Not until I read the LeoFinance “Community Book,” I never realized how the platform has been generous to me for the past months allowing me to see my content in this financial community without even utilizing its publishing tool. And so, the current article is my first attempt to create a content using LeoFinance as my platform. This article is a response to the admonition to get involved in an open discussion of LeoFinance WhiteBook Version 1.0. I consider this as an opportunity. I am actually flattered for such an invitation. Imagine a nobody will have a privilege to voice out his ideas on a very promising and if it is not an exaggeration, a potential “world-changing” project!
At the outset, I plead for your patience. Take this post as a kind of inquiry from a curious newbie. These are personal thoughts coming from a 6-month old in crypto space. I am actually tempted to just keep my pen shut. However, if I don’t voice out what’s in my mind due to the ground of being new to this space, I am wondering how many out there are in similar position like me who hesitate to talk due to unfamiliarity with this kind of revolutionary material. Since our goal is for mass adoption, anyone on my level of understanding can be used as guinea pigs to assess the comprehensibility of the WhiteBook. Documents like this are really a challenge to non-tech guys like me.
In this post, I just want to share my response on items in the WhiteBook that both appeal to me and I find difficult: Web 3, versatility of LEO as digital asset, Dapps, KPIs and goals, questions, and suggestions.
Web3
I never thought that after two days, I could complete reading the first 15 pages of LeoFinance Whitebook Version 1.0. When the article was published two days ago, I made this initial comment:
Out of 10 to 15 pages, I think I just managed to complete 7. Will continue reading tomorrow. Though I am new in financial technology, I found this initial document very promising and impressive. I learned a lot and there is still much to absorb. Can't wait to add more HIVE and LEO. As for CUB, bLEO, wLEO, polyCUB, and pLEO, I think it will take some time for me to understand these new tokens. All I know is that during my first two months reading about DeFi, I have a good impression of Polygon network.
The following day, I returned to the document for second reading. I thought that this time, I could easily finish reading the entire article. But when I stumbled again with this concept of Web3, I stopped. My head aches. This Web3 thing really puzzles me. I have been encountering a lot of content about this since the month I landed on Hive, but I haven’t read a Web3 ecosystem described in the document in a very specific and in many different ways:
We have since evolved in our journey to become a multi-blockchain Web3 ecosystem: A community and organization operating blockchain-based applications that fulfill our mission of revolutionizing the world of self-directed investing and utilization of Web3 and tokenization.
Our project has evolved on all levels and the most apt description of who we are, what we do and how we operate is: Web3 Ecosystem.
Web3 is the New Frontier of the Internet, Digital Assets and Peer-to-Peer Engagement.
Our vision of Web3 is what you see being actively built with the LeoFinance Ecosystem.
Building a wide array of applications, tools and tokenomics, we're actively on the bleeding edge and testing the bounds of Web3. The definition of Web3 is dynamic. It is not static like that of Web1 or even Web2.
Web3 is More Than "New Social Media".
Web3 is also about digital asset access and opportunities. It's about decentralizing and democratizing the access that retail investors and average users have to the amazing opportunities of the new age of the internet.
LeoFinance is a Web3 community in the truest sense of the word.
About the Versatility of LEO as a Digital Asset
LEO is a versatile asset that as of this writing, can be wrapped to two external blockchains along with living on its home blockchain - Hive. bLEO represents BEP20 LEO (Binance Smart Chain LEO) and users can seamlessly wrap native LEO into bLEO to utilize bLEO on Binance Smart Chain.
On the Ethereum blockchain, Wrapped LEO (wLEO) can be deposited with ETH into a wLEO-ETH liquidity pool on the Uniswap platform.
CubDeFi is a yield optimization app built and continually developed for the LeoFinance Web3 Ecosystem. The app allows you to stake bLEO into the bLEO-BNB Liquidity Pool on https://cubdefi.com/farms and earn yield at 86% annualized (compounding earned CUB back into bLEO-BNB Position).
PolyCUB is one of our newest applications and we're planning to release it in Q1 2022. The release of PolyCUB will also signal the release of a pLEO-MATIC pool (Polygon LEO).
The above quotes clarify about the versatile character of LEO as a token. I am really grateful to have a clear understanding of the character of bLEO, wLEO, CubDeFi, and PolyCUB. I am not sure if I am correct to think that the near launching of PolyCub may possibly give a quick yield for those who will purchase this coin not only because of the reputation of Polygon network, but also because of the track record of CubFinance in the past.
