Fuse AMA with Wolf Crypto
We held an AMA with Fuse in our public Telegram channel on October 21st.
Fuse enables businesses and communities around the world to unleash the power of mobile payments. With Fuse, entrepreneurs and community leaders can now upgrade their existing communities into thriving micro-economies by providing them the tools to build and maintain their own custom-branded mobile wallet and currency.
Currently for a company or community to enter the mobile payment space they are dependent on existing players such as PayPal and Stripe. Alternatively, they can build their own payment system from scratch. Neither of these options are optimal. Companies such as PayPal and Stripe charge upwards of 3% per transaction and don’t allow for individual customization options while building your own payment system produces a huge technical and monetary burden to build.
By using a non-custodial open-source technology users can avoid regulatory, operational and development costs greatly reducing the barrier to entry for all who want to tap into the power of mobile payments.
The cost saved by removing intermediaries (like Visa, Stripe and PayPal) leaves room for local operators to create their own new and unique business models.
The Fuse Ecosystem comprises of three main components -
- Fuse Chain
Fuse-chain is a DPOS blockchain run by a network of validators allowing for fast, low cost and secure transactions to all users on the network.
Learn more about Fuse Chain —
- Fuse Studio
Fuse Studio is an easy to use tool that allows entrepreneurs and community leaders to easily customize their currency and wallet with various plugins for extra features and utilities.
Learn more about Fuse Studio —
- Fuse Wallet
Fuse wallet is an easy to use mobile application that anyone can download and join any of the thousands of micro-economies running on Fuse.
Learn more about Fuse Wallet —
You can learn more about the Fuse Mesa sale here —
You can also visit the Fuse Telegram channel or the Fuse Website for further details.
Here’s what Fuse’s Co-founder and CEO Mark Smargon had to say in the AMA.*
*This AMA has been edited for clarity.
WC (Wolf Crypto Telegram Member)
INTRODUCTION
WC
Welcome to yet another edition of Wolf Crypto AMA…the first of three for the week, RIP my sleep pattern once again…
Joining us today is Mark Smargon, the Co-founder and CEO of Fuse!
TEAM & TEAM GOALS
WC
Mark, it’s our pleasure to have you here today in the channel!
Before we get too far into things, how about you give us some background on your long history in the blockchain space?
MS
I am an entrepreneur from Israel — started my first company when i was 14, my background is in Ecommerce and my passion is building internet products. In 2013 I started an exchange when I first heard about Bitcoin, all the way back then. We also tried to push for Bitcoin payments which was very challenging at the time.
But I was fascinated with the technology and with several partners we opened Colu which was building the Colored Coins protocol on Bitcoin. Those were the pre-Ethereum days, back before tokens were a thing…they were called coins instead…and we were lucky enough to be early in the game.
This might be a fun link for you Wolf. This was our ANN of Colu from Bitcointalk…all the way back in 2015!
So I have been in the crypto space full time for the last 8 years :)
Last year we started Fuse.io and implemented everything we have learned in our long journey in crypto.
WC
Colored Coins…I seem to have heard of that one before…something to do with Vitalik right?
MS
Correct. Vitalik was also involved with this project. I met him when he was 19!
WC
Very OG!
So tell me more about this BTC Payment company you had set up…it sounds…slow…haha!
Is that one of the reasons why you’re now doing layer two…i.e. Something that’s just a little bit faster…and cheaper!
MS
Actually it was one the first Bitcoin brokers/exchanges in Israel and we had to deal with a lot of regulatory issues early on and MT Gox…
Yes it’s really about seeing what else could be done with the technology. We realised early on that Bitcoin might not be able to scale to what was needed for an actual real world payment solution. Even back then, with much fewer people using it, that was apparent.
Etherum has now become the de facto platform for all non-bitcoin experiments and scaling solutions have become paramount to its long term success.
WC
Before we use slow v fast payments as a segue into my next line of questioning, how about a bit of brief background on some of the team members who aren’t joining us today?
MS
We have a great team- to mention a few:
Leon Prouger — Our CTO, building contacts for a living for the last four years and building code long before that even in the IDF.
Lior — Our head client dev, he is the ninja in charge of our wallet.
Gilat — Our designer, is in charge of making everything beautiful.
