Radix DLT AMA Summary Recap with Shin Chan Community

We held a live AMA with Head of Strategy Radix, Adam Simmons from Radix DLT on 13th September 11:00 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?

Adam: I would love to! I am Adam Simmons, Head of Strategy at Radix DLT. I work very closely with our CEO, Piers, on company wide planning, marketing, and community building.

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

Adam: We are currently rolling out our production roadmap, with the genesis of the Radix mainnet launching in July 28th 2021. It was a very successful launch, and we hit over $100m of XRD staked on the network within a month.

The next exciting event is the final XRD token unlock on Wednesday, Sept 15th. This is an exciting milestone that the Radix community and token holders wanted as we are progressing so well. This final unlock will let us accelerate adoption of the network, as well as bring us inline with the other big layer-1 networks.

In December, we will be launching our Alexandria release, which is all about DeFi dApp builders — it will be the first release of our DeFi specific programming language, Scrypto :)

Jack: I would like to ask why Radix is needed (what problem is it solving) and what is the mission statement (vision of the future)?

Adam: Radix is building the future of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and is a layer-one protocol specifically built to serve DeFi. It’s needed because Traditional finance is not doing good enough for the world. We all know DeFi is the future, and moving the $360T+ global finance system to DeFi will make it better for everyone.

We like to say that Radix is Layer-1 DeFi done right, as we’re the only decentralized network where developers will be able to build quickly without the constant threat of exploits and hacks, where every improvement will get rewarded, and where scale will never be a bottleneck.

Radix is focused on the full stack of successful DeFi. That means we are building all the tools needed to make traditional finance obsolete and move the $360T+ global financial system to DeFi on Radix.

We are doing this by providing:

10x Develop Productivity — so they can make a better, more reliable DeFi ecosystem on Radix faster than anywhere else.

100x More Defi security — so that on Radix, investors don’t have to worry about the $1B of hacks that have been on DeFi already.

1000x more scalability — we all know it sucks to have to pay $200 in gas to make a $100 DEX swap. Radix fixes scalability FOREVER. With over 1000x more scalability than any other network. We already have shown our tech can do over 1.4m TPS 🚀

Our mission statement is simple:
We are building all the tools needed for developers to obsolete TradFi by enabling global scale DeFi on Radix!

Twitter Section:

Q1: Olympia is the first version of the Radix core network. It will be followed by Alexandria, Babylon and Xi’an. Could you briefly explain the fundamental differences between each of these stages? When one starts working, will the previous version be totally “discarded”?

Adam: So let me start by explaining our different versions:

All our releases are named after great cities/monuments of history the world. We named it this way as each help build the modern world we all live in, and Radix is building the future world that all finance will live in. Forever!

Radix is not just looking at getting the $100Bn of DeFi today on our network… that is tiny. We are building to get the $360 TRILLION global finance system onto Radix. Because we can make finance better for everyone and make TradFi obsolete. 🤩

The Olympia release was in July this year, and was the genesis of the network. The foundation of which all future iterations of Radix will be built on.

Alexandria is the release for developers. It is where they will first be able to use Scrypto — our Dev environment and language purpose built for DeFi! It will make building DeFi quick and secure and feeds into how we make DeFi developers 10x more productive and DeFi 100x more secure!

Babylon is the release for the ecosystem. It’s where DeFi will start to thrive on Radix. This is when the first of the $360T++ assets in traditional finance will start to move over to Radix.

After Babylon, we have the Xi’an release. This is where we release the fully sharded version of Cerberus, Radix’s unique consensus that has unlimited linear scalability that will have millions of TPS. We need to have millions of TPS as the global finance system will require this level of throughput to be the home of finance forever!

New versions add onto the existing network

Q2: Is there a way for RADIX holders to stake without running a staking node on Radix???. What is the maximum number of staking nodes allowed on the Radix Public Network at the moment, and is this number subject to change ???

Adam: Yes, all Radix (XRD) holders can stake and earn part of the 300m annual XRD rewards. Staking currently gives 36% APY!

This is because Radix uses Delegated Proof of Stake, so you stake your tokens to one of the validator nodes. Anyone can run a validator node, and currently the top 100 validators participate in consensus.

Our community have nodes all over the world, and after a month since the network launch we already had $100m of staking on the network! The Radix community is very strong.

