Kanaria AMA Summary Recap with Shin Chan Community
We held a live AMA with Bruno Skvorc, Founder of Kanaria on 5th May 10:00 PM (UTC+8). Here’s the recap for those who missed it.
Introduction
Serene: Before AMA start, can you introduce yourselves and the team background?
Bruno Skvorc: Sure, I started in Ethereum in 2015, did education for a long time and some projects — see them at https://github.com/swader. Then I worked on Ethereum 2.0 at Status for ~1y, and then I moved to Web3 Foundation to work on Polkadot and Kusama. I started RMRK (the protocol on which Kanaria lives) in August 2020. The team are all Web2 devs which I’ve been leading into Web3 waters, slowly turning them into decentralization maximalists :) They are epic react devs, two Yuris and one Ilia :)
Serene: Do you have any news/update about Kanaria would like to share with us?
Bruno Skvorc:
1. Anyone who buys a Kanaria egg (https://kanaria.rmrk.app/?ref=shin) gets FREE and UNLOCKED $RMRK tokens when they launch. The tokens will be sold in private and public sale later, but at a much higher price and without the NFTs, and they will also be locked later, but the ones given to egg and bird holders will be unlocked.
2. There is an art contest that lets you win $25000 for drawing some birds: https://app.subsocial.network/@rmrkapp/kanaria-art-contest-and-timeline-alteration-11008
3. We are launching our official UI very soon, so everyone will be able to mint their own NFTs on Kusama, but for that you will need the Polkadot JS extension and a Kusama account in the extension: polkadot.js.org/extension
AMA Twitter Section Begin:
Q1: According to what I’ve read, each NFT Egg won’t be enough to buy and collect them, but each one will “evolve” in two phases in one of which I must “incubate” it. Could you explain these phases? What is important in each one? Can my egg literally die if I don’t do a good job?
Bruno Skvorc: Mmm, so the way it works is:
- you collect one or more eggs
- you EMOTE on them
- the emotes influence how your bird will look on hatching
You egg can DIE if you do not get it 3x🐣 emotes by the END OF MAY.
You need to click the “Hatch” button that will become available between May 31st and June 14th to hatch the bird. After that, you cannot lose your bird.
You DO NOT HAVE TO hatch the egg — you can keep it forever! But birds are (probably) more valuable :)
The egg phase is known as the Tamago phase, the first phase. The hatching is the Tori phase.
Q2: What is the major differentiating features that separates RMRK standard/RMRK 2.0 standard to ERC721 or ERC1155? Thanks
Bruno Skvorc: Ah, so, ERC721 and ERC1155 are just assets that collect dust in your wallet. They don’t do anything. With RMRK2.0, your NFTs:
- can own other NFTs
- can react to emotion and change what they show based on that (imagine a painting of a forest, and if people send it 50 x 🌕 and 50 x ☀️ and 50x ❄️the forest shows an Aurora Borealis on the sky)
- can EQUIP other NFTs, so if you have an avatar, that avatar can equip a child NFT and change appearance
- can be governed like DAOs, so you get shareholder tokens that can be used to issue commands to the NFT as a group (i.e. imagine a Twitch streamer giving control of an in-game character via NFT’s DAO tokens)
- conditional rendering lets you define other logic, like “if the block number is ODD, then image is blue”
- multi-resource NFTs let you have several resources on one NFT, like a video game NFT can have code + PDF manual + high-res cover image.
None of this is possible in any other NFT system.
Q3: The RMEK Team wants to sell as many NFT eggs as possible to fund further development. Will the only source of income for the project come from these egg sales? Why did not international VCs invest in the project? Was this method Bruno’s choice?
Bruno Skvorc: Ah, no. People who buy eggs will not only get $RMRK tokens, but also REVENUE SHARE — 20% of all future profit of RMRK team is going to be given to the owners of certain birds with special traits.
This revenue will come from multiple sources: SaaS platforms, GQL access for wallets and explorers with premium APIs, launchpad platform for launching an NFT ICO that will collect fees from the buyer, commissions on auction houses and marketplaces we build, and more. We already have more work lined up than we can handle, not counting our own planned work.
As for fundraising, VCs can invest if they want, but they will not get equity — only NFTs and $RMRK tokens (later only locked, vested tokens).We’ve been handling VC investments OTC and it’s worked out fine.
Q4: I see the Tagline on your site is “Smart without smart contracts”. What do you mean Kanaria doesn’t use smart contracts? why don’t you use smart contracts? Then what about security, do you have other alternatives to replace smart contacts?
