KuCoin AMA With Telos — A Smart-Contract Platform Built With Real-World-Ready Speed, Usability, and Performance
Dear KuCoin Users,
Time: July 20, 2021, 11:00-12:25 (UTC)
KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session with Justin Giudici and Lliam Buckley from the Telos Foundation in the KuCoin Exchange Group, who shared where Telos is today, what makes it unique, and the upcoming Telos EVM.
Project Introduction
Telos is a scalable smart-contract platform built with real-world-ready speed, usability, and performance. The TLOS token provides access to the network's cutting-edge technology, featuring 10,000+ transactions-per-second, 0.5s block times, near feeless transactions, no front-running, and a leading governance engine.
With the upcoming release of the Telos Ethereum Virtual Machine (Telos EVM), Telos will be the only blockchain to support EOSIO C++ and Ethereum Solidity-based contracts. This and Telos’ significant advantages have attracted a growing ecosystem of over 100 innovative projects and integrations in DeFi, Gaming, NFTs, Social Media, and more.
Over time, Telos has organically grown to become the leading ESG blockchain. This is thanks to its powerful governance structure, environmentally friendly characteristics, and socially conscious initiatives.
The network launched anonymously with no ICO in 2018 through the collaborative efforts of over 150 founders, cementing its place as a truly decentralized network. Today, Telos has a reputation for solving real-world hurdles in the blockchain industry and paving the way to mass adoption.
Official Website: https://telos.net
Follow Telos on Twitter and Telegram.
Guests:
Justin Giudici and Lliam Buckley come from the Telos Foundation representing the Product and Marketing teams, respectively.
Justin Giudici — Head of Product at Telos Foundation
Justin is one of many early co-founders of the Telos Blockchain Network and brings over a decade of experience in product development initiatives. He has been pivotal in the network's ascension to one of the most utilized blockchains in the world.
Lliam Buckley — Head of Marketing & Community Growth at Telos Foundation
Lliam joined the Telos Foundation last year to lead marketing initiatives and has brought an incredible wealth of Marketing, Content, and SEO expertise. Since joining the foundation, he has been able to help Telos rise to new levels of visibility, with the community growing faster than ever.
Q&A from KuCoin
Lliam: Hi everyone! Thanks for having us. We're super excited to share Telos ($TLOS) with you.
Justin: We certainly are! It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for the amazing introduction! Also, hello everyone!
Q: What makes Telos unique from its competitors?
Justin: That’s a great question! Well, first and foremost, for those who don’t know, Telos is a smart contract platform. I guess you could call it an alternative to networks like Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon. You can run your own smart contracts, tokens, NFTs, and so much more. It’s a true ecosystem, a networked economy even.
Lliam:
🌎 #RealWorldReady
💚 #GreenestBlockchain
🏛 Evolutionary Governance
👨👩👧👦 Socially Responsible
🤑 Near Feeless Transactions
🏎 10,000+ Transactions Per Second
🏃♂️ No Front Running
🚀 Launched With No ICO/VC Funding
🏗 2+ Years of Operation & Development
📱 100+ Apps #BuiltOnTelos
Justin: To me, what stands out the most in the list Lliam just posted
- Telos has no front running.
- Telos is one of the fastest networks out there - 10,000+ TPS with 0.5s Block times
- Telos is decentralized and not controlled by a founding team
and I’ll add
- Telos is the only network to support both EOSIO and Ethereum-based smart contracts - the two most popular standards right now for building dApps.
Lliam:
Justin: Telos is 4x the speed of Polygon to send a transaction, I believe 30% more transaction capacity as well. If you compare it to the others, it just goes up from there.
The cost of transactions is also very competitive, from less than a cent on our EVM to free transactions if using staking.
The market caps are a little dated but this chart shows you how Telos really competes as a smart contract platform.
Lliam: We are also the leading ESG Blockchain tackling Environmental, Social, and Governance problems, unlike any other network.
Unlike a lot of other popular blockchain projects, Telos has been building for almost three years now and has a slew of epic features and applications built on it and already put to use on a daily basis! 100+ dApps, to be exact.
Q: Can you talk about the utility of TLOS?
Justin: Of course! Utility is kind of our thing at Telos.
