network was something that was both imperative and of paramount importance it became immediately apparent that the technical integration of the new network coin into exchanges would also be something that would be impacted. After deliberating on this and weighing different options, AXIA will not be proceeding with listing on OKX this month.
I fully recognize that there will be community members who will be frustrated and disappointed with this piece of news and I could not be more sincere when I write that no one is more disappointed than myself and the team, but we must keep perspective and it must be understood that AXIA is building something for the long term. This network has been years in the making and must be brought to market in the right manner to which it can continue to expand and grow 2, 5, 10, 20+ years into the future. A temporary roadblock that will cause a delay of a few weeks in order to achieve much stronger results for everyone well into the future is a decision that is not taken lightly, but was ultimately fairly easy to come to a consensus on amongst the AXIA team. Again, every decision is always made with the participant in mind.
The team also heard significant levels of frustration from the community about geographic limitations of certain exchanges and that was feedback that was taken to heart knowing that AXIA has a very vibrant and significant community across the globe.
In light of all of the above factors, AXIA has made the decision to instead prioritize KuCoin as its first exchange following the network upgrade as a means to lessen these limitations. The team will be providing ongoing updates on the network upgrade and any potential listings leading up to July 5 in order to keep the community up-to-date and well informed.
Public network access
I know the team and many in the community are looking forward to the full integration of public Validators and the Nominators who can begin to participate in mobile staking, developers beginning to build on the network and some major events like Hackathons starting to take place, etc.
A number of materials have already been developed to coincide with this switch being flipped and any information required by the public in order to begin to engage with the network will be provided prior to the official unveiling of the upgraded network.
AXIA dApps
The dApps going live on the AXIA Network will provide an impactful boost to the network’s innovative hyper-deflationary tokenomics and overall utility. In the near future, these include AXclusive (NFT Platform), AXswap (decentralized exchange) and AXelerator (token launchpad and incubator).
AXclusive has already concluded extensive testing and will be opening up to its Whitelist participants directly following the network upgrade.
AXswap is also nearing its launch. One thing that is crucial for the AXIA community to understand is that AXswap will offer much more favorable and secure conditions than any centralized exchange ever could. The team, of course, recognizes why it is important for AXIA to work with centralized exchanges but with AXswap, AXIA can ultimately deliver a platform that is much more catered towards its users than any third-party exchange. These exchanges are more focused on their interests and on maximizing the benefits for themselves whereas AXIA as a non-profit is all about ensuring the benefits and rewards go to its users. That is why, while the AXIA team is pushing for the listing of AXC immediately following the network upgrade, the team actually remains much more excited for the launch of AXswap and the potential rewards it will unlock for participants around the world as a truly decentralized platform.
AXelerator, as covered in previous updates, will be the token launchpad going live on the AXIA Network. It is a key platform for the project as it will empower developers and entrepreneurs to bring both new and existing projects and tokens to the network, which will also be accessible for those that are considered less tech savvy. This will breed innovation and new ideas that can grow and evolve over time. Furthermore, there will be a global marketplace to open up these projects to the world at large.
.AXC Domains
The ability to create custom .AXC domains tied to wallet addresses or create Web3-style websites will also go live following the network upgrade. This is a popular tool on other networks that is also highly functional and adds a layer of security, utility and a number of conveniences to the network itself. There is also the ability to gamify the domains. Users of the platform will have the option to create any original .AXC domains they wish, and to buy and sell domains on a public marketplace like AXclusive moving forward.
Each platform and application that is released only adds more and more velocity to the hyper-deflationary economics of AXC, and enhances the benefits that everybody can receive.
AXIA dashboard and tokenomics
While the network is undergoing its upgrade, there are still a number of activities that continue to trigger coin burning and enhance the hyper-deflationary tokenomics of AXC across the AXIA Ecosystem, from AXIA Capital Bank to AXpay, AXplorer, AXIA Tel etc. Fortunately the dashboard going live is not reliant on the network upgrades being completed. In order to provide the community with wider visibility leading up to the network upgrades, the network dashboard and coin burns will be returning to the AXIA website and community channels as of Monday, June 20, 2022. This will incorporate all network activity that has taken place since the launch of the network.
The bigger picture
The one thing I do not want to do with today’s update is diminish anybody’s response or feelings of disappointment towards some of the major announcements that have been made. When it comes to the excitement and anticipation that has been building for some of the forthcoming items that have been temporarily delayed, I am right there with everybody in the community. This project was built upon the vision of modernizing commerce and changing the economic paradigm to deliver positive impact to as many people as possible around the world. That comes from providing the means for more utility, more means for exchange and real world use cases so AXIA Coin can be used as a preferred currency around the world.
I — more than anyone — want to see the AXIA community thrive with a versatile range of options available to not only connect with the network and take advantage of its innovative technology and economics, but also to access it as a vehicle through which they can change their lives for the better. I want to provide community members with the opportunity to participate in Mobile Staking, and the network to go live to the community, the blockchain space in its entirety and the remainder of the public, as everybody in the community does. We strive to deliver game changing products and services knowing that with each additional piece added to the grander puzzle, AXIA only becomes more of a force to be reckoned with.
Sometimes the right thing and the hardest thing are the same. Leadership is about making the wise decision even when it is hard. Myself and the project team’s singular focus is putting this project in the best position to stand the test of time.