Bruno Skvorc: Our NFT protocol is built on the Kusama blockchain. Kusama is meant to connect other blockchains. To do this well, Kusama needs to stay light-weight, so it can’t have contracts. It needs to do one thing and one thing well, and that’s making other chains talk to each other.
So the way we hacked NFTs onto Kusama is by using the “graffiti” method — we send custom messages into blocks, and then use a special set of tools and rules to interpret those messages in NFTs. If you’re familiar with Colored Coins from Bitcoin’s old days, it’s similar to that.
This is not insecure, but it does have some downsides — like, we cannot do on-chain programmability like automatic refunds, bonding curve prices, etc.
So because of that, we will be co-deploying RMRK (and Kanaria) on the following platform as soon as they connect to Kusama: Unique (as runtime logic, most native and best implementation), Moonbeam (as Ethereum contracts), Acala / Karura (as simplified native NFTs, and as smart contracts), Phala (same), and Zeitgeist (simplified smart contracts only).
The RMRK ecosystem will be huge and secure on day 1. For now, we have developed technology that works REALLY well when getting around these issues and errors.
Q5: One of the characteristics that most captured my attention about Kanaria’s NFTs is that they are “nested NFTs (NFTs that own NFTs)”, but how will other NFTs really have when these tokens are really indivisible? could you explain it to us?
Bruno Skvorc: Sure, so RMRK tokens (and Kanaria birds, which are RMRK-based tokens), will have slots pre-defined into which you can EQUIP other NFTs. And there’s also an “inventory” into which all your unequipped NFTs can go. By issuing a command to your child NFT (like, a helmet in a character’s inventory), the RMRK tools will:
1. Check if there is a corresponding slot
2a. If no, discard.
2b. If yes, flip the helmet’s switch to equipped
3. Render the helmet as an SVG on top of the existing SVG of the parent NFT.
As for how one NFT can own another NFT, we just make it so that the “owner” field of an NFT can also be the ID of another NFT, that’s it, it’s not complicated.
As for division of NFTs, each NFT is divisible into some number of *fungible* tokens. For example, BobNFT is a video game character, and BobNFT is divided into 100 BOB tokens. People can trade the BOB tokens, but they can also issue a command to BobNFT, like, “EQUIP HELMET”. If more than 50% people vote yes on this command proposal, BobNFT will equip the helmet.
Telegram Live AMA Begin:
Q6: How do you manage to compete in Kanaria to many yield farms offering a very high APY on liquidity staking? Why would investors choose #Kanaria over other yield farming opportunities?
Is RMRK ever going to add UI functionality that would allow users to send multiple emotes in one transaction? How about developing a mobile app, I have understood they are quite vital in todays world?
Bruno Skvorc: Not sure how to answer, we have no yield. The defi platforms and partners will implement that, so it’s up to them.
Multi-emote is planned, not in the UI but as a separate tool. You can do it already if you’re a dev :P but we’ll make it easier. Mobile app is on our wishlist, for now you can use Mathwallet — mobile wallet with full Kanaria support.
Q7: How do you plan to ensure sufficient liquidity on exchanges to fill market orders, in special if adoption increases and clients begin multiplying year-over-year for your project ? Q2 FOR TODAY: Brief us on YOUR ROADMAP, DO YOU ACTUALLY HAVE ONE? IF SO, COULD YOU SHARE IT HERE? Where can we find it?
Bruno Skvorc: No formal roadmap, but informally:
- launch NFT UI today or tomorrow so everyone can mint everything
- build RMRK2 functionality
- develop pallet for integration into Unique
- develop smart contracts for EVM chains
- develop NFT bridges to move RMRK2 NFTs around
Q8: In your Medium article, I read that each NFT publishers can set as many parameters \ properties as they want. Accordingly, what options can I use on the NFT I have?
Bruno Skvorc: You can put any value into the NFT you want. These values do not have functionality built-in, it is up to the dapps integrating those NFTs to decide what they want to support and how. We’ve built a platform — the integrations are up to others.
Q9: Could you be kind and tell us more about your tokenomics? Like what is the total supply and what plans do you have regarding the token unlocks in the future?
Kanaria .. Why did you choose this name, I mean, where does the project name come from? What does it mean for you?
Bruno Skvorc: 10m supply, tokens gained from eggs are unlocked, and tokens bought in sale will be locked.
Kanaria means “canaries” in Japanese. Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist working with Polkadot patterns, and Kusama is Polkadot’s “canary network”, so it all fits.
Q10: There are so many projects doing rug pull. How can we be sure that you will not do the same? What makes Investors trust to invest in Kanaria?