In future upgrades of Radix, the number of validator increases. With the fully sharded version of Radix, there is no limit to the number of validators, and each time a new validator is added, the network TPS increases. This is what we mean by unlimited linear scalability — more nodes = MOAR TPS!

Q3: I see that the Final Radix Token Unlock will be on September 15th, can you tell us what the Radix tokens last unlock means? Will there be a big price drop on that date??

Adam: Yes, the final XRD unlock will be on the 15th September. The Radix community and Radix token holders wanted this unlock because we are progressing so quickly — it was seen as the best way to get more adoption of the network and continue the fast growth.

The very high level of staking, tremendous excitement following the Olympia launch, and upcoming Alexandria release — combined with a strong community majority favoring the unlock — indicates an exceedingly high degree of confidence by the community and token holders in Radix.

As the Radix core team, we agreed that now is the right time to proceed with unlocking all XRD.

As this will be the final unlock of (e)XRD, the tokenomics of Radix will be easier to understand for newcomers and existing holders. The top line economics of Radix after the final unlock will be:

⭐️ Circulating supply will be 9.6Bn XRD after the final unlock on September 15th, due to the indefinitely locked Stable Coin Reserve.

⭐️12Bn XRD Total supply, with no new tokens or unlocks other than the 300m annual XRD network emissions for staking.

⭐️24Bn XRD Maximum supply will be reached in a minimum of 40 years with the 300m annual XRD emissions.

⭐️Additionally, XRD tokens are locked via Delegated Proof of Stake (dPoS), with over 48% of tokens currently locked in staking in just over a month since the Radix Public Network genesis. This further reduces the floating supply (the number of tokens available for trade on secondary markets).

🔥 All transaction fees on Radix (paid in XRD) are burnt. Approximately 15,000 XRD has already been burnt since the network went live on July 28th, 2021.

Q4: Next year will see the start of our Developer Royalty Program on the ledger to help bring the next generation of entrepreneurial DeFi developers to the DeFi Space. “Tell us about this royalty program that helps other projects to succeed?

Adam: The developer royalties is a way for DeFi builders on Radix to make long term, on-ledger, recurring revenue from building great things.

If you make something GREAT for the Radix DeFi ecosystem, then you should be able to add a royalty each time it is used!

This aligns the incentives for builders to make things that are USEFUL. Not just things that get grants.

If you are the first builder to make a useful part of Radix, you can earn money every single time it is used. Forever.

Imagine if you were the first person to build a way to swap tokens on Radix and then it is used all the time when the $360T global finance system is on Radix DeFi 😎

Q5: Radix seeks to remove the technological barriers to DeFi’s expansion by building a Level 1 protocol. How does it meet DeFi’s technology needs for both current applications and the future of general financial services worldwide?

Adam: So most people really underestimate how big DeFi is going to be. The global financial system is over $360T/yr of transactions. The total size of DeFi at the moment is about $100Bn.

That means DeFi today is only 0.02% of the minimum it could become.

At Radix, we are building for the future of finance. We know that DeFi will revolutionize global finance, and Radix is the ONLY place where global scale DeFi can work.

We are solving this in 3 key ways:

1) DeFi today is exposing investors to lots of risks. There have been over $1Bn of hacks in the last 2 years alone. Radix fixes this with Scrypto and the Radix Engine, which is purpose built for DeFi. This means developers can build quickly and securely for DeFi. Radix will make DeFi 100x more secure for investors!

2) Our innovative technology also means we 10x developer productivity. Because of this, Radix will be able to build a DeFi ecosystem 10x faster than anything else, and make 10x more innovative dApps that aren’t possible elsewhere.

3) Scalability — we all know gas fees suck! Other solutions are working to make this better, but they only go a tiny way. Even 65k TPS is tiny if the whole $360T global finance system moves to DeFi.

Radix is the only solution that has unlimited, linear scalability. This means that every node added makes the network TPS increase. We have already shown our technology running on a decentralised network at 1.4m TPS. Cerberus (our new concensus) has unlimited scalability.

People ask why we need such high TPS… well, imagine trying to work out how fast the internet needed to be by counting how many phonecalls were made! That is how people are measuring DeFi TPS requirements today 😳

Telegram Live AMA Begin:

Q6: Can you tell us more about your new Instapass and Instabrigde products? What is the nature of the interaction between the two elements in the ecosystem?

