Umbrella Network internal AMA w/ Sam Kim and John Chen: Recap
Umbrella Network’s Senior Advisor, Sam Kim, and Head of Marketing, John Chen, recently held an internal AMA in the main Umbrella Network Telegram channel to answer questions from the community.
AMA at: Umbrella Network Telegram Channel
On: Friday, 24th September 2021 | Time: 2:00 PM UTC
Umbrella is a scalable, community-owned oracle that securely brings external data on-chain. It is the first decentralized oracle service to empower the community with the scale and security modern DeFi applications require.
** AMA starts ***
A SHORT STATEMENT FROM SAM KIM:
Hi Umbrella Network Community.
These are incredibly exciting times for us. And I’m excited to share the first of many good things coming down the pipeline. But first, I want to thank all of you who have shown us tremendous support over the past 7 months. Thank you for believing in us.
So for a little more detail, I published a blog post late last night providing some details about the acquisition of Lucidity.
The acquisition positions us uniquely to work with many of the largest companies in the world and to be their preferred blockchain data partner. And to make it even better, we were able to structure the deal on very financially friendly terms.
As mentioned in the press release, the deal will be accretive to Umbrella Network starting in Q1 2022. In other words, the deal is heavily performance-oriented.
The deal will be closed next week subject to community council approval next week.
And I’m sure you all have many questions. So without further delay, let’s begin the AMA!
LIVE AMA QUESTIONS:
Q1. When will you be listing on Binance?
SAM KIM: We’ve never been asked this question before. So thank you for sharing.
Unfortunately, we do not speculate or discuss listings or potential listings. However, we will share any info with you as soon as reasonably possible
Q2. When is the Mainnet launch? Has Umbrella earned any money for the data provided to Binance network so far? If so then how much? How will you increase the value of the UMB token?
SAM KIM: BSC Mainnet is live and running. Ethereum mainnet is coming by the end of next week. In terms of revenue, we have onboarded some projects, and they are still on their free trial period.
I cannot comment on activities designed to increase the value of the token. It is a proof of stake token that has governance rights. And we’re focused on increasing the utility.
Q3. Wasn’t Lucidity already run by part of the team that started Umbrella Network?
What does the acquisition actually mean?
If Umbrella Network is “community-owned”, why wasn’t the community involved in the acquisition?
SAM KIM: Yes, I was part of the founding team of Lucidity. However, the two entities are distinctly separate. I left Lucidity in 2020 before starting Umbrella Network.
As for what the acquisition means, kindly refer to my blog post earlier today. It should cover the details you’re asking for. If there are additional questions, please let us know.
Umbrella Network is community-owned. And the Community Council will have an opportunity to approve or reject the deal next week. Pending their approval, the deal will close.
In private deal-making, negotiations must be kept private. And so, the Umbrella Network team negotiated a deal, conducted due diligence, and is now pending Community Council approval. This is very similar to the traditional business world where deals close many months after terms are agreed upon.
Q4. Good to hear from you again Sam & John. What was the reason behind the acquisition of Lucidity?
JOHN CHEN: Likewise! There were several reasons for the acquisition of Lucidity, but it pretty much boils down to 3 major reasons:
1) Acquiring Lucidity gives us an immediate, successful entry into the enterprise market, giving us a significant presence in the digital ad-tech market.
2) Upon integration, it will give us immediate market adoption with bluechip clientele, something that is critical to the advancement of our project. And not just a small amount of market adoption, but significant adoption with oracle usage by some of the biggest corporations in the world (i.e. Samsung, Hyundai, KFC, and others), and at volumes of data processing that will make us the largest blockchain oracle in the world by volume.
3) Because Umbrella is probably the only oracle that is able to absorb this level of high volume and throughput demand that Lucidity needs, we form a combined entity that will be far more than the sum of its parts.
Q5. How does Umbrella Network make money? Is it solely from the token sales or are there other sources of income? And if so can we have percentages of the makeup of the revenue?
SAM KIM: $UMB is a utility token that is used to power our ecosystem. It is a proof of stake system. Umbrella Network will charge its customers including those of Lucidity (following the closing of the deal).
Q6. Any plans to implement the Swift payment system that the banks use? Chainlink has this capability already. If Umbrella Network were to also have this functionality it would become attractive for the banking world.
SAM KIM: Chainlink is not a part of the Swift payment system. Speaking about which, Swift is not the same as being part of the Swift Network. They proposed a future where they will be part of Swift. But by no means are they transacting on the Swift Network nor actually replacing Swift if that’s what you’re asking.
Q7. Will Umbrella Network have its own blockchain in the future?
JOHN CHEN: Our goal is to support as many blockchain ecosystems as we can. We’ve got an aggressive roadmap that will have us supporting 8 Layer-1 chains by mid-next year.
And we will have plans to continue to support more chains based on the size of their ecosystems, and what potential value we as an oracle can bring to the developer community.
