Shield AMA recap with TokenPocket
On the 30th of November, 2022, the TokenPocket Telegram Community hosted Chloe, the Head of Content at Shield Protocol in a live Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) Telegram session.
The AMA session was conducted by Sam, TokenPocket Telegram Community Admin and it was divided into 3 segments viz-a-viz Question from the host, Question and Answer session with the guest from Twitter and finally, Community live questions chosen by the guest from the community members.
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION WITH THE HOST
Question 1
Tell us what you do and what’s unique about Shield Protocol?
Chloe:
Shield started off in 2021 as a derivative trading protocol, offering decentralized academic-level perpetual option trading products with high capital efficiency and no risk of forced liquidation.
Then, during the marketing process, we discovered that option trading was far too technical for retail users to master, let alone trading perpetual options on-chain.
To make this alpha accessible to everyone, we created SHIELD VAULT, a web3 structured product launchpad that is simple to understand and use.
Shield Vault is essentially a platform connecting professional financial institutions and everyday retail users. We invite professional market makers to customize DeFi option vaults (DOVs) for retail users to select. Unlike any other structured product protocols, Shield takes pride in creating a truly on-chain network in which the entire vault lifecycle is realized on the blockchain, from launch to purchase, yielding, and settlement, all of which are transparently visible on-chain. Besides that, Shield Vault is the only protocol that is open to ANY liquid asset.
Question 2
Can you briefly introduce your team? What’s your team’s experience?
Chloe:
We have a lean and agile team of about ten people scattered around the world. We come from very different backgrounds, but we all have extensive industry experience.
Our co-founder is a 10-year serial entrepreneur and the founding member of a world-renowned technology firm. The other co-founder is a top-tier university professor who created all of Shield’s sophisticated financial engineering products. Our dev team used to work for top-tier tech firms and large CEXs.
Question 3
What is a DeFi Option Vault(DOV)?
Chloe:
DOV stands for Defi option vault, and it typically refers to automated vaults with pre-determined option strategies.
DOVs are packages of option strategies that translate underlying asset volatility into option premiums, which are then converted into depositors’ yields. Thus, unlike other DeFi yields that rely heavily on token rewards, DOVs provide organic yield to the space.
Question 4
We’ve heard about Shield being a structured product launchpad. What is it, and how does it blend with your vision?
Chloe:
Shield identifies itself as a launchpad because a launchpad is a platform. Meaning Shield itself does not issue any vault but instead invites third-party professional market makers to do so.
This allows Shield to cover more asset classes than just mainstream ones like BTC and ETH. But all altcoins with DEX liquidity over 300K.
Shield aspires to be the decentralized solution for DeFi derivatives connecting retail users and institutional players. And Shield Vault, as a web3 structured product launchpad, is the ultimate solution.
Question 5
Can you briefly describe your security strategy? How do you protect your users and their funds?
Chloe:
Shield places a high priority on security. Both our products were double verified by reputable teams, Perpetual Options by SlowMist and PeckShield and Shield Vault by Certik and Secure3.
We also invite whitehat hacker communities to double verify and consult with auditors before each protocol upgrade iteration to reassess security risks.
Shield also has a bug bounty program at ImmuneFi.
Question 6
What new features can we expect from Shield in the upcoming months?
Chloe:
Our current focus is Shield Vault, and we are working to perfect the vault’s product line to include more sophisticated option strategies other than covered calls.
Additionally, we are developing a type of staking vault that will dynamically search for optimal portfolio strategies tailoring to the needs of Defi yield farmers.
TWITTER QUESTION AND ANSWER
Question 7
You state that it is better to invest our coins and tokens in Shield Vaults than to wait for the market to start rising so we can see profits. This sounds attractive, but what are the risks of this? How does Shield Vault manage the risk?
Chloe:
First and foremost, all users should invest with caution. All investment decisions carry risk. In this case, Shield only serves as a launchpad/platform. All vaults are launched by third-party market makers with intensive industry knowledge.
What Shield as a platform can do is to select qualified market makers with intensive industry knowledge so that they get whitelisted on Shield and then are able to offer users with top-notch products. But users still need to invest with prudence on which specific product to purchase.
In a market downturn like this one, covered call strategy is the go-to strategy to adopt. That is to say, users that deposit or purchase vaults are effectively selling covered call options to market makers. If the vault is used, they will receive a refund in USD. If not, users will receive more of the same token.
it’s a win-win for token holders in current market turmoil. A sustainable way to earn.
Question 8
What is the difference between Trading with Shield compared to other platforms? When we compare the advantages of Derivatives Trading on Shield, which features does it differ from other platforms?
Chloe:
Compared to other trading protocols that use the AMM model, Shield uses oracle instead, meaning zero price slippage.
Also, users face no risk of forced liquidation, since shield users peer-to-dual-pool model where private pools undertake the majority risks and public pools where users deposit face little counterparty risk.
Shield allows 5x the leverage for the private pool and 2.5x leverage for the public pool.
LIVE QUESTIONS AND ANSWER
Question 9
What is the Shield governance mechanism like? Who has the right to participate in the voting process? What are the requirements to participate?
Chloe:
SLD is the governance and utility token of Shield community. It captures value through 0.1% trading fees and 10% management fees. We are also working on upgrading our SLD tokenomics to include vote-escrewe. So that holders can be included in the whole parameter setting process.
Question 10
Does your project have proof of Reserves? A common problem is that nowadays most investors are only interested in initial profits and ignore long-term benefits! So can you give them some reasons why they should buy and hold in the long term?
Chloe:
All our assets are on-chain, from vaults to trading protocols. Shield takes pride in being a truly decentralized protocol.
Question 11
Can you briefly describe your PARTNERSHIP so far and upcoming partnerships?
Chloe:
We are working closely with the BNB Chain ecosystem initiating a series of campaigns. And we have established partnerships with GSR, AmberGroup, Orbit, SignalPlus, Antelope and AlphaOne as our third party market makers.
Question 12
Do users need KYC to start trading with Shield and earn interest? Do I have to submit my personal information to the system to open a position?
Centralized exchanges are majorly controlled. Crash risks are experienced. Accounts are frozen from time to time. How does Shield eliminate all these problems? How does Shield’s decentralization make it different in security and risk reduction?
Chloe:
You do not need KYC at Shield. We take pride in being a truly decentralized protocol that the whole trading experience and vault lifecycle, the assets are visible on-chain transparently.
Follow us:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shield_dao
Telegram official: https://t.me/shield_DAO
Discord: https://discord.gg/uXHkp4QQu4
Site: https://shieldex.io/