Adam: Great question.

Part of our mission to obsolete TradFi and bring the $360T++ global financial system onto DeFi on Radix is not only about making sure the core network and developer experience is great, but also making sure the auxiliary systems are there if needed.

Instapass is our solution for single sign-on for compliance. This is optional — but for dApps on Radix that want to plug in KYC, Instapass will provide a single sign-on solution for this.

Having the option for compliance is really important for some financial systems, so having this ready will make it easier for more types of DeFi dapps to use Radix.

Instabridge is our token bridge, it is one way you can bring assets onto Radix. Currently it is for swapping eXRD to XRD. But we have some great plans int he future for more!

Q7: I understand that Radix is a project that wants to solve problems around the world using DeFi as the main method. What methods do you plan to use to bring DeFi to all possible users and thus provide a fairer economy for all?

Adam: This is a fantastic question. There are a few ways we are going to bring the global financial system to Radix, and help EVERYONE benefit from a better financial system.

First, Radix is the ONLY decentralised network where the global financial system will be able to work.

We have the tools to make developers 10x more productive, meaning 10x more dApps and 10x more innovation. We are focused on dApps security, to make it 100x more secure to use DeFi on Radix than other networks. Finally, Radix has 1000x more scalability than any other network, it is the only network able to manage the millions of transactions per second needed to manage the $360T global financial system!

We also founded GoodFi, a non-profit with the goal of getting 100m users into DeFi by 2025. 100m users is just the beginning though, we know DeFi will make everyones lives better. GoodFi already has members like Aave, Sushiswap, Terra, mStable and 96 others!

Radix is also focused on doing DeFi right. We are building our network not just for all of you, but to be the place your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren interact with finance.

Q8: Where can I buy Radix DLT right now? Which it is based on blockchain can I use 1inch swap or uniswap or pancakeswap?

Adam: You can see all the places to buy Radix tokens here: https://www.radixdlt.com/#token

Q9: As you stated, 50,000 TPS is insufficient for DeFi. If Radix has solved unlimited linear scalability without compromising atomic composability, what has Radix done for TPS so far?

Adam: Back in 2019, we achieved 1.4m TPS in a global decentralised network.

Cerberus, our new consensus mechanism is an evolution on that. It has unlimited linear scalability. This means as more nodes are added, you get more TPS.

This huge TPS is achieved as we have a highly sharded network — 2²⁵⁶ shards which is…. a LOT! The magic though is all of these shards can talk to eachother instantly, in an atomic transaction. This means atomic cross-shard composability is kept, and this is ESSENTIAL for DeFi.

Q10: I read on one of Radix’s Social Media Accounts, that you are building a program that makes a “powerful DeFi application”. Is it possible that it will have a greater diversity of uses? or just that they will be stable and scalable?

Adam: Builders and developers on Radix will use Scrypto and the Radix Engine, our purpose built DeFi development tools.

This makes building DeFi dapps quicker and more secure. There are a lot of details of how this is done, but this article explains it well: https://www.radixdlt.com/post/reducing-defi-hacks-exploits-failures-on-radix

Alongside building more secure, the use of blueprints and components make this faster as they are like little DeFi lego-blocks that can be easily put together to make powerful new dapps.

Q11: Radix swag store idea seem interesting. Why do you start up Radix Swag store? May i know when is the next round of Radix Swag design contest ?

Adam: Glad you like the swag store! We made it as we saw some fantastic artists in the Radix community (e.g. look at this!!! https://twitter.com/Thereinalulu/status/1391401908213108746)

At Radix, we know a strong community is essential for success, so we aim to support them all ways we can. Radix recently hit 75k followers on twitter and over 100M social views! 🚀

Q12: What is the most problematic flaws of DeFi that is facing today and how Radix DLT project looking to solve the problem?

Adam: Great question! There is no single “biggest” problem, but a combination of a few big problems!

1) DeFi today is exposing investors to lots of risks. There have been over $1Bn of hacks in the last 2 years alone. Radix fixes this with Scrypto and the Radix Engine, which is purpose built for DeFi. This means developers can build quickly and securely for DeFi. Because of this, Radix will be able to build a DeFi ecosystem far faster than anything else, and make many more innovative dApps that aren’t possible elsewhere.

