As the hype of decentralized autonomous organization increases, MANTRA DAO continues to spread information about this organization within the crypto space.
On Tuesday 12th January 2020, Matic Network hosted JP Mullin who happens to be the one in charge of Operations and Strategy for the project together with Jayant Ramanand one of the council members for the project to answer some questions concerning Matic Network validator node knowing that MANTRA DAO is one of the genesis validator node provider for Matic Network.
The starting of Matic Network validator node was propelled by MANTRA DAO community members knowing that the major focus of the platform/project is a community building, and the execution of this was through JP Mullin and Jayant as this was revealed by JP in his discussion with Matic Network community.
How Did MANTRA DAO Started?
The origin of MANTRA DAO began with Will Corkin and JP Mullin who were working for another DeFi project that's building in the Polkadot ecosystem to run an exchange business for them. It ended up that they both saw room for building out and improving upon some of their existing DeFi product ideas in a more decentralized manner using a DAO structure.
So basically, they ended up spinning out MANTRA DAO from some of those early ideas, and since then it has grown into a totally new animal.
Essentially MANTRA DAO is a DeFi platform that offers multi-asset and cross-chain DeFi products such as staking, lending, lottery, and investment.
MANTRA DAO has launched a variety of staking pools, PoS validator nodes, lending products, a gamified lottery pool, and will soon be launching an investment platform and DEX. All of this, since it was launched in about 5 months.
Here are some of the questions with the answers provided by JP Mullin and Jayant
Delroy: As in the networks you're currently operating nodes on?
JP Mullin: Well asides from Matic, we are also running DOT, KSM, ATOM, BAND, LUNA, KAVA, KAI, and a few others we haven't publicly announced yet. Also, there are plans to launch many more in the coming months
Delroy:
Can you tell us more about the experience you’ve had in the Blockchain and Staking industry?
Jayant Ramanand:
I can speak for myself and my experience in providing institutional crypto custody. I appreciate the importance of security and the role that validator nodes play in ensuring that maintaining the network is of paramount importance. That's the approach we bring to our PoS staking nodes as well
Delroy:
Absolutely! We'll discuss this further 🙂
So boiling down to a technical question, To ensure that you operate your node efficiently, what measures do you take for that?
JP Mullin:
Sure thing, so we run several different bare-metal servers that are geographically diverse in case of issues in a certain part of the world. All of our nodes equipped with sentry nodes and we've built a comprehensive alerts/warning system to inform us of any issues or problems that arise at any given time.
Delroy:
You're the only other validator that I know of are running Bare Metal setups for operating nodes. That is pretty cool. Would you like to describe a bit more about your setups, if that is okay?
JP Mullin:
It's actually the best way to be cost-effective when running a multitude of nodes. We're able to spin up nodes quickly and effectively this way. Sure, is there anything particular you'd like to know about the setup?
Delroy:
Just a general overview would be nice
JP Mullin:
Sure thing, so we are running about 5 machines, geographically distributed ensuring there is no particular centralization of the network on a particular machine. We have the 24/7 reporting/alerts system with 24 hr surveillance as we have team members awake during both Asia and US hours.
Delroy:
So to the important question of the day. In terms of Delegation, why should delegators stake on your node? What would be the benefits for them?
JP Mullin:
sure thing, definitely a very important question 🙂 I'll do my best to answer properly
I think it boils down to several key things - safety/security, financial considerations, and auxiliary benefits
from a safety/security perspective, we are professionals in the staking business with years of experience, and run a very tight ship as I began describing above. Our team is on call 24/7 and we are always there to make sure your assets are protected.
Onto the financials - currently, we aren't charging a commission to stake with us. This will continue until we add the additional OM rewards which will be paid out to Matic stakers who stake through the MANTRA DAO platform and bond their ethereum address. This will allow stakers to earn not just their normal Matic staking rewards, but also an extra bonus in OM tokens. I'm almost positive we are the only validator business who runs something like this at the moment.
And finally, auxiliary benefits - we are large holders of Matic and believe in the future of the project. We wish to be active participants in governance and are working on several interesting strategic initiatives that I will share a bit later together with the Matic team. Additionally, we are also building a liquid staking product, where users can use a liquid or derivative version of their staked assets to participate in other DeFi products we have built such as our lending protocols.
Delroy:
So you're saying that Matic stakers that use Mantra Dao's platform to stake, will get additional benefits?
JP Mullin:
Certainly, my pleasure 🙂 Want to ensure the Matic community has all the information necessary in case they want to delegate to us.
Delroy:
So you're saying that Matic stakers that use Mantra Dao's platform to stake, will get additional benefits?