Bruno Skvorc: My reputation is probably what can assure you the most.
Q11: Do you have audiovisual material to be able to understand how Kanaria’s eggs and emoticons work? I have been reading an article but I don’t quite understand.
Bruno Skvorc: This is on the very soon roadmap (this week I hope!) explaining how EVERYTHING works in detail with regards to emotes etc. Please stay tuned in t.me/kanaria_official and our twitter at twitter.com/rmrkapp
Q12: I understand that the NFTs are totally unique, but really regarding the NFT egg models will they be totally unique? Or will there be a limited number of different models? If so, could you describe some of them?
Bruno Skvorc: The eggs are only unique in serial number — most of them share the same image. Birds, when they hatch, will be randomly generated, so they will be unique. Every bird will be special.
Q13: If I want to buy eggs and register them again with 2KSM so that someone can claim them. Is there currently a market where people can buy and sell eggs?
Bruno Skvorc: Yes, on Kanaria’s UI itself. Just visit any egg you own and list for sale. See here for video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i9VVrZpBS8
Q14: How long will it take for one of these eggs to hatch? Will we know precisely when they “hatch” or what this will look like? Can I speed up or slow down this process?
Bruno Skvorc: If all goes well with development, we plan to hatch them all as soon as you click the “hatch” button between May 31st and June 14th. You will immediately get your bird.
Q15: You describe your collection of native NFTs as cheap and environmentally friendly, but how cheap will they really be? And why is its value so low when there are many NFTs worth thousands of dollars?
Bruno Skvorc: I mean cheap to mint. It costs $1 to mint an NFT on RMRK, and in a few days it will be 2 cents.
Q16: In order to take advantage of the full potential of Kanaria’s NFT eggs, do I need to stake out the NFT? Or simply by owning the NFT it evolves?
Bruno Skvorc: You need to click the Hatch button (not available yet) between May 31st and June 14th. That’s all.
Q17: Is your NFt art designed by yourselves or are you associated with a digital art company? Are you hiring artists?
Bruno Skvorc: We are definitely looking for more artists to join us! Artists interested in working with us can join this contest: https://app.subsocial.network/@rmrkapp/kanaria-art-contest-and-timeline-alteration-11008, or just reach out via hello@rmrk.app or our telegram group!
Q18: Why is RMRKapp using Kusama’s technology? What are the tools you use to create graffiti and NFTs on the Kusama chain?
Can every collector and each member customize the look and uniqueness of the NFT? What types of metadata does RMKApp use to customize the data?
Bruno Skvorc: Because Kusama is coo :) We use typescript and polkadot API to write the graffiti on chain. Our repo is here: https://github.com/rmrk-team/rmrk-tools — anyone can use these tools to mint their own NFTs or even interact with existing NFTs. Public UI is coming today or tomorrow for the non-coders :)
Yup, by trading items between birds. If your bird gets a king’s scepter, you can send it to another bird, and if it’s equipped, the other bird will show it. We use Opensea’s metadata standard, but expand it further to support RMRK2 NFTs which are more verbose and advanced.
Q19: Reading your website I noticed that Kanaria NFTs have quite interesting features that I haven’t really heard of in others. Could you explain for example what are NFTs that affect the appearance of other NFTs? I would also like to know what are Nested NFTs and NFTs that react to emotions?
Bruno Skvorc: I recommend reading the RMRK 2.0 section of our paper here: url.rmrk.app/wp-pub which clarifies this. It’s a bit too long to type here :)
Q20: Can I create my own eggs on Kanaria and make them hatch,if yes,how will this process occur?
Bruno Skvorc: It’s not that easy, our ICO launchpad isn’t ready yet for the public. But we can help you do this after Kanaria sale is over.
Q21: What inspired you to create Kanaria? The love of birds and the current market trend for NFts?
Bruno Skvorc: Love of Kusama and the rising trend of NFTs in August last year, yeah :)
Q22: I understood that the Egg is not speculative, but wouldn’t it be interesting to have a stake or farm algorithm? do you have plans for that?
Bruno Skvorc: We do not, but we are working with teams who DO have such plans to reward certain bird holders 😉 (hint, it starts with A and ends with cala)
Q23: how to remove your own eggs to hatch how much each hatching costs
Bruno Skvorc: Hatching will cost around 2 cents and will be done in the UI, it will be a single simple button.
Q24: Do you rely on Polkadot or other ecosystems as well?
And since it is NFT, isn’t it more solid to use the Ethereum network?