All of whom have been with us since the Colu days.
More recently we have be joined by Andy, Sharon and Mulenga, our backend devs.
We are an engineering oriented team.
I also failed to mention our great marketing team — Isaac, Adar, Misha, Rob, Ashish…the team grows rapidly nowdays
THE FUSE ECOSYSTEM
WC
With that out of the way, let’s start with what Fuse is and what you’re trying to achieve with your tech stack?
What’s the crux of the said stack and what’s the end goal?
MS
So the crux of it is a dPOS blockchain network that is optimized for payments. This is anchored to Ethereum using a bridge which allows any token to freely move between Ethereum and the Fuse-chain. On top of this we have built a self-service smart contract platform.
You can check out a full overview of the network of the Fuse network here —
The easy to use Studio allows anyone with basic computer skills to mint or issue a cryptocurrency token, launch a customized mobile wallet, and begin onboarding businesses and consumers in order to create micro-economies.
You can check out a full overview of the Fuse Studio here —
Our focus is democratizing payments so that communities can retain wealth locally and create incentives to transact more with each other along with many other benefits.
You can see an example of this in action on Spain, one of our pilots in Seville launched a digital voucher system for helping supporting people during the Corona —
You can see it’s used by a grandma and a fish seller — those are not crypto users and they use our wallet without knowing a thing about crypto!
WC
Ah the old fabled “my grandma needs to be able to use it” crypto adoption story!
So before we get into the details of the network and how it all works, as a project that’s been around for some time, you actually have some traction when it comes to product and users actually using the product.
Can you give me some background on the communities using Fuse and what they’re currently using it for?
MS
So a few examples of projects launched on the platform.
PayWise — Mobile payments for the population of Trinidad which has difficulty getting access to banking services.
WikiBank — token-based grocery donations using the mobile wallet for those that need it in Seville Spain. As I mentioned in my previous response.
Digital Rand — issuance and management of a stable coin in Johannesburg in collaboration with local authorities.
Roost — community based property management, improving the relationship between landlords and tenants whilst creating work for local people that would normally go to big service companies.
GoodDollar — Universal Basic Income project launched by Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro which uses our dPOS blockchain network.
Here’s a nice summary of some of the use cases already using Fuse for their communities on the day to day —
WC
That’s quite the list already! Can you wow me with any facts/figures/usage stats that have come from these communities using the network so far?
MS
PayWise has been very successful as a proof of concept with over 800 local merchants on-boarded on the island.
In terms of transaction flow and value, GoodDollar is the biggest project with over 40k wallets opened and people claiming UBI in 163 countries. Rather than trusting just my word for it, you can check out the link below as to why they thought Fuse was the best fit for their community —
WC
Amazing, there’s a couple there I’d like to go into more detail on…Firstly the Digital Rand…
It’s probably fair to say that over the past few years, stable coins have been the winning use case of crypto, gone are the days of stacking sats and it seems most traders now trade using stable coin pairs as opposed to BTC…
So I’m interested to know, what made Fuse an attractive proposition as a platform to issue a stable coin on for the Digital Rand guys?
MS
Apart from the easy onboarding experience made possible thanks to our white label wallets and faster transactions than on other networks, there are many other benefits to the Digital Rand project using Fuse.
We added the Digital Rand to stablecoin choices on the Fuse Studio and Fuse app using a DEX aggregator (Moonpay and Transak). This makes sure that our users have more trading options, flexibility, and access to a wider variety of digital assets
Using the Digital Rand mobile app, users can convert their Digital Rand (DZAR) to a list of selected stablecoins so users can hold and use DZAR or choose to exchange it to USD or EURO stablecoins.
WC
Wikibank is another one I quickly wanted to chat on before we move more into the network architecture and application stuff, as it’s a very timely one, in a time of Corona and seemingly endless chat on US stimulus…and how to distribute such stimulus, it seems like Wikibank is doing something along those lines, using Fuse as part of the process.
Can you give me some more detail on that and again, why they chose Fuse over other platforms to do so?
MS
So here is the perfect example of how having a technology stack like ours is paramount during times like these. We are hearing reports in the news of governments paying literally billions of dollars for tracing apps and other technologies designed to solve problems linked to Coronavirus.
