This is a transcript from our weekly YouTube live AMA:

SPEAKERS: Anita Mlakar, Sandi Bitenc and Boba (ApeSwap).

About AMA: Today we’re talking to ApeSwap, where 3air recently launched its LPs and Treasury Bills! Join us live to find out more and ask your questions.

AMA Duration: 01:00:02

Introduction:

Anita Mlakar: 00:23

Hello, dear 3air family and welcome to our weekly AMA. Anita Mlakar is my name. And I’m really happy to have you here today. Looking forward to what is in front of us the whole hour of great conversation as usual Sandi Bitenc, the CEO of 3air will be joining us and we have a special guest coming up. I hope you’re doing fine. You can write down in the comment section, how are you? Where are you? what you’re doing? And of course, you have also opportunity to ask questions during our AMA today. And I’m really looking forward to that questions too.

01:04

As you may know, we always do a short introduction of our project at the beginning. And I will do that right now. So, what is 3air doing?

01:13

3air is the world’s first blockchain platform that is to thrive on Web3 by providing broadband internet connectivity. This is what 3air is. Let me tell you, 3 billion people cannot access blockchain services because they are not connected to the internet. So, we use proprietary technology to build broadband infrastructure where others have failed. What we’re trying to do is connect the unconnected, to bank the unbanked and we are actually connecting people of Africa to Internet. We are doing that which two technologists K3 Last Mile Solution and our 3air internet. And what happens when we connect people? When we connect them, they will get a digital identity from us. We also create their digital bank account, we are giving them a wallet.

02:05

The next step is providing financial services. We have Fiat onboarding and offboarding ramp and peer to peer cash crypto onboarding, DeFi, we are working on micro loans and yield farming. Our outside partners will provide additional digital revenue streams. And once we put people through all those steps, they’re connected, they’re banked, and they’re empowered. And all this time we are educating people and that is the real empowerment.

02:33

So, this is what 3air is doing. And we will continue to do that with your help. So, thank you to be a part of this family. Thank you for being with us. And you can stay with us. Please join us on Telegram, on Discord and on Twitter. We have our channels there. And of course, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel right here. If you’re not subscribed yet so that you will know when we are going live. Let me first say hello, and of course nice welcome to Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air.

Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air Joins the AMA:

Anita Mlakar: 03:06

Hello, Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:08

Hello. Hi, Anita. Hi, 3air fam. Hi, everyone.

Anita Mlakar: 03:12

Hey, like I said before you have a great background today, Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:18

yeah, I’m in a spaceship.

Anita Mlakar: 03:21

Yes, you are. No, really tell us. Where are you actually?

Sandi Bitenc: 03:26

It’s actually not virtual. So, it’s a real background. I can literally walk in here. Isn’t it cool? I’m at SiGMA. So, sigma is organizing the AIBC Summit that’s going on next week. It’s starting on Tuesday, actually. So, on the 15th there is a pre-event on Monday, where we will be also pitching 3air to some VCs. So yeah, it’s cool. So that will be the IKIGAI Retreat, how it’s called. And also, a lot of side events going on even one is today. So, we are today after the AMA we’re going to a meet up, a crypto meetup around here in Malta. So yeah, we’re in Malta.

Anita Mlakar: 04:21

Okay, how’s the weather in Malta?

Sandi Bitenc: 04:26

So, the first days was really bad. It was raining, the wind was so strong. We were going a bit around and the waves were so high that everything was flooded. But literally when you go by the coast, you could not walk the streets because there were like all the waves were splashing everything over the streets and so on. So, but now today it is really nice. We’re getting around 21-24 degrees. In the sun it’s actually pretty hot but if it’s in the shade it kind of gets a bit chilly. For me 21… 25 is actually chilly. So, I’m used to 40 degrees.

Anita Mlakar: 05:16

Okay, but now you don’t have the time to lay around on the sun. So, you don’t miss the sun, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 05:25

How not, I did. I laid in the sun for six and a half minutes.

