26 Questions with Octopus Network
Join Vivi Lin, Partner of Octopus Network, in this extensive AMA video hosted by MEXC Global.
Test your Octopus Intelligence — Can you answer the 6 quiz questions at the end of the written transcription below the video?
1) How did the whole idea of the Octopus Network come about ?
Vivi: It all started with our founder, Louis Liu, who is a veteran developer. He believes that the future of crypto lies in more use cases and in multichain. So, he started a project called Cdot with his developer friends, focusing on crosschain interoperability. By servicing projects including Flow, Oasis, and Chainlink, Cdot has become one of the world’s best projects in the crosschain space.
Octopus Network was born out of Cdot, when Louis decided to work closely with NEAR Protocol, to become an indispensable infrastructure for Web3 projects in the NEAR Ecosystem and beyond.
2) Can you tell us a bit about the team behind Octopus?
Vivi: Absolutely. We have an all-star team!
Starting from our hard-core developers as founders: Louis Liu, Sun Yuanchao, and Mike Tang. They are some of the most-respected developers in China.
Just to name a few things they’ve done — Louis and the core team have trained the first batch of Substrate developers in the region. Mike co-founded Rust cc, which is the biggest Rust development company in China, and organizes Rust Con, one of the biggest developer conferences in the region.
We also have a brilliant team of global talents. Our head of marketing, Aaron, a crypto OG and a popular influencer in South East Asia, is now based in Dubai. We have our Tech Lead Sheldon, based in the U.S., and he is a brilliant engineer, and Zan as Editor, based in Japan. Myself as a partner, based between Silicon Valley and China — I am a TV-personality turned crypto personality — and a big advocate of Web3 with a focus on media strategy, and storytelling.
We have the rest of the team coming from all around the world.
3) How does Octopus help usher in Web3.0?
Vivi: Web 3 needs applications. But currently in the space, adoption and use cases are still lacking. That’s how Octopus comes in.
Octopus is a brand new multichain network born to bootstrap and run Appchains, as we believe that Appchains are crucial for the success of Web 3. Having one specific blockchain for one application, and by providing flexible leased security, out-of-box interoperability, one-stop infrastructure, and a supportive community, Octopus is solving the bottleneck issues in building Web3.
4) Is Octopus Network a local project or a global project? Is there a plan to create local communities in various languages to let them understand Octopus Network in a better way?
Vivi: In the world of Web 3, we bring down barriers, be it countries, genders, or backgrounds.
So — Octopus Network was originally founded in China, but it is truly global as I told you before, our team came from all around the world.
And we do intend to be more connected with our communities no matter where you are, and that’s why we keep growing. Right now we have Telegram channels in 9 languages, including English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Vietnamese, and Thai.
We also have a fast expanding Ambassador Program and Substrate Developer training program in several regions around the world, including China, India, Vietnam, and Dubai. We continue to expand our Substrate Developer training country-by-country.
Our colleagues just attended ETHDenver, contributing to the developer communities in North America. So, if you are interested in joining us, you are warmly welcomed.
5) An Octopus has 8 legs. Does that mean there’s 8 main functions or targets that you want to achieve?
Vivi: Ok, so, whoever asked the question, you are smart to associate functionality with Octopus, the idea is great. But unfortunately, the answer is “no.” It does not mean that we have eight main functions. But it does mean that we are decentralized and intelligent like the Octopus.
The Octopus Network connects with each Appchain, empowering them with security, infrastructure, interoperability, and so much more — and yet each Appchain also enjoys independence and its own decision-making power.
As a whole, all members benefit from significant network effects and economies of scale. That’s exactly what we want to achieve — creating the next generation of Internet of Blockchains.
6) What layer technology does the Octopus protocol use? What kind of innovations does it bring to the ecosystem, which are its strengths and which are the sides that need to be developed?
Vivi: Let me clarify, Octopus does not have its own blockchain, rather it is a set of smart contracts that live on the NEAR blockchain. As a whole, it is known as the Octopus Relay .
Let me tell you how it works and why it is so innovative. We have a two-sided market here with two main actors: Validator and Delegator — the Appchains will pay for security of their applications with their native tokens to a set of validator nodes. Validators stake our token $OCT to run a node, and Delegators delegate $OCT to their choice of Validator. Appchains can decide the amount of security they need, so that they don’t have to pay for too much security for their use case.
To sum up, Octopus makes building Appchains more affordable, scalable, interoperable, and user-friendly on NEAR Protocol, and beyond.
7) What is the difference or major differences between Appchains and smart contracts?