TLOS is necessary for the network to function. TLOS is required by developers to stake or pay to gain access to network resources such as storage (ram), computation (processing smart contracts), and network bandwidth (sending bundles of transactions). It’s similar to an asset like ETH in many ways, not just that it pays for access to its namesake network but it is evolving as an accepted digital currency and as a main trading/liquidity pairing for Telos-based assets.
I should also add that all the network validators are paid using the TLOS token, including Workers (Telos Works WPS system) and Telos Foundation staff. $TLOS really is the fuel that keeps the network going.
Lliam: To add to this, at its heart, TLOS represents ownership of network resources. Developers and users can stake TLOS in the network to gain access to resources necessary for processing transactions. The number of resources received is quantified by the percentage of TLOS an account stakes. This is relative to the amount of TLOS in existence. For example, if a user owned and staked 1% of the TLOS supply, they could access 1% of the network’s resources.
In this way, owning TLOS is a lot like owning the deed to a plot of land, which increases in value as the demand for real estate increases. This potential perceived value of TLOS is higher than many other blockchains due to the powerful nature of the network and the limited supply of TLOS.
But that's not the only use case for TLOS.
The second primary utility of TLOS is as a governance token. The Telos Decide governance engine is a powerful tool that sets Telos apart from other blockchains.
Whether it’s voting on validators, legislation amendments, or grant proposals, governance is a massive part of the Telos blockchain. Anybody holding TLOS can submit or vote on a proposal. This ensures that the direction of the chain fairly represents the community’s best interest and that its resources are used in a way that the majority of stakeholders agree on.
Justin: Great point. Governance is a critical part of Telos' utility!
I would say one key difference to using ETH, at least for devs, is that on Telos, developers can actually pay for transactions and resources on behalf of the users. This leads to more web 2.0 like experiences where the user doesn’t have to buy TLOS before using Telos-based apps. This is huge for mainstream adoption, especially for use cases like social networks and gaming.
Lliam: This is huge for Telos and really helps set the utility apart in a way that makes it perfect for mass adoption.
The Telos Resource Exchange (REX) allows holders of TLOS to lease their unused resources to developers in exchange for high-yielding rewards. These rewards are paid to REX from the Exchange Token Reserve Fund.
TLOS maintains further utility in the countless ways that it powers other services built on the network. Many applications use Telos as a primary method for payment, which is strengthened by the addition of other Telos DeFi tools such as T-Bonds, T-Swaps, or T-Starter.
Justin: 100%, the use cases are really evolving over time as the network develops.
Q: What do you mean when you say Telos is #RealWorldReady?
Justin: I’d summarize/start it off with 2 big points, but Lliam may have much more to add.
- Telos has the capacity and speed Fortune 500 companies require (10,000+ TPS, 0.5s block times). In fact , mainstream companies like Microsoft are already using Telos-based platforms like Taikai for hackathon judging.
- Telos enables user-friendly experiences that look like Web 2.0 apps that are seamless for users to adapt to. We believe this will be critical for apps with millions of users, not just the 100s of users we see currently on most networks. As I alluded to earlier, on Telos, developers can cover user fees and transactions fairly easily.
Lliam: Exactly what Justin said! I should add that people at Telos tend to recognize that the blockchain industry and its technology are confusing to people who are new to it. That's one of the major things holding the industry back from mass adoption. We have a number of features current and upcoming that aim to solve this and make Telos so easy even your grandma could use it!
Telos Web Wallet has an upcoming Google sign-in feature, for example, and near-free transactions mean you can actually pay for something without being charged massive gas fees
Justin: We are integrating Google login into our web wallet - an example of the user experience we are going for: https://t.me/Kucoin_Exchange/4093496
Lliam: We also use easy-to-remember account addresses with only 12 characters and can be customized to the user.
Justin: We are really trying to obfuscate the overly complicated. As you can see here, we hide the details that are less relevant to an everyday user.
Lliam: We truly believe that by making blockchain tools accessible and easy to use, we will be the first network to see mass adoption from real-world users, not just crypto enthusiasts.
Justin: I think ESG is another big reason we are #RealWorldReady. I would love to go into that if you have a question about it.