Anita Mlakar: 05:29

Oh really? Well, that’s something and I’m sure that at that time it was really warm and hot.

Sandi Bitenc: 05:36

It was really, it was. so, it was I had a coffee in the sun and a on the roof we have those sun baths and so I had a coffee there with Petra and we laid in the sun for six and a half minutes.

Anita Mlakar: 05:59

Oh, thank God that you did that. At least, taking a break. Sandi, I wasn’t with you. At the last AMA that was my first time missing it in a year time. Did I missed something special?

Sandi Bitenc: 06:13

Yes, you did. So, you will never be able to make it back.

Anita Mlakar: 06:20

Oh my God, really? So, should I go now?

Sandi Bitenc: 06:24

You shouldn’t be doing it anymore. It was a nice AMA, Ruba did a great job. She was doing it for the first time and yeah, she was amazing. Really good.

Anita Mlakar: 06:42

Yes, she was I checked it. And she was, of course, Ruba is great at everything. So, thank you Ruba for taking my place. And of course, there will be another opportunity for that, I am sure. So, Sandi, we have a really nice AMA today coming up, and we have a special guest and he’s already waiting to be a part of this AMA. You got to know him, right? You know who he is, you’re already working with him, and we will have this opportunity in a second. Would you like to say something about him?

Sandi Bitenc: 07:16

I have been in a few calls with him. And he’s really knowledgeable. He is really humble. I liked talking to him. And he always takes the time, explains everything in detail. And there’s no problem, whatever we asked, we kind of, got in a sense, or they try to accommodate us. So, I’m really happy because this was also agreed kind of on a short-term basis. So, we asked a few days ago, and they didn’t have anyone from the tech team. And then I just say, come on, you can do it. You should be the one either way. Jumping on a call and then yeah, we just agreed on that. I think yesterday evening, or even today in the morning. I don’t remember anymore.

Introduction of the guest Boba form ApeSwap:

Anita Mlakar: 08:11

Okay, so he is a part of a business development team at ApeSwap, and it is time to bring him in here.

08:24

Hello, Boba.

Boba: 08:26

Nice to meet you guys. Nice to meet you, Anita. I’ve meet Sandi a couple of times. And thank you for those kind words. Wow, you made me blush even though I can’t blush on the screen now.

Anita Mlakar: 08:36

I am sorry that we are unable to see that, you know?

Boba: 08:44

Yeah, I mean, if you want to come and meet up, I’m more than willing to do that. And yeah, I have always time for you guys, and I loved working, our working experience so far. And it’s been amazing.

Boba on Anonymity:

Anita Mlakar: 08:58

Thank you very much. I will use the opportunity. I’m sure. We have to tell that we won’t be seeing Boba today live with his face. Why Boba, you should explain?

Boba: 09:10

I’ll explain. Okay, ApeSwap. We are Anonymous team. So, we think and at ApeSwap that work should speak for itself, right? Because blockchain is so open. And everything that we do can be traced on the blockchain. So, it’s super easy to prove that we do what we say we’re going to do. And yeah, we’re a fun-loving team, a bunch of silly apes. I was telling the team here that when we get together on calls, it’s always funny to see all the ape faces. And I was thinking, like for Sandi, what he was thinking when he met with a couple of ape pictures, but I’m glad that you know we got this relationship going and I’m super excited to work with you guys. ApeSwap is open.

Sandi Bitenc: 09:55

So, I never had the problem working with an anonymous team. If the code is good and either way, we have blockchain, right? We should trust in the code. But if the code is not good, then yeah, then I have a problem. There are far more rug pulls being done with Anonymous teams. But in the end also Bitcoin has anonymous developer or founder, there quite a lot of other projects that are anonymous and are really good. So, it doesn’t mean in from the beginning that this is something bad. And I fully respect the privacy because sometimes I would also love to be in a sense anonymous and it comes with so many additional problems when you’re not anonymous, and I’m not out for the fame, right, some people are out for the fame. So, what exactly what I want me to say is that I think staying Anonymous is super cool, if the code is actually working, and you can trust in that, that the funds are safe there.

