FERRUM NETWORK — CRYPTOVERSE AMA RECAP

11 min readNov 8, 2019

Guest: IAN M. FRIEND, Co-Founder, COO and General Counsel

Q. Please briefly introduce yourself and #Ferrum to our community?

A — Hello everyone! My name is Ian and I am the co-founder and COO of Ferrum Network. Prior to joining Ferrum I was a lawyer in NYC where I worked at a big firm and co-founded the blockchain practice team.

Ferrum Network is a blockchain based FinTech company focused on emerging marketsWe approach things a little differently. We wanted to build and launch a product first, prove it could be successful and then build our main net and migrate our products onto it in order to achieve utiltiy.

Our first product is called Kudi Exchange its a fiat gateway and payments application in Africa. You can think of it like the Coinbase + Venmo of Africa. Its live now with over 3000 users and 100+ merchants, and generating early revenue.

We are updating the site now and re-branding the product, but here is an early preview for you! https://firstkudi.com/

But we are not just focused on Africa. We are also building out other products such as staking (launching very soon) and our non-custodial wallet (http://unifyre.io) to improve the crypto experience by making things as simple, secure and easy to use as possible.

How does the token play into all of this? Our products will run on our DAG based interopability network and all transactions will require #FRM as gas. The unique thing is that every time a token is spent it is burned.

Since our main net wont be out until early 2020, we decided to get the burning started early and burned 2.5 million FRM in the beginning of Oct.

The FRM token will also be utilized in our apps. For instance, when we launch the Kudi rebrand the app will include FRM. NOt only so users can buy it with Niara (nigerian currency), but so they can recieve rewards for using the app. These rewards wil be in FRM which they can redeem for Naira. Meaning we will buy it back and burn it.

But the thing we are really excited about is our staking which comes out in just a few days.

Our staking will be super easy and fun to use. Its sort of like a competition because those who stake the longest will not only earn the highest APY, they will also recieve a share of rewards that people give up if they decide to leave staking early.

Q — Ferrum brought kudi exchange for Africa. Will ferrum brings also kudi exchange for india as well where crypto regulations are uncertain? What is the ferrum vision for India?

A — we love India and would love to launch an Kudi-type product in your country. Part of our business model is to expand Ferrum products into other markets and we are in later stages of that process in another region of the world. The challenge with India is the regulations. There is a lot of risk right now and so until those issues are resolved I dont see us moving into that market. But as soon as they are resolved, we believe our app would solve a lot of problems.

For instance, did you know that with our technology you can send fiat currency instantly to anyone in the world for 0 transaction fees? Imagine sending rupees to your family across the country without paying any fees and it all happens through What’s App!

But until your leaders wake up and realize that crypto is good for their citizens, Im afraid it is just too risky to try to move into that market.

HOWEVER, I shouldl say that our non-custodial wallet UniFyre will have much of the same function as the Kudi app (plus more) and you will be able to use UniFyre anywhere in the world!

Q:WHY do you have this TPS? What purpose does it solve? Is it just trying to have a bigger number than everybody else, or is there a genuine reason?

A: We don’t really talk about TPS if I am being honest. We know our test net can execute transactions in milliseconds and the TPS is more than enough for an early stag network. But talking about TPS was what people did in 2017. The market has changed. Investors want to see real traction. That’s why we launched a product first before raising funds.

f you want to see how fast it is to send a BTC over the Ferrum Network, please check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sib9T3-YuZw&t=43s

Q: How Infinity DEX will get the liquidity where most of the DEX is thriving or dying due to low liquidity? Why somebody will use your DEX and what makes it special ?

A: Liquidity is one of the main challenges for any DEX. Frankly we don’t think the market is right to launch a DEX. That’s why we pushed it out on our roadmap. The market needs to turn bullish first. But when we do launch our DEX will have unique features not offered anywhere else on the market, such as true cross-chain functionality, millisecond transaction speeds, margin trading and AI driven market predictions. You solve the liquidity problem by attracting real users. And you attract real users by having a superior product and A+ marketing. We wont launch the DEX until we are confident it will be successful.