Q: Would you please share some more info on the upcoming Telos EVM?
Justin: Of course!
Firstly, EVM stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine. You have probably heard of EVM networks/platforms like Ethereum itself, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon.
Telos EVM is our deployment of the EVM standard. In that way, it’s very similar for developers but exceeds all of the above with its speed advantage, low fees, no front running, and many other advantages.
Telos also doesn’t suffer from centralized control in the case of BSC and Polygon. As Lliam, I believe, mentioned earlier, Telos has a decentralized distribution and is governed by its community.
With Telos, EVM users can use web3 wallets like MetaMask on Telos. It's very similar to connecting to BSC instead of Ethereum. Users are increasingly getting used to this multi-network dynamic.
Lliam:
Justin: With advantages such as 0.5s block times, interacting with Telos EVM is as fast as loading a web page. This, along with the incredibly low fees starting below 1c, creates a magical DeFi experience that works for trading less than $1 to 1000s of dollars.
Lliam: What makes Telos EVM really unique from other Ethereum Virtual Machines is that it's not just another fork of the Ethereum code. It's the only public EVM built within an EOSIO smart contract. This allows it to capitalize on the true power of Telos and avoid congestion, front running, and other issues that other competitors face, thanks to their close relation to the original Ethereum protocol.
It also creates some unique cross-communication features and makes Telos the only network to support both major dApp protocols (EOSIO C++ & Solidity EVM).
Q: What is front-running, and how has the Telos EVM done away with it?
Justin: I don't know if you have ever made a trade on a platform like Uniswap and noticed "getting drained." It's incredibly common. This is front-running in action.
Users of these platforms are collectively losing out on 100s of millions of dollars.
As you can see, my example was actually on the lower end. The theft on individual transactions can go into 100s or even tens of thousands of dollars or more.
Lliam: It's daylight robbery, and a lot of people don't even realize it's happening!
Justin: This happens on practically all the other EVM platforms, Ethereum, Polygon, BSC. The miners/validators who run those networks can and do re-order transactions based on how much gas is paid. This enables a phenomenon called front running or sandwich trading.
You might think this sounds like a good system. People have to bid for their place in line (the mempool). For people just looking to do a simple trade of say $1,000 Ethereum to $1,000 USDT on an AMM like Uniswap, this system enables a programmed bot to jump ahead to buy $1,000 USDT first and then selling it after the user completes their trade to say extract $5 of value after fees. This can add up, especially as the trade value and volatility increase. 100s of millions of dollars are extracted from the market this way, resulting in what would be the biggest bank robbery in the world.
On Telos, there is no way to push your transactions ahead of other transactions. In the case of Telos EVM, the gas fees are set by Telos governance, and as long as the appropriate fee is paid, it is added next in line to execute. This effectively removes these front-running opportunities and means cheaper, more predictable DeFi with a much better user experience.
Lliam:
Justin: Front running makes a lot of money for the miners/validators on these other networks. But in the real world, front running is illegal for a good reason. It ruins trading and is just an added tax/fee.
The scale of this theft is incredible. It rivals and exceeds most if not all of the largest heists in history.
Lliam: The main reason no other networks talk about front-running, and you might not have even heard about it before, is because no one seems to have a good solution for it until Telos.
I know we don't have much more time so for anyone wanting to learn more about Telos EVM, check out the links below!
Learn About Telos EVM: https://telos.net/telos-evm
How Telos Will Revolutionize DeFi: https://rb.gy/86hjko
Recent Telos Tuesday EVM AMA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmuNAdfxlZA&t=8s
Q: Can you tell us about some of the most popular apps and integrations of the Telos blockchain?
Lliam: For sure!
There are plenty of applications built on Telos. It's hard to pick just a few.
I have a rolodex of graphics from some of our most popular and groundbreaking applications so let me share some of those!
dStor is a revolutionary decentralized storage solution ready for web 3.0.
SEEDS is a super cool cryptocurrency that actually pays YOU to use it.
These are some of the MANY awesome applications that are #BuiltOnTelos. The last one there, Taikai, is even used by brands like Microsoft.
