Driving Symbiosis’s Multichain Revolution with Will Kamalov

Will Kamalov shares about his journey into crypto and how Symbiosis was born.

Can you give a short introduction to Symbiosis for those who aren’t familiar with it?

Symbiosis solves the problem of managing cross-chain liquidity without compromises towards security, price and user experience. Just 1-click and you’re good to go with a native asset swap between zkSync, Polygon, Avalanche, and virtually any blockchain network.

To put it short, we’re building the value layer of the Internet.

I understand you’ve founded quite a few companies in the past. How did you arrive at the idea for Symbiosis and how did you decide when was the right time to build it?

By early 2021, I already had a solid background in the cryptocurrency industry, gained extensive experience in building software teams, and learned valuable lessons from previous failed startup ventures. Fueled by a strong motivation to address a genuine problem, I embarked on a new entrepreneurial journey.

During conversations with my team, we identified a pressing issue in the form of fragmented liquidity across different blockchain networks. Recognizing the complexity of this challenge, we made a bold decision to focus on developing a cross-chain product. We understood that solving such a problem would not be straightforward and would require a substantial level of expertise and resources, so we started learning and experimenting.

Tell us more about what makes Symbiosis special, especially with protocols like LayerZero (and Stargate), being in the limelight recently.

Our project stands out from the crowd due to several factors:

• MPC/HTSS relay network: We utilize secure multi-party computation (MPC) and Hierarchical Threshold Signature Scheme (HTSS) in the Relayers Network, enabling seamless connections between EVM and non-EVM chains, even native BTC integration.
• Innovative Pool Design: Symbiosis features a unique single-sided AMM liquidity pool (called Octopool). This gives a huge advantage in determining the fair price of the swap depending on the direction.
• Capital Efficiency: implementation of any-to-any token swaps with the ability to route through existing on-chain liquidity without the need to create multiple stable/gas token pools, etc.
• Enhanced UX: With just 1-click, you’re good to go with a native asset cross-chain swap, no illiquid pegged assets, or switching between several interfaces. Just as easy as catching a ride through ride-hailing.

Getting traction in the beginning is always difficult. What was your Go-To-Market strategy in the early days which helped you secure your early users?

Our initial strategy was built around working on all possible verticals, such as blockchain networks, crypto wallets, dashboards, NFT marketplaces, random projects with tokens that we can list on our DEX, etc.

Thus, the primary marketing and user acquisition was built around the quantitative attraction of the audience of these related projects, familiarizing them with our product offering, as well as the project roadmap.

As part of the next stage, we began to use marketing platforms to launch new networks, including those in their testnet phase, and this had a significant impact on the growth of traffic to the site and our social media profiles. It was also important to place our focus on Asian audiences, especially Hong Kong, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Apart from the retail/B2C strategy, we also secured numerous partnerships with projects that were using the Symbiosis SDK/API — and we will be announcing some of these soon.

What advice would you give to new founders trying to enter the space?

In the long run, a single project’s success cannot radically change the status quo; in reality, it’s the success and prosperity of the specific ecosystems and the industry as a whole that makes a difference.

Partnerships and cooperation are essential and vital pillars of our industry. Start with thinking differently, as one motto stands; then continue with thinking about which projects in the field you can enter into a synergetic (and symbiotic) union, solve their problems or build something on top. Cooperation makes it all possible.