By that time the idea is to have the fiat gateways, non-custodial wallet, cold storage application (sub zero) and DEX all connected. So it would b a “one stop shop” for all your crypto needs.

Q:How did the community bring you new opportunities as a business and how did you utilize these opportunities to build #Ferrum ?

What are your security measurements if your database is targeted for hack ?

A:Community is everything to Ferrum. We have struggled during the bear market and still have many daily challenges, but the support from the community has kept us going. This is one reason we wanted to give back and launch social mining. So community members could be rewarded in FRM every 2 weeks for contributing to our marketing efforts. https://Community.ferrum.network

Ferrum takes security very seriously. We have built our products from the ground up with security as a core value. For instance on Kudi we have algorithmic and manual checks to ensure there can be no fraud. So far, there have been 0 security incidents that have led to any loss of funds.

If there is specific interest on the technical details of our security, I’ll be happy to ask my co-founder who is a PhD in distributed database systems with 10+ years at Amazon Microsoft and Bloomberg.

Behind the scene of the Ferrum Network token bridge

Hello Ferrum Community,

medium.com

Q: I have seen traction based reserve model in your website? Can you please explain about traction based reserve model?

A: Of course, I’d love to explain it. The traction based reserve model is an innovative take on the traditional “reserve” (essentially a portion of project tokens not sold in the ICO or dedicated to marketing etc). Instead of just releasing those tokens at an arbitrary date, we have tied their release to the amount of FRM that will burned each month.

So in other words, if 500,000 FRM are burned as a result of running transactions on the network or otherwise, a similar amount will be released from the traction reserve. This means that there is no inflation as a result of the traction reserve releases.

It also incentivizes us to work extra hard to hit our goals and make sure there is traction on the network

Anyway those tokens will be released very slowly and predictably over time. Also we have been very transparent about our tokens. We published a spreadsheet showing the exact amounts what. they are used for over time. We also published our wallet addresses.

Q:What’s your future plans for which types of solution currently working on?

A:Our future plans include launching staking (soon), Unifyre wallet (Q4) and hopefully our next fiat gateway in another part of the world subject to what the regulators tell us in terms of the license application. The solution is to create an interconnected line of crypto products that are extremely simple to use so we can bring new people into the crypto markets.

Q:Give me a solid reason why should I invest in Ferrum Network & What are your future plans to attract consumers to use your product

A:Only you can make the decision to invest but we have done everything we can to “de risk” investors by launching a product first, acquiring paying customers and implementing FRM utility wherever possible. We also have an extremely low cap by design and favorable token metrics on account of the low raise (in my opinion — not investment advice). We also do a ton of marketing and are very transparent about everything we do. You know what you are getting with Ferrum.

Q:Can you tell us more about your upcoming release of the highly anticipated staking feature?

A:Yes staking is coming extremely soon! Website will go live tomorrow or the next day. Our staking is very unique. There will be 3 staking pools each with different reward structures so you have the option to do what you are comfortable with. In addition, you can withdraw early for any reason and you will still receive some rewards. However, the rewards you give up will go to those who stake until the end. So its kind of like a fun game. Also the rewards are very high for industry standards and we will have a referral system so you can earn more for referring your friends. Finally, its extremely easy to use and has one of the best UIs on the market (not technical at all). I think you will love it.

Q:How are the plans shaping up for marketing and building a strong, core community which is essential for any project in the crypto industry?

A:I will not lie, we had a challenging 3 months after the ICO for a host of reasons I wont get into. But like we said, November would be a big month. I don’t think we have disappointed in that regard. We are really increasing the marketing, launching our 2nd product post ICO (first was token bridge, now staking) and about to rebrand the Kudi app to add FRM. In addition, we are doing a major marketing campaign this month with many AMAs, influencers, and other surprises in order to showcase our strengths. With strong products, marketing and community, we are extremely bullish on the future of Ferrum.

