Definity Summary Recap with Shin Chan Community

We held a live AMA with Manu Choudhary , CEO of Definity on 24th May 10:00 PM (UTC+8). Here’s the recap for those who missed it.

Introduction

Jack : Before AMA start, can you introduce yourselves and the team background?

Manu Choudhary : Hi Everyone, I am Manu Choudhary, co-founder and CEO of DeFinity. DeFinity is a blockchain agnostic decentralised exchange for the execution and settlement of FX, tokenised fiat, stable coins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). To give you a brief background I spent 17 years working for several investment banks in London, most recently Lloyds and Barclays Capital, selling FX cash and FX derivatives to funds and corporate clients. I left banking for FinTech world in 2019 when I joined DMALink and partnered with WeOwn to create DeFinity in late 2020.

Jack : Do you have any news/update about Definity would like to share with us?

Manu Choudhary : In terms of update we are launching our IDO on the 25th May exclusively on Cardstarter.

AMA Twitter Section Begin:

Q1 : What blockchains are your team planning to connect to in the near future to unlock more features and provide customers with access to key DeFi protocols and innovative applications in the blockchain space?

Manu Choudhary : Our main (relay chain) is developed and managed by WeOwn ($CHX) and there are connections (bridges and swap mechanisms) into Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. We are currently also working on the Cardano integration (once their smart contract feature is available in October) and the Polkadot development is on the roadmap too. Our aim is to be able to connect DeFinity to all major and liquid blockchains.

Q2 : As I know Definity have a Trading and match-making user interface for institutional traders. But is this interface easy to use for new users? what are the main advantages of this system?

Manu Choudhary :

The user-interface has been built with the user experience at the forefront of the development process (Clarity Pro).

Q3 : Clarity and Clarity Pro are DeFinity’s mobile apps, could you give us more information about then? What will their main functions be? To what target audience is each one of them design for? Will this app be available for both iOS and Android users?

Manu Choudhary : We have built a progressive web app that will connect our ecosystem to retail and crypto traders, and it will have staking and liquidity mining features for the token. As of now the mobile version is only available on Android, but and IOS version is in the pipeline. This is our clarity app: https://clarity.definity.network/

Q4 : Regarding the profit from $DEFX revenues, I read that 5% is earmarked for regulatory, legal and compliance, can you tell us a little bit about this, who will be in charge of this, your team, the community or a separate team?

Manu Choudhary : We are planning to set up a team that will deal with regulated trading licenses for Clarity Pro. Right now, spot FX is an unregulated market, and DeFinity will be fully decentralised. But we will aim to offer more traditional assets in future, and this will require more centralised trading licenses.

Q5 : do you think Definity will revolutionise the way investors see FX trading? And will the adoption of Definity be a disruptive process for the traditional way in which FX trading occurs?‌‌

Manu Choudhary : There’s a massive correlation between digital assets and traditional FX, yet the traditional FX market is exponentially larger, trading circa 6.6 Trillions dollars a day. We’re aiming to bridge the gap and to tap further into the FX market, by offering digital stable coins and in future CBDC’s — it’s a massive game-changer, and we think we’re the only DeFi team that currently focusses on bridging fiat FX with the digital asset space.

Telegram Live AMA Begin:

Q6 : Could you please tell us about the smart contracts you have designed for DeFinity, whether they have been evaluated internally and/or externally and if so, what were the results of the evaluation?

Manu Choudhary : All of our code in terms of the platform and smart contracts have been fully reviewed and pen-tested by external security firms.

Q7 : How will DeFinity be able to compete with the large number of popular decentralized exchanges that currently exist in the cryptocurrency ecosystem?

Manu Choudhary : We are fortunate, because DMALINK already executes about $1 Billion a day in London with 50 of the top investment banks and hedge funds and DeFinity will plug into the platform for the clearing and settlement element of fiat FX in the first instance.

Q8 : Can you explain again why the IDO on occam was canceled?

Manu Choudhary : The decision to use Cardstrater as the exclusive launchpad was based on market conditions and the level of engagement we received.The market conditions last week made mandating a sole lead a necessary adjustment to our IDO strategy. Furthermore I can only say positive things about the team at Cardstatrer, they have been phenomenal throughout this entire process and quite frankly their engineering team is second to none. This level of engagement was not remotely matched by the other platform, which is why we decided to part company over the weekend to ensure the success of the project.

Q9 : What is the plan for the next 100 days? In which priority first: 1) tech wise 2) business development wise 3) user acquisition wise

Manu Choudhary : So in terms of roadmap within the first 100 days we will have launched our fiat FX settlement and clearing solution and integrated to our custodians, via FIX. In terms of users, we are already in negotiations with several funds and exchanges. We will also have fully launched our retail app.

Q10 : I think a few countries like Brazil and Japan are far ahead of developing their digital practices, but there are 200+ countries that are not interested in this issue yet. In your opinion, when exactly can the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) start to become widespread and how will you evaluate this process?

Manu Choudhary : in late 2020 the IMF held a meeting with 85 of the largest central banks incusing, the BoE, FED, ECB, SNB and the Bank of Japan. The purpose was to discuss the implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and the timelines given were to launch by 2025. Thus far the only CBDC to have successfully launched was the sand dollar in the Bahamas.

Q11 : DeFinity is a DeFi exchange specializing in traditional and digital trading. Is it possible for this model to provide real-time settlement and clearing for spot FX trading? This merger between digital and traditional trading, how exactly does it work? What are its advantages?

Manu Choudhary : So the initial use case will be the settlement leg of fiat FX. For those that are not familiar, currently we execute FX trades in 1 millisecond, and then settle them 48 hours later via expensive and slow 3rd parties. DeFinity would look to disintermediate this entire clearing and settlement layer. We are essentially using a digital solution to fix a real world problem. We will be using our ultra low latency matching engine from the FX world to the digital asset world.

Q12 : Does Definity have a partnership for the future of the project and will Definity make an NFT as we know it’s the very latest NFT discussed?

Manu Choudhary : We are in regular dialogue with financial institutions around strategic partnerships. In terms of NFTs, whilst we do not have them in our immediate roadmap, we are acutely aware the the next exponential move will be the tokenisation of real world assets.

Q13 : Why do you think that Central Bank currencies will affect the FX market and how will this affect your project. Do you plan on using these to your advantage?

Manu Choudhary : The objective in emerging market countries of CBDC is about fixing payment infrastructure and financial inclusion. In the west is is about fixing the payment infrastructure and merging monetary and fiscal policy.

Q14 : I am one of the first members to join your community. And now when I look at it, I see that your community members are growing more. That makes me happy. Are you planning new events for your community supporters in 2021?

Manu Choudhary : Fantastic, we have a regular AMA every Friday evening @ 8pm BST with our DeFinity community. We intend to publish a lot more bespoke content from a technical analysis and global macro perspective.

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