The success or failure of the entire Sovryn platform is gonna depend on whether the overall market (not just the BTC maxi niche) sees it as a good place for trading and lending. Attracting users through farming rewards is fine but the former is what matters, longevity wise. And it’s debatable whether the latter is leading to the former, current numbers don’t seem to say that the farmers are sticking around to trade/lend.
What’s the innovation roadmap on the trading/lending front?
I hope there’s something happening on that front but guess what? The market doesn’t see it at the moment and nor can I.
Being based on BTC or a BTC merge mined side chain is NOT a USP, it’s a “value add”. Or are we all hoping that the “BTC defi” angle is enough and Sovryn can succeed while not providing any functionality beyond what the plethora of other dexes already do?
What exactly is the USP that Sovryn, the platform, offers someone vs other dexes when it comes to trading and/or lending?
@Aidonaks i think you have it exactly backwards
Features in an open source world are not USPs. They are extremely easy to replicate - ie Bancor, Uniswap, Sushiswap.
However, there is literally no Bitcoin-native DeFi other than Sovryn and that is a huge USP. Let’s go back to the example of Bancor and Uniswap. Bancor invented the AMM, had a year head-start and a HUGE treasury. Uniswap however crushed Bancor. Why? Becuase Uniswa was ETH-native and Bancor (even thought it was on Ethereum) required the use of BNT.
Small frictions and big differences in security assumptions both matter.
Sovryn has many other unique things (interest free BTC loans, vertical integration, XUSD liquidity pooling, etc.). However, it is the ability to actually provide BTC DeFI that is the key differentiator and is, I believe, a huge advantage.
And while we’re talking about attracting users, I suggest the comic book feel of the site should be changed and evolved into something more futuristic and solid. It makes some would-be clients see Sovryn as a gimmicky platform that is just trying to attract the simple-minded and get their money.
I think Sovryn should give off the vibe of a solid futuristic network that is promising. Would I adapt to technologies coming from names like Tesla, Eth, BTC, Apple, etc., or technology from Marvel or DC? Sovryn is a new technology and investors have to look at the page and feel confident in that.
The webpages should also have a more simplistic and transparent structure rather than reading through a bunch of unclear “tokenomics” that just throw words around. There are more than enough platforms online with much simpler and basic structures that users immediately scan through and make decisions on whether they want to buy in, stake, trade, lend, etc. The figures and percentages are there on the apps, front and center for people to see, without any written descriptions. This thing has to be the ultimate in user friendly if the intent is to attract users. It also has to gain the confidence of any possible new users who are researching it. However, I am a little unclear lately as to what the overall intent of this project actually is.
I wanted to love the comic-book vibe and have other people like it too. I love the Bitcoin with super powers angle. I have seen some community members that do like it, but most from what I can tell on the channels do in fact find it a bit gimmicky.
Falling price makes everyone question everything. This causes a necessary purge and forces improvements. I think UI/UX while not terrible, is one area that consistently gets critiqued and a more trendy, futuristic and non gimmicky website would attract more attention IMO.
It’s human psychology, like it or not there’s a reason most popular websites don’t look like ours.
I actually had these thoughts when I first saw the site, I had read about Sovryn and then saw the Pomp episode, etc. I really liked the community mindset and BTC Defi idea. But then when I visited the site before joining, I was surprised to find the ETH Defi-like illustrations found on a multitude of pump and dump, rug pull coins. However, I liked the concepts behind SOV more than I disliked the interface, so I still got in.
But now that we’re talking about attracting others, I figured I’d bring up my thoughts. I had a buddy that was about to get in too at my suggestion, but he checked out the site and was also disappointed with the current staking mechanism/rewards. BAM! That’s it, he did not get in. I’ve heard and read these same criticisms from others. I just hope this thing evolves accordingly to live up to its true potential. IMO, simplicity, fluidity, and transparency lead to futuristic platforms that attract more of the market.
Thanks for the quick response and for sharing your thoughts, esp considering I worded my original post a little strongly . The idea was to spark a discussion.
I disagree, features can always be USPs in any world. Open source makes it easier for competition to replicate them, but that doesn’t take away from their importance. Features aren’t a be all, end all, they’re a means to gain market share to a point where network effects kick in. And the idea is to constantly add innovative USPs (and promote them) to keep the above virtuous cycle going.
The important thing here is to quickly recognize when certain features/USPs aren’t being rewarded by the market, in order to pivot.