Bruno Skvorc: On ethereum, a single emote on an NFT would cost ~$50-$100. On RMRK, *hundreds* of people have sent emotes to their eggs (see homepage of kanaria.rmrk.app/?ref=shin). So it might be safer, logically, because of smart contracts, but it’s not better, creatively. Ethereum will bridge to Kusama anyway, and then we can bridge all the NFTs together into a big common space :)
We do not rely on Polkadot, but we can easily deploy on Polkadot or any other Substrate chain. RMRK is built to support all chains easily.
Q25: Can we start an NFT project with RMRK for a fixed fee or with sales revenue? How can I contact RMKapp to deploy our own RMRK based NFT distribution platform?
Do we need smart contracts to sell tokens? How can we allocate the token sale and token supply of our project with RMKApp?
Bruno Skvorc: You can start an NFT project with us for a fee or a commission, yes, but not yet — we want to finish the Kanaria sale first and see that everything went fine, plus we want to finish building RMRK 2.0 before making any other NFT ICOs. Once that’s done, we can start taking on new projects, and that’s always been the plan, so for sure, get in touch!
You do not need smart contracts, but you might want to build a token on Statemint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGKINuqlWg4
Q26: There’s Mystery Gift LIMITED EDITION EGG worth of $800
for one winner on this AMA. Trust me like I trust your project, I won’t telling anyone.. Can you tell to me what is the contain of this mystery gift?
Bruno Skvorc: Oh, this maybe set some wrong expectations — the egg is just a regular Limited Edition egg. The mystery is what kind of bird you will get from it :D And that depends on how much you will EMOTE it.
Q27: Many projects only talk about their strengths. Can you tell us honestly about the weaknesses of your project? And how does your project address this weakness?
Bruno Skvorc: Weakness: because there’s no smart contracts, it’s slow to sync from scratch and there is a double buy vulnerability. We have addressed these with client-side code, and will remove them when we co-deploy to smart contract and runtime logic platforms like Unique and Moonbeam. More info in the paper: url.rmrk.app/wp-pub under RMRK Downsides.
Q28: — These NFTs look really cool, good job! Is there currently any way to win some of the Kanaria Eggs for free, do you have any giveaways, competitions?
Bruno Skvorc: We will keep the post with contests up to date: https://app.subsocial.network/@rmrkapp/kanaria-contests-and-giveaways-list-11014 and we will announce on our twitter and TG
Q29: From your website :The RMRK team can help you launch your NFT project for a flat fee, or a percentage of the sale’s proceeds.
How much is the flat fee or what’s the percentage of the sales proceeds to launch NFT project?
Bruno Skvorc: Decided on a case by case basis
Q30: Is there a plan to make minting and selling NFTs on RMRK possible via a polkadot/kusama and web3 enabled app on tablets and smartphones, to make it more accessible to everyday users?
Bruno Skvorc: We do want mobile presence, yes, but right now we’re supported by Mathwallet which has a web3 injection mechanism in their browser on their mobile app
Q31: Your first NFT collection is Kanaria, but isn’t it clear to me if it will have a real use case or is it just for collections? Where can the users trade their Kanaria NFTs?
Bruno Skvorc: You can trade them on Kanaria itself (click an egg, set List for Sale) or the official UI that’s coming today or tomorrow.
Q32: Why were Canaries chosen for the first official NFT collection? How do Kusama Canaries represent eggs of different canaries after a certain block? Is this this NFT set limited edition?
How did you design the open source applications of the tools while developing RMRK 2.0?
Why are you using a SaaS-like endpoint in the RMRK query?
Bruno Skvorc: Excellent questions!
Q1: I explained the canaries thing a bit up, see there :) Eggs are limited edition, yes, only 9999 and all unsold are BURNED 🔥
Q2: We use some SaaS assistance to speed up the UX, but all of this runs okay without any endpoints, it’s just slower. So for max decentralization, you can just run the tools on your own machine.
Q33: Where can I buy your token? Are you listed on any CEX or DEX?
What advantages will I get if I hold the eggs? Is it burnable or minable? I mean will you provide any staking program in future?
Bruno Skvorc: Staking program maybe, on partner platforms. Like an LP farm on Acala that rewards certain bird holders with extra APY, etc, yes. You can only buy the token right now by getting eggs
Q34: What does RMRK mean in full please?
Bruno Skvorc: RMRK is short for “remark”. Remark is a function in the Kusama blockchain (and any Substrate-based blockchain) which writes a graffiti onto the chain. So, we named the project after the functionality that made this possible.
- End -
