Community AMA With Unizen’s CBDO James Taylor
Here’s the full AMA of James Taylor with the Unizen’s Telegram community on DMAS, Unizen Exchange, compliance, CeDeFi, and more.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Welcome, James
> James:
Hello
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to interact with the community!
> James:
Ha, I will for sure
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Okay, let’s start with the questions. Let’s start with an intro question: it’s been more than 3 months in, how does it feel to dip your toes in crypto?
> James:
Well firstly, I think I’ve more than dipped my toes in!
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Welcome to the metaverse! Sun is always shining here
> James:
it’s been really exciting. But I have to say that initially I was a bit overwhelmed — everything moves at a faster pace than any other industry I’ve worked in. There are of course similarities with TradFi, but it wasn’t until I joined Unizen and got involved full time that I realized how much I didn’t know!
It was a big decision for me to move to crypto, and as I’ve mentioned publicly before — it was both the opportunity and the team, who btw are exceptional and ethical, that convinced me.
I can thank the team and advisors for helping to get me up to speed, but some has been self-education — I’ve experimented in CeFi and DeFi with small investments to get comfortable (or not!) with many of the products and services out there. I recommend this to everyone — research you should always do, but actually doing and experiencing something is the best way to learn.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
The industry is moving really quickly, I wholeheartedly agree. Speaking of CeFi vs DeFi, how are you tackling the CeFi hurdles ?
> James:
Ok sure, part of our focus has been to reach out and discuss the challenges with a range of institutions in the TradFi space — this includes several global banks (including in the US), a major stock exchange’s digital asset arm, wealth management firms, private banks, brokers, family offices, institutional market makers and so on.
On the crypto focussed side, it’s been crypto exchanges, custodians, market makers, and crypto projects we’ve been speaking to include those looking at solutions for KYC/AML, self-sovereign ID, tax and reg reporting etc.
Of course, outside of these companies, we continue to have regular conversations with global experts, on legal/regulatory matters and compliance. The feedback so far has been good — they view what Unizen is doing in a positive light.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Interesting, Unizen is already talking to Global Banks and Stock exchanges 👀
> James:
Indeed!
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Next question: let’s talk about compliance because that’s a big part of CeFi hurdles. What is the key here?
> James:
Right — this is a super hot topic now and has been ever since I came onboard.
Our approach is to work with regulators, to educate them, and to help them to understand what we are doing. Regulators are often portrayed in a bad light, but that’s a little unfair in our experience. Our dialogue with them has been great, we are targeting a multi-jurisdictional approach towards regulations.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Absolutely, the industry perception is that regulators are net negative, but that’s not so. Actually, a multi-jurisdictional approach towards compliance is what the community was speculating upon.
> James:
Yes, it’s very demanding and keeps us busy outside of the regular day-to-day stuff... I also have some exciting news on the topic of compliance.
We have also just hired a key figure in the industry as the compliance officer for Unizen. He is very closely associated with the drafting of recent regulatory laws by the FMA.
Official announcements are coming zoon.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
🖼 https://www.the-blockchain.com/2019/10/04/liechtenstein-parliament-passes-blockchain-act/The TVTG act ?
> James:
Exactly — a very comprehensive setup. Similar to what coinbase are proposing to the US. No doubt borrowed some ideas
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Liechtenstein is at the pole position when it comes to Legal and Technical Maturity around Blockchain
> James:
Agreed
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
From compliance, let’s come to ZenX. What is your viewpoint here?
> James:
I think it’s best to explain it with an example. Let’s say we incubate a project that has 20,000 holders — the Unizen ecosystem is built in such a way that we are able to tap into the entirety of those 20,000 holders and convert a large percentage of them into actual users — if that makes sense?
