KSM Starter Summary Recap with Shin Chan Community

We held a live AMA with Co-Founder & CSO of KSM Starter, Siwon Kim on 19th July 10:00 PM (UTC+8). Here’s the recap for those who missed it.

Introduction

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

Siwon Kim: Sure! Our team is not too big but truly well-rounded.

There’s me, Aljaz, and Geoff as 3 co-founders. We have extensive background in both traditional industry and crypto industry, and have been helping out quite a few projects during their early days to launch with IDOs. I think that’s how it all truly started, because we were able to compare our experiences in traditional industry such as finance, entertainment, gaming, to the experiences that these projects go through during the IDO stage.

Other than the 3 co-founders, we have Flis who is the lead developer, who has been putting in phenomenal work into our development and leading our team of developers. Then we have Tim, who most of our community know by now. Then we have Barnes, who has been creating these beautiful graphics you have been seeing. Then, we have Jason who has been the writer behind most of our Medium articles (:

Jack | ShinChan: Do you have any news/update about KSM Starter would like to share with us?

Siwon Kim: Sure! Quite a lot of exciting things happening. So as many people may have seen already, recently we announced our integration with Chainlink VRF, which is truly important for what we’re building.
That really goes into how we are taking things. For us, it’s all about product first. No empty marketing promises, no shills. Just purely perfect platform competing for its place in the ecosystem.
We have already finished developing our smart contract, got the audit done, and finished building the platform for both IDO participants and the control panel for the projects.
We’ve also completed porting over our smart contract to Substrate recently, and we are in extensive testing at the moment. Once we are satisfied with the quality, we will be making an announcement about that also!

So stay tuned 😉

AMA Twitter Section Begin:

Q1:KSM Starter has decided to advance Substrate migration to pre-launch, and is therefore launching the KSM Starter Token (KST) on Substrate. What efforts are being made to achieve this??

Siwon Kim: Excellent question. Choosing to advance our Substrate integration from Q4 to pre-launch was not an easy decision. There were a lot of reasons and business logic built into the way we do things. However, we’re also truly appreciative of community feedback which is why we made that decision.

To complete this, we hired an entirely new team of developers who specialise in Substrate. We finished porting over our smart contract to Substrate, and we are testing at the moment. Things are looking well since we have already finished audit for our original smart contract, so really looking forward to very smooth development on that front!

Q2: Most of the current launchpads are based on a lottery system to decide who participate’s in IDOs. This leaves room for bots to abuse the system and hold a large portion of allocations. What tactical measures will KSMStarter introduce to ensure fairness and prevent bots attack?

Siwon Kim: Absolutely. And that’s where the major, critical flaws within these launchpads come from. To prevent this, we are using quite a few different mechanisms.

The first is in the tier system. So if anyone would like to secure allocation for an IDO happening on KSM Starter, they must be within one of the tiers. This makes sure that the allocation goes to people who truly want it.

The next is in looking at the behaviour of these bots. Most bots are used by those who are “flippers”. They secure allocation, claim tokens, and dump on the market. Then move on to the next one.
However, KSM Starter has been designed to reward those people who choose to hold their IDO token by increasing their chances of winning the allocation for the next IDO. So this naturally goes against the behaviour and the goal of those people using bots.

Lastly, we are integrating Chainlink VRF to ensure that true randomness is verifiable on-chain.

Q3: Just recently, KSM Starter Integrates Chainlink VRF to Secure the Integrity of it’s Draws. So what other can you obtain to access by this integration and why do you think this represents a great first step in setting the tone for the ecosystem’s future?

Siwon Kim: Ah, yes. That’s quite a smooth transition!

Most people who do not win allocation become angry. Then they start talking about how the lottery was flawed or how it was somewhat unfair. Integrating Chainlink VRF ensures that those people who weren’t selected can still maintain that level of credibility in the project, no matter the result.

So it’s all in the power of transparency!

