In this inaugural episode of the RUNEBase podcast, RUNEBase founder 0xNguyen spoke with THORStarter founder Compound22 about THORStarter's unique IDO launch platform and upcoming token sale.
In this inaugural episode of the RUNEBase podcast, I spoke with THORStarter founder Compound22 about THORStarter's unique IDO launch platform and upcoming token sale.
In advance of the conversation, I took questions from the community via Twitter:
On the call, we discussed:
Learn more about THORStarter: https://thorstarter.org
0xNguyen: What is THORStarter?
Compound22: THORStarter is an IDO platform and Compound22 relayer built for the THORchain ecosystem
0xNguyen: Why can't THORChain accommodate longtail assets on its own?
Compound22: THORChain technically can accommodate any asset that is submitted for approval, but the issue is the newer projects don't have a charter sufficient enough to pool enough Rune on their token, and if they do, sometimes it's not a focus when building. THORChain helps lower the barrier to entry for smaller projects.
0xNguyen: From the documentation that has been shared so far, a lot of XRune to long-tail asset liquidity LPs will be initially on other AMMs, SushiSwap, Uniswap, PancakeSwap has been discussed, is that correct?
Compound22: It's going to be a mix, when we grant, we provide extra liquidity to these project, they'll pair it with their token, and that liquidity pair will be put on SushiSwap, could be on PancakeSwap or UniSwap, once THORChain integrate, and then we start to help those project launch as well. But the primary pools will be the pools on THORChain.
0xNguyen: So you're going to pair with long-tail assets on THORChain itself?
Compound22: No, sorry, to clarify, for each EDM compatible chain that we are helping projects launch on, for example, Ethereum, will have an ERC-20x token paired with Rune and we will have that pool as ETH.XRUNE and THOR.RUNE, that it will be one pool. Then we will have that version XRUNE, ethereum-based XRUNE will also be granted to pair with project tokens externally.
0xNguyen: So each EDM compatible chain will have its own XRune pool, so ETH.XRUNE on THORChain?
Compound22: Yes, it's likely we're not going to be supporting projects that are launching on Binance Chain with would be BNB.XRUNE, we're launching an ERC-20 asset so we will just have one pool out of the gate of projects that we help launch, and they will be ERC-20 tokens as well.
0xNguyen: Will THORStarter eventually have its own AMM or DeX Interface?
Compound22: An interface, yes, but we won't have our own native chain. Our pools will be on SushiSwap but interacting with those pools will be through the UI on the THORStarter website.
0xNguyen: What is THORStarters relationship with THORChain?
Compound22: They are big supporters of the project, they have been helpful with the network design and economic model we are using for our sales structure, they are involved in building, we are happy to have them advising on the project. THORChain backs the project, they advise on the project, but it is up to the THORStarter team to execute the project and make sure we are doing a good job for the community.
0xNguyen: Question from @W27Antonio - Will the loop of Short tail asset -> Rune -> XRune -> Longtail asset be able to be done in one single transaction in Thorswap? If so, any estimated deadline?
Compound22: This is going to take some technical work, and I don't want to overpromise anything but it is a core feature of what we are trying to build, but it will need work from our Dev and the THORChain team
0xNguyen: @Equilib22 asked - Why do we need XRune at all? Why not just use Rune to add unified network value and make people run less and benefit more? With that, there is an extension question about this from user @0xdvd - If you already have L1 assets like ETH that can be pulled against Rune which can also be used for long-tail trades on Sushiswap, etc, what is the advantage of using XRune over ETH?
Compound22: These questions get down to the core of why we are building THORStarter. It's important to mention, for the second question, it's unrealistic to expect that if and when we set up a one-transaction one-time transaction swap with a simple UI that the fees on that will be less than if you used a pool that had 10 o 100s of million in liquidity. Long term, we do expect XRune to be comparable if not better in terms of liquidity depth for these pools, they can compete and be one of the top 5 pools on THORChain in the future. XRune gives the ability to play with fee structures and models that token holders can have where we redeem part of that selection in fees with some amount of XRune offset by the treasury, having a token allows us to do some really cool things with offsetting those fees.
0xNguyen: This is a question from @chaosdragon42 - For the users then, what are the benefits and use-cases for holding XRune?
Compound22: The core focus, being a fair launch IDO platform, we can offer projects a lot of features that would allow them to structure their sale in a way that would grant access in fair tiered ways to a lot of different people.
0xNguyen: This is from @AlSimpss - Why would projects choose to use THORStarter for their IDO and are there any projects that are already showing interest?
Compound22: Right now, we are the only IDO platform in the THORChain ecosystem, and given our ethos, what we built so far, it is the most logical option for launching. Our main focus is taking a stand for projects that want to build and innovate in the THORChain ecosystem and we have had quite a few that are considering or want to launch with us that have reached out. It's too early to say yet so stay tuned.
0xNguyen: How many projects do you foresee running through the platform? Twitter user @KentonC137 asked - How many projects will THORStarer run per month and what will the market cap of the projects be? Can you give any contexts of the project you guys are going to look for?