It’s very much a relationship-oriented partnership between the team and ZenX projects. One important ZenX feature is that the entire allocation from the project is distributed via DMAS to those holding and staking ZCX. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify — this does not include Team or Foundation wallets, which are of course exempt.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
OK great — let’s focus on DMAS. Are there only four projects or are there more? This has been a burning question from the community
> James:
Ha … Good Q! As most here will know, we’ve officially announced 4 ZenX projects to date — Cirus, Dimitra, The Husl and Whaleroom.
We are very selective, the due diligence is very thorough — currently, we have over 40 shortlisted applications, direct inquiries, and advisor referrals for incubation and acceleration, and we will be adding to the 4 very soon — watch this space!
In terms of finding and sourcing projects, we have had intense demand from word of mouth alone and many referrals/intros from our amazing community and network…
When projects sign up and partner with Unizen we spend a lot of time planning with them — marketing strategies, exchange listings, liquidity, compliance. It doesn’t stop there — DMAS rewards are held in reserve and dynamically delivered to the community in tranches over time, the Unizen team is on hand throughout the term of the contract to advise projects on the multiple challenges along the way — the expected and unexpected that will occur. Trust and communication is key and our track record and reputation speaks for itself. We don’t just take a fee and move on...
40 made it to the shortlist, there were many more — quite a few duds — but that’s expected of course.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Yes but it is great to see projects “coming to Unizen on their own” for Acceleration and Incubation. What Unizen is offering is truly unique!
> James:
I can’t say any more but…Some of the projects coming are extremely exciting.
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
There is cryptoverse. And then there is ZenX metaverse. Self-perpetuating and separate! Awesome, now another burning question from the community: How much does Pro membership cost?
> James:
Ok so as I understand it, Pro membership will be equivalent of US$50 — the connected wallet will then receive an NFT, and ZCX will be burnt no matter what token the pro membership is purchased with. Of course, I stand to be corrected by Martin if this is incorrect!!
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
What are the percentage allocations since it is a burning question from the community?
> James:
Well... As per Sean’s tweet yesterday, all ZenX accelerated/incubated projects to date and in the immediate pipeline have allocated between 5% and 20% of their total supply to DMAS, which as mentioned already we then pass entirely to the community of ZCX holders who are staking.
For those who missed: https://twitter.com/seannogazen/status/1449159463655649289
> Neon BlockUnify (Will Never DM first):
Oh that’s great. Last question: wen exchange listings ?
> James:
Ah ha! Ok, this is where Sean/Jun Capital and their relationships with the top-tier exchanges come into play — What I can say is that there are many conversations each week with exchanges on multiple topics related to Unizen and ZenX projects. Unizen listings will be strategic and within our geographic and institutional outreach. We are targeting a wide net of liquidity across the board overall. As with all proper exchanges, we can’t announce anything until the exchanges themselves announce it on their end, first.
> Andy (ZB) (Will never DM First):
Hey James, great AMA thanks for dropping the fire today. 🔥 Can DMAS bring in already established projects..like the dots, ksm, Ada etc has there been chats with other projects in regards to this. Or will it be predominantly incubator and start up projects? @googleflip
> James:
Good q Andy — Rewards from existing top 100 projects are certainly possible; however, they won’t be at the 5–20% ranges we quoted earlier and will be outside of the ZENX acceleration/incubator. Think partnership rewards, etc 🔥
> CEYEBER = Cyber Eye NO DM’S:
James thanks for the AMA! How is the Unizen exchange coming along?
> James:
We are close to launching the exchange very zoon. It is the next thing after DMAS is over……
> Rob:
Hey James, what do you not miss the most since leaving the banking sector?
> James:
Tbh i haven’t looked back…. Apart from visiting former colleagues and peers to introduce them to Unizen!
> Amir:
Will Azero be one of the rewards ?
> James:
It’s a great project... however, we cannot announce anything in advance, stay tuned for announcements on our socials
> Sal:
Is there a plan to have DMAS on bsc to fight high eth gas fees
> James:
Yes. DMAS contracts are gas optimised by the way, which should help.