2) Scalability — we all know gas fees suck! Other solutions are working to make this better, but they only go a tiny way. Even 65k TPS is tiny if the whole $360T global finance system moves to DeFi.

Radix is the only solution that has unlimited, linear scalability. This means that every node added makes the network TPS increase. We have already shown our technology running on a decentralised network at 1.4m TPS. Cerberus (our new concensus) has unlimited scalability.

People ask why we need such high TPS… well, imagine trying to work out how fast the internet needed to be by counting how many phonecalls were made! That is how people are measuring DeFi TPS requirements today 😳

If you want to learn more about what’s wrong in DeFi, check out this Cointelegraph Q&A with our CEO, Piers! https://cointelegraph.com/news/q-a-what-is-the-defi-sector-getting-wrong-right-now

Q13: You say Radix makes DeFi 100% more secure, but what will Radix really guarantee? that there are no more scam projects doing Rug Pull? or protect investors from hacker attacks? or both?

Adam: Not just 100% more secure, 100x more secure!!

This is because our development environment, and some other cool things, are designed specifically for DeFi to help avoid exploits and hacks.

Hacks/exploits are different to scams. A scam is done intentionally, but a hack or exploit is usually something that is unintended. With Radix, developers and users have many failsafes to avoid these.

There is also a lot we are doing with UX/UI, and how end users interact with DeFi that will help people understand what the transaction is doing, and therefore see if it may do something unexpected :)

Q14: Giving users 1000x More Scalability did you give up from decentralized approach?

Adam: Short answer: NO!

Radix is solving the trilemma of scalability, security and decentralization. We have all 3 thanks to our unique consensus algorithm, Cerberus. As a result, Radix is the ONLY network that will be able to support the $360Tn++ global financial system.

Cerberus does this by using a highly sharded architecture, 2²⁵⁶ shards (which is a LOT). The problem is most sharding solutions break composability, something that is essential to using DeFi. What makes Radix consensus and sharding so special is atomic cross chain composability remains.

There is a really great article here about how we solve scalability while keeping security, decentralization, and composability: https://btcmanager.com/trilemma-quadrilemma-inside-radixs-innovative-tech-stack/

Q15: How much nodes are currently running?
What’s the aim in future to reching maximum nodes?

Adam: Anyone can register a node on Radix. The network uses a delegated proof of stake system where currently, the top 100 validators nodes by stake amount participate in consensus.

With a future update, we will upgrade to a fully sharded version of Cerberus. At this stage, there will be no limit to the number of nodes. What’s more, more nodes = more TPS because cerberus has unlimited linear scalability. This means that Radix can scale to millions of TPS.

Radix needs millions of TPS, as DeFi today is just 0.02% of the size of global finance. It can get at least 5000x bigger. Radix is being built to manage the whole global financial system, which has over $360Tn of value.

This will need millions of TPS. Today, people are measuring how many TPS DeFi needs in the same way as someone working out how fast the internet needed to be based on how many phonecalls were made 🙊

Q16: What are the key milestones on your roadmap — both things you have already achieved and things that we can look forward to? Any partnerships and short/long term technical milestones that you want to talk about or bring some attention to?

Adam: The Olympia launch was the Genesis of the Radix Public Network. It was the foundational level all other additions of Radix will be added to.

The next big milestone is Alexandria. And it’s all about builders!

We are going to make DeFi develoeprs 10X more productive. That means we will are making it so Radix can have 10X more dApps, 10X faster than anywhere else. Plus, those dApps will be 10X better.

Alexandria is where all DeFi developers will be able to see how the future of Finance will be built, and they can get started using our Scrypto programming language.

Building DeFi using Scrypto is SO much better. Imagine going scratching pictures on a stone wall to using a MacBook to write an essay. It’s that much better.

After Alexandria, is our Babylon release — this is all about the Radix DeFi ecosystem and where users will start bringing the first parts of the $360Tn global finance system to Radix.

Of course, with so many assets and dApps being built on Radix, we then need to scale. This is where Xi’an is released to provide unlimited linear scalability to manage the millions of TPS needed to run the global financial system on Radix.

Beyond Xi’an, we have even more exciting things planned, but a bit early to tell you about those ;)

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