On Friday, 23 September, 2022, we had an AMA on our Discord channel. We'd like to share with you some of the questions our users had for us. If you would like to see all questions answered, please check out our Discord channel!
Q: Could you implement staking inside Strategies, with a lockup for followers as well?
Staking has been one of the most requested features for quite some time. We are constantly looking for solutions on how to implement it, which became even more attractive after The Merge. The problem is, however, that the technology Strategies are built on makes it very non-economical to implement staking. Also, with “staked/locked” funds from copiers, users lose liquidity and 24/7 access to their funds, which is one of the most important platform features.
It is, most definitely, not a closed case, and we will continue to try and find solutions.
Q: Could you build out locked-up Strategies for low-liquid investments? An alternative type of Strategy.
That is a very interesting workaround to the hesitancy we sometimes have with listing assets on the platform. I’ll quickly explain our reasoning by giving an example:
A month or so ago, one of our biggest Strategists issued a rebalance where about 4% of the structure was an asset with relatively low volume. That 4% accounted for the majority of the ETH pair on one of the two supported exchanges of that asset, and it took a long time to finalise the rebalance.
Thus, while it is a very interesting idea, we cannot guarantee the functionality of a Strategy based on low-liquid assets. For instance, what would happen if one of those alt-coins suddenly dropped in liquidity to a point where it would become impossible to trade out of it when a user wanted to do so?
It is something we will have to discuss internally, but it is something we would do only after thorough research and a good algorithm behind it.
Q: What are ICONOMI’s thoughts about the upcoming bear market?
Because institutions have started entering cryptocurrencies, traditional markets are now showing pretty big correlations with them. That's why macroeconomics is so important for cryptocurrencies as well. The current macroeconomic situation is really complex. We have skyrocketing inflation forcing the Federal Reserve FED to push the economy into recession, a war in Ukraine that has led to an energy crisis in Europe, China's economic problems, and an ongoing supply-side recession as a result of the COVID pandemic. It's hard to say what will happen, but the bear market may last for a while, although we see an amazing growth potential after that as good projects are building more than ever.
TL;DR - short-term bear market probably continues, long-term green candles will return.
Q: Are there any new features planned for the product? Adding leverage trading, cards, Strategies, specific features, etc.
Our next big focus is on:
Q: How was the transition from the token model to the shareholders model? Do you guys regret it?
We absolutely don't regret it. ICONOMI transitioned from a start-up (2016) to a more traditional company with shares.
As the company matured, the transition from the token model to a shareholders model was a logical decision. It enabled us to make business progress in the ever-more-regulated crypto industry.