KuCoin AMA With Coinweb (CWEB) — Cross-Chain Computation Platform, Unifying Interoperability

Dear KuCoin Users,

Time: December 30, 2021, 08:00-09:13 (UTC)

KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session with the Coinweb team led by CEO Toby Gilbert in the KuCoin Exchange Group in line with the world premiere listing of its CWEB token on KuCoin.

Coinweb is a layer 2 protocol that aims to be the first general-purpose blockchain platform to deliver true interoperability for real-world usage. The core building block at the foundation of Coinweb’s unique approach is the InChain architecture. It is the InChain architecture that allows Coinweb dApps to deliver radical new solutions to fundamental problems. InChain architecture makes it possible to take maximum advantage of blockchain interoperability with fewer tradeoffs. Coinweb has been building since 2017 and has only recently come out of stealth mode. Several components of the Coinweb platform are in live production, supporting over 120,000 unique users, broadcasting an average of 4,000 to 6,000 transactions to the underlying chains each day. This has resulted in over $90M worth of stable tokens sold. All through Coinweb's platform. The team believes in the importance of building and shipping products to drive adoption and proof of concept, which will see a number of working products being released throughout 2022, creating a constant news cycle and building out the community. Coinweb has also secured a number of deals both within the blockchain space as well as with traditional businesses.

Official Website: https://coinweb.io

White Paper:

Follow Coinweb on Twitter and Telegram.

Guests:

Toby Gilbert — CEO of Coinweb

Toby attended UCL and went on to focus on the tech and telco spaces. With a proven track record of founding new start-ups, including having successfully invested in and exited three telecommunications companies operating in Europe, Africa and Asia, Toby invested in Coinweb in 2018 as well as co-founding and leading the Blockfort and OnRamp DeFi projects since 2019.

Knut Arne Vinger — CTO of Coinweb

A tech pioneer and early adopter of digital currencies and payment systems, Knut attended the University of Oslo. His thesis on evolutionary hardware was published by NASA and the US Department of Defense. Knut developed one of the first online mobile slot machines and has worked extensively in telecommunications as CTO of Nouvel Air Group Inc. Knut is also a founder and an architect of the Blockfort and OnRamp platforms.

Alexander Kjeldaas — Lead Architect of Coinweb

Alexander is an experienced technical architect with a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, and security. A graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology with an MSc in Comp Sciences, he had a seven-year tenure holding senior positions at Google and FAST. Alexander is also the founder of astor.ai and Formal Privacy, developing a system for secure cloud computing using blockchain security proofs, and is the founder of Guardian Networks. Furthermore, Alexander has contributed to the Bitcoin blockchain in the area of thread safety and was the first developer to implement cryptography APIs in the Linux kernel.

Q: Please introduce your team and their backgrounds and give us a high-level overview of Coinweb.

Toby: Sure. Knut is our CTO. We have worked together for the past 10 years in telecoms before coming together to found Coinweb. He is a long-term technologist, having developed one of the first mobile slot machines in the world, and his early papers from 25 years ago on AI were published by NASA and the US Department of Defense!

Alexander is our Chief Architect, who held senior dev positions at Google and FAST for a combined 12+ years. He was the first developer to implement cryptography in Linux and has also contributed to the Bitcoin blockchain core in the area of thread security.

I've been involved in starting, building and exiting 3 telecoms companies over the past 15 years. I’m also a co-founder of two DeFi platforms built on top of Coinweb.

Over to Knut for a high-level description of Coinweb.

Knut: Coinweb is solving key problems currently inhibiting blockchain usage by taking interoperability to the next level in a way that you can treat multiple blockchains as if they are one. We like to call this unifying interoperability.

Coinweb’s unique approach is based upon the InChain architecture, which enables dApps built on top of the platform to take maximum advantage of blockchain interoperability with fewer trade-offs.

The Coinweb protocol allows information between blockchains to be proven in a new way.

Also, we have other key features such as

- Coinweb smart contracts can hold gas balances and react to native events on L1 chains.

- Coinweb smart contracts can emit transactions that span multiple blocks and blockchains.

- Coinweb smart contracts execute deterministically across multiple chains.

I could go on a lot longer, but that is a high-level overview!

