As we prepare to wrap up 2020, now is an excellent time for reflection on the past year. Therefore, Chromia’s three co-founders, Henrik Hjelte (CEO), Alex Mizrahi (CTO) and Or Perelman (COO), joined the Chromia Telegram group to connect with the community to discuss our progress and achievements in 2020 and our plans for the year ahead.
Many excellent questions were asked, and lots of insights were shared by the team. Amongst other topics, the co-founders discussed their personal highlights of 2020, Chromia’s further ventures in DeFi, and new applications joining the Chromia ecosystem.
If you missed the AMA live, have a read through this recap to gain some deeper insights into Chromia and where we’re headed on our journey in 2021!
Introductions
Host: Welcome, Henrik, Alex and Or! It’s a pleasure to have all three co-founders with us at once!
The co-founders have joined us here today for an AMA to reflect on the past year and discuss plans moving into 2021. Let’s dive in!
For the benefit of new community members, could you please briefly introduce yourselves?
Or: Sure, my name is Or and I’m the co-founder of Chromia and the COO, with marketing and IT background and extensive knowledge of selling to 500 fortune companies, I started in the space back in 2011, co-founded a bitcoin wallet with stefan thomas, joined alex and Henrik to build the colored coins project in 2012, and later we co-founded ChromaWay in 2014.
Alex: Hi. I’m Alex. I’m CTO of ChromaWay and I’m leading the tech development of Chromia. I’m a programmer by trade and many things in Chromia I implemented myself.
I’ve been doing blockchain tech since 2011, prior to ChromaWay I implemented the first blockchain token protocol called “colored coins” back in 2012.
Henrik: Hi, I’m Henrik, CEO of ChromaWAy the caretakers of Chromia. Middle-aged man. I joined Alex in his open source project around the crazy idea of “tokens” in 2013. We had worked together previously. My background is as a developer from 12 years of age, then studied computers, economics, philosophy and social science. Worked in finance/IT, then did startups.
Host: Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules to join us today. I know the community has been looking forward to connecting with you all.
Introductory Questions
Host: Before we dive into community questions, let’s provide some context for the new community members with some introductory questions.
Chromia has made some major progress this year on the development and adoption fronts in particular. We’ve welcomed multiple DApps to the Chromia ecosystem, launched staking and won a variety of awards, to name a few things.
What is your personal highlight of 2020, each of you?
Henrik: I think maybe Hedget, showing the potential of DeFi on Chromia. Also great AMAs during summer around listings. And we have some very exciting projects coming that are unannounced that I think is quite fun to work with.
Alex: Hedget gives us an opportunity to build Chromia L2 for Ethereum, I think that’s probably the most exciting development.
Also as Henrik said many cool things are in the pipeline, they are really exciting, but can’t share them now 😂
Or: My personal highlight is indeed bringing more dapps to the ecosystem and the Ethereum bridge which will come live soon.
Host: To set the scene for 2021, could you please provide some general upcoming milestones in terms of development?
Alex: I expect a lot of things to happen in Q1 2021 when we finally finish various things we were developing in 2020. Several new dapps are coming to the ecosystem too.
So my expectation is that we will mostly realize our vision for Chromia in the first two quarters of 2021.
Henrik: As for 2021 (I focus on “my” side, let Alex do more on tech):
In january we will know about a new game in the works. Also Q1 some partnerships and a focus on parts of enterprise apps that we have not been touching yet.
Q2: More exciting application/platform announcements.
Q3/Q4: Growth, growth, growth!
Host: Very exciting! Speaking of new dapps, Henrik, during a recent AMA you made a reference to a new DeFi dapp on Chromia. Are you guys able to provide any further details on that currently? More broadly, how do you see Chromia’s place in the 2021 DeFi ecosystem?
Henrik: DeFi, yes I’d say we have now several financial applications that look at the opportunities of Chromia as a Layer 2. But unannounced so far.
Two good teams: One with a traditional finance background, the other with a strong crypto background. That is for the most traditional defi. We also have more.
Like on the border: applications with strong defi elements but not “finance apps”.
