I hope that everyone had a nice weekend. This installment of the XSN Army blog is in a slightly different format. Reason being, I wanted to elaborate on one of the key pillars of the Staking as a Service (SaaS) economy- the Merchants. Specifically, it is a write up of a conversation that I had with a representative of http://cheapstakes.io/. Thanks to businesses like Cheapstakes, XSN users wouldn’t be able to enter into a secure, private, and profitable staking contract. In our conversation, we talk about the market need for SaaS, user interface (UX) issues, privacy, and what Cheapstakes.io has in store for the future. As always, DYOR, and do not consider this content as investment advice. I hope that you enjoy this installment of the XSN Army blog.
This interview has been shortened and edited for clarity.
Q) First off, thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. To start, I think readers would like to learn about Cheapstakes’ philosophy and beginnings. What compelled you to establish Cheapstakes.io, thereby entering the Staking as a Service (SaaS) space ?
CHEAPSTAKES: We’ve been following POSW and XSN for a long time, and we feel the breakthrough nature of trustless proof of stake is a crucial addition to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Our personal experience with staking coins has been an exercise in frustration.
Q) I know what you mean. Now, was it a situation where you observed the emergence of Proof of Stake (POS) systems but that none of the other platforms were ready for mainstream use ? What is it about Stakenet (XSN) that made you want to build your SaaS business around their platform ?
CS: Exactly. Most people don’t want to keep software open or their computer on 24 hours a day, especially with an unlocked wallet open. Thankfully, TPoS lets others do this for you, and we recognized that this could be a good opportunity to offer our service.
Q) Technically speaking, a merchant is a very sophisticated, commercial grade masternode. Can you talk about the specific structure of Cheapstakes.io ? In particular, how do you guarantee smooth operations that are also private ?
CS: Correct. We have prior experience with masternode operation, and that only helped ensure that we knew what we were doing when Stakenet’s groundbreaking TPoS wallet was released. To maximize our client’s rewards, which in turns maximizes our commission, we use a variety of monitoring tools to ensure these nodes are up and running 24/7. Client privacy is important to us, so we don’t ask for any user registration information. That being said, we do ask clients to remember their merchant address in the event technical support is required.
Q) As readers know, I was able to establish a contract with your service in a matter of minutes. Most notable, speaking personally at least, is the built in concierge. It really ties in well to Stakenet’s user friendly philosophy. In fact, ease of use appears to be one of the challenges of creating a digital currency platform. Few teams (even ones with hundreds of millions of euros in ICO/VC funding) seem to put enough time into their respective UXs. I guess I am confused as to why most projects struggle with the UX side of things. Based on your observations, why are quality UXs so rare ?
CS: Our first goal with CheapStakes was to provide a user-friendly way to setup trustless proof of stake, so we had to figure out the best way to do so from the users side of things. We figured that chat or an email support ticketing system was a good fit since there are a lot of question that need to be answered before a contract can be setup. In regards to your UX question, I think that most projects are driven first by developers, and developers generally are left-brained (programming, logic). Therefore, a great UX is not always the first priority. Design and UX are seen as more natural for right-brained (creative) people. I think as projects grow and more designers and UX people are added (you see this already for some of the top projects), the overall experience will get better.
Q) At this point, Stakenet has trustlessly staked over 40K+ blocks, grown its user base, and most recently, was listed on 4 new exchanges. Have you been seeing a large influx of new users ? Lastly, where is the Cheapstakes traffic originating ?
CS: We had to increase our minimum stake quantity because we were overwhelmed with new users! We see requests coming from all over the web, but a large amount of inquiries come directly from Discord because of the great community there.
Q) Indeed, Stakenet has a great community. Any hints as to what Cheapstakes.io is planning for the future?
CS: Our target is to find and be able to support new users, even those beyond the current XSN bubble. Maybe those that don’t even own crypto yet, but are looking for a good entry point and a simple, secure way to earn interest on that investment. We are also keeping a close eye on XSN developments that could bring more benefits to our clients.
Thanks for reading. Until the next installment, HAPPY STAKING :)