Update September 9, 2023–22:00 UTC
Peter Van Garderen, CEO
Orcfax Ltd.
Since my initial response yesterday I have had a chance to meet and debrief with the Orcfax and Wingrider’s team. Wingrider’s data analysis reveals that, while the Launchpad UI had congestion problems (not unlike an entire city logging on to buy a popular concert ticket), all transactions were processed deterministically as designed and there is no evidence of predominant bot or whale activity. A more detailed investigation by Xerberus.io will use on-chain data to assess this analysis. In the meanwhile we want to thank all interested parties for their support and this clear signal (while a crowded one) that there is interest and belief in what Orcfax is about to deploy and implement.
September 8, 2023–21:00 UTC
Peter Van Garderen, CEO
Orcfax Ltd.
On September 8, 2023 at 08:00 UTC, the Orcfax project opened its FACT token launchpad using the Wingrider’s web interface to their smart contract solution.
Unfortunately the launchpad web interface began glitching for most users right at launch time and it was impossible for most of our community to even connect their wallets.
As Orcfax CEO, I would like to formally apologize for the frustration and anxiety this caused to users that wanted to participate in the launchpad.
I would also like to make it clear that all of the business decisions around using the Wingriders Launchpad platform for our FACT token launch were discussed as a team within Orcfax and always with my final approval.
Our Business Development Manager Vahid and Community Manager Karsten are two Web3 professionals with the highest integrity and standards in how they conduct their affairs. They have taken the brunt of negative reaction to the launchpad unfairly. The decision to use the Wingriders Launchpad as-is and the unfortunate glitches that did occur are my full responsibility.
In the meantime…
What the #@$A%? Happened?
In short, the Wingriders Launchpad webserver was not ready for the amount of traffic it had to handle at the launch. Perhaps a project with only 4600 Twitter followers and 2000 Discord users did not deserve a beefed up web server front-end. Either way, by the time the Wingriders team increased server resources we were already 30 minutes into the launchpad with the maximum raise achieved during that time. By comparison, the other project launching around the same time has had much less demand and therefore not encountered the same web server constraints.
While the web application interface was mostly inaccessible, there were successful subscribers that were able to bypass the front-end interface and send ADA directly to the smart contract. While our team understands the frustration experienced by users, and without intention to minimize the frustration of the users dealing with the launchpad interface, this is a demonstration of decentralization at work, where the immutable smart contracts were available on-chain and performing as designed, deterministically.
Our team understands the frustration users went through, and we want to emphasize that this situation highlights how decentralization functions. The smart contracts on the blockchain were doing their job as programmed, and they can’t be changed once set in motion.
However, because some users were able to bypass the UI, users who utilized the Wingriders Launchpad application had a less than ideal experience as the WR servers struggled to mitigate congestion. The interface experienced further malfunctions around confirmed transactions and app indicators; users reported that the colored indicators were not displaying the correct colours to indicate successful transactions. This was extremely frustrating and discouraging as users could not be sure of transaction status.
The choice by Orcfax Ltd. to partner with Wingriders to facilitate the launch of our FACT tokens was made in order to address a number of key requirements identified both by the Orcfax team and its community. Many of these requirements were directly related to regulatory restrictions and a cliff date for token launch that was set by our own ISPO token distribution commitments. And while Orcfax held talks with solutions such as MinSwap, they were not ready to support our requirements at the time.
While our community voiced legitimate concerns about the launchpad, some of which came to fruition, our options were extensively evaluated by the Orcfax team, and by advisors– the result of which being that the WingRiders Launchpad was the best token launch vehicle for the Orcfax project, given the ever-evolving circumstances, restrictions, and opportunities.
We did acknowledge that we would be the first users of a newly launched product which always carries deployment risks, like we experienced today. As fellow software developers and technology innovators we empathize with any other tech team going through a bumpy launch and would never spend time on anything but constructive criticism.
Can’t you just start over and try it again?
Because the Wingriders Launchpad operates as a fully non-custodial platform, entirely managed by smart contracts, there is no way to undo the current Launchpad.
The smart contracts will execute like they were programmed and after it passes the end date, they will distribute the FACT token claims to the corresponding wallets, create the ADA-FACT Liquidity pool and send the raised ADA to the Orcfax project wallet. This is programmed to happen at the predetermined launchpad close date which is Sep 15, 2023 16:00 UTC. This process is immutable and it should remain so.
Can’t you just act like a bank and print new money?
There is only one legitimate FACT minting policy ID and there will never be another. The moment we start talking about off-chain social coordination to bypass or nullify on-chain decisions, including a brand new TGE mint, we should wake up collectively and oppose the idea on principle. Decentralization should mean something, otherwise this is all just elaborate theater.
We had a shit time, what are you going to do about it?!
I understand there is frustration and a whole bunch of other stuff brewing in our very young and fragile community right now that needs an outlet. But let’s please remember that we are actually trying to be a community, not yet another degen mob.
Orcfax is a project that values decentralization above anything else. Our team has a pretty ambitious and beautiful vision for how our Sybil-resistent, fact-validation network can benefit society as a whole and underpin a decentralization evolution. Publishing oracle datum on-chain is a starting point. Releasing our utility token to the market is an early opportunity presented to us to fund our vision and provide the resources to turn it into reality.
While we do this work and engage with oracle feed consumers and FACT token holders, I intend to remain an empathetic community member with the one simple rule: Dont be an asshole. After that, I should be able to debate and learn from others without having to agree on everything.
And when I break that rule (which I sometimes do), I’ll put my hand out and hope we can continue to talk, learn, and build.
Shut up and tell me what are you going to do
We are working on more detailed answers to the very important and genuine questions that have cropped up since our launch. I will continue to discuss our token launch as a highest priority with my team. We are already investigating yet another alternative to increase the number of FACT holders as soon as possible by making another allocation available. We can’t say quite yet if it will work out, because we need some business and technology conformations first.
Towards a decentralized future
Please keep in mind our project’s commitment to decentralization. Our initial token distribution was much more decentralized than many of our predecessors. We have no venture capital deals or private sale allocations. Over 1400 unique wallets will be receiving ISPO drops. While the launchpad maxed out by the time it had distributed to over 140 wallets, this only represents 8.6% of total supply.
If you’ve read this far then I appreciate your patience with us. So much of this is brand new and in its early stages. We’ll probably make mistakes again and so will you. How we acknowledge and learn from them together will define us a community.