I know we're short for time, but people can find all these and more here: https://telos.net/explore
Justin: Definitely keen to share a few examples. I wish we could cover all of them, but we have way over 100 already.
Appics – One of many social media platforms built on Telos. We truly believe in users receiving rewards for their content. Telos allows it to happen immediately. Earning crypto really is the future, so is user-driven governance, which Telos also enables.
Zeptagram is another one of my favorites!
The app allows artists to raise money through crowdfunding sales. Fans can invest in their favorite artists’ music and receive royalties in return. The app uses a combination of NFTs (for the rights themselves) and fungible tokens to distribute ownership in individual songs. It’s truly brilliant.
Q: Tell us more about what ESG is and what it has to do with Telos?
Justin: This is a really great intro to watch later: https://youtu.be/B8z7ZUg7KJk
Lliam: ESG is a term that's popular in the world of business and investing! It stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, and it's used to spot risks/value in projects that are often missed through traditional forms of analysis.
Many major institutions have been waiting for an ESG solution in the blockchain industry and claim that it's the last step before mass adoption.
Telos is making waves as the leading ESG blockchain by tackling problems and supporting initiatives in all of those categories.
Interested community members can learn more here:
Justin: I must admit when I first heard about ESG being a thing people would care about, I was incredibly skeptical. Then I found out that real VCs and investors like Mr. Wonderful really care about ESG. When I dug a little deeper, I realized why ESG is good not just for the world but for investors too.
The governance piece particularly ensures there is considerable alignment with the stakeholders of the asset.
Liam: https://news.bitcoin.com/kevin-oleary-institutional-money-bitcoin-esg-standards-met
Justin: Too many assets these days, not just crypto - there is a fundamental misalignment between the project founders and the stakeholders. Telos, with its collective governance model and foundation which is funded monthly, totally changes the game.
My breakdown for Telos and ESG:
- Environmental: Telos through DPOS (Delegated Proof Of Stake) is incredibly energy-efficient. Telos may possibly be the most energy-efficient blockchain in the world.
- Social: Telos is socially conscious. The blockchain is incredibly supportive of groups that have been discriminated against. The Telos technology stack serves all developers and users to enable free speech and collective action that can't be undone by powerful governments.
- Governance: Telos is built on positive investor-aligned governance. It’s built on the Telos Decide Governance Engine - the leading governance stack in the world. Collective, enforceable, stakeholder-aligned governance is made possible with Telos.
What’s important is that all of the above is offered to the dApps/projects that build on Telos. They might not aim to align to ESG, but they have the tools to do so if they wish.
Lliam:
Check out this recent analysis of ESG asset owners over the past few years to get an idea of just how important this is to investors.
Justin: Glad you posted this! It's the kind of metrics that sold me on ESG being a factor. Those in the investment world already align with this.
As I alluded to before, aligning to ESG really makes Telos #RealWorldReady. The majority of blockchains that don't are not really aligned with 90% of asset managers and holders.
Lliam: No other network is tackling ESG concerns better than Telos, and because of that, we continue to attract more and more ESG applications.
If people are still confused by all of this, I highly encourage you to check out our recent report below:
Q: After the launch of the Telos EVM, what’s next for Telos?
Justin: So so much! I could answer this so many different ways, and maybe Lliam has a different answer!
Apps, Apps, and more Apps
Telos is already host to hundreds of apps. Telos EVM opens the network up to the gigantic Ethereum/Solidity developer community. We are working closely with new partners, including some very prominent names in DeFI, to release their projects on the Telos Network.
We expect users and developers will be blown away by the unforeseen possibilities of Solidity dApps running on such a fast, scalable, and accessible platform in Telos.
We are also seeing continued strong interest in our EOSIO C++ smart contract platform as well. So, we are expecting strong growth in adoption across the board, and being the only network to support the top two standards, we believe we are pretty well-positioned for growth.
Lliam: All this and more!! At Telos, we have a dedicated community of developers set on revolutionizing the blockchain industry and that means constant innovation. We never sleep.
Upcoming Telos products include Telos ID, Telos Location, Telos Private, and more!
Justin:
Are you building on Telos or moving to Telos with our EVM release? Do you want to give a lightning talk about your project to the Telos community?