Host: I hear NFTs will be part of the Chromia ecosystem, can you explain a little more about that?
Alex: Yes, one of things we were working on is NFT protocol with many advanced features not found in other protocols, so that’s probably going to be released in Q1 as well.
Colloquially I describe it as 10x more advanced than other NFT protocols on the market :)
It basically allows one to define NFT attribute structure, move things between different blockchains, implement crafting logic and so on. So for gaming we envision some sort of a multiverse where items can be moved between different games (wherever it makes sense).
Host: Very exciting! Leading on from this, how do you see gaming on Chromia evolving in 2021? NFTs are a big part, is there anything else you can share currently regarding your endeavours in gaming?
Or: There are several more games which will be coming to the platform in the next few months that will combine games and defi but more attracting to mainstream population.
Alex: Well, we already have a notion of on-chain game logic, where the entire state of the universe is stored in the blockchain. This was already used in several games and it works.
I think NFT marketplace can provide a ‘hook’ for games made that way, giving them some economic sense.
So basically not much point of keeping state on blockchain if it’s nothing of value, but if you link them to the global marketplace it is a different thing, of course.
For gaming we also developed an API which makes it a lot easier to integrate blockchain into games, so you don’t need users to have a crypto wallet and things like that. This lowers the bar a lot and enables a wider spectrum of integrations, ranging just from connection using API to NFTs to full on-chain logic.
In case of “full on-chain logic” we can make fully community-owned games where the community is in charge of development, basically.
Henrik: Several gaming projects I see have a focus on mainstream adoption. Games for people that are not into crypto. This is important for Chromia, we want to go for a large userbase.
Also, logic on chain, governance. Few other gaming platforms talk about that (because they don’t do it well, or they have another agenda).
New business models for game companies…
Host: A whole new gaming paradigm really 🙌
Shifting gears a bit, I hear a new website is in the works. This is also something the community has been asking about recently. Can you share any insights regarding that e.g. the design style you’ve chosen or when it might potentially go live?
Henrik: Hehe, well I can say that many people will not like the new one either.
But: design and branding, we can’t change every month. And sometimes we have to trust experts.
What is new: an attempt to explain our tech. Also a new page for developers coming.
We listen to community feedback, but there are some good reasons for why we might not just change. We want to also attract a larger audience, remember. And for a brand: I’m strongly against looking/being like everyone else.
Host: Moving onto staking, Chromia staking launched in November and there are almost 38M CHR staked already. Great start! What are your current priorities in terms of rolling out staking further? When can we expect CHR staking to be available somewhere other than the staking dashboard?
Or: Yes, we can expect staking with exchanges down the line, we’re in a very good relationship with each of our exchanges.
In addition we have some top validator names which will be coming on board shortly.
Alex: I think the next step for staking is to connect staking with node providers. Some of our providers are going to be exchanges, so it would be natural for them to offer staking.
Host: Adoption has been ramping up nicely throughout 2020. From what you guys have said today it seems we should see adoption increase further moving into 2021. I know you’re limited in terms of what you’re able to reveal currently but is there any further information you can share regarding any specific applications which are preparing to onboard to Chromia?
Alex: We are working with two DeFi projects which have features which I believe are addressing existing needs and provide pretty unique features.
I suppose when projects using Chromia L2 launch we will have a lot more projects who want to use it…
And on the gaming front there are at least two projects for the first half of 2021. We kinda already hinted at their features :)
Henrik: Hmm, what can we say….
A picture tells more than words, I’ve heard.
Host: Stop teasing 😂 looks cool! I think we can assume this is a type of game? Incorporating Chromia NFTs perhaps?
Henrik: If it is a game, then it is on Chromia and with good use of new gaming features.
Host: I don’t suppose you could give us an estimate on when we’ll be able to learn more?
Henrik: Very soon, for the maybe game…
Host: Exciting! One last question from me. There’s a lot to look forward to in 2021. If you had to pick one upcoming milestone, achievement or focus area you’re most excited about for Chromia in 2021, what would it be and why?
Alex: Well, I’d say it’s most important what is called “mainnet MVP” which is full realization of Chromia vision we had initially.
