This is a deep-dive technical update for the beginning of October 2021, six months after the initial launch of the Occam.fi ecosystem. Half a year has gone quickly, and we have a huge list of updates for our community following your feedback in our first mid-year review. Changes for the updates detailed in this article will take place in October 2021.
tl;dr:
- CED Restructuring for equitable distribution — We are removing CED and increasing allocation for tiers 1 & 2, while increasing CED rewards for all other tiers (3–5). We confirm that CED rewards will be available to claim once we’re on Cardano to save you on ETH gas fees!
- New ways to get guaranteed allocation — We introduce random whitelisting draws, allocations for random winning liquidity miners, and other ways to increase your chances of guaranteed IDO allocation.
- Cool-off reintroduction and restructuring — We reintroduce cool-off periods starting in October, increasing the likelihood of those in tiers 3 to 5 being whitelisted to better waves for upcoming IDOs.
- Liquidity mining as a service (LMAAS) for secondary market pools — Provide liquidity and earn rewards for OccamRazer IDO tokens through the Occam Panel. For projects, find instant liquidity through Occam.fi’s LMAAS.
- Moving beyond the Ethereum blockchain — Short-term focus on alternative blockchains for OccamRazer to reduce ETH gas costs until our mid-term vision of launching Razer on Cardano is realised.
- RazerRebates on Cardano — Participate in OccamRazer IDOs and save ETH gas by receiving rebate rewards in OCC-ADA once our components are on Cardano.
If you want to find out more information, read on.
1. CED Restructuring for Equitable Distribution
Continuous Ecosystem Diversification, or CED, is a concept that has been central to the OccamRazer ecosystem since its inception. When we launched CED rewards, they were designed to be a tool for inclusivity, a way to even the distribution of IDO tokens among a broad number of participants — an area where we believe other launchpads have so far failed to do.
This has been and still remains CED’s key focus. So, in recent months, and with more IDOs than ever in our pipeline, we have been asking ourselves if the current CED distribution is fair. CED should be reserved for those who have less chances of actually participating in an IDO. For those in tiers 1 and 2, the impact of CED rewards are minimal — for they already have a guaranteed chance of buying tokens for any IDO of their choosing.
However, for those in tiers 3 to 5, whose chances of participation are generally lower, CED represents a sure way of receiving project tokens. Therefore, it follows that CED rewards should be greater for those in tiers 3 to 5.
As a result, we propose that those in tiers 1 and 2 forgo CED rewards in exchange for a proportionally higher allocation, and those in tiers 3 to 5 receive the full distribution of CED rewards according to their stake.
- At the time of writing, allocations for given tiers (T) are set with weights (W) as follows — T1:W8; T2:W3.75; T3:W3; T4:W2; T5:W1.
- Under the new system, allocations will instead be — T1:W9; T2:W4.75; T3:W3; T4:W2; T5:W1.
This will make better sense for those in tiers 1 and 2 who can access a higher allocation, and result in more CED tokens for other OCC token stakers.
Additionally, we would also like to confirm a frequently asked question. Yes — you can wait until our components are live on Cardano to claim your CED rewards. This will accumulate your CED rewards and make them available to claim on the Cardano network with vastly reduced transaction fees.
2. Missing Out on IDOs? New ways to get guaranteed allocation
Next, we move to an area of much focus in our community — participation in our IDOs. As an IDO platform focused on inclusivity, we want to increase users’ chances of participation.
Starting from October, for each new IDO on OccamRazer, we will choose from a pool of registered addresses that have not had a chance to participate in IDO due to their wave number, and promote several of them at random to Wave 1 for the next upcoming IDO. This will increase your chances of being chosen for participation in an IDO with each successive IDO that you do not have the opportunity to participate in.
Similarly, our liquidity miners provide an essential service to our token by supplying liquidity to the OCC/ETH trading pool on UniSwap. However, by providing liquidity, although the returns are higher than staking, it does not facilitate access to IDOs.
To rectify this, as long as liquidity mining participants have provided liquidity (at least 5 liquidity tokens required, ~$2,500 at time of writing) and staked at least enough OCC for tier 5, we shall promote several addresses at random for participation into an upcoming IDO. Allocation shall be according to their tier, but they will be promoted to Wave 1 for guaranteed allocation.
4. Reinstating & Redesigning Cool Off Periods
Now, we come to one of the most hotly debated topics of the OccamRazer launchpad, cool offs. We will be reinstating cool-offs starting from October.