Vivi: Definitely, a great question. So, there are quite a lot of differences. I would name three major ones.
First — Appchains are more flexible. Unlike a smart contract, Appchains allow developers to customize their applications in terms of governance structure, tokenomics design, even its underlying consensus algorithm, mostly thanks to Substrate.
Second — Appchains can evolve quickly with legitimacy. Therefore, it’s much easier for an Appchain to reach agreement on protocol upgrades, for example, than with smart contracts. That means projects built on Appchains have much better user experience compared to smart contracts.
Now, last but not least — cost. That is definitely an important element, too. With Octopus’s help, it will further reduce the cost of running Appchains from millions of dollars to only a fraction of that cost. This is how Octopus Network helps Web 3 to happen faster.
8) Octopus Network is L2 on NEAR that provides something like an EVM for Polkadot projects (like Aurora is an EVM for Ethereum), is it correct?
Vivi: No, it is not correct.
Like I said earlier, Octopus does not have its own blockchain, rather it is a set of smart contracts that live within the Octopus Relay on the NEAR blockchain.
You can think of the Octopus Network as the link between the NEAR protocol and Appchains. The Octopus Relay enables Appchains’ interoperability with NEAR and Ethereum through the Rainbow Bridge. Additionally, Appchains can utilize an out-of-box IBC pallet to connect with any IBC enabled blockchains, such as Cosmos or Polkadot, directly.
9) What’s the next Appchain that’s going to build on Octopus?
Vivi: Right now we have two projects: DEIP and Unique One Network. They are both going through audits at roughly the same time, that means we will see which project will be selected as the next Appchain from the voting of the Octopus Ecosystem.
10) What is the cost of setting up an Appchain on Octopus? And why is Octopus a better choice over Polkadot?
Vivi: Great question!
The answer might surprise you — setting up an Appchain on Octopus is free.
Not only free, our whole ecosystem is offering huge support for Appchain teams, which includes not only funding, but also training and support in community building and marketing, because we consider Appchains as one of the most crucial parts of the ecosystem.
So, if you are building a Web3 app, please listen up. The Octopus Accelerator holds a batch of 8-week programs each quarter for Appchain candidates, please go to our website for details and apply, you don’t want to miss it.
Now why Octopus is a better choice over Polkadot? I would not say which one is better. It’s like dating, you know? It’s always a matter of compatibility.
One obvious reason is the cost. Building on Polkadot is much more expensive than Octopus, largely because all of these projects share the security cost on a generic parachain. But with Octopus, the cost for an Appchain to bootstrap is much lower, as Appchains can lease the level of security they need at the market price any time. So, that really brings down the cost drastically.
The other reason is Octopus offers much more functionality than Polkadot, because of the fundamental difference in design. Polkadot practices hub minimalism. While at Octopus, we believe in fat-hub, that means the hub, NEAR blockchain in our case, has a lot of protocols and assets for Appchains to utilize.
To be clear, the Octopus Network was not designed to compete with Polkadot nor with Cosmos. We see every ecosystem, not as a competitor, but as a collaborator. After all, we are all aiming to empower web 3 applications together.
11) Does Octopus plan to implement tournaments that could also be streamed on platforms like Twitch for the games that got incubated already?
Vivi: It is possible. I envision gaming Appchains would do something like that in the near future.
Right now Octopus Network is capable of hosting Appchains in Substrate with EVM functionality. Our first Appchain candidate, Atocha Protocol, recently received a grant from the NEAR Foundation. So, a lot of activities and actions are underway. Please stay tuned.
12) Do you have plans to create a single staking for OCT tokens for holders who don’t have 500/1000/10000 OCT to delegate to the validator? Is it possible to do it in a collaboration with MEXC?
Vivi: We are listening to the voices of our community.
We recently decreased Delegator staking from 1000 OCT to 500 OCT at the request of the Community, and the plan is to further decrease the threshold and engage more people with Octopus’ tokenomics.
In terms of collaborations, we are always open for ecosystem partnerships and collaborations.
13) For a start-up project, developers play a very important role. To become the next-generation cross-chain oracle solutions — it needs better, faster, accurate, and more secure. Can you brief us how Octopus overcomes challenges to achieve all of these functions?
Vivi: A small correction before I answer your question — we are not an oracle.
But you are right about the fact that developers play a crucial role in building what we do. And like I told you earlier, we have one of the best developer teams in the world. When our team was still with Cdot, we won the Cosmos Grant for building substrate IBC, and then when Octopus was born, we won the NEAR Grant for our solid technology and innovative design, and we’ve received funding from some of the most prestigious crypto funds in the world, such as Digital Currency Group.
