Hakka Finance — 2022 Retrospective & 2023 Roadmap

TL;DR

• Even with the tough market in 2022, Hakka Finance still managed to achieve most of the goals set in the previous roadmap.
• Hakka Finance’s mission is to shake up the world of finance by creating a decentralized ecosystem that gives people everywhere the power to be sovereign on their finances. By using blockchain technology, we’re building a platform that brings transparency and security to the financial world. We’re all in on decentralization and excited to make it happen.
• Decentralization and transparency are important, but they’re not enough to attract and retain users. To truly reach mainstream success, we need to make our platform accessible to people who are new to DeFi. And the best way to do that is by creating an enjoyable and user-friendly experience. That’s why we’re excited to introduce our new Hakka Play2Earn game and granting users more rights!
• Also, 2 major DeFi and GameFi projects are in the works 😉

Previous Roadmap

Our CEO Lucien Lee said it in our previous roadmap in late 2021:

“It’s impossible to predict the future, and there will be many things happening out of the scope of this roadmap. It doesn’t mean that the roadmap is worthless. Instead, it represents our vision and what’s essential for us.”

2022 was full of surprises, both good and bad.

But, just like the Chinese Hakka people who inspired our name, Hakka Finance is built on resilience and determination. We learned from the Hakkas’ history of relocating to less fertile lands and having to be self-reliant, diligent and frugal in order to survive. These values have helped us navigate the challenging market conditions this year and continue delivering products.

Also, it is important to note that the market value of HAKKA is now roughly the same as its intrinsic value. That is, in a way, good news: Hakka Finance’s fate is closely tied with the fate of ETH (constituting the majority of Guild Bank assets). If the latter rises, Hakka Finance will automatically rise with it, thanks to its Guild Bank assets accumulated over the years. In fact, it could even overperform it since the amount of Guild Bank assets owned by HAKKA holders can only increase.

So we can only thank you, Hakka family, wherever you come from, for your loyalty and your support.

Anyway, despite everything, Hakka has delivered. A lot has happened in the Hakka ecosystem this year:

• #1- The launch of iGain IRS, with close to US$100 million of notional value traded, along with multiple liquidity mining programs
• #2- The extension of staking to BSC and Polygon, and farming+vesting to BSC, Polygon and Fantom, expanding the reach of our community!
• #3- Countless prestigious partnerships and integrations in the DeFi world, including Polygon, Fantom, Aave, Yearn, Chainlink, Galxe and many others!
• #4- One outstanding Hakka Intelligence World Cup round!
• #5- The development of our Play2Earn game with more than 20,000 on-chain achievement NFTs minted!

Deliverable #1 — iGain IRS

How iGain IRS works

As promised, 2022 started with the launch of iGain IRS!

iGain is a derivative trading platform allowing users to long or short any kind of on-chain metric! Its first target was impermanent loss with iGain IG. Now, its second iteration focuses on interest rates with iGain IRS (Interest Rate Synth).

iGain IRS is a platform enabling users to obtain fixed DeFi interest rates thanks to the power of financial derivatives:

• Lenders of stablecoins who want their income to never decrease
• Borrowers of stablecoins who want their costs to never increase
• Traders who want to hedge and take advantage of an increase/decrease in DeFi interest rates

The platform is built on the solid foundations of established DeFi players like Aave and Yearn, showcasing the strengths of various blockchain protocols working together. Despite the various crypto scandals of 2022, these platforms have remained resilient, which is a testament to the transparency and integrity of the DeFi world.

Within just a year, our platform has seen over $80 million in notional value traded and even caught the attention of Aave, who awarded us with a grant!

Deliverable #2— Multichain staking

The second item on our 2022 roadmap, which was highly requested by the Hakka community, was to expand HAKKA token staking to more networks.

At Hakka Finance, we have a strong connection to the Ethereum community and believe in its technology for the long-term. Ethereum mainnet is our “homebase”, but high gas fees made transactions unsustainable and negatively impacted user experience.

Meanwhile, alternative networks like BSC and Polygon were gaining popularity and holding HAKKA tokens. These networks have proven to be mature and here to stay. As a community, it wouldn’t be fair to exclude users on these networks from voting power for community governance.