Q4: Many incubation facility projects focus only on supporting other projects during launch, but can incubators really support these new projects even more?If so, can you tell us how KSM Starter will support new projects after IDO?

Siwon Kim: Sure, so there are quite a few ways that we do this. But I’ll talk about the 2 main ways.

The first one is providing incentive for people to hold the token. This isn’t being done by most of the launchpads at the moment. They simply don’t care. However, we do.
This is why KSM Starter incentivises IDO participants to hold their tokens to have increased chances for the next one. So in a way, it’s creating a hodl army. I think that can be more effective than pre-mature staking or liquidity mining in certain cases.

Another way is by involving the supporters and investors of KSM Starter as much as possible during the entire IDO process. KSM Starter token holders can choose to vote for a specific IDO to go ahead by staking their KST tokens. That’s early user engagement. So this can create a continued momentum of support from these people.

It’s all about creating value for those people who choose to go long on these tokens, in perpetuity (:

Q5: Are there any specified user or targeted audience you are looking at? or can everybody have access? What is considered as the ultimate goal of the project?

Siwon Kim: The ultimate audience of KSM Starter is essentially everyone who are looking for fair, and effective way of participating in investment for vetted projects. To gain IDO spot on KSM Starter, all projects must be vetted and approved by our ecosystem council members. So the IDOs are going to be high quality.
Then anyone can participate, while knowing that they all have a fair stake in their participation. It’s keeping it simple, uncomplicated, and therefore charming (:

Telegram Live AMA Begin:

Q6: KSM aims to be one of the most protected launchpads in the entire industry. So, can you briefly explain to us what multiple levels of protection do you have to provide a safe environment for all parties involved?

Siwon Kim: There are essentially 2 levels of protection that KSM Starter aims to provide — 1 for the project and 1 for the community. Sometimes these levels are combined.

The first layer is our IDO smart contract audit. Most projects have their smart contract audited, but very often the IDO smart contract with the specific project is not audited. This is why we have partnered with Union Finance and Sanctum to provide IDO smart contract audit for each individual IDO.
This is of course great for projects, but it also means that there will be no more of “IDO delayed due to technical issues”. So no more disappointment for the community. You all deserve better, and we are aiming to serve that.

The next level is something that we are currently developing. We’re creating an insurance premium in which IDO participants can choose to purchase an insurance premium in the form of a predictions market. So let’s say that you are investing in IDO of Token A. You could purchase insurance product to predict that the price of Token A will go down in 3 months or so, so that when it does, you get predictions market payout and therefore hedge your risk. This protects community from some level of volatility.

Q7: One of the special products of KSM starter is “KST Auto Invest”. Which is currently in development. Can you tell us describely about that? When this product will be released? Who can access on this service and how does it exactly works?

Siwon Kim: Great question!
KST Auto Invest allows people to have controlled, yet aggressive exposure to new IDO tokens.
Users can stake any amount of stable coins, and thus they are automatically subscribed for the upcoming IDOs until that amount runs out.
So let’s say that you have 5000 USDT to play around with. Then you can stake 5000 USDT, and forget about it. You are automatically investing into upcoming IDOs until that 5000 USDT runs out. You can then choose to top it up or leave it. It’s up to you .

So it’s perfect for people who want to invest in more IDOs but do not have the time to subscribe to each one (:

Q8: Are you worried that your incomplete ecosystem will make investors insecure about the risks when trading, storing and being hacked?

Siwon Kim: It’s not that our ecosystem is incomplete, but more so that the entire Substrate ecosystem is only beginning to flourish. This is why to ensure the safety of our investors and community, we are developing our product first and testing it extensively.
It’s all in that extra legwork!

Q9: Auditing is an integral part of launching this kind of project. It assures the security and the longevity of a project and attracts the investors. Didn’t you think about that? the platform is yet to be audited! How can We rely on your concept and the team? What are the availabe security measures? Do you have plans to conduct some audits in the future? Don’t you think some investors must be waiting to join with you until they receive a security verification from you?