About Boba:

Anita Mlakar: 11:12

Okay, now, I do have some questions for you, Boba today. But also, I would like to invite everybody who’s with us today to use the opportunity and, of course, ask questions in the comment section. But in the meantime, before we introduce ApeSwap, maybe Boba can you tell us a little bit about yourself? And your way, how did you get to do what you’re doing right now?

Boba: 11:40

Sure. So, I’ve been around ApeSwap since the beginning, more or less, as part of the community. And the nice thing at ApeSwap is if they find you to be knowledgeable and be able to elevate you from the community to the core team, because we function as adults, then they do so. So that was awesome to have that opportunity. My background is in business, I do have a master’s degree in business. And I came to blockchain, I would say blockchain and not crypto because of the openness and the things that you could accomplish with it. And that’s why I think you guys are doing such phenomenal work, because I think that you’re accomplishing a real problem. And you solving a real problem. So, I think for me, that’s exciting to be a part of. I think that and I am on the business development team. Like Sandi said, I was trying to get a dev, but I’ll do my best to explain the products. You know, what we are doing together as best I can.

Anita Mlakar: 12:46

Thank you very much. You are located in Europe, in Italy, right?

Boba: 12:51

I’m in Italy, loving the sun. I am in the northern part of Italy. So, there’s a lot of sun and yeah, I’m not so fortunate to lie next to the beach. But at least Malta is close. So, it’s just an aeroplane, a flight away, so maybe I can meet up with Sandi someday.

Sandi Bitenc: 13:14

Yeah, and that’s staying in Malta. So, my base is actually Dubai. But I’m here now for two weeks. And look, if you’re so close, we still have some tickets available for the event. So, you’re welcome. We’ll get you some tickets. By the way, if anyone from the community wants to come to Malta, visit us. Let us know we still have some tickets.

Boba: 13:40

Wow, awesome. That’s awesome offer. I’ll DM you.

Sandi Bitenc: 13:46

Yeah, look, just DM me and you get a special platinum ticket.

Boba: 13:56

Making me blush again. Thank you very much Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 13:59

Welcome.

Anita Mlakar: 14:00

I’m tempted too, you know?

Sandi Bitenc: 14:04

You are already invited.

What does ApeSwap do?

Anita Mlakar: 14:05

I know. Thank you! So, Boba, let’s talk a little bit about ApeSwap. What does ApeSwap do?

Boba: 14:19

Great question. It’s mostly a decentralized exchange. We have obviously a suite of products that we offer. But we started off as a decentralized exchange and automated market maker. So, an open place where people can come to trade and trade tokens. And we wanted this openness because we wanted everybody to partake and partake in the economy, partake in finance, and that’s the reason why we decided to build this DEX. And then we have a bunch of other products. Obviously, we’re training at the moment to be the most sustainable DEX out there and in a while, I’ll explain that a little bit further. But we try and be a place where projects can come and we can actually work with them, help them with their liquidity management, and make sure that they take care of their token for their community, right? Because if you take care of your token, and you ultimately take care of your community that believes in the project and the token. So that’s ApeSwap. We have a launch pad, pools, farms, treasury bills, which will get into so a lot of things for people to partake in.

Boba on ApeSwap token:

Anita Mlakar: 15:35

Would you please tell us a little more about your token?

Boba: 15:38

Okay, so ApeSwap has a two token system. So, our token is the BANANA token. So obviously, being apes, we decided to choose the BANANA as our token. It’s a farming token. So, we give it out as rewards. We have recently hard capped it because we just think that we can’t be telling people to become more sustainable if we’re not practicing what we preach, so to say, so we thought cap our token, we moving towards, the sustainability goals that we have in mind. And then the second part of this is we have a governance token, which is called GNANA. So, it’s basically that stands for Golden BANANA. And we combined that to say, GNANA and that obviously they get extra, a couple of extra benefits. But ultimately, that is meant to partake in the governance of the DAO. So, we have a lot of votes that go out, especially the Hard Cap was the last vote we did. And the community that holds GNANA, anybody with any amount of GNANA, you can go, and you can vote and have a say in ApeSwap. I hope that explains it.

