Today, the XIO Foundation is submitting our official mainnet launch proposal to the community:
Use $FLASH as the fundamental flashstaking token while elevating $XIO to be the primary staking, community, and token studio asset of the network.
The remainder of this proposal will outline a brief history of XIO, why we believe the future of flashstaking is $FLASH, what the proposed tokenomics are, and how the $XIO token would fuel crypto’s first ever token studio.
THE EVOLUTION OF XIO
Since day one, the core mission of XIO has been the same: Launch ideas into the decentralized world.
As time passed and as we continued to listen to our community, the path to achieving this mission has become an adventurous road of exploration and experimentation.
Era One | The Incubator
The first concept to achieve our mission was to create an incubator for blockchain startups. We envisioned a model similar to that of YCombinator. Crypto projects would bring their ideas to us and we would provide them with the community, resources, and capital to grow.
Our first pilot of this incubator model was incredibly well received as over 2,000,000 XIO tokens and 1000 XIO Citizens joined in on the incubator. Although we received over 75 startup applications to the XIO Incubator, we kept coming to the same realizations. The model couldn’t scale. It needed to be automated.
As we began tinkering with ways to automate the XIO Incubator, several internal development breakthroughs began to happen. One concept in particular caught the imagination of our community and thousands of new individuals around the industry: flashstaking
Era Two | The Flashstaking Protocol
Similar to flashloans where anyone can borrow any amount of capital as long as they pay it back within one ethereum transaction, flashstaking works in a similar way. However, instead of borrowing money, you stake capital for a predetermined amount of time and earn the entire reward.
Instant, upfront, all in one ethereum transaction.
When your stake duration is completed, you can unstake and retain 100% of your original capital. We believe this innovation can be a crucial building block that provides startups with the needed resources to get off the ground.
$FLASH to the Future
So why use $FLASH as the flashstaking token and not $XIO? This is a very fair question and one we have not taken lightly during our research. We have identified eight primary benefits to using $FLASH as the flashstaking token while reserving $XIO to be the primary staking, startup, and token distribution mechanism of the network.
1 | Value Independence
Startups are hard. Most of them fail. Especially when you’re trying to do something that has never been done before.
To us, XIO is more than flashstaking. XIO is a community, and one we have put an endless amount of energy into building. Over the last year, we have slowly connected and collaborated with some of the highest quality crypto connoisseurs from all around the world.
As flashstaking was born directly out of the minds of our Citizens, it showed the power of crowdsourcing ideas at scale. We believe our community will be the inspiration of many more ideas to come.
Using $FLASH the primary flashstaking token allows us to separate the value proposition for $XIO to be independent of the success or failure of an experimental protocol.
2 | Simplified Token Architecture
As we began building out the flashstaking features, the entire architecture began to get extremely complex and strayed away from what we value most: simplicity. With each new problem we wanted to fix, the XIO flashstaking protocol began to get clunky and vulnerable to feature creep.
Creating a flashstaking specific token allows us to extrapolate the complexities of the protocol and let it focus on doing one thing better than anyone else: flashstaking.
3 | Expedite Development Timeline
While new protocols are always under attack from potential hackers, rarely does a new protocol launch with $2M+ behind it.
Given the new protocol is experimenting with a never before built technology and an internal mint/burn functionality, it became clear that the $2M+ XIO Liquidity Pool (XLP) would be given an extraordinary amount of attention from bad actors on day one.
To protect the protocol while getting to market with flashstaking before anyone else, we felt using $FLASH as the original flashstaking token would expedite the launch to mainnet and help provide additional security/peace of mind to the members of the XLP.
4 | Mainstream Branding
Although many Citizens have become extremely integrated and comfortable with the XIO brand, the naming does not have much inherent connection to flashstaking.
We believe to dominate the flashstaking market, we need to be first of mind and first to rank on google when people search for us. For this reason, $FLASH allows us to immediately resonate and connect with new/future token holders while increasing our chances to optimize SEO and rank on google for decades to come.
To jumpstart the creative process, we have developed two conceptual branding designs for $FLASH.
5 | Defensibility + Composability
Much like when we created the world’s first deflationary currency, we expect and anticipate many people to copy our token design. Rather than fighting it, we have created $FLASH in a way that any other flashstaking concepts or ideas can build on it.
