Shadows AMA with @ERCSU

Information

Shadows is a decentralized synthetic asset issuance protocol built on Substrate. The value of these synthetic assets is underpinned by DOWS, and as long as DOWS is locked in a smart contract, synthetic assets can be issued.

Introduction AMA

Ted: Hey guys, nice to be here!

Eric: Welcome mate!

Ted: Thanks for having me!

Eric: First, please introduce yourself. We would like to know your role, your background and how you came to discover crypto

Ted: Yes. I’m Ted Shao, COO of Shadows. I’m a scientist by training. I became interested in crypto in the graduate school as I think this is something gonna really change the world!

Eric: It has and continues to do so! So tell us, what is Shadows Defi?

Ted: Shadows belongs to the big Polkadot ecosystem, it’s going to bring the values of physical world asset onto the Shadows network! We will provide financing and liquidty for those real world asset.

Eric: Can you give us examples of real world assets you are bringin in as synthetics?

Ted: Yeah, for example, bitcoin, gold, US stock etc. We will allow people to trade, borrow/lend these synthetic assets on our network. With the prices linked to the real world!

Eric: What are the utilities of the main token in this product?

Ted: By holding DOWS, people will be able to mint stable coin xUSD on our network, then use xUSD to buy synthetic assets like xGold, xBitcoin,xTesla stock. That’s the only way to get into our network.

By holding DOWS, users can decide what assets they like the dev team to bring into Shadows. We also allow stacking. And DOWS holders can share the income generated by the Shadows network — trading fee etc.

Eric: Interesting. So these synthetics, how are they minted? Are they collaterized?

Ted: Yes, DOWS are collaterized to generate xUSD. Then from xUSD to, say xGOLD, you’re just swithcing between 2 types of synthetic assets, which are all considered debts in the network.

Eric: And xUSD is collaterizing the xGold, xTesla. correct? Got it. What can you tell us about the Founders of this project?

Ted: I got to know our CEO in 2018. He has led severral crypto projects — game, wallet project, before Shadows, accumulated 70,000 users or so for the last wallet project.

Eric: Wow. impressive numbers in crypto. How big is the team at the moment and where are they based?

Ted: Our CTO used to work for a top Chinese internet company, he is an expert in blockchain technology and particularly smart contract development. There are about 20 people working for the project, 10 of them are developers. Most of the team members are based in Fuzhou, southern part of China.

I live in Los Angeles. We have a team of advisors all over the world to help Shadows reach a global community.

Eric: So what sets Shadows apart form the other synthetics project in crypto?

Ted: Our DOWS token is going to be ERC20. So users can enjoy what uniswap has to offer and other sweet things about ETH network. However, the main activities are going to be on Polkadot network, so potentially much easier to do crosschain, fast & safer transactions.

Eric: When is the main product going to be live? are guys looking to become a parachain?

Ted: We’re going to launch the first demo in March. Yes, we’re also developing a parachain

Eric: When is the public sale gonna happen?

Ted: Our current plan is late Feb, perhaps on more than one platform, stay in tuned!

Eric: Nice. can you share your deck or whitepaper here?

Ted: Give me one second!

Eric: Sure!

Ted: https://www.shadows.link/

This is our website, you can find whitepaper on the site. As the private sale is still ongoing.

Community AMA

Q: What kind of synthetic assets can I mint on your platform and how does Shadows maintain safety and security of assets created or minted? Do synthetic assets hold any potentials?

Ted: We’ll start with cryptos and then gold/stocks. Holding synthetic assets is just like holding cryptos! Synthetic assets allow financing, low trading cost. In some cases, would allow you to trade certain assets that otherwise you can get access to

Q: Creating a project is simple, but is it really hard to make this project valuable? So what are your efforts to make your project valuable for investors?

Ted: We believe when there are many users, they will bring values to our network. There is huge demand for synthetic asset, trillions of dolloars market cap we are talking about. It can really solve a lot of problems in the traditional financing market after I talked to the experts/

Q: Now many fake defi projects that promise a very high APR, but end up attracting liquidity or printing, how will your project respond to this case? Explain the reasons why we should invest in your project?

Ted: Defi is an exciting idea for sure. But remember, Shadows is not all about Defi. If you live in China, you probably don’t have access to US stock market. But if Shadows had been developed a year ago, people would have enjoyed 10–20x gains from holding xTesla!

Q: Does SHADOWS NETWORK serve new people? Because when building financial instruments, it is important that they are accessible to everyone, including novices.

Ted: Yes, as long as the new people know how cryptos work, and how to deal with cryptos, they’ll understand Shadows!

Q: Security and Trust are very fundamental in crypto space today, how secure and robust is #shadows do you have safe funds and insurance?

Ted: Every program, smart contract has potential safty issues. Our dev team tries their best to review the code. We will also launch a fund such that when security issues occur on Shadows, this fund can compensate for those who are affected.

Q: Shadows DeFi, what is the inspiration for this project and why did you choose the name “shadows”? I hope we won’t be in the shadows of other projects, lol

Ted: Haha, the concept of the project is to map the real world asset to synthetic assets. This kind of mapping can be visualized through the concept of shadow. It’s a cool idea that our CTO came up with!

Q: Many Defi projects disappear within days or weeks. About that, do you have liquidity locked and smart contracts audited? Tell me about security for this project, especially for new users trust in it?

Ted: We’ll have liquidity provided. we will commit a third party to review our code and smart contracts audited.

Q: Too many projects promise magic but never release any working product or prove any revenue, Within a short/long time of release. Is your project also like this? If not can u tell us, What makes your project different from other projects?

Ted: We’ll have a first demo just in 2 months! And through the project, we will keep delivering exciting using cases!

Q: Thank you for the presentation, it was very interesting and this project looks promising.
What type of trading were you going to set up? Will it be possible for example to use leverage?

Ted: Thank! Yes we’ll have the borrow/lend function such that there is leverage in the system. Also remember, all xUSD are from collaterized DOWS! You still hold all of your DOWS, that step already gives you some leverage!

Q: What oracle do you use and how do you ensure it cannot be manipulated?

Shadows project reminds me of projects like synthetix SNX and also Mirror Protocol MIR, how is DOWS better than these other protocols?

Ted: We’re trying to collaborate with some of the oracle projects to see what’s the best for Shadows. We believe Polkadot network has some advantages over ETH network!

Closing Remarks

Ted: Thank you all for the great questions! Enjoyed it!

Eric: Thats a wrap!

Ted: Again, here is the link to our website: https://www.shadows.link/

Eric: Please share relevant link for people to know more about Shadows Defi

Ted: our tele link: http://t.me/Shadows_defi

our twitter: https://twitter.com/shadows_defi

Thank you and good night!

Eric: Thanks @Polkachina — im hella bullish on this project and will be tracking and cheering you on

Ted: Thanks for the nice word! @ERCSU