While we are still Ethereum believers, we keep an open and flexible mindset and welcome users from all backgrounds. Our goal is to improve the world of finance, rather than blindly backing one blockchain over another.

That’s why our development team has delivered Multichain Staking, allowing users to stake, farm and most importantly, vote on major DAO decisions on Snapshot on Mainnet, BSC and Polygon combined!

Deliverable #3 — Quantitative & Qualitative Community Initiatives

We often repeat it: the strength of Hakka Finance relies on two things:

• The diversity of our ecosystem:

At Hakka Finance, we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket. Our value doesn’t rely on the success of just one product.

In the dynamic world of crypto, it’s essential to stay adaptable by having multiple complementary platforms working in tandem, and the ability to create new ones as market trends evolve.

• The quality and size of our core team & community:

At the core of Hakka Finance’s mission is the development of a decentralized autonomous organization. As a DAO, it is crucial for us to foster a strong and sustainable community of voters and builders without compromising on quality.

Throughout 2022, we’ve formed strategic partnerships and integrations to connect with other DeFi and blockchain communities globally and welcome them to the Hakka family, enabling us to attract thousands of users and triple our Twitter follower base:

• Polygon Network awarded a Developer Grant to Hakka Finance
• Aave Grants DAO awarded an official Grant to iGain Finance
• Galxe: More than 100,000 NFTs have been minted during the Hakka World Cup campaign, making Hakka Finance trending #1 on the platform, giving us great visibility to the Galxe community
• Fantom, Yearn, Chainlink are also prominent protocols and platforms integrated respectivelly with iGain IRS and Hakka Intelligence, with various community events like AMAs organized!

Deliverable #4 — Hakka Intelligence World Cup Round

Acquiring and retaining users is important for any web2 business, but it’s not enough for a web3 DAO like ours.

In a DAO, it’s crucial for the community to actively participate in governance, not just be passive users. But, in a system where 1 staked HAKKA equals 1 vote, the governance can easily be manipulated by any pump-and-dumper.

So, how do we ensure that users make responsible decisions?

One solution is to ensure that only the most knowledgeable or invested users are able to accumulate HAKKA tokens.

And that’s where Hakka Intelligence comes in — it enables users to predict the future of crypto markets, and rewards them with HAKKA tokens proportionately.

This year, Hakka Intelligence reached a new milestone by integrating Chainlink Automation and organizing rounds related to non-financial real-world events, such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup!

Deliverable #5 — Play2Earn

Lastly, one of the most exciting developments for Hakka Finance in 2022 was the release of the Hakka Play2Earn game, built on Galxe NFT infrastructure!

This game offers players the chance to step into the shoes of a young Hakka farmer traveling through the galaxy with the goal of becoming a DeFi master.

Players can earn real rewards in the form of tokens and NFTs, as well as entertainment and education, by completing various missions on the platform and exploring the many ways to earn in the Hakka ecosystem.

Whether you’re a seasoned DeFi pro or just starting out, Hakka Finance has something for everyone to enjoy through the Play2Earn game!

Why launching a Play2Earn game?

For several reasons:

• First, we believe that DeFi should be a more engaging and enjoyable experience for users than in TradFi, akin to playing a game.
• Second, like our Hakka Intelligence platform, the Play2Earn game rewards the most active and dedicated members of our community.
• Third, by gamifying the user experience, we aim to onboard and educate more users about the various DeFi products within our ecosystem, making it an easier and more accessible way to understand and engage with DeFi.

At Hakka Finance, our goal is to unite like-minded individuals from all over the world to shape the future of finance and financial sovereignty. While we may not be able to achieve this in person, we can do so digitally through our Play2Earn game.

Opportunities are endless as we continuously explore new ways to provide value to our users. To date, we have created two levels, each corresponding to a different planet, with missions that involve iGain IRS, Hakka Staking, Hakka Intelligence, 3F Mutual, Snapshot votes and more!

What’s next?

Next: Privileges for Level 3+ users (Q2)

Level 3 and the next planet are around the corner, and we believe that users reaching it are committed enough to enjoy special rights and be rewarded.

Why?

For those of you who have been with us for a while, you might recall that the Hakka Finance DAO is currently in its “Divine Right of Kings” phase, where the core team is solely responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of the ecosystem.