Q: There are a number of other layer 2 interoperability projects in the space. What makes you think you can win market share and take any sort of dominant position?

Alexander: We are combining an execution layer with an interoperability system. So one thing you can compare to are rollups on Ethereum and other chains that scale computation but without doing the interoperability at the same time. When combining the two in one system, we can let developers move their state between layer 1 chains.

The layer 1 blockchains have different trade-offs. Some are fast, some use PoW, some PoS. Some have a history and token distribution that makes them safer.

Choosing layer 1 is a multi-parameter optimization problem where there is not necessarily one true best layer 1, so I think we can provide something that is flexible and useful to the world.

So you can think of it as being able to pick the best blockchain for your project depending on your needs, where the capital exists, what speed/security you need, etc.

There's also the aspect that there seems to be a convergence in the market regarding lifting execution from layer 1 into layer 2, think zk-based rollups and similar. We're agreeing with that (look at the Ethereum roadmap as an example) and I think this shows that the layer 1 vs. layer 2 responsibilities start to be settled somewhat and a cross-chain execution model is wanted.

Toby: Regarding winning market share and dominance, we have an aggressive go-to-market strategy to partner up with global household name companies, crypto projects and blockchains as opposed to just building technology and hoping ‘they will come’!

Q: Your roadmap seems to be very ambitious. Please explain how you think you can deliver it within the timeline you have set out in your materials?

Toby: We have been building in stealth for the past 4 1/2 years, which includes having 2 DeFi projects live on top of the platform, broadcasting an averaging of 4,000 to 6,000 transactions a day to the underlying chains we sit on top of. So yes, whilst the roadmap is ambitious, we have already delivered proof of concept (and more!) and feel confident we can continue that performance moving forward.

Knut: For each item in the external roadmap, we have broken down each of them into individual tasks and specifications. Then the right team members are assigned to the different tasks in a planned manner. Of course, this also goes together with an aggressive recruitment strategy where we so far have been able to get hold of the best and brightest.

Q: We take note that parts of the platform are already in live production, having been built for the past 4 1/2 years. Why has it taken you so long to tell the world what you’re doing?

Toby: Many of us on the team come from the traditional worlds of both business and tech, where real traction is delivered by being able to demonstrate working tech, real users, revenue streams etc. We felt that instead of simply setting out a plan in the whitepaper and attempting to raise, we would rather bootstrap the project, deliver proof of concept and then tell the world about it. That is where we find ourselves now. Slightly upside down to the normal route to market in blockchain!

Q: Can you outline your plans for adoption and give us an idea about future partnerships in the short, medium and long term?

Toby: I can only give you a high-level here. In the short term, apart from the 2 DeFi projects already live on the platform that have broadcast a total of 1.5m transactions to the underlying chains representing in excess of 91M USD worth of stable token sales in the past 12 months, we have already signed no less than 3 partnerships with multinational companies that have 10’s of millions of users. These solutions are already being coded by the team in parallel to the core and will be announced throughout Q1 2022. This will be keeping us very busy throughout next year.

Knut: We get a lot of traction from large traditional businesses that want to partner with us. They see Coinweb giving them a way to reduce the platform risk associated with hardcoding business logic into one blockchain or platform. The adaptability that Coinweb provides is very important to them.

Alexander: If we look long-term, what we're betting on is really the layering that happens in technology over time.

Initially, successful technologies are usually delivered vertically integrated, but as time passes, you see specialization and defined interfaces between layers. Take the internet, for example, where you have the protocol stack. There's not a lot of competition in the TCP/IP space, but innovation at upper layers.

Similarly, we believe there will be new layer 1 protocols that fill certain points in the design space that have not yet been explored. We see, for example, availability-focused blockchains, zero-knowledge VMs, etc.

What we want to provide is something that binds to a shifting landscape of layer 1 systems.

Toby: In the medium to long term, this will drive developers to the platform when we release on Mainnet.

Q: How do you intend on future-proofing your project for the long term?

Toby: That’s definitely an Alexander question! Get ready!

Alexander: I guess being a layer 2 that can connect to multiple layer 1 blockchains is the future-proofing.

That said, we use an execution model that is high capacity.