Siwon Kim: We are audited. So there you go (:

Q10: “Democracy and Transparency” is very important for investors. Can you clarify is it safe to Invest on KSM starter? And is the token holder’s has the right to choose the direction of the project? In another word “Democracy”?

Siwon Kim: Sure, all KSM Starter token holders will have DIRECT vote on which IDO takes place.
The ecosystem council vets projects, then those that are successfully vetted are offered. Then it’s up to the KST token holders to stake their tokens to support the IDO proposal, or not do that and therefore reject the IDO proposal. This mechanism allows our token holders to determine which IDO they want to see, and which they don’t want to see!

Q11: Why did KSM Starter choose to be on the Kusama network?

Siwon Kim: We thought about what new projects need. We knew that we had a superior idea, and that we could compete well in any chain.
However, most new projects need 2 things — interoperability (if you’re a new project and you have a standalone product, you won’t survive mostly) and grounds for experiment.

Kusama Network fulfils this. So it was a very clear choice for us!

Q12: What are the upcoming advancements that can be seen by the community members?
How will you ensure of continuous improvement?

Siwon Kim: I love the fact that you used the word “ensure”. Because credibility is incredibly important for us.
This is why the next step is essentially showing what we have built to our community, along with some key aspects of our development corner stone so that people can SEE that we aren’t just talking big things, but that we are truly BUILDING them.
That’s how we will ensure of continuous improvement — transparent news with our community, and taking feedback from them.

Q13: KSM Starter attracted nearly thirty companies in total, including Block Phoenix, SMO Capital, Oracles Investment Group, HG Ventures, and Kangaroo Capital. what is the role of investors for you? and are there any plans to add another company in the near future?

Siwon Kim: We have been contacted by MANY funds and VCs interested in investing in KSM Starter.
However, we are looking for investors that see our vision, and that’s why those were selected.
They all have their niche forte, and they all have agreed to support KSM Starter and the IDO projects on KSM Starter. So they’re our long-way partners (:

Are we actively looking for more? No, our private sale is completely oversubscribed. However, we will be looking for additional partners that can strengthen our vision and product development

Q14: I’d seen that there are five tier of KSM Starter Dove raven hawk eagle and Phoenix that represents the types of birds. Can you differentiate this five tier birds of KSM? What are the benefits and advantages of each tier?

Siwon Kim: They’re visible on our website (:

Q15: What is the most ambitious goal of your project? What is the ultimate vision that Your project is trying to achieve within the cryptocurrencies market? I would appreciate it if you could share with us any Upcoming Updates?

Siwon Kim: What we want is to no longer be recognised as a brand.

Okay, that sounds a bit weird. But hear me out. When you think of tissue, you think of Kleenex. When you think of permanent markers, you think of Sharpie. When you think of searching, you think of Google. When you think of DEX, you think of Uniswap. Those are no longer “brands”. They’re synonyms of the action you’re doing.

So our goal is for KSM Starter to be synonym of “transparent, fair IDO for projects building on Substrate”

Q16: How can I buy tokens from your project? Will KSM Starter have a program to sell tokens to users in the near future?

Siwon Kim: Our public sale is coming up! Date will be announced soon (:

Q17: If you were an investor, which bird would you choose from the ksmstarter platform? What would be the reason for your choice?

Siwon Kim: I’d go for the highest one, obviously since it has the most amount of benefits for me. It’s not for everyone, but I’d be going for that since I’m always super busy and I can really use some auto-invest :D

Q18: Can you explain, which one is your top priority? Security, Product,Partnership or Token Price & Value ?????

Siwon Kim: Definitely product. Security and value are all in the product. If we build an excellent product, we get excellent deal flows. Then that brings excellent people and participants.

That’s what I believe in. That’s why we have focused on the product, and here we are!

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