Until now if you wanted to support people with cash handouts/ charity there are 3 options —
1. Use paper cash — can’t track, can’t program, very cheap
2. Use payment card — very expensive, requires card readers
3. Use vouchers from a big retailer — all the money goes to one retailer
We offer a fourth —
4. Use Fuse — very cheap, easy to launch, operate and use, you can set expiry, track usage etc.. etc..
This is why Wikibank chose Fuse.
Self-service elements to our protocol and our efficient team allowed for rapid implementation and testing of the platform to see if it suited their needs. This ability to test quickly is a game-changing aspect of what we are doing because we are ultimately trying to change social behaviours and find new ways of doing things and as such the innovation process needs to be smooth.
THE FUSE CHAIN
WC
So let’s talk a bit about the underlying architecture that powers the Fuse ecosystem…Fuse Chain…
We spoke briefly in the intro about your BTC payments business…I’m assuming some of the lessons you learned with that is why you’ve chosen to build a layer two solution on top of ETH?
MS
Yes, Ethereum is undoubtedly the best platform for building a tech stack like the one we have. I believe that it’s on it’s way to become the “HTTP” of digital assets
Which means that any blockchain or any tokenization from this point onward is just opting-in the Ethereum standard. Things like ERC-20, It’s hard to imagine the industry will replace them. So instead we want to build on top of them and enjoy the huge ecosystem with tools and services and stablecoins and composable DeFi innovations.
This is where the magic happens!
WC
So run me through how your layer two solution works…and compares to, other layer two solutions out there, like xDAI as an example?
What’s a TLDR on the features of Fuse’s layer two solution?
MS
It’s more of a middle between layer 1 and layer 2. We’re optimizing for a specific use case which is peer to peer transfers.
The goal is to compete with Visa! So we’re talking about something which is mega scalable in terms of throughput.
But other than TPS — which is important but has to go hand in hand with adoption we focus on bringing non-developers to build on our platform.
There are not enough low-code B2B2C platforms like Stripe/Shopify in crypto — we want to give powerful tools to everybody so when you use Fuse you have access to powerfull API’s, Libraries, service providers like liquidity providers, fiat ramps.
Fuse is bundling those things for users just like Shopify and Stripe. But unlike them our platform non-custodial so it’s not limited only to the US.
WC
So what type of fees are we talking about when it comes to transacting on Fuse…and how do you enable such transactions across the network?
MS
Fuse charge’s the equivalent of $0.01 for transaction whether you’re sending $1 or $1 million. This is an important point for more adoption for Fuse — if we want merchant and consumer adoption we have to have stable fees.
No merchant in the world will use a platform that gets more expensive from time to time.
WC
Right, so what are the requirements for being a validator on Fuse, what are the incentives and requirements for running a validator on Fuse?
MS
Validators need to stake a minimum of 100K tokens. Incentives include taking part in governance of the network, and of course, receiving Fuse tokens in the form of block rewards.
Anyone considering becoming a validator should check our guide to see whether it is for them and what it required —
WC
Validator rewards by their very nature means the network is inflationary right?
Can you give me some more detail on how that works, and how validator inflation affects the overall token supply?
MS
Correct the overall supply is inflated by around 5% annually in the form of block rewards.
We are activating delegation in the end of October (already was voted in by our validators to activate the delegation testnet) which will allow any holder to earn rewards.
You can calculate the staking/delegation rewards in this excel sheet —
WC
So how many validators do you currently have participating on the network?
Are these all run by Fuse or do you already have some community participation in the validator program?
MS
We have 76 validators and we run only one of them.
A lot of communities that launched on Fuse for example are running validators and then we have our wider network of investors and advisors.
WC
Ok I assume this is why the token is already “listed” and there’s some supply living on Uniswap right now?
These are validator rewards hitting the market?
MS
Yes we needed to have the network live in order to bootstrap and prepare for public distribution of tokens.
Liquidity on Uniswap is very small though only around 150,000 FUSE tokens.
It’s only handful of tokens — after our first distribution on Mesa tomorrow we plan to add liquidity on Uniswap.
WC
So who can run a validator on Fuse and how hard is it to do so?
Do you provide some sort of guide or easy deploy method for doing so?