JP Mullin: Yes, that is exactly correct. They will get an additional amount paid in OM tokens. I will add this feature isn't live yet, but we are working on this with the top priority, as we're currently one of the largest validators outside of the foundation, and hope to continue this growth, with one of the strongest community networks in crypto
Delroy:
Absolutely. I would also like to state that your node has been running at 100% performance and uptime. That is really cool stuff. Goes to show that you really have a lot of experience to be doing this so efficiently
Delroy:
So talking about another factor here. What kind of concerns do people have when considering who to delegate through and how do you address these concerns?
JP Mullin:
when I think about this question, I think about my own concerns I would have when choosing who to delegate to. Mainly it focuses around whether or not my assets will be safe and the team is legit - I think we tick that box
whether or not the team has skin in the game - MANTRA DAO has 4M+ Matic self stake
Delroy:
I think that is a good answer and a really good perspective
So a couple more questions for you guys. This will be related for up and coming validators
Once operating, what are some big challenges validators are met with from a business and personal perspective?
JP Mullin:
Sure, this is a good one
I think one challenge, particularly if you're operating multiple nodes is getting used to the various intricacies of the nodes as well as finding information. Not all documentation is the same haha
some are really bad. not yours though
Additionally, it's really a lot of effort and works to stay involved in governance and to make a name for yourself as a validator especially on existing networks. You really have to offer something unique and different and of course, it is sometimes impossible from a financial perspective to run multiple validators without delegation help or outside support
Fortunately, MANTRA DAO have strong financial resources and have been able to continue to invest a lot into our validator business, which is why it has grown so much in such a short period of time
JP Mullin Reveals A Secret To Matic Network Community
Check out a cool little side initiative MANTRA are working on together with the Matic Foundation.
The foundation agreed to delegate a certain amount of Matic to our node (amount TBD), and the proceeds staking rewards from this delegation will go into a community pot that will be used to fund joint community initiatives for building on Matic and will be controlled via community governance by the MANTRA DAO sherpa community.
It's truly bringing together some of the most lively and vibrant communities together for the benefit of us all
more details to follow, but this is going to be a very exciting collaboration that directly benefits both communities in a major way
MATIC COMMUNITY QUESTIONS
zafer metin:
Do users need to authorize their MATIC with the MANTRA DAO App and Matic's native wallet app to earn both MATIC and additional OM rewards? Do we need KYC?
JP Mullin
Great question - yes that's right. You will need to bond the two addresses together. There will not be any KYC though.
Dalmasca Blockchain
How does the Sherpa community ensure the use of funds through soft governance proposals and voting? What goals do Matic and Mantra Dao have to be the primary validator on the blockchain?
JP Mullin:
We are currently following soft governance, but are actively moving into on-chain binding governance which ensures the implementation of affirmative votes.
Vario III Chan
How secure MantraDAO security system? And what is the most priority data that mantradao protect? User data, etc?
Jayant Ramanand
The MANTRA DAO validator system, as mentioned above, is run on bare metal, geographically distributed servers with Sentries, 24x7 monitoring and fail-safe mechanisms in place. As we are non-custodial we don't collect personal user data
Capt_Star1:
NFTs have been a trending topic in the DeFi industry and has been speculated to be the future of DeFi; what are your thoughts on this and do you have plans for the NFT marketplace?
JP Mullin
We actually launched an NFT program at the end of last year, that commemorated 100M staked OM tokens and allowed the holders to get special airdrops. They will be getting their 2nd airdrop next week.
Dalmasca Blockchain
I am new on MantraDAO platform What is the requirement to stake MantraDAO? Is there any special app or program to stake?
Jayant Ramanand
Yes, you can check us out app.mantradao.com where we provide, staking, lending and several more DeFi products such as MANTRA Pool our weekly lottery
Alibaba
What is the structure of this project, is it decentralised or an open-sourced protocol where everybody can contribute? If so, how does the governance plan on being handled?
Jayant Ramanand
MANTRA DAO is a decentralise platform - currently, we handle our governance processes through our page on Snapshot.
zafer metin
Users How will they transfer Matic tokens to the MANTRA DAO validator to earn MATIC rewards?
Is it enough to use Matic's native wallet app and delegate?
JP Mullin
Currently, you can just use the Matic staking app for this. Eventually, we will give the option to stake via the MANTRA platform as well.
Emmie971
Do you have plans to build your wallet and what wallets can support your tokens?
Jayant Ramanand
We already have our MANTRA wallet live since Q4 2020 currently live for android and soon also on iOS, currently, we support ERC 20 based tokens
Vario III Chan
What is the most potential from MantraDAO project in long term?
JP Mullin
The largest potential, in my opinion, is if we can build the undercollateralized pseudonymous credit rating system we've envisioned. This is a multi-billion dollar idea on its own. It's immensely complex, but it could be massive.
In conclusion, it was a wonderful experience with MANTRA DAO team as there are a lot to offer as far as decentralized finance and decentralized autonomous organization is concerned.
Should you need more info about this?
Visit: https://mantradao.com
Join: https://t.me/mantradao or https://t.me/mantradaoafrica
Follow: https://twitter.com/mantradao