With the $FLASH token design, anyone who believes they can create a better flashstaking mechanism can plug their smart contract logic into our protocol. For example, the very complex “v3” token architecture and blackpaper design we previously released now sits on top of the $FLASH protocol instead of inside it.
Similar to the YFI model, if people choose to use an externally created smart contract design, the creator of this smart contract can take a fee when people use their design.
This moves $FLASH away from competing with others projects to providing the core protocol for inspired individuals to build on.
6 | Four Times the Ownership
With XIO, there are several programs needed to sustain the day-to-day operations and growth of the Network. With $FLASH, however, the reserve funds we control as the Foundation (XLP, XFO, XSI) and Founders will not claim any $FLASH.
This means there will likely be less than 25M $FLASH, giving Citizens 4x the amount of ownership.
7 | Aligned Incentives with Founders
Rather than reserving any tokens for the team, the only way for the Foundation to earn any $FLASH is through the staking activity of the protocol. When any person stakes $FLASH, a portion of the stake will be “matched” and sent to a wallet controlled by the XIO Foundation.
We believe this model 100% aligns the incentives, motivations, and economic opportunities of the Citizens and the creators. We don’t succeed unless the protocol does.
8 | Flashminting
While flashstaking allows you to earn instant upfront yield on your crypto, flashminting allows you to mint an infinite amount of $FLASH as long as you burn an equal amount in the same ethereum block transaction.
Flash Tokenomics
Using $FLASH as the primary flashstaking token gave us the safest, fastest, and easiest transition for the protocol.
Instead of migrating your XIO, we are proposing a flashshot taken on December 31st of all existing XIO holders. Based on how much a Citizen has in their wallet, they will be able to redeem an equal amount of $FLASH at a 1:1 ratio.
- Mainnet Token | $FLASH
- Flashshot Date | December 31st
- Dapp Launch | January 1st
- Liquidity Mining | January 1st
- XIO:FLASH Claim Ratio | 1:1
- Initial Liquidity Pool | $100,000
- Initial Price | Same as $XIO
- Estimated Token Supply | < 25M
If you have funds in the XLP, you do not need to move these. In fact, if you keep your tokens in the XLP, you will automatically begin liquidity mining the next token that comes through the token studio starting January 1st.
The snapshot will take into consideration how many XIO are in your UNI-v2 token at the time of the snapshot. A follow up article will be released with a step-by-step walkthrough on how to claim your $FLASH. What we can tell you is it will be as easy as the $UNI claim system was. One click claims!
While we have intentionally never requested listing on a centralized exchange, it is possible you may have tokens on a centralized wallet like Hotbit or ParJar. The most important thing to know right now is you need to get your $XIO off any centralized exchanges.
Only wallets with $XIO at the time of snapshot will be able to claim XIO. If you don’t control your wallet, you can’t claim $FLASH.
The Future of $XIO: Token Studio
Over the last year, we have built one of the highest quality, most engaged, and extremely curious communities in crypto. We continue to rediscover how many people in the industry are as fascinated as we were to explore new concepts and token architectures.
At the core of XIO, we like to explore. We like to try and do things that have never been done before. We love building things that other people don’t think to be possible. We love showing the world new visions of reality.
This is what gets us out of bed in the morning. It is in our DNA.
In addition to the upcoming release of $FLASH, the last few months of recruiting new team members and building out the protocol has shown us how much overwhelming opportunity there is in this extremely early industry.
Endless problems to be solved. Infinite ideas to be explored. Massive markets to be dominated.
In a progressive movement to put the community first, incentivize a natural state of curiosity, and encourage a culture of experimentation, $XIO will remain the primary token of the XIO Network and fuel blockchain’s first ever token studio.
What is a Token Studio?
From logo to launch, our mission is to explore and build experimental tokens with our community. For providing feedback, liquidity and marketing support – we give 100% of any tokens we develop away to the XIO Citizens who help bring them to life.
In short, this means if you hold $XIO, you will receive 100% of all future tokens we develop through the XIO Network. A list of the current tokens we are exploring will be listed later.