MS
We have docs for everything — it’s very easy, you simply have to run a Docker on a medium spec machine.
Anyone can run a validator but not everyone needs to because dPOS allows you to stake and get involved with governance without.
You can check out this link to see how easy it is to get started being a validator on Fuse
THE FUSE STUDIO
WC
Ok, so that’s the base level architecture side of things, but let’s talk a little about the Fuse Studio stuff, as from my end, I see this as a major point of difference to other layer two…and in general, a lot of other blockchain solutions out there, the ability to easily deploy a token and supporting infrastructure on your network…
But instead of me banging on about it, how about you give us a TLDR on Fuse Studio, what it does and why you think it adds value to both the network and your users?
MS
In order for blockchain to really be adopted and reach the masses we need tools that make it possible for everyday people, including those that cannot code, to be able to get involved and build solutions.
Much in the same way that WordPress and other content management systems did for websites going back to the early 2000s, Fuse provides a way for anyone to create custom tokens and launch communities around them.
This is extremely valuable to users and therefore extremely valuable to our network by default.
WC
So the couple of case studies we spoke on earlier, the Digital Rand and Wikibank have used the Fuse Studio to deploy their apps and connect with their communities on Fuse?
MS
Yes they both used the Studio.
WC
Step me through the process of how these projects…or any of the other communities you have on board, have used the Fuse Studio to deploy your tech to their communities?
MS
So first of all do let me brag a little bit — Fuse has reached number 2 on “Product of the Day” on ProductHunt yesterday, which is no small feat for a crypto product!
People use the Studio to start the community and play with the features and then speak to us if they want something more specific. We had a lot of success onboarding new projects to Fuse — like a big funnel.
Yesterday alone we had almost thousand people playing with the Studio, out of them we pick the best candidates we can support with our resources.
WC
So you mentioned some of the features of Fuse Studio and the ease of deployment in your previous example but can you describe to me the technical mechanics of how this actually functions in practice?
MS
So think about the Fuse studio as a wrapping UI around smart contracts. Every feature is just another smart contract that you are adding to the system and the studio is a cool way to manage all of it.
Here’s a technical breakdown of how it all connects together -
WC
OK that diagram looks cool and all but how does it actually work from the user perspective?
How do I deploy a token on Fuse and how do I create and connect that up to my own whitelabel payment app?
You know where I’m going with this right? WOLFCOIN! Lol…
MS
Since you mentioned it — just created a Wolfcoin on Fuse while we speak (I swear it took me 2 minutes right now).
Fuse Studio is the way to launch the token. You have access to APIs if you wish to connect to your own payments app.
GoodDollar, for example, is not using the Fuse wallet — they have used the APIs to connect to their own systems and user interfaces.
Check out this demo on how to launch an economy using Fuse —
WC
You pretty much already answered this question for me already with your quick Wolf Coin deployment, but for someone who’s not a Fuse expert like yourself, what’s the expected time frame, start to finish, for a full token deployment and skinning of the whitelabel app so it’s ready to be used by a community?
MS
5 minutes. You should go ahead and try it on the Ropstein test network.
Either switch to Ropstein in Metamask if you have it.
Or, even easier, use the Google wallet. Then just follow the simple steps.
Wallets can be forked on Github if you want to customize it.
For a custom wallet more time is needed. But for some project we had, it took about two weeks the entire process including launching on iOS and Android app stores. This was complicated in the past and we want to make it easy and low cost to reach customers on mobile
We also have service teams which can be used for a fee to help deploy but it’s something that anyone can do.
WC
You mention as part of the Fuse Studio you’ll have various plugins that will come into play…
What are these plugins and how does one go about enabling them in their whitelabel app for use via their communities?
MS
People can add different types of rewards, bonuses and fiat on ramps by simply choosing from the list of plugins during the process of launching an economy. They will configure things like bonus amount for new users and reward % on purchases.
We plan to add more like banner links, pop-up, trading integrations etc. The idea is really to have a selection of plug n play plugins based on the needs and requests of users.
Every plugin is a small contract with some business logic- for example for bounties you can use existing contracts instead of developing from scratch so our plug-in store is like a little app store with functionalities you can add.