So you can see, we’ve come a long way, overcoming many challenges, and we’ll keep going — Continue to drive the Web3 revolution.
14) Given that your game will be built to have 3D features on it, can your game be integrated with VR or virtual reality mechanisms? Is this feature included in your future game development?
Vivi: To be clear, Octopus Network is not a game. But we can host gaming Appchains, using Substrate with optional EVM functionality.
That means Appchain developers, both in Substrate and Solidity, could decide and build whatever features they like on Octopus Network. I bet there will be games in our ecosystem that will integrate VR technologies or any other cutting-edge technologies.
15) The Octopus ecosystem is still in the early stages, and is full of opportunities thanks to GameFi taking over the blockchain. So how can players and investors participate in Octopus’s ecosystem?
Vivi: We are early, but there is full potential in the Octopus ecosystem.
So, if you are a builder or a developer, you could join our Accelerator Program to get the training and funding to build an Appchain on Octopus.
And if you are an investor, you could buy $OCT tokens in the secondary market, including MEXC, and also participate in the staking to be the validator in the ecosystem.
You could also join our community as a volunteer or ambassador, so many ways to be part of us, and you are always welcomed here.
16) Partners are very important for the project especially in the long term. Can you please list some of the partnerships of Octopus?
Vivi: We are very grateful for our partners in the whole crypto ecosystem.
The list is long. You could check our website for more details. Now I’m going to name a few, such as NEAR protocol and the NEAR foundation; Digital Currency Group, Ref Finance; Chainlink, Huobi Incubator; Cosmos, Flow, Oasis Foundation, Solana, Astar and our Appchains and Appchain candidates, and so much more. We’re really happy to be building and serving the ecosystem together.
17) How can I become a validator on the Octopus Network? What is the minimum OCT I should hold? And can you please mention what benefits I will get as a validator?
Vivi: As a Validator, you’ll need to stake a minimum of 10,000 OCT tokens.
In terms of benefits, Validators run nodes for Appchains and, in return, you’ll get the block rewards from Appchains in their native tokens; and since delegators can also entrust their $OCT tokens to a validator node and do staking, the validator can also get 20% of the delegator’s income as a commission.
18) ETH blockchain is having good transaction speed and high gas fees. Are you planning to launch your mainnet or switch to other blockchains in the future?
Vivi: We already launched our mainnet on October 8 last year, on NEAR protocol.
We have no plans to switch to any other blockchains in the foreseeable future, as really we share the common vision and consensus with NEAR and have a deep and mutually beneficial relationship with the NEAR ecosystem.
While deeply rooted in NEAR, we are interoperable with other blockchains. For example, our Appchains could interoperate with Ethereum via NEAR’s rainbow bridge, they could also interoperate with Polkadot or Cosmos via IBC.
19) What are your top priorities in 2022? Could you share some plans for the upcoming year? Which part of the project are you most focused on right now?
Vivi: Our priority has always been to serve the Appchains, so that we could help make web 3 happen faster. So , launching Appchains is a primary focus. Without applications, the entire crypto ecosystem is not going to work.
We envision thousands of blockchains in the future, many of them building on Substrate, most of them would be application-specific, but look at the reality, they have very little chance of securing a Parachain slot with Polkadot, or bootstrapping a Cosmos Zone, or scaling to an autonomous blockchain, and that’s our mission to help them to build and launch on Octopus with lower cost and more efficiency.
Octopus Network Appchains are also EVM compatible, so we also focus on getting projects built with Solidity to join us as an Appchain.
And as you mentioned, the Octopus Accelerator Program also plays a very important part in providing us with Appchain candidates. So, due to the time limits, I won’t go into details on everything, but we’ll have a great year ahead of us.
20) When can we expect OCT to list on other exchanges?
Vivi: We believe as long as we keep building our project and growing our community and ecosystem, the value of our tokens will grow with it. So, listing on other top crypto exchanges would be something that will come naturally.
So if you are watching this and you also share our vision, just stay with us — when we have news on our new listings, we will announce it on our website and social media so stay tuned, and thank you so much for your support.
Quiz — Can you answer these six questions about Octopus Network?
- Which type of blockchains does Octopus Network help to bootstrap and run?
- Which L1 protocol is Octopus Network built on?
- Name at least one of the Appchains that are built or plan to build on Octopus Network.
- What’s the token for Octopus Network?
- What’s the core component of Octopus Network on NEAR Protocol?
- How many Appchain projects will the Octopus Foundation directly fund each year through the Octopus Accelerator Program?
How’d you do? To learn more, visit us at oct.network.
