Sharpe AMA — Sept, 2018
Over the last few months we have received a number of interesting questions from the Sharpe community. Some of the questions have been platform and ‘product’ oriented, whilst others have queried team and company structure and workings.
Due to a number of similar questions being asked, and it being half way through 2018, we thought we would take this opportunity to answer all these questions and hopefully give you, our community, a better idea of what’s going on, here at Sharpe.
We have separated the questions out into headed sections to make for easy reading. We have removed any questions where a decision is still pending internally, or where the subject matter would be commercially sensitive at this time.
Now, to the questions…
Company:
1) What will be your estimated main income stream in the next year(s)? The passive income from the fund? The revenues from selling your data? HFT? All three? Or even other things?
We anticipate the majority of our revenue to come from algorithmic trading strategies in the short term, shifting to a focus on alternative data products early next year.
2) Can you share your plans regarding other products you are developing? HFT, Global Sentiment Index are a sure thing I assume. But what can we look out for next? Is the arbitrage bot and trustless ledger still planned?
This is detailed in our updated roadmap, which will be released with the new website soon. Our HFT algorithms are already in operation, and constantly being monitored and improved. You can expect some more detailed updates on this topic over the next 2–4 weeks.
3) You once wrote that TaaS is your “guinea pig” when it comes to the data products. Did you test out anything with TaaS or ETHLend, and would Nexo be an option for a possible partnership?
Nothing has changed with respect to our strategic partnerships, and they will receive access to our GSI product suite when it becomes available. We’re always interested in partnerships with other blockchain companies, so feel free to make an introduction if you know someone at Nexo ;)
Fund:
1) With the latest update there is now almost no transparency regarding the holdings and changes of the fund, is this intended to reduce pressure or will this be changed in the future?
We have made changes to the transparency webpage to support a multifaceted investment approach. Over the weeks and months ahead we have plans to include more information that is currently not available, such as a breakdown of capital allocation to different asset classes, and links directly to our public cryptocurrency wallets.
2) Does the fund now include all of Sharpe’s holdings including margin trading, crypto, equities and HFT?
Yes.
SHP, Centuri and Payout Information:
1) Do you have plans to provide the SHP token more utility in the future?
Yes, we have a number of ideas around utilising SHP as a staking mechanism to access discounts on alternative data products, signal services and other ideas that we come up with in future. This will remain an ongoing focus for us as we develop and grow the business.
2) Am I correct in saying that products for retail investors will be unlocked with SHP and institutional investor can buy products with fiat money?
We haven’t finalised our plans on this yet, but the idea would be to reward token holders and active Centuri users with preferential rates or even free access to some of our data products.
3) Some time ago it was mentioned that the platform might show your estimated payout. Do you still want to integrate that now with the quarterly payouts?
Yes, this will be implemented at some point in the future.
4) How is Sharpe feeling about the amount of platform users they have? Are there any needs or plans to attract new users, since there is now no requirement for holding SHP to get access to the platform anymore?
That is precisely why we removed the restriction on SHP ownership. We’re happy with the number of users and level of engagement. One thing we’ve learnt since launch, is that a large number of users is not necessarily important. We simply need some of the users we have to be consistently good performers with an edge over the market. Obviously obtaining more users will give us more of these people, however having just a handful is also sufficient.
5) Can you share some insights regarding the community governance features? How will they be implemented and what will you have to vote for?
Our plans haven’t changed in this area since we published the whitepaper. SHP token holders will be able to table motions related to the development of the Sharpe ecosystem, and token holders will be able to vote in favour or against these motions. This is an integral part of building an engaged community for us, giving everyone a voice to advise on the future developments of the platform and products.
6) Are you already developing some community governance things or will this be a long term goal?
Development has not started on this yet.
7) Since most predictions are in equity and not crypto, do you also plan to attract users that aren’t familiar with crypto, or will the main target remain crypto people in the near future?
Our marketing efforts are targeted at a variety of audiences, including those interested in business, finance and stock markets.
8) The SHP wallet feature has been updated, I was wondering if there might be the possibility in the future to register one ETH address where you hold your SHP and one where you receive your service fees?
Not at this point, we are focusing on other platform features at the moment, however if this becomes a popular suggestion, we will consider looking into it.
Brand and Marketing:
1) Do you plan to update the roadmap and whitepaper?
We have updated our roadmap, you will be able to view the updated version when we launch our new Sharpe website. With regards to whitepaper, we do not have any plans to update the whitepaper right now.
2) Can you describe what your plans with your three (or four?) different brands are? Which one will focus on which things?
The team is working on different projects under each brand simultaneously. For example, we have a team member dedicated to the Centuri mobile app (analytics), and another dedicated to our partnership projects (ventures). The imagine below gives a high level view of the activity encompassed within each area:
3) Are there plans to visit some conferences, roadshows and events later this year to form new partnerships and attract some new customers?
Yes, we are in the process of researching some conferences. Return on investment is important, thus a lot of time is taken to decide on which conferences we should be exhibiting at. We have attended conferences in London, however we plan to exhibit at conferences rather than just attend when the time is right.
Data and Global Sentiment Index:
1) Will the Global Sentiment Index still be your main product? I’m wondering since you shifted your strategy quite a bit and focus now more on alternative things like HFT.
We never had a “main” product per se, but a suite of products and activities that are all complementary. This hasn’t really changed from a strategic perspective.
2) Do you think finding new customers will be easier in crypto or in equity space?
It’s hard to say. Most likely in the equity space, as it is more established and data is more sought after. In time the crypto industry will require more advanced datasets, as the market matures, and we will be ready to monopolise on this.
3) Will the data access SHP holders get, differ from the one you are selling to institutional customers?
There will be different access tiers based on subscriptions, staked SHP, and active use of the Centuri platform. Whilst no final decisions have been made, it would be accurate to say an institutional client paying a top-level subscription will have access to a lot more data than an SHP token holder or Centuri user. If this wasn’t the case the value of the data would be undermined.
High Frequency Trading:
We had a number of questions related to this topic, but given the sensitive nature of the subject won’t be covering them in this post. We will endeavour to share as much as we can, without compromising the commercial value of the IP we’ve spent months developing — stay tuned for an update next week!
SCD:
We also received a handful of questions relating to the SCD crowdsale that is scheduled for next year. We have not finalised the structure of this offering yet, and will issue an update via our media channels when we have clear view of our plans.
We hope the above answers are helpful.
The Sharpe team!
Talk to the Team
The best place to reach out to the Sharpe team is through Telegram, at t.me/sharpecapital. Alternatively, please feel free to email us at hello@sharpe.capital.
