AliceFi Roadmap (2019–2020)
Our adventure from a financial service to an open platform
AliceFi is a blockchain based decentralized financial service that aims to provide a variety of services that were not available in traditional finance, starting with savings at the end of May 2019. If you would like to know about our ambitious plans and product launch dates, read on!
We don’t want to develop a new blockchain from scratch, nor want to provide a universal protocol at first. That’s because the cryptocurrency market is changing rapidly and we know well that it is almost impossible to anticipate what customers would want tomorrow or next week.
“Success is not about delivering new capabilities; Success is learning how to solve a customer’s problems.”
- Eric Ries, “The Lean Startup”
Instead, we have a plan to start with a core financial service and gradually expand to a more general-purpose financial platform over the next two years. This goal aligns with our software development philosophy, agile methodology, and lean philosophy that inspired many unicorn startups.
Rather than starting out with all features and being strained for resources, we intend to break down problems and solve them one by one. The reason being, our goal is to help our customers solve their inconvenience.
Savings — May 2019
AliceFi’s first appearance will be a savings. If you look at this article, you will see why we prepared the savings first.
When the service is launched, you can download the app from the Play Store or App Store and deposit DAI token, which is a stablecoin pegged to US dollars. Because interest is calculated every day, even if you deposit for a day, interest will occur!
AliceFi’s advantage is that it is easily accessible via Android / iOS apps and that it offers considerably high interest that no traditional financial services can provide. Aside from the the conventional belief that you can only get short-term returns on cryptocurrency exchanges, this is a completely new way to profit while retaining your long-term ownership of crypto assets.
Crypto mortgage loan — June 2019
The first service, savings, will be followed immediately by crypto loans, which is closely linked to the previous one.
You can deposit one of WBTC, MKR, OMG, SNT, MCO and other major tokens as a mortgage then you will be given DAI tokens according to the amount. Your interest rate is dynamically determined by a variety of indicators such as the risk factor of the collateral asset, demand and supply of the loan, etc. There is no expiration period, and the interest is calculated on a daily basis. You can pay off the debt by paying the total amount, including interest, on the principal, at any time. You will receive your collateral back at the time you settle your debt.
If the principal plus interest accrues more than the value of (the value of the collateral) * (the risk margin), then the collateral is automatically cleared. However, if you pay a little attention to the accumulated interest, you can prevent it in advance, so you do not have to worry too much about losing your assets.
What’s important here is that all of AliceFi’s services, including savings and mortgage services, operate on smart contracts on a blockchain. No-one, including us, can steal your assets or adjust your balance! In addition, since interest rates on savings and mortgage loans are determined by predefined and publicly open algorithms, you can even use financial services without trusting us, the operator. It is a big advantage of decentralization :)
Exchange — 3Q 2019
Since the financial services provided by AliceFi are based on the cryptocurrency assets represented by ERC20, it’s inevitable that users should be offered exchanges in which such crypto assets can be traded.
Think about it. What if the exchange is provided right away to help convert DAI tokens for savings, or for purchasing collateral assets for mortgage loans!
As a result, the AliceFi app will open a cryptographic exchange in the third quarter of 2019. Because the exchange is also decentralized, you do not have to authenticate yourself and what you need for the trade is just your private key, unlike a centralized exchange. And because there is no centralized operator, it is completely free from the risks of hacks, malicious acts, and operational issues caused by moral hazards. This is possible due to the pre-release smart contracts!
Decentralized exchanges (DEX) can be considered as a slow and uncomfortable exchange that usually takes more than 15 seconds. However, since AliceFi’s blockchain is driven by PlasmaChain which is backed by DPoS algorithm, the transaction settlement time is less than one second!
AliceFi SDK Released — 1Q 2020
In the first quarter of 2020 we plan to release an SDK to open AliceFi’s ecosystem to third-party developers. Our goal is to provide a wide range of financial services, starting with savings and loan services, but we cannot deliver them all. So we want to share this role with the best developers around the world!
Any developer interested in financial services and capable of developing smart contracts can participate. Smart contracts of EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) environment will be provided, so many developers who have developed with languages such as Solidity and Vyper are expected to get involved.
You will see that a variety of apps, including insurance, derivatives and investment are implemented on AliceFi’s financial platform. Users can choose from a variety of financial apps available at AliceFi. It is not a model where everything is shipped by us, but a model that is built by its community and expanded by the ecosystem!
Mainnet release — 3Q 2020
AliceFi’s blockchain, PlasmaChain, has advantages such as having a confirmation time of less than 1 second with the help of DPoS algorithm, but there are also limitations in providing large scale financial services which needs to be expanded.
AliceFi’s goal is to be a trusted financial platform, which anyone can participate in and operate, without a proprietary manager, so no-one can steal funds or commit illegal acts.
However, validators of PlasmaChain are selected by partnerships, and DPoS algorithm itself is not a structure in which a large number of anonymous nodes can participate. So, as of May 2019, PlasmaChain would be suitable for AliceFi’s service, but in the long run it’s not decentralized enough for AliceFi’s vision.
In the third quarter of 2020, we plan to release our own blockchain, based on PoS, which is open to everyone and has the best level of reliability. This is essential to AliceFi’s reputation as a long-lasting trusted financial platform.
Conclusion
AliceFi starts with financial services and wants to develop into a decentralized financial platform. At the final stage, we will launch our own blockchain with decentralized governance equipped with PoS.
The goal is clear: AliceFi is a platform that everyone can trust, everyone can participate, and everyone can benefit from. At first, it might seem like we are AliceFi, but the vision is for an ecosystem that’s run by its community. Then all of you, your friends, and your parents will benefit from AliceFi.
The development team is working hard to make this a reality. If you are interested in joining our journey, please visit the link below or enter our Telegram channel and give us your feedback!