I agree this is a good hypothesis, but I wonder what’s the invalidation for it? i.e. at what point (time, growth rate in userbase/TVL, or any other metric) would the team say “ok, the market doesn’t seem to be responding to the BTC angle like we hoped, we need something more.”
IMO, rather than showing that “features aren’t USPs”, this example shows that speed, ease of use, and being on the right network are critical components of a USP. This is relevant to Sovryn too, for obvious reasons.
Agreed. Though I’m not convinced we’re doing enough to develop and esp promote these useful features and also the trading aspect. I’d like to reiterate my opening points, quoted below.
EDIT: To be clear, the above paragraph is not at all meant as a criticism of the current strategy to attract liquidity or the dilution it causes, etc. I’m just trying to draw focus on the importance of getting faster growth in trading and lending.
Instead of going point-by-point, let me try outline briefly how I think about this:
I totally agree that we should conquer a niche, and then expand upon that building network effect.
The niche that Sovryn is going after is Bitcoin-native decentralized finance. i think this is a unique niche in two ways:
A. It is completely under appreciated
B. It only looks like a niche. if Bitcoin does what i think it will, it is the whole thing.
Sovryn is far and away the protocol best positioned to win this “niche”
It will take time. There is a huge amount to build, improve and integrate with. Sovryn to a great extent invented this niche late last year (now others a re copying it). That is very recent. I see this a major shift of our entire financial system. So its a decades long process.
Sovryn is currently focused on building the fundamental tooling to make this all super easy to use for anyone. That will take about a year.
Even though that process is not nearly complete, we are already seeing amazing progress, and growth on practically ever metric. But this is just a tease.
The real question is what happens once the protocol has matured and is truly functional and easy to use.
Since the project was presented with the intent to successfully serve as a defi play on BTC with a democratic angle, I am mainly unclear due to the lack of transparency. I want to preface that I am not trying to bash Sovryn, and I do believe in the project and appreciate all the work that has been done up to this point. But as I have discussed, the lack of transparency deviates from the intentions behind successful finance and democracy.
As stated in my first comment, the financial angle needs simplicity and transparency, and anything less leaves me unclear. To be successful in defi, we have to attract as many as possible and anything shy of the utmost clarity and simplicity for prospective clientele falls short. I became very unclear when discovering the questionable reality behind staking (especially when people are staking for up to 3 years). However, I am very pleased with the leg work and communication within the community that has resulted in the recent SIP and upcoming vote. This is a good sign for a new Sovr like me, both from a financial and a democratic angle.
The democratic intent can also become unclear where transparency and clarity lack. Correct me if I’m wrong, and forgive me because I haven’t had the time to dig into it, but I read here somewhere on the forum that locked and vesting shares have voting power? If this is true, I think it goes against the concepts of a democracy as it can result in the hoarding of voting power which can lead to an imbalance early on.
A last idea, which I know might be far-fetched as I am not a defi expert by any means, is that maybe Sovryn should incorporate more financial strategies and products like Celsius, Gemini, Pancake, etc. I know a key concept behind Sovryn is decentralization, however would it hurt to also incorporate some centralized financial aspects outside of the decentral, just to bring more options to the table? If the strength is the BTC niche, might as well make it the first one-stop shop for a BTC based defi exchange. The more products, the more options for users and the more business right? Could Sovryn turn into the first full-blown crypto exchange with BTC based defi?
Ambiguous stake rewards language, unclear voting power in vesting shares… would help to have a simplified structure that shows everyone necessary info. and the actual figures (or at least an estimation) that they will make. Digging through a library for info. is 1984. Make all info. in connection with this dapp as transparent, clear, in-your-face as possible. I’d even like to see a live toll of fees being collected on the dapp, fees which stakers will collect, # of current stakers/Bitocracy members, etc.
Also my earned fees seem to be going down, and I have no idea how often they are collected.
Again, I am just trying to highlight that this dapp is not as clear, in various ways, as many that are currently on the market, including Celsius, Gemini, and Pancakeswap etc. If you want my ideas in more detail, you can give me a call.
I agree, the comic-style explanations and graphics struck me when I first checked into the Sovryn website, and it made me feel that this was an amateurish venture. I am glad that I stuck with it, and now I am a convinced Sov investor.
But I would argue that the graphical elements of the site can be made a bit more mature and attractive to non-comic users
. The idea was to spark a discussion.