Compound22: Market cap is hard to put a range on but the standard range of most early-stage blockchain projects is between 750,000 USD to 1.5 to 2 million USD on the higher end, sometimes maybe even higher and sometimes lower. That's a good range, for a project that wants to IDO. The frequency and velocity of launches were aiming to do 1-2 per month in short term, and it's a slower and conscious approach, but we do this so we can have a thorough vetting process.
0xNguyen: What are you going to optimize for in the selection process? Are we going to look for high-total just for the market, these are tokens that can go to the moon, or are we going to look to build out the THORChain ecosystem? For example, maybe this project doesn't have the biggest growth potential but it's good for the ecosystem. How do you plan on bouncing those separate interests?
Compound22: We really want projects that are innovating the space and ecosystem, we want to project with partners that will help us grow too. we aren't just thinking of how can we push projects thru, maybe they do a pump maybe they do dump, we are looking to partner with projects that we can deeply integrate with long-term. We want to establish a partnership with projects instead of just being a launchpad that gets the project out of the gate.
0xNguyen: User @AverageMount asked - What is the difference between the council of Asgard as a launchpad gatekeeper and CEX as gatekeepers? Is the council of Asgard immutable?
Compound22: Is the council fixed forever? No, it's not, the way we are launching, the council is DAO selected and they will be required to maintain their seats by active participation. The council includes THORChain itself, some other backers in the blockchain ecosystem, and important thought leaders in the space, they can take a pulse on what needs to be built long-term. We want the council to be, from the start, helping us choose strong long-term projects and partnerships. Eventually, each seat will be voted on by the community DAO.
0xNguyen: In terms of timeline, Twitter user @chaosdragon42 asked - When can we expect to see the first offering on the THORStarter IDO platform?
Compound22: Not necessarily sure at the moment, the sale is coming up in a few weeks, tentatively on the 23rd but we might push it back a few cycles. We are feeling out the intersection of a few things, like is the technology ready, and is the broader crypto community educated enough on the structure of our sales. The sale date will last 3-4 days then, the liquidity mining program will last 2-3 months, we are looking at end of July, early August for the first IDO. We're not in a rush to IDO early but in late July, early August we will have an announcement ready for the first project(s).
0xNguyen: What was the thinking behind doing an airdrop?
Compound22: We weren't super vocal about the airdrop but a lot of people were requesting it. The airdrop just ended, but the main purpose was to educate the real beginners on how to use the XD wallet and how to find their THORChain wallet address and how to add Rune to their wallet.
0xNguyen: Why is it important to create a model where whales can't just own everything? Why don't we want whale accumulation and secondly, how to defend against it? What are the mechanics in places so that whales that have 1 million Rune don't come in a buy up the whole pool?
Compound22: THORChain pools use a slip-based fee, the fee is relative to the liquidity depth in the pool and that's different from the math that governs the fee of other AMMs, like Uniswap or SushiSwap, which are both 0.3 (PancakeSwap is at 0.2). Those fees are fixed, but that fee that people pay is floating relative to the depth of the pool, so if the pool isn't that deep on Uniswap or SushiSwap, someone that apes in that have a huge amount of size can come in and buy with a low fee. Whereas, on THORChain, they're paying a lot more fees. That fee goes into a treasury contact which is then used to cover IL in the pools itself, so it's a nice, tight system. The fees can be a bit of a deterrent from whales and bots from coming in and drying up the pool.
0xNguyen: When XRune launches on THORChain, it will go live for the price of a penny, user @8kalani8 wants to know - Is it first come first serve for the $0.01 price of $xrune, and then the ones who LP after the allotment cap has been met get a higher price?
Compound22: There is no allotment cap, they can add as much liquidity as they choose. We are adding $750,000 of Rune liquidity, whatever the price of RUNE is on the day of the sale and then 75 million XRune tokens, as more liquidity adds to the pool, the price of XRune will go up. No allotment cap but @8kalani8 is correct that anyone that LPs later will likely be paying a higher price for XRune.
0xNguyen: It seems that the THORStarter interface has the most information with regards to asset price in the pool, will it be obvious to users what the price of $xrune will be? How much XRune will they be getting for their divided-up Rune?
Compound22: We can do that on a UI, the UI will clearly show what the price is relative to Rune.
0xNguyen: @slavetosound85 wants to know - Why are there country restrictions?
Compound22: That was a misstep on our part, communicating what the KYC process would entail, its a standard legal clause to say you're not part of these countries but we have no intention of collecting anyone's personal information, and as a clause to say if you're going to participate you're essentially saying you're not part of any of these countries and that is to protect ourselves and it was advised by our lawyers. We won't be collecting user data in any way shape or form. So knowing that, if you are from one of those countries, just proceed with caution.
![[RBP001] Thorstarter: IDO Launchpad, Liquidity Relayer, $XRUNE Token, and more.](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/60a2ed6590cf1267ce534abc/60e706162856b151b42eaa05_Meta_%20Thorstarter.png)