And then the ways how “users, token holders and readers can earn LEO” are clearly enumerated. I never thought that my unintentional engagement with LeoFinance would end up to be productive like this. Imagine that by simply “creating content, engaging with content, and curating content with staked LEO,” one can earn the token. Now I realize the importance and power of staking LEO. I noticed that prior to my $20.00 worth of staked LEO, my voting value was just $0.001. After that $20.00, it became $0.008. How about if I will make it into $200.00 or even $2,000.00? For Orcas and Whales, they might be common, but for a Red Fish like me, this is something really new and somewhat strange, but the most important thing is that this is working. As for “leasing staked LEO” and “providing liquidity for LeoBridge,” these are additional ways to earn the token worthy to explore.
About Dapps
Among the 11 Dapps mentioned in the paper, I am only familiar with 4 of them: LeoFinance, LeoDex, LeoPedia, and Hivestats. The remaining 7 are brought into my attention just by reading the initial chapters of the WhiteBook. Perhaps many on Hive are in similar situation that until now they are not aware about the existence of these apps: LeoMobile, CubFinance, PolyCub.com, LeoBridge, LeoFi, Wrapped LEO, and ProjectBlank.
KPIs and Goals
Reading about the expansion of “the width and depth of the LeoFinance Web3 Community,” I wonder what is the exact meaning of this? Is it referring to mass adoption? The reason why I asked this is because it was also mentioned in the article that increasing the monthly active users will be the priority this 2022. It was also mentioned that with the growth of users, “driving new traffic and increasing the KPIs” is the way for LeoFinance to grow into a Web3 ecosystem. New tools like LeoMarketTalk, LeoAlpha and LeoPedia will help achieve this. Two charts are very helpful in monitoring such growth, the Unique Daily Posts and Unique Daily Comments. How I wish that in my little way, I can help contribute to achieve such target.
It is great to know about taskmaster4450le’s participation and activity that greatly contributed to the exponential growth of subscribers of DailyLEO newsletter. Knowing that I am following the number 1 commenter on LeoFinance, I am both humbled and grateful. Flattered for his attention and response, and for his patience to step down into the level of newcomers.
Questions
The community and our social platform (LeoFinance.io) are the base layer (Layer 0) of the entire LeoFinance project.
We believe in Layer 0: Community. The community is everything and we're building a Web3 ecosystem where our growth is reliant on our ability to generate network effect and peer-to-peer adoption at scale.
Though the term might already have an established and acceptable meaning in financial technology, I need further elaboration on the meaning of Layer 0. It’s my first time to read such term. Prior to reading this document, I only know of layers 1 and 2. I know it refers to the community. If it does mean that Layer 0 is more foundational than both layers 1 and 2, how is LeoFinance compared to other DeFi out there in relation to Layer 0?
A community and organization operating blockchain-based applications that fulfill our mission of revolutionizing the world of self-directed investing and utilization of Web3 and tokenization.
Again, I am not certain about the legitimacy of my concern. These ideas of “self-directed investing” and the utility of both Web3 and tokenization are too good to be true, as bordering to be revolutionary. Are both Hive and LeoFinance really prepared and protected in case regulators will pass a law declaring this kind of financial transaction as unlawful?
By taking a unique approach of relentlessly pushing the bounds of frontend, backend and blockchain technology while listening to the crowd wisdom of our core user base, we've developed a wide range of applications to service both our core user-base and a broader group of blockchain users on Hive, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon and Thorchain.
Is transacting with Ethereum, BSC, Polygon and Thorchain somehow related to the idea of LeoFinance as a “multi blockchain” web3 ecosystem?
Suggestions
For quite some time, I have been encountering sentiments here and there about the difficulty of understanding the technical aspect of Hive. I also read somewhere that its part of the goals of LeoFinance to make Hive more accessible and comprehensible to common guys. I am not sure if my suggestion will make sense. I am just thinking how about including a Glossary at the back of the WhiteBook? I went through the pages of this document and whenever I encounter terms that might appear alien to non-tech readers, I suggest to include them in that Glossary. Such Glossary will provide concise definition of terms like Web1, Web2, Web3, Layer 0, Layer 1, Layer 2, multi-blockchain, DeFi, ecosystem, Hive, Ethereum, tokenization, digital assets, peer to peer, Proof of Brain, Network Effects, distributed ownership, Smart Contracts, Yield Farming, Metaverse, Uniswap, KPIs and dapps like LeoFinance, CubFinance. Other terms might need example for easy comprehension.
I also noticed two typos. You wrote this twice: “Users, token holders and readers can earn LEO by:” Another one is under the section on Site Traffic: “The amount of monthly traffic to.” I think it should be “too.”
Finally, I find both reading the first 15 pages of this Community Book and writing my reflection on it the best way to educate myself about this new field. So far, in my six months of stay in crypto space, I already digested more or less 10 whitepapers, but this one with just 5% of the entire content is already very impressive. I cannot wait to read the remaining 95%. Thanks for bearing with my simple mind. And thanks also for the opportunity to interact with this innovative document.
Grace and peace!