But I’m also excited about L2 and Ethereum integration, the Ethereum ecosystem is now huge and it might be a lot easier to integrate with it than build something entirely new from scratch.
Or: Yep — that will be big for us as a whole and fits our strategy as to not compete with the ethereum ecosystem, we’re very excited to bring the relational data benefits for ethereum developers and hopefully make the graph obsolete.
Alex: Yep, as some wise man said, “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” 😂
Henrik: 2021 will make me proud, when Chromia moves to the spotlight not only with releases, but also people starting to understand the values of the underlying tech, that this is more than just a blockchain, and that you can make more advanced/better things with it, also for a mainstream audience.
Host: Beautiful. 2021 will be Chromia’s year! We’ve built the foundation and now it’s time to bring Chromia to the world. Exciting times to be a Chromian!
Ok, let’s jump into the main event! Community questions :)
Community Questions
Q1: What is the main mission and long-term vision of Chromia? What are the problems of the blockchain that Chromia is called to solve in the future?
Or: Chromia uses the relational database structure instead of key value and storing the data in the store procedure of the database, it enjoys seamless integrations with postgres and sql, while other chains are using key value and no sql in the backend, in Chromia it’s very easy to index and query data for example and store huge amounts of data on chain.
Q2: What’s the factual addressable market for Chromia’s technology? In which segment Chromia is seeing to expand?
Henrik: Take the Database Market (big), and add the Blockchain Market (quite small). That is a gigantic market. Surely we should be able to sit in between and grab market shares from both sides.
Factual: Market cap of Oracle was larger than Bitcoin in May or so. Don’t have numbers ready here and now.
Q3: Rell is an upgraded version of SQL, but I’m wondering, why you chose SQL as base to create Rell and not solidity or Python?
Alex: Rell consists of two components: data management and general programming.
The parts for general programming were inspired by Kotlin, a language which is like a much nicer version of Java. Data management parts have roughly the same features as SQL since relational databases offer some of the best features for data management.
Getting two components in one package makes a much stronger and nicer language.
Q4: What strengths does the Chromia team have and what breakthroughs will there be in the near future?
Henrik: The co-founders, here now, well we’ve been working together for 7 years (even longer for Alex and me). So: no risk of team splitting up. Also long history, low risk of us being here for quick bucks. Complementing us, we have quite a diverse team, some fantastic women and men, of different nationalities and experience helping us. Also they have now been around for a long time, very few leave us (and sometimes if they do, they come back).
Q5: Chromia Vault uses Single Sign On (SSO) feature which reduces the entering of password. How can we make sure that the security is not compromised?
Alex: We plan to integrate hardware wallets and multi-factor authentication.
SSO infrastructure (FT3) can allow more fine-grained authorization control, so we don’t bother the user every time he presses a button, but can require more authentication factors when he’s moving significant amounts of money.
Q6: Smart contract vulnerability is a major problem that often occurs project cryptocurrency, can lead to loss of funds, what steps has Chromia taken to solve this major problem and prevent such occurrences in the future?
Alex: Chromia/Rell programming model has much fewer dangerous features, as e.g. different “smart contracts” do not directly interact. Rell code is a lot more concise and easier to understand than equivalent Solidity code in many situations. Thus we believe we’ll have fewer vulns on the Chromia/Rell platform.
Q7: If we should compare Ethereum framework and Chromia framework, Ethereum’s is more popular than yours. Why are you better than Ethereum’s then? Do you see yours also going mainstream in the future too?
Henrik: Not sure ethereum is very mainstream yet. Do your relatives have an ethereum wallet? That is where we want to go…
Chromia is a database: very close to the tech that built SAP, Wordpress, FAcebook, core banking.
Also Chromia is a blockchain: yes, not the biggest yet. But by combining database with blockchain, we think we add realistic serious tech to our industry, and can enable mainstream apps.
Q8: Many developers don’t know RELL, just Solidity and SQL. Is this a barrier or threat to Chromia? Why is RELL better?
Alex: It’s not a barrier. People can learn Rell in a very little time.