We are also introducing a new cool-off system, as follows:
If you are in tiers 1 & 2, you do not observe cool-off as normal. You may register and participate in any IDO,
If you are in Tiers 3 to 5, and your wave was added to the whitelist in a recent IDO, you must observe a cool-off. This applies even if you do not participate in the IDO, because you registered and had the chance to participate but chose not to. Let’s look at some examples:
1) The IDO had 5 waves and you were set to wave 3. In that case you had a guaranteed chance of participation and you must observe cool even if you didn’t participate,
2) The IDO had 5 waves and you were in wave 5. In that case, if you participated, then you observe the cool off as before. But if you didn’t have a chance to take part in the IDO during this FCFS round, then you are not set to cool off,
3) Finally, the IDO had 5 waves and you were in wave 6. In that case you didn’t have a chance for participation and thus no cool off for you.
Anyone who is observing cool-off, regardless of tier, can now register for upcoming IDOs irrespective of their cool-off status. In this scenario, you will be entered into one of the final waves of the IDO that you registered for, even if you’re currently supposed to be in a cool-off period. This could mean that if a pool has only a handful of participants, or there are a particularly large number of tokens available, you may still be able to participate.
The number of IDOs you need to observe until your cool-off ends still depends on your tier — one IDO for tiers 3 & 4, and two IDOs for tier 5 (subject to change). This new system will increase the likelihood of those in tiers 3 to 5 being whitelisted to better waves for upcoming IDOs.
Finally, a short note on waves. Waves reduce gas wars typically associated with a first come first serve IDO scenario. When you are whitelisted, you are whitelisted to a certain wave. If you are in tiers 1 or 2, you are automatically whitelisted for wave 1, as you have guaranteed allocation. Every other tier is random — you may be randomly whitelisted for any wave, including wave 1 (guaranteed participation) or 2 (high chance of participation), but also waves 3, 4, 5 and so on.
5. Liquidity Mining as a Service
When IDO tokens launch through the OccamRazer launchpad, they usually go on to list on secondary trading venues such as UniSwap. Early liquidity for a project is very important and it should be more simple to provide liquidity mining to new projects.
We will soon enable projects to run liquidity mining campaigns through us, and for users to provide liquidity to OccamRazer IDO tokens. You will be able to collect your rewards without ever leaving the Occam.fi Panel. This means that users and projects can seamlessly go from IDO to liquidity provision in a few simple steps. Users will be able to participate in liquidity provision through the new OccamRazer interface, which will arrive soon.
This functionality will be expanded upon in an upcoming article, and will coincide with the release of brand new interfaces for the whole of the OccamRazer platform. This is actually a huge update, and it really deserves its own article, so stay tuned!
6. Exploring Other Chains
Ethereum gas fees are a huge problem for both our community, and for us as a project. It does not sit well with us, and we have heard your feedback loud and clear the last few months.
The ideal solution would be migrating to the Cardano network in the mid-term. For now, there are many other blockchains which use Solidity smart contracts, without the network bloat and high fees of the Ethereum network. Therefore, until such time that we can devote all of our development efforts on deploying OccamRazer smart contracts on Cardano, we are looking to find and deploy a better solution for our users.
Our recently announced partnership with COTI will also look for opportunities for using ADA on OccamRazer. We hope that in the short term this will make OccamRazer IDO participation more cost effective and equitable until a better solution can be deployed in the long term through Cardano.
7. RazerRebates on Cardano
We have paused RazerRebates for OccamRazer IDOs. The simple explanation is that for a small fraction of rebate, the ETH gas cost for distribution is severe. This is problematic for us as a project and as an ecosystem.
However we will still be calculating the RazerRebate our IDO participants are owed, and making them claimable on Cardano once we have migrated. More information on the claim procedure will be provided closer to the time, but rest assured we are keeping track of how much needs to be distributed ready for our transition to Cardano.
The Road Ahead
It’s been six months since Occam.fi launched. Throughout this time, we have laid the foundations of what is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious projects launched for Cardano to date. We haven’t gotten here without some help from you, our community, and as you can see through this update we are listening and bringing value to you.
Don’t forget, the OCC token is central to our vision. It’s central to participating in IDOs on OccamRazer, and it’s central to receiving OCX tokens for use on the DEX.
So lastly, we’d like to end on a note on upcoming OCC listings. We are close to launching OCC on major centralized trading venues that will increase liquidity and volume for our token, and we’re exploring new ways to bring value to our token holders, and by extension, our ecosystem.
Here’s to the next six months with Occam.fi! 🍻