But we will not be developing our own blockchain. We are already operating on our own proprietary layer 2 sidechain and ultimately deploy to various layer 1 protocols, which in our opinion is actually more advantageous.
Q8. @kimsamjoo Who is part of the Community Council?
SAM KIM: We’ll have an announcement about this shortly. But they are the folks who have been the most active in this and other community forums.
Q9. Cryptocurrencies are a result of Swift cutting out business. We need a banking system to be adopted. Are there any plans to work with financial institutions that invest in crypto?
SAM KIM: Acquisition of Lucidity is our first step into the enterprise and traditional business. It is an accelerant for this strategy.
Q10. How does the network plan to attract Chainlink customers?
JOHN CHEN: The market is large and growing, and we don’t want to actively pursue chainlink customers. What we want to do is provide a high-value solution that is addressing problems in the oracle space that no one else is really addressing, i.e. the high cost of bringing data on-chain and the lack of different types of data available in the ecosystem among others.
We believe the customers will naturally gravitate to the solutions that bring them value. So if there are chainlink customers who switch to us, which does and continues to happen, we are happy to cater to their problems.
Q11. Are there any plans for UMB token burn events in the future?
JOHN CHEN: I just answered this in our last AMA. We did a token burn just recently of about 1.5MM tokens, and are open to doing more burns in the future based on the best interests of the community and the project.
For example, we have our rewards program distributions of rUMB every year, with those rUMB redeeming 1:1 to UMB tokens at the end of every yearly period.
However, if certain achievements are met, redemption would start earlier. When that happens, all of the undistributed rUMB and their corresponding UMB would be burned. That could add up to a significant portion of the allocated token supply.
Q12. What are your views on the hardening of the regulatory environment in the US and what could it mean for the future of this space?
SAM KIM: We’re watching closely. And we take every precaution necessary.
Q13. That’s exactly what I have communicated to the community many times! 😊👍
Question:
You said in a recent AMA that you will have immediate use cases for the verified Random Number Generator! Can you tell us more about it and how you will use it?
Also, do you already have some deals with the gaming industry? Probably some big players?
SAM KIM: Yes. We are working on a random number generator for blockchain. And we do already have use cases. We will announce details when the time is right.
Q14. Will there be other acquisitions if they strategically make sense?
JOHN CHEN: We will always be opportunistic when assessing any potential partnership or acquisition. And we’ll follow a similar process as we did with Lucidity; assess, do our due diligence, and if it makes strategic and financial sense, we will look to strike a deal, make the case, and then seek community approval.
Q15. Why not modify the project information on the coin market cap site? I have seen many times that this misinformation has taken the time of the association.
Wrong information like
Circulating Supply — 74,060,182.47 UMB
Max Supply — 46,405,087
Total Supply — 97,437,397
And pancakeswap transactions are not added to the list of exchanges either.
SAM KIM: I finally got a hold of CMC yesterday. And it was promised that the numbers will be updated within 24 hours.
As for PCS, I will follow up with them as well.
Q16. Do you support the Ascendex staking program as your rewards UMB?
SAM KIM: Ascendex is integrated into our rewards UMB smart contract. However, it is their integration, and not ours. So we don’t have full control or visibility.
Q17. @chen225 can I join the Community Council? If so, how?
JOHN CHEN: Right now we have a full Community Council, all with members who have been known and active within our community since the first days of the project. However, as our project continues to evolve and grow, we may look to increase the council. We will definitely keep the community updated on this of course.
Q18. @chen225, are there any plans to organize an Umbrella Network event so we can all meet in person and have a good time?
SAM KIM: Absolutely. And there will be an announcement about it soon.
Would love to know what locations you guys want other than the ones that we have planned.
So after the AMA, let’s vote on some locations.
Q19. Are you based in Hong Kong?
SAM KIM: I am not in Hong Kong but would love to visit. But given their 3-week quarantine policy, it doesn’t seem likely I’ll be there this year.
Q20. If Bitcoin DeFi becomes a thing, then I presume our oracle will support this blockchain?
SAM KIM: I started off a bitcoin maxi (cause there was only bitcoin) before getting into Ethereum and other blockchains. So yes, it would be awesome to support BTC.
Q21. Where is the Umbrella Network’s ‘Headquarters’?
SAM KIM: We are truly distributed. We did a session last month with our Latin American team. We have members in Europe, the US, and Asia as well.
CONCLUSION:
SAM KIM: Thank you guys for spending your Friday with us.
We’re really excited about the road ahead. We will keep you guys updated on all the great things in store.
Have a great weekend. ANd see you all soon
JOHN CHEN: Thanks, everyone!
And guys don’t forget we are accepting applications for cohort 2 of the Community Validator Program.
***AMA Concluded***
Join the discussion on Telegram at https://t.me/umbrellanet