Knut: Yes, future-proofing is embedded into the Coinweb protocol, not only for the protocol itself but also for DApps on Coinweb, which will be able to access innovation in blockchain tech as it emerges.

Alexander: As an example, the execution model we're using is batch sequential processing, which means that there is a certain isolation between transactions in a given block, which again means it's possible to run nodes on clusters of machines.

So we're foreseeing an increasing shift towards layer 1 blockchains with 100k tx/s + as we're moving forward.

We're also less reliant on the EVM than maybe some other projects. We think there will be a move towards programming languages that compile down to WASM.

Knut: Also, importantly, Coinweb will help innovation in L1 increase further by adding more exposure to L1 protocols that solve very specific problems but might not provide enough general functionality for most DApps. Coinweb allows such protocols to be mixed in with other chains for increased composability.

Q: What is the utility of the CWEB and how are you going to drive long-term demand for it?

Knut: The CWEB token is fueling the functionality of the Coinweb platform. It is a blockchain agnostic utility token used for gas fees in Coinweb’s high capacity execution layer, powering parallel processing of reactive smart contracts and cross-chain transactions.

CWEB removes interoperability overhead by allowing frictionless access to different heterogeneous chains with uniform fee payments across all connected chains. It also enables light clients to prove state across different chains and serves as an apex token to provide liquidity and security for expedited cross-chain operations.

The Coinweb smart contract’s ability to keep CWEB gas balances and observe real-time changes happening in underlying Layer 1 chains, combined with refereed delegation of computation, allows deterministic computation on information from multiple chains with only one honest node required for correctness.

CWEB is also used to pay incubator fees for Coinweb’s incubated projects.

Toby: Needless to say that in the event we are successful with our adoption strategy, it will drive a significant number of users to the platform, which in turn will drive demand and thus liquidity of the token.

Q: Are you excited to launch today on 6 exchanges led by KuCoin?

Toby: Unbelievably! But at the same time, we see it as being functionary. The real excitement will come over the next 3 months when we start announcing the projects we have signed and are already building on the platform, which underpin/prove the actual demand for the token in the near term.

Q: Since NFT is popular nowadays, is there a plan for NFT integration?

Alexander: Yes, there is.

Knut: Yes, we are working on this. Expect some exciting things to come!

Toby: We are releasing a cross-chain tokenization platform in Q2 2022, this will also be able to handle NFTs.

Q: Do you have any plan for burning tokens in the future to reduce the supply of the token and increase its investment attractiveness?

Knut: Yes, CWEB will be burned for smart contract execution and other functions in the protocol.

Q: What are the attractive features of your project? What are the vision and goals of your project that you want to achieve in 2021 and beyond?

Toby: Cross-chain tokenization and broadcasting system, parallel execution of smart contracts, e-wallet with multiple integrated fiat rails and much much more.

Q: What is the biggest challenge for Coinweb in the short, mid and long term?

Toby: Securing more specialist developers (ideally in the same time zone) that allow us to keep up with the demand of projects building on top of the platform in parallel to us building the core.

Q: Do you have any plans to attract non-crypto investors to join your project because the success of a project attracts more investors who haven't yet entered the crypto world? What are the plans to raise awareness about your project in the non-crypto space?

Knut: Coinweb’s strategy has always been to bring in non-crypto participants into the crypto sphere, and not only investors but also traditional businesses, institutions and their end users. You will see a lot of announcements of this coming up!

Q: Why does Coinweb choose to base itself on the Ethereum platform instead of other good chains such as BSC, Avalanche, Polygon? As we know, ETH has problems with fees, interoperability, and scalability.

Toby: Coinweb is currently connected to 4 Bitcoin-derived chains, now connected to the Ethereum family of chains and shortly thereafter, a number of newer chains with whom we are already engaged with.

Q: Most people judge a project by its token price. So, what is your plan to maintain the token price? Will there be some kind of burning/buy-back program?

Toby: We retain the right to burn but this must be an ongoing assessment and take into account the demand for the token from the users of the projects that build on top of the platform. Please take note there is a true utility for the token, which in turn must match supply.