Yes, Yes, and Yes?! Drop us a line, and we'd love to showcase your project.
Contact: https://rb.gy/riiug2
Lliam:
🌐 Connect 🌐
🟣 Website
📣 Telegram
👾 Discord
Free-Ask from KuCoin Community
Q: Where can I buy your tokens right now, what is your current contract, and how can I buy them?
Lliam:
🟣 Buy $TLOS 🟣
💹 KuCoin
🦄 Uniswap
💳 Card
📄 Contracts 📄
🟣 Telos
🔶 BSC
🔷 ETH
📚 Additional Resources 📚
🌉 Bridge
📈 Chart
🖥 Telos Web Wallet (Native)
💻 Anchor Desktop/Mobile Wallet (Native)
📱 Add to Trust Wallet/MetaMask (ETH/BSC)
Add custom token:
BSC: 0xb6c53431608e626ac81a9776ac3e999c5556717c
ETH: 0x7825e833d495f3d1c28872415a4aee339d26ac88
Network: BSC/ETH
Name: pTokens TLOS
Symbol: TLOS
Decimals: 18
Justin: KuCoin is, of course, the best place to buy.
Liam: Naturally.
Q: Telos positions itself as a sustainable decentralized EOSIO network. Why choose EOS? Do you solve the problem of this platform alone or solve the problem of the encryption environment as a whole? Which issues do you think are most relevant today and have been resolved by Telos?
Justin: Yes, we are built on EOSIO at our core. What people may not know about the open-source EOSIO software is it’s incredibly modular in nature and relatively easy to change the governance contracts. Telos has taken a number of steps to differentiate, including the addition of Telos Amend (so the users can push the network forward in a positive way via collective voting), certain rules and alignment tweaks have also solved the BP independence issue EOS and other DPOS networks face as well.
We chose EOSIO at our core because it’s fast and performant. We will continue to drive governance aligned with users, already to date we look drastically different to EOS from the outside perspective, and this will continue as our governance evolves.
Q: Best AMA I've witnessed yet. Glad I attended and learned more about Telos and its great innovations. I would love to know about Telos Private.
Justin: Thank you! Well, Telos Private is a privacy layer for Telos. It will extend to all the tokens running on Telos. Users will be able to run transactions on what will be a sort of privacy side chain. We believe this is critical for mainstream adoption. After all, how many of you share all your bank transactions with the world? Of course, all tokens will still be accounted for and provably not double spent. Also, it’s an optional service. The benefit for stakeholders is that Telos Private will be yet another utility way to spend TLOS (there will be an added fee for these transactions).
Q: Does your project support staking program? If yes, how does your stake system work, and what is the requirement for users if they want to stake in your platform?
Lliam: As mentioned earlier, part of the utility of Telos is in staking! Telos offers staking rewards through the Telos Resource Exchange! Anyone holding TLOS can stake and start making passive income from it. For those who are interested, here's the easiest path to take:
- Buy on KuCoin (TLOS/USDT or TLOS/BTC)
- Create a Telos Native Account at telos.net
- Send the TLOS to your native account using the KuCoin withdrawal
- Set up a popular Telos wallet like Anchor and use it to sign in to our staking portal: https://staker.one/token/telos
From there, it's pretty easy to stake/unstake and start earning TLOS while you sleep. Also, consider checking out the KuCoin trading bots as a great way to also earn some additional TLOS.
Q: Do you have any plans to expand Telos internationally or globally?
Justin: Telos is already global! Check out telos.bloks.io - our validators are all around the world! Having said that, we are continuing to grow our reach out of western audiences. Primarily though, it will be the apps that bring in a larger community.
Q: Why the name TLOS?
Justin: $TLOS is, of course, just the token symbol, but Telos actually means “An ultimate purpose” in Greek. Telos enables all sorts of different economic and social purposes to be fulfilled.
Giveaway Section
KuCoin and Telos have prepared a total of 11,900 TLOS to give away to AMA participants.
1. Free-ask section: 450 TLOS
2. AMA activity: 11,450 TLOS
Activity 1 — Quiz: 7,500 TLOS
Activity 2 — Price Guess: 2,500 TLOS
Participation Rewards: 1,450 TLOS
. . .
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