We needlessly suffer too much from short term thinking and present biases. Hard decisions are part of the process, but my belief is that rational minds will take hold and that the highly engaged and supportive AXIA community will continue to realize that any strategic choices made by the team are undertaken because they’re what is best for AXIA and its community long term. Period.
With that context in mind, it’s now important that I use this portion of the update to connect the dots as far as some of the pieces that are all coming together to make AXIA a game changer and industry leader in this space.
AXIA has already made significant progress across many other areas that are serving to set it up for success moving forward.
AXIA is not building just a few products, it is building an entire ecosystem — a full economy that can lead us into the world of Web3; an economy where everyone can feel empowered and everyone has a voice. Something that visualizes this well is the AXIA Roadmap that recently went live. The AXIA team is working diligently everyday with the goal of becoming not only the top project in this space but to serve the world community with a foundational system that can enhance our lives, unify us and take us into a new age.
This is done by ensuring that the AXIA Network and its native currency has more real-world application and utility than other cryptocurrencies. This, coupled with its innovative hyper-deflationary design, can make it a stronger alternative not only to other digital currencies but also to the broken monetary system utilizing fiat currencies of today. The team has made tremendous strides towards making AXC usable in our day-to-day lives, both in-person and online. AXIA Capital Bank provides the financial infrastructure and banking services needed to bridge the worlds of traditional finance and blockchain. It offers a leading debit card program and a highly favorable staking rewards system. Meanwhile, the recent launch of AXpay and the forthcoming launch of AXpay for Business can exponentially increase the ability to spend AXIA Coin across the world in a more efficient cost-effective manner to raise the bar in terms of how we conduct commerce today. It will also provide a vessel through which businesses can increase their customer retention and productivity while connecting to the network and utilizing hyper-deflationary AXC.
AXIA recognizes that its community is living in an increasingly digital world and that security, privacy and data protection will only become more and more important over time. As a result, AXIA is also delivering several key platforms and products that will enable its users to access the same services offered by big tech but in a much safer, more rewarding manner. AXchat and AXplorer allow users to chat and browse the web safely and securely while earning daily rewards; the latter was also just integrated with the free AXshield VPN to add yet another layer of safety and security to community members’ online experience. A number of different use-to-earn apps are also coming out shortly, including AXpress and AXconnect. With each new app released there is a new, more secure way to compound daily AXC rewards generation.
Building on the project’s strategy of providing more favorable, cost-effective and secure services than big tech and for-profit corporations that siphon all of the value from their users, AXIA Tel Encrypted Smartphone and AX-Fi device sales will go live to the public in the near term. These devices can democratize the mobile phone and internet businesses while delivering another layer of value to AXIA participants.
It bears repeating that each upgrade and release only bolsters the project’s hyper-deflationary tokenomics to allow all global participants to receive that many more benefits.
AXIA is really building something that can greatly enhance the lives of its participants holistically. And of course, all of these foundational pieces pave the way for the public launch of the upgraded network which has been covered at length in this update. It’s unquestionably a defining piece of the puzzle and by undertaking key upgrades to ensure its massive potential for scalability and top-tier throughput, we will ultimately bear more fruit in the long run.
Conclusion
In my first Founder’s Update I provided a detailed history of what brought AXIA to where it is today. All the twists and turns, different iterations, changes in direction and pivots that occurred until reaching the highly evolved project that we see today. I believe it was because of the fact that there was acceptance of responsibility at each critical moment when a change needed to be made that allowed the project to grow and put it in a better position for long-term success. I again take the responsibility for the decisions being made here because it is all about making sure our team can do whatever is necessary to make this the best blockchain network out there, with the best currency that this world desperately needs.
We too often overvalue the present moment and underestimate the odds of long-term pain. No matter what external pressure there may be, we will always ensure that we are putting our community in the best position now and into the future.
With each Founder’s Update, I have repeated how thankful I continue to be for the support of the AXIA community, and for good reason. AXIA has achieved the amount of success it has to-date because of all of you. It is the support that motivates myself and the team to do everything in our power every single day to deliver on the grand ambitions and potential of the project. Particularly with some of the temporary delays announced in today’s update, the team greatly appreciates your consideration, understanding and recognition of the future-state factors at play with some of these items, which are so key to the long-term success of AXIA.
In no way have these hiccups been caused by a lack of passion, hard work or dedication. The consistently growing team of AXIA contributors has had its most productive few months this spring and everybody on the team is working tirelessly on behalf of the project and its community. These efforts will not wind down, they will actually only increase as we move towards the completion of the network upgrade and everything else that entails in terms of different services and products that can and will be offered starting in July.
The team always endeavors to provide updates to the community as efficiently, quickly and as transparently as possible. Ultimately, there was a significant amount of due diligence that went into understanding if there were any alternative options, but in the end it was concluded that this was by far the best path forward for AXIA and its community.
The old adage ‘it’s a marathon not a sprint’ is highly applicable to the blockchain space. Many projects sacrifice long-term benefit for short-term gain which has proven to often lead to disastrous results in the long run. AXIA does not operate in this manner, and it never will.
AXIA has always been about building something that can have a substantial and sustainable positive impact on people around the world for generations to come. That is what the team is trying to achieve and for many of the reasons outlined in this update we have not diverted from that in any way — we only continue on the path towards converting that vision into reality.