Q9: Can you list 1–3 killer features of Your Project that makes it ahead of its competitors? What is the competitive advantage your platform has that you feel most confident about?
Alex: The most important aspect of me is to make Chromia useful for developers. Of course, trust is important, since developers won’t use a project which isn’t trustworthy.
Once we have a thriving ecosystem, it’s going to have a value.
Q10: So your project does seem to be promising, but we have seen many of the project team members desert the team and project for some unknown reasons and how can you ensure that your core team members will remain committed to this project?
Henrik: As said, me, Alex, Or have been around as a company since 2014, before hyperledger, R3, ethereum and even “blockchain” as a term existed. So we are not going anywhere…
Q11: How the provider share delegation works and can users transfer their shares to their chosen providers?
Alex: You won’t need to transfer anything, just select a provider you like, basically.
Q12: How will Chromia incentivise developers to build on its ecosystem over the multiple ones already in existence?
Alex: Developers will build on Chromia when they see features that they can’t have on other platforms.
We actually do not have a problem with this, many developers come and say they want to build on Chromia because it’s the best. (And, of course, it’s going to be even better over time.)
We do have an ecosystem fund to help developers building on Chromia, but I don’t think we can compete with bigger projects like EOS on that front, so our path is to actually be better and offer unique features.
Q13: Do you plan to build partnerships with local cryptocurrency developers and local projects in each country to make the use of Chromia more global?
Henrik: Yes, but as a developer I know that I don’t pick a language because I go to a local user group meeting. I do it because it is a great, productive language. Online is very important too. We might not have the same budget as other projects to travel the world and give out t-shirts, but we have fantastic tools and developers will love that.
Q14: Can you tell us about the motivations and benefits for investors to hold tokens in the long term? What plans do you have in place to help drive demand and token scarcity?
Alex: Generally speaking the bigger the ecosystem the more demand there would be for the token.
So from our perspective we want to align the CHR token with the Chromia ecosystem e.g. by creating a staking ecosystem and giving various benefits for stakers.
But obviously ecosystem growth is the most important factor.
Q15: Can you tell us what are the main benefits of a $CHR Token holder? For investment purposes, why do we have to invest in $CHR & what benefits does $CHR give to holders?
Well, as a holder, you just have a token which you can spend or sell, that’s all to it.
But if you stake it, you will be able to participate in many different things.
We plan to expand staking programs a lot in 2021, but I can’t reveal many details.
Host: Thanks to everyone for your great questions and to Henrik, Alex and Or for taking the time to join us today!
Henrik: Thanks for all the good questions!
Or: Thanks everyone!
Chromia Quiz
We then closed the AMA with one more chance for the community to win Christmas prizes — a 5 question quickfire quiz!
Play for fun to see how sharp your Chromia knowledge is. The answers are directly below. No cheating 😉
Q1: What is the name of the first DeFi dapp building on Chromia?
Q2: Which of these is not the name of an application building on Chromia?
Green Assets Wallet
CapChap
SantaDEX
Mines of Dalarnia
Q3: Chromia’s native wallet application is called what?
Q4: What is the APR offered for Chromia staking?
Q5: Who recently ranked ChromaWay (Chromia’s mother company) as the fastest growing technology company in Sweden?
Answers
- Hedget
- SantaDEX
- Chromia Vault
- 25% APR (Stake your CHR here)
- Deloitte
Concluding Thoughts
Thank you to everyone who attended the AMA! It was a pleasure connecting with the community for a particularly enjoyable AMA. We hope you have gained some insights on Chromia and where we’re headed on our exciting journey.
Although we achieved a lot during 2020, 2021 will be a much bigger year for Chromia and our community. There’s so much in the pipeline and we can’t wait to reveal more!
If you haven’t done so already, you can join Chromia’s announcements channel on Telegram to keep up to date with the latest news: https://t.me/chromia_announcements
Join Chromia’s main Telegram community to get involved in the conversation: https://t.me/hellochromia
If you wish to learn more about Chromia, our public relational blockchain platform powered by Rell, please do not hesitate to contact us or visit:
Website: https://www.chromia.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chromia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teamchromia
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chromia