Incubator vs. Token Studio
As opposed to a traditional incubator model where the creative process and idea stage is outsourced to existing startup, the token studio allows us to build and launch projects from within our own community. Instead of only earning a small portion from a startup, we retain 100% of the tokens and give them away to our Citizens.
Launch Process
One of the reasons it has taken us a year to build XIO is the unforgiving nature of immutable code and fear of failure. The token studio model allows us to explore and iterate on new ideas at an exponentially faster pace than before. To help us accomplish our mission, we follow this four step process.
Step One: Explore.
Is this an idea worth exploring? Does it give us goosebumps to think about? Has anyone done this before or are we just reinventing the wheel? Does this have the chance to make an impact on the world? If no, we don’t explore it. If yes, we start building immediately.
Step Two: Build.
If we believe the idea is worth exploring, our first step is to build a Minimal Viable Token. In other words, what is the simplest token architecture and application we can build to test the viability of the idea? XIO is built on rapid prototyping and interaction. If it takes more than three months, we don’t build it.
Step Three: Launch.
After we explore the idea and we build the MVT, we need to launch it and test the demand for the solution. On launch day, we create a $50,000+ liquidity pool using $XIO/$ALT and give the newly created tokens away for free to our XIO Citizens.
Step Four: Scale.
If there is clear evidence that the product has no interest, we stop building entirely. If there is, however, evidence that the idea is gaining interest from the community, we recruit and compensate a token founder to lead the project further.
More information on our Token Founder Program below.
Token Studio Nominees
While $FLASH is the first token we are going to release through the token studio, we have several experimental tokens in our pipeline set to be distributed exclusively to $XIO holders.
Here are just a few of the current token models and ideas in the Explore stage of the token studio that are set to be released in the coming months.
All of these names and logos are yet to be decided. To join us in the discussion on which token to launch first and how to brand it, join us here in the XSI Forum.
Symbol: $XIO
$XIO is the primary token of the XIO Network. All future tokens developed by the token studio are distributed directly to $XIO holders.
Symbol: $FLASH
$FLASH is crypto’s first flashstaking token that enables users to earn instant upfront yield.
Symbol: $AQUA
$AQUA is a universal liquidity mining token. Pair $AQUA with any ERC asset and starting mining to earn instant upfront liquidity rewards.
Symbol: $CLVR
$CLVR powers a tokenized yield swap protocol. Take any yield or interest accruing asset like UNI LP tokens and trade them for future yield, today.
Symbol: $ZYN
Powered by $ZYN, convert any ERC into a Zynthetic token to give it magical staking powers.
On the day that $FLASH is released, we will announce the next token to come out of the XIO token studio. Immediately, Citizens will be able to stake their XIO + XLP assets and begin earning rights to the next token.
For the following months after $FLASH is launched, we will observe the interest from the market and provide the necessary liquidity, development, and marketing as needed.
Token Founders Program
Zachary Dash, the founder of XIO, is not a developer by trade. We believe there are endless amounts of smart, passionate, and talented Citizens in our community who may not be programmers, but have the ability and lead crypto projects.
To help us scale multiple projects into existence at the same time, we need to scale our talent of founders. The Token Founders Program is an initiative to find and appoint talented Citizens from our community to lead projects of their own.
If appointed, creative and strategic decision making will be given to the chosen founder.
To get involved with the conversation and help us make important decisions before launch, please join the XSI Forum and provide feedback. We are looking for SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of the given $FLASH launch proposal.
We are XIO.
For anyone uncertain of our commitment or focus to the XIO token, we would like to remind our Citizens that the entire operational ability of the Foundation and economic activity for our founders is still 100% in the $XIO token itself.
Without $XIO and without the $2M+ liquidity pool, future development will not be possible. Maintaining this asset in a sustainable manner is our priority above anything else.
$XIO is and will always be the primary token of the XIO Network.
- We are a community of entrepreneurs, innovators, and problem solvers from all over the world.
- We build and launch experimental tokens and protocols into the decentralized world.
- We believe innovation is born out of the consistent collaboration of positive people from all over the world.
- We believe opportunity is discovered through the rapid experimentation and exploration of unorthodox ideas.
- We believe in building passionate communities at scale.
We are XIO, the industry’s first token studio.