Full Transcript: Swarm Markets tech AMA

Swarm Markets head of product, Sam Stone, answered questions about the past, present, and future of feature development for our Telegram community.

Date & Time: Friday Nov 19th, 13:00 — 13:30 CET
Place: Telegram : Swarm Markets (SMT) — https://t.me/SMTtokensale
Guest: Sam Stone — Head of Product
Host: Susan Pl — Community Admin

Susan Pl:

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for joining us for this tech-oriented AMA with Sam Stone, Head of product here at Swarm Markets. Sam, thanks for taking time out of your very busy day to answer some questions from the community, we’re really glad to have you!

Sam Stone:

Thank you, Susan! Really happy to be here. I often wish I had more time to spend on Telegram. I’ve enjoyed seeing the quality of questions the community has put forward.

Question:

What are the most difficult technical hurdles to overcome developing a DeFi platform that has to be compliant with BaFin regulations, and how are you managing this with such a small development team?

Answer:

The most important technical hurdle we face is ensuring that only users who have met the strict KYC and AML requirements set by BaFin are able to use the platform and protocol at both the UI and smart contract level.

I would say we have cleared that hurdle, yet there are already improvements planned to make the permissioning architecture more flexible and multi-dimensional.

The toughest technical challenges we face are more related to the underlying technology and the complexity of AMM functionality, especially as we want to make it really easy for our users to get the best possible deals. This refers to under-the-hood technology like order routing optimizations, multi-asset pools, introducing new products and integrating with other on and off-chain infrastructure.

We have a really talented decent-sized developer team but we are always looking for new talent!

Question:

I am an SMT token holder, investor. The well-being of our project is important to me. What positive actions are in development, what news awaits us?

Answer:

Great question….

We have a really full and exciting roadmap over the next few months, starting with adding support for new wallet infrastructure, providing business accounts, reducing transaction fees by branching out to new chains like Polygon, working on a new product aimed at institutions, and making our technology available to be embedded in third party platforms.

Most importantly, we are working on delivering regulated assets into the platform, which uses the full potential of our license.

These are all very exciting and we hope to see these grow the user base greatly.

Question:

Is there a time frame when you switch to the Polygon network? When it’s done, do the users have to bridge their assets themselves or will you bridge the assets from the Ethereum chain to Polygon?

Answer:

Rather than “switching” to Polygon, it’s important to be clear that we are adding support for it as a layer 2 solution that will make transacting considerably cheaper. The Ethereum pools and contracts are not going anywhere.

We are aiming to have Polygon live around December/January. There will be separate pools and markets on Ethereum and Polygon, so users will have the choice which chain to use. Users will need to bridge the assets themselves, but we will provide clear instructions and functionality to do this easily.

Question:

How can we move our SMT tokens from Ethereum Chain to Polygon Chain? Or will it be done automatically after Polygon deployment?

Answer:

We are already working on deploying SMT onto Polygon. When done, you will be able to use the official bridge infrastructure created by the Polygon team, either the PoS (Proof of Stake) bridge or the Plasma bridge.

We will also be providing a widget within the platform UI to bridge assets back and forth smoothly. Bridged assets will be instantly available to be used on Polygon.

Withdrawals from Polygon back to Ethereum are subject to some time locks for security purposes. The PoS bridge has a delay of up to 3 hours before withdrawals are possible. The Plasma bridge has a 7-day period where validators can challenge the withdrawal. Learn more about Polygon bridges here: https://wallet.polygon.technology/bridge

Question:

How can I predict fees with SMT on Polygon? When do transactions submitted to Ethereum achieve finality?

Answer:

Regarding transaction costs on Polygon, at this point we can say that they will be significantly cheaper than on Ethereum. There is always the chance the transaction costs go up on Polygon as demand increases, but we are still talking a fraction of what it costs on Ethereum.

Question:

When will the platform be ready for more assets/crypto/stocks? How will you push marketing to support the price of SMT?

Answer:

Regulated assets are not far away. Stay tuned! From the product side, creating value is the best way to get attention. We want to build quality, secure and valuable infrastructure that adds to the toolset available on DeFi.

Question:

Does SMT have plans to make their own wallet on Google Play Store/App Store? If yes, will it be a decentralized exchange (Dex) or CEX app ?

Answer:

A native mobile application is something we would tackle in 2022. Like our current products, a mobile app would be a hybrid of a DEX and CEX, so this would probably not change.

Question:

Can SRC20 tokens live on the Polygon chain integrated with the Swarm Markets Platform?

Answer:

All ERC20, SRC20 and Polygon tokens can be integrated into the platform. Technically there are no challenges here. New assets simply need to meet our compliance and listing requirements.

Once support for a new asset is added to the platform, anyone will be able to create a pool with these assets to their own parameters. For example, custom fee structures, unique weighting combinations, and pools with up to 8 assets.

Susan Pl:

And the dev team is working on adding a “create your own pool” feature , correct?

Sam Stone:

Yes! We’re already testing these! I’m really excited to see what pools users set up.

Susan Pl:

Excellent! That adds a lot of utility to the platform!

Question:

I am new to all this, I still do not fully understand. I guess all I have to ask is, as Swarm Markets gets bigger and bigger, would/or is it already possible for Swarm Markets to play a role in deciding regulations? Would Swarm Markets be a voice for the people using the platform?

Answer:

Being an early regulated crypto project, there may be opportunities for the regulator to learn from what we are doing when deciding on their policies. In many ways the regulator is also new to this space and is adapting with the industry.

One example of this kind of learning exchange was our experience demonstrating that blockchain transactions are visible to everyone on the blockchain equally. BaFin showed genuine appreciation that both they and investors essentially have real-time access to trading activity with no opportunity for manipulation. That just doesn’t exist in traditional finance.

Regulators are not close-minded when it comes to recognizing the benefits of DeFi and blockchain technology — especially when it means better protection for investors. They themselves are a voice for the people too.

Question:

As I am aware SMT it’s an ambitious project, please could you tell me what kind of long term agreements you think SMT will reach to be one of the biggest tokens in crypto?

Answer:

I won’t be announcing anything here today, but we are actively pursuing some very interesting partnerships that could potentially exponentially increase our user base and funds.

From the development standpoint, we are steadily building out the infrastructure required by our pipeline of partners in order to bring their assets onto the platform.

Volksbank’s response to our recent Polygon announcement gives a hint of things to come. We aren’t building new features in isolation — our work is driven by business needs and demands communicated to us by our industry connections. That also means announcing some features has to wait until all parties are ready, not just our team.

Question:

Many new projects develop well at first, but then fail to achieve good results. How will you manage and develop your project to gain a position in the market and become a good project in the blockchain industry?

Answer:

I think that establishing our credibility within institutional players in the DeFi space is key. This takes time however we are already seeing the results of these efforts. From a tech standpoint, that also means creating useful tools. If you’re listening to the market and building something people want, then success will follow.

Question:

Since NFT is popular nowadays, is there a plan for NFT integration?

Answer:

Yes, we have a unique product in the pipeline that extends the utility of NFTs beyond collecting and trading them. This is original technology that we are working on which has multiple use cases both for retail and industry. Work on this is ongoing and we are really excited to see the reception for this new offering.