THE FUSE WALLET
WC
So you mentioned it a couple of times in relation to the Fuse Studio, but let’s get a little deeper on the Fuse wallet side of things.
Firstly, how do I access the Fuse wallet? …I.e where can I store my Wolf Coins?!
MS
Download from either the Google Play or iOS app stores
For iOS users —
For Android users —
WC
Can the wallet be used for anything else past storing FUSE tokens and interacting with Fuse communities?
MS
It’s a fully fledged Ethereum wallet so can be used for any ERC20 based tokens.
It doesn’t matter if it’s on Ethereum or Fuse — you will see a nice UI for both.
WC
If I’ve got this right, the wallet is non-custodial right? How does that work in a world of “not your keys, not your crypto”?
MS
That’s exactly the point. Fuse cannot touch people’s coins.
We try to hide as much crypto parts as possible and the main challenge is the private key — right now we allow to back it but the plan is to replace it with social recovery which we believe is the future.
WC
Does the wallet currently have support of a fiat onramp? How do your existing users and communities onboard fiat into the ecosystems via your wallet at the moment?
MS
Yes there is a plugin for this which can already be used- we support Transak, Wyre, Moonpay and Ramp.
Transak for instance gives 1% commission for fiat deposit and withdrawals in some jurisdictions — this is very good rates compared to the past and makes those fiat ramps a viable alternative to Visa/Paypal etc…
FUSESWAP
WC
So I did have some questions on FuseSwap…but we’re running low on time and I know you’re probably going to tell me…wait and see…and I want to cover the Mesa sale, but I have to ask/give you the chance to say something…
So…anything you’d like to say, hint…shill. on FuseSwap?
MS
Yes — Expect some surprises. The Fuseswap is in testing and will be announced after Mesa with all the details.
Enough to say that you will now have feeless trading experience for your Wolfcoins!
FUSE TOKEN UTILITY
WC
We briefly touched upon some of the current FUSE token utility in the previous questions, but how about you give me a bullet point summary of the various use cases within the Fuse ecosystem?
MS
- Staking delegation.
- Projects saying for fees.
- 0.01c transactions.
- Bridge operation.
- Governance.
This is a really good overview of both the FUSE token utility —
COMPETITORS
WC
I wanted to talk a little about competitors in the space, as there’s a few niches/vectors you operate across.
Let’s do crypto first, and crypto as a method of payment, as that seems to be the main focus of the network.
Who do you see as your competitors in this niche and why is Fuse a better fit than some of these other crypto solutions?
MS
Roll, xDai, Flexa…
All of which are targeting different audiences.
Celo is another, however we don’t want to have our own stable coin etc. we wanted to build something that is focused on open source so that it integrates in the wider ecosystem well.
For example we are using existing Ethereum fiat ramps rather than creating our own.
WC
That’s the low hanging fruit taken care of, now let’s talk about the biggie…Visa, Mastercard etc…
Talking about these reminds me of 2017 in all honesty, when everything crypto related was compared to, a competitor of and was going to take down these payment networks…
It’s now 2020 and funnily enough, none have! So if we’re had all that time and all those projects who have tried and failed, what makes Fuse any different in the here and now?
MS
Our unique strategy, our planning and our long mileage is what makes Fuse powerful. We’ve been working on this stuff for 8 years and have a very good understanding of the ecosystem.. We understand what is at stake in order for crypto to grow. We’re building a platform that allows for creativity and opens up a lot of possibilities.
We’re also at a time where crypto has a time to fill a vacuum because paper cash is disappearing. The only way to grow this industry is if we bring benefits of decentralization to a technological evolution that is already taking place.
WC
Haha you want to be careful with that “alternative to paper cash” line of thinking, though at least you’re saying paper cash and not USD…there’s been a few despots and dictators who have tried the same thing and are now no longer with us!
PARTNERSHIPS & BACKERS
WC
So on the flipside of competitors, let’s talk about supporters and backers of the project…
We’ve obviously covered quite a few communities/projects etc using the app, but how about those more behind the scenes…Do you have any crypto partnerships in play…or any we can expect in the near future?
MS
We currently have many working partnerships with validators. For example DAO Stack … however I don’t want to name drop too many just yet, we need to save some for after the Mesa sale!
