Recapping Laser’s Crowdsale Q&A

Maxwell Arnold
LaserProtocol
Published in
5 min readSep 5, 2018

We hope you didn’t miss it, but just a few days ago we did a question and answer session in Laser’s Telegram group about the crowdsale. Since the Q&A went so well, we decided to have another one, especially since we’ve been getting lots of inquiries about the crowdsale and how it works.

For clarity, the crowdsale is structured as an equity sale in Cayman-based Laser Technologies Corp., where for each share in the company that you buy, you will get one Photon token as a “kicker”. You can request more information and register your interest on our Investors page.

Now, let’s have a look over some of the questions we got during the Q&A. This recap does not show all questions and answers, some may be edited for clarity, coherence, or length. Original questions and answers in their exact form can be seen in our Telegram group.

First, we had Stephen Wilson ask about Laser as a DAPP platform…

Stephen Wilson: Are there any plans for DApp development you can share, other than Stratus?

Laser: Other than Stratus, Singularity will be a DAPP built on Laser. Additionally, several other Global Blockchain projects will be built as DAPPs on Laser too. On top of that, we’ve also received interest from outside companies who are interested in building DAPPs on Laser to leverage its functionality. So the answer is yes, there are lots of plans… but Stratus and Singularity is all we’re allowed to disclose now.

He also asked about how Laser is different from other DEXs. But we had to clear that up, because Laser is not a DEX itself…

Stephen Wilson: How is Laser different than other existing DEX’s?

Laser: To be clear Stephen, Laser is not a DEX… Laser is a blockchain network. More powerful DEXs can be built on Laser than on Ethereum, because ones built on Laser will be able to handle many more asset classes such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, etc.

Chill Rider had another question about DAPPs, and what gives Laser an advantage over other platforms on which DAPPs can be built…

Chill Rider: What would you tell someone who is asking why a DAPP should be built on Laser versus on Ethereum or EOS? What makes this project last instead of fizzle?

Laser: Essentially what gives Laser an advantage, is that our team has a very long track record of supporting some of the top projects in the blockchain space. With this knowledge, we are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of platforms like Ethereum and EOS — which is why we built Laser to address these weaknesses. Specifically, EOS has weaknesses with respect to both scalability and governance — and we believe that is what held them back, and we’ve addressed that from the very beginning with Laser.

Chill Rider was also kind enough to ask a question about Laser’s mainnet release timing, on behalf of someone who couldn’t attend…

Chill Rider: Someone on the Yahoo board is asking when the estimated time for mainnet is.

Laser: The plan is to launch the mainnet within 28 days of the end of the crowdsale.

M8 Ksheni also wanted to know about what it takes to operate a servicenode, from a setup perspective…

M8 Ksheni: Ok so which Equipment is needed? This is exactly what investors need to know. I can’t find this in the whitepaper.

Laser: It’s a very typical internet server solution — no different from running an Ethereum full node, Steem witness, etc., with respect to requirements. When the GitHub is available, it will provide more technical detail.

Also, known for being very diligent, Jaek had a number of questions that we were happy to clear up…

Jaek: 1) Besides the 1500 photon requirement, what other (equipment/operation/registration/etc) requirements are there to run a servicenode?
2) If someone has enough Photons to run a node and meets any other criteria, how do they stake their tokens this way? Through the wallet?
3) What is the interface for the operator to validate transactions (how do they ‘do’ the validation)?
4) How many servicenodes will Laser/GBT run with their 30% allotment?
5) How does the incentive for hosting a servicenode work? Are they ‘paid’ in Photon? Other currency? It’s based on a % of transaction fees and total active servicenodes, right?

Laser: 1. Other than the 1,500 Photons, you will need a server that has the same capabilities of running an Ethereum full node. You will also need reliable internet connectivity. At first, you will be admitted as a servicenode operator by way of share purchase in Laser Technologies Corp., but this onboarding process will later be moved to the blockchain network to have the process done by way of on-chain voting. This is provided for in either the offering memorandum, or a future revision of the whitepaper. Each shareholder will get one vote regardless of the amount of shares — and this will be the case with token-based voting (e.g. each token holder will get one vote regardless of the amount of tokens). It will be kind of like a co-op.

2. The staking will take place through the servicenode layer’s software, the initial release of which will be put out when testnet is ready (which will be at some point during the crowdsale — less than two months from now).

3. That will be done through the official reference design in the software. This is explained at a high level in the whitepaper.

4. There wouldn’t be any number of servicenodes, as Laser* will use its 30% allotment to stake on the network under the Proof-of-Stake protocol, which will not require a multitude of nodes.

* After the crowdsale, Laser Technologies Corp. will be a separate entity from Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. — and Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. will simply be a member of Laser.

5. You are correct, it is based on a percentage of transactions and their corresponding fees. The amount earned depends on the service. For example, a cross-chain transaction will earn the servicenode operator a percentage of the currency which they’re transacting (e.g. a transaction for BTC will earn the fee in BTC). The collateral for servicenodes, though, will always be in Photons.

We thank everybody again for their patience with regard to Laser’s crowdsale. We finally have the ball rolling, and the sale is live now at www.laser.xyz/investors for everyone to access!

If you have any more questions, feel free to send us a message on the contact form, or post it in our Telegram group.

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