Q: On your website, you don't mention that you have done any internal or external audit of your smart contract, so can you give us details if you have done any audit before? And in case you haven't, would you plan to perform any review of your smart contract in the near future?

Knut: The token smart contracts have gone through 2 separate independent audits with Hacken and Zokyo. I believe the audit reports should be available on their websites or available shortly.

Alexander: We have done reviews. It's required by exchanges and others. I know many community members have read them, but I'll check where and how it's published.

Q: We are all aware of how big the transactional fees are on the ERC20 network. Do you have any estimates of how much the fees will be using Coinweb?

Alexander: Coinweb fees are comprised of storage of data on layer 1 and the Coinweb layer 2 execution fee.

Even on Ethereum, this is significantly cheaper than doing the execution at layer 1. On Ethereum, calldata is very cheap compared to, for example, persistent storage in contracts.

Similarly, on Bitcoin, segwit storage is significantly cheaper than storing data as multi-sig data (example).

So overall, you can expect that the cost is some fraction of what the layer 1 transaction would cost, and then a small additional fee on top of that.

So the layer 1 fee structure is still important, but you get the layer 1 security for a much lower price.

That said, you can always choose a much cheaper chain as layer 1 and get away with very low fees. This is quite important as layer 1 block space is a fixed-size resource, and when it's full, it becomes very difficult to do anything about it if you don't have the ability to move.

The ability to move makes blockspace availability dynamic in a sense.

Q: Is your project only for elite investors? What about others with small funds? Is it open to everyone?

Toby: That’s why we are listing on 6 major exchanges today led by KuCoin, to be able to give everyone the opportunity to participate.

Q: COVID-19 has slowed down many economies around the world, but as a crypto business, does it affect you negatively or positively? Are you still on track to achieve your goals or are you planning a new development?

Alexander: From a development point of view, I think COVID-19 has made everyone more tuned-in to working in distributed teams. At the core team, we are quite distributed, so there are some positive things coming out of it.

Toby: Funny question, really, because the core group of us got stuck somewhere for the past 2 years, which in large part is what accelerated the development of the platform. I do not want to glamourize COVID in any way or belittle how people have suffered, but if it wasn’t for the situation, we would probably be 6 to 12 months behind where we are today.

Q: What are the competitive advantages of your project? What advantages do you have that other competitors don't have? What would be your project's most similar contender in the market today in terms of scalability, security, features, and adaptability?

Knut: Our main competitive advantage from a technical viewpoint is that we are increasing the solution space for DApps. We do this by proving information between different blockchains in a new way. This means that DApps can take advantage of multiple blockchains at the same time. This means richer and more advanced DApps that scale.

Toby: We have an entirely different approach and I would encourage you to do a deeper dive with the materials on our website. At a high-level Polkadot, ChainLink, Cosmos.

Alexander: It depends on what part you're looking at. But for example, Polkadot is similar in a way that it allows multiple distinct chains to be tied together using the relay chain.

What we're doing is bringing together self-sovereign chains that don't tie into a higher-level protocol or consensus system.

On the execution/scalability side, I think you can compare us to various rollup scalability systems, especially optimistic rollups.

Q: Where can I buy your tokens right now? What is your current contract and how can I buy them? Will you have any other DeFI features like staking, yield farm or NFT in the future?

Toby: KuCoin in under 1 hour’s time! Staking, etc., will be coming soon.

Q: What is the most ambitious goal of your project? Could you share with us any upcoming updates?

Knut: The most ambitious goal of Coinweb is to enable the adoption of blockchain technology for as many types of projects as possible. We want large-scale mass adoption, and we believe we have solved the problems that are necessary for this to happen.

Q: Smart contracts are susceptible to failure and many projects fall victim to this, costing users money and the project discrediting. How reliable and secure is your smart contract? Have you tested it through any of the parties?

Toby: Yes, we have 2 audits to be posted shortly on our channels.

KuCoin and Coinweb have prepared a total of $2,000 in CWEB to give away to AMA participants.

1. Free-ask section: $75 in CWEB

2. AMA activity: $1,925 in CWEB

Activity 1 — Quiz: $1,500 in CWEB

Activity 2 — Price Guess: $300 in CWEB

Participation Rewards: $125 in CWEB

. . .

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