Q: Nowaday, I saw that a lot of projects they used ‘The first … ‘ ‘ The best … ‘ title to attract users and investors so how about Ferrum Network? Is your title just a theory or real?

A: We actually dropped “the first” from our title because we are not so arrogant. We are just focused on doing the best we can and we will let the market respond to see if they like what we are doing.

Q: Why you have created Multiple Wallet For Ferrum Network Like Unifyre & Sub-Zero Wallet?? Why not one wallet which includes all the features??

A:Thats a great question! So each of our products solves a slightly different problem and use different tech. The sub zero wallet is an offline smart phone that will function as a cold wallet. It cannot be online at all otherwise it would lose its security (it will be more secure than a ledger because it has even less connectivity to the internet and about 10x cheaper). The UniFyre Wallet is a hot wallet so it is connected to the internet. its like Trust Wallet but with additional security like the fact that if you lose your private keys you can still recover your crypto. It will also have additional functions like risk-free OTC trading and staking.

Q: Most investors simply focus on the price of the token in the short term, and not on the real value of the project. Can you tell us about the motivation and advantages of an investor in a Ferrum token in the long term?

A:We are always focused on the long term. Thats why we follow through on our promises and keep the trust of the community. Ferrum wants long term investors who believe in our vision. We have managed to attract a lot of such people and I am very thankful for that. For those who think long term, we have so many products upcoming and will always be innovating. Ferrum plans on being here for the next 10–20–30 50+ years. So we are definitely in it for the long term and not about pump and dumps.

Q:When looking back at your time working for Ferrum , what are you most proud of? & Also , Are you satisfied with the progress you have made so far ?

A:I appreciate this question. We have been working non-stop on Ferrum for over 1.5 years. It has been extremely difficult in many respects. We built and launched a fiat gateway on less than $100k. Many investors did not take us seriously. We have been doubted every step of the way. But we never gave up. We continued to work hard every day and build something real. The fact that people are now taking us more seriously and getting on board with what we are doing makes me very proud. I am also proud of the early community and the entire team who have stuck through us in good times and bad. But the best is yet to come!

Q: What’s next for FERRUM? What does the future look like with FERRUM?

A:The token is critical to everything we do. First of all, it will be the gas of the network like ETH is. But instead of miners (there are no miners in FRM because its a DAG network), the tokens will be burned with each transaction. We will also have something called “flag bearers” which are essentially node runners who receive a share of tokens they confirm. But before that, we will introduce FRM into the Kudi app and start it as rewards. Also you need FRM to operate the token bridge and for staking.

Q: Why is Ferrum running on DAG consensus, why have you chosen this and what advantages does it hold over other consensus, also what’s your TPS to handle volumes of transactions?

A: I’d like to also comment on the PCHAIN partnership because it was just announced. Ferrum is interested in expanding into other markets. Crypto is worldwide and if you aren’t making inroads in China you are missing out. So we partnered with PCHAIN, a prominent chinese project, who will help us enter this market. We will build a Chinese version of UniFyre Wallet and do marketing there with them as we offer special features for the PI token. PCHAIN has a Chinese community of about 50,000. Many have already started to take notice of Ferrum because of this partnership.

So the fact we did an ICO during the era of IEOs shows that we are committed to our community. With IEO non community members buy the token just to sell it. We wanted our community memebrs to be able to buy FRM at the sale. Also IEOs are very unfair to projects because exchange gets most of the benefits.

About Team

Naiem is the original founder of ferrum. We met in NYC in early 2018. I was still a lawyer and he was working at Bloomberg and building Ferrum Network at night. By the time we met he had already proven his tech could execute a BTC TX over the Ferrum Network in milliseconds. So this was a major acheivement. When I came onboard we then got invited to pitch the project at the main stage of Consensus 2018. Thats when things really took off. Naiem is a genius level coder and pretty much just codes 24/7. This is how we were able to laucnh so many products on such a small budget in a short amount of time. For those who want to get to know the devs, we are making them record a short video on themselves so you see they are real people.