Governance services, trading services, fiat ramps, etc. are all partnerships niches that are being worked on and in the pipeline.
WC
How about financial backers of the project, you’ve obviously recently been through a private fund raise, who have you raised funds from and what value have they added, and will continue to add, as the project develops?
MS
$1.8 million raised from several VC likes Collider, Aleph and Spark Capital and strategic investors like TRG.
FUSE TOKEN SALE & SUPPLY
WC
The financial backers question is a great segue into what is probably of most interest to those following with or reading back on this AMA…your public sale…
Before we get to that though, can you please data dump on me the details of all your previous fund raising rounds?
MS
Collider, Aleph, Spark first round — $750k.
Private token allocation- $1.8m.
WC
Thank you for that, can you also supply me with a token release and distribution schedule?
MS
More information concerning vesting and lock up period in our blog —
WC
Just cause I’m a dumb words guy and not a math guy, can you total up for me how much was raised from your previous rounds…early supporters and private sale, in USD?
MS
$750k in our equity round, $1.8m in our private token sale.
$2.55m raised so far.
WC
With that background in mind, let’s talk about Mesa…firstly how much are you looking to raise in the Mesa sale?
MS
10 Million tokens will be listed for $1.6m.
WC
Why did you choose Mesa as a platform to do your public sale on?
MS
This is a more stable way of doing early price discovery. It avoids front runners with big wallets manipulating the price. We will be launching in Uniswap and Kyber straight afterwards.
Read our article on this to understand more —
WC
What’s the full details on the Mesa sale and how can a user participle in it?
MS
A few key points:
- Starting tomorrow at 15:00 GMT
- 10 000 000 tokens being sold.
- Starting price is $0.06
- Minimum allocation is $2,500 (people wishing to allocate smaller amounts should consider pooling their tokens).
Detailed instructions for the Fuse Mesa Public Sale —
WC
So let’s run through a couple of scenarios…say you successfully raise the full amount on Mesa and the curve is hit…
What will be the starting marketcap when you hit Uniswap…and what will be the token list price?
And if you don’t, what would be the minimum starting marketcap?
MS
$1.2m at 6c and $6m for 20c.
WC
What happens if you don’t raise the full amount on Mesa?
MS
Extra tokens that are not released during Mesa from the 10 million allocation will be burned.
WC
I’ve seen a lot of projects come through here recently who have raised decent amounts of money, and then not really supported their own token on Uniswap once it’s launched…you’re not one of those projects are you?
What assurances can you give potential public sale buyers of the support you’ll be providing on Uniswap once you take their money?
MS
Fuse will be supporting liquiidty on Uniswap as well as Kyber. Our goal is to provide a healthy market. More information about the liquidity release will be announced over the coming days.
WC
Super low brow question, but I have to finish this section with it…when CEX?
MS
We’re already in discussions with multiple CEXs but won’t pull the trigger on anything until the Mesa release and Uniswap — Kyberswap listings are done. So I cannot give a specific date just yet : — )
DUE DILIGENCE CHECKS
WC
Does Fuse have a Github?
MS
Yes!
WC
Where are you guys based?
MS
Our team is global, with a lot of the tech team, including myself being based in Israel.
WC
Where is Fuse incorporated?
MS
Gibraltar.
WC
Do you have a legal opinion that your FUSE token isn’t a security?
MS
Yes.
WC
What’s the contract address of the FUSE token?
MS
https://etherscan.io/token/0x970b9bb2c0444f5e81e9d0efb84c8ccdcdcaf84d
WC
Has the FUSE smart contract been audited and can we see the results?
MS
The smart contracts are almost all from already audited open source code.
That being said there are 2 3rd part audits that are scheduled to be released to the public within the coming weeks.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
WC
Well I know you have to move along to other AMA’s but thanks for your time today Mark, and of course, all the best for the launch tomorrow!
MS
Thanks so much Winston — it was fun as always!
Fuse Resources
Website: https://fuse.io
Telegram: https://t.me/fuseio
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fuse_network
Medium: https://medium.com/fusenet
Github: https://github.com/fuseio
Wolf Crypto Resources
Public Group: https://t.me/WolfCryptoPub
News Channel: https://t.me/WolfCryptoAnnounce
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WolfCryptoGroup