Now, we believe it’s time to share some of those responsibilities and privileges with our community, and transition to the “Enlightened Despotism” phase. This means that the core team will still oversee major decisions, but Level 3 users will have more rights and privileged access to tokens.

As we said a year ago, it is impossible to predict the future and a lot of macro-events could happen. The list below is simply to give an idea of where we’re heading to. Better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in our vision, which will be decided upon with you, the Hakka community, through Snapshot votes:

• Higher staking rates

Certified Level 3 users would be able to stake at more advantageous rates, enabling them to have more power in governance, but also more farming power! To get a rough idea of how it would work, you may think of BAYC’s staking privileges.

• VIP Farming pools

Level 3 users will be able to farm on exclusive farming pools, with higher APR% due to their exclusivity!

• Discord Moderator/Ambassador role w/ rewards based on number of referred users

Level 3 users who have connected their wallet on Discord will have their interests aligned with Hakka Finance by obtaining a special role granting them ambassador rights, rewarding them based on the number of (real) people they manage to refer, but also the ability to moderate channels from their own country, organize events in their language, etc.

• Gas subsidies

Fantom Network’s key priorities for 2023 is gas monetization, as an incentive for dApp teams like Hakka Finance. Level 3 users would have the privilege to participate in this program when we would implement it on our products using Fantom.

Surprise Project — GameFi (Early Q2)

Privileges are not the only thing the Hakka team is preparing for this year 2023. We are reaching out to other GameFi protocols to boost the potential of the Hakka ecosystem via integrations.

Further more, an entirely original built-in game is also in the works and should be announced around April 1st, aka Hakka’s 3rd anniversary! Despite it looking like a “April’s fool” at first sight, its core concept is antifragile to bear markets and should help increase the total value of the Guild Bank!

Surprise Project #2—DeFi (Q2-Q3)

Dear Hakkafam, we know markets have been tough over the last year, but even the darkest nights will end, and the sun will rise on DeFi.

So, we are thrilled to announce for this year the launch of a secret large-scale DeFi platform, our latest and greatest addition to the DeFi space!

With cutting-edge DeFi and SocialFi technology, exceptional user interface based on our years of experience and expertise, and a commitment to transparency, this product, which already exists in CeFi but not in DeFi yet, is poised to revolutionize the blockchain landscape by allowing users to earn sustainable and consistent gains on their tokens regardless of market cycles.

Our team of developers is currently working hard on this secret large-scale project. Technically speaking, this unprecedented product will be a standalone platform and will not be part of the Hakka ecosystem, it will also have its own governance token.

Nonetheless, we will reward our valued Hakka community members for their loyalty, with a special twist just for you: Not only will HAKKA holders have the opportunity to earn significant returns on their investment under any market condition on this new platform, but they will also indirectly enjoy airdrops via the Guild Bank, increasing its intrinsic value and rewarding our most loyal community members!

Whether you're a seasoned investor or just getting started, you won't want to miss out on this opportunity to join the future of finance. So stay tuned for more details about the launch of this game-changing product. Trust us, you won't be disappointed.

PS: A note from Ping Chen

As requested by the community, here are a few comments from our founder on the current market:

DeFi faced many challenges in 2022, resulting in a significant slowdown of the industry’s growth.

People are becoming tired of mediocre products with fancy tokenomics. Additionally, many fields that were previously considered to have potential have failed to deliver on their promises

Examples are fixed-rate protocols (yes, including iGain), and, as everyone knows, some algorithmic stablecoins.

Nonetheless, looking ahead to the new year, I see several opportunities.

First of all, with the end of high-yield DeFi farming, many products that provide moderate but sustainable yields will have great opportunities. LSD and RWA fall into this category, and structured products are also worthy of attention.

Second, the market still welcomes innovative solutions, especially for problems that have not yet been perfectly solved, such as on-chain liquidity of non-stable coins, decentralized identity, wallet management, etc.

Finally, crypto still needs breakthrough solutions for user acquisition, whether it is a curation platform (usually a wallet), an easier onboarding process, or a gamified achievement system (Hakka Play2Earn) that is more suitable for ordinary users.

I will continue exploring opportunities in these directions in the new year.

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We can’t wait to see what the future holds for our platform and for our users. For those who have yet to level up in the Play2Earn game, start now!

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