How do LP tokens work on ApeSwap?

Anita Mlakar: 16:51

Yes, thank you. So maybe a little more about the LPs, and how do they work on ApeSwap?

Boba: 17:01

Great question. So obviously, the LPs is a huge part of ApeSwap and a huge part of what we try and reward. So, LP providers, as any person like yourself, for me, that comes to the platform provides liquidity. So that means you provide an LP pair, so basically 3air and BNB you provide and then what you would get in return is, we have a couple of extra juicy things people get in return now. But normally, you get swapped fees, right? So, of every swap, there is a fee, and about 75% of that fee gets returned to the user that actually provided those LPs. So it’s a place where we would like to incentivize people so that they can also partake in the projects that they love and support those projects.

Sandi Bitenc: 17:55

Yeah, so maybe just to reiterate it a bit. ApeSwap is actually an AMM, so automatic market maker, or a DEX is the same as Uniswap, or PancakeSwap. They’re cross chain, and they have some additional functionalities that the other ones don’t have so and so that’s what ApeSwap actually is, and a swap is when you switch/change from one token to the other. So, if you would change Bitcoin to Ethereum, or you buy for instance, 3air with BNB or BUSD, do a swap and for that you actually need to have somebody who makes the market so somebody who buys and somebody who sells always. So, this is how it is and how it is done in the DEX is that there are always a pair of tokens provided so you have a pool with 3air and BNB and they’re always, 50/50 to each other in regards to the price. So always you are then on this curve, you can always change from 3air to BNB. And whoever provides this 3air and BNB in a pool gets back an LP token. So, this is LP and LP actually stands for liquidity provider. So, when you provide liquidity, then you get LP tokens back and then ApeSwap rewards you for that additionally.

Boba: 19:28

It’s amazing explanation.

Boba on Treasury Bills:

Anita Mlakar: 19:31

Yeah, thank you, Sandi. Thank you for this explanation. So, Baba we’re talking about LPs and the other thing because we’re also educating people here and this is really important. We would like to talk also about something that you made or came up with. Those are treasury bills, right?

Boba: 19:54

Exactly.

Anita Mlakar: 19:56

Could you tell us a little more about it?

Boba: 19:59

For sure. So, treasury bills is something, let me just maybe, take a step back and just explain why we decided to go this route. I explained a little bit about us trying to become the most sustainable DEX. So, Treasury Bills is a way for us to build sustainability in the sense that you are building your liquidity profile out. So, what does that mean? So, every single project out there has a liquidity pool. And that liquidity pool, like the LP pair that we spoke about, and Sandi explained so well, people provide those two pieces of that LP token, they provide it to a liquidity pool.

20:42

The liquidity pool is just a way that you can go easily into a trade. So, I can put in BNB, and get out 3air tokens. And if you have this liquidity pool nice and deep, so deep meaning there’s a lot of money inside of this liquidity pool, it’s easy for users to trade tokens, because like Sandi mentioned, there’s this slot or this curve, which they call the Constant Product Formula. And what that means is if that liquidity pool is deeper, so there’s more liquidity inside that pool, it’s easier for users to partake in that trade because once you trade $1 worth of BNB, you’ll get $1 worth of 3air tokens back.

21:31

So, we try and help projects build that liquidity pool, because that just helps them with the users and helps their community to try it well. Because sometimes what happens is, if that liquidity pool isn’t deep enough, I would put in $1 of BNB but I would only get out, say 75 cents, or 80 cents, of 3air tokens, and we don’t want that we want everybody to partake, and we want people to have favorable conditions, and to trade their tokens and it to be as open as possible.

22:04

Then going back to Treasury Bills, treasury bills was the solution to this. So, we built out this product, thinking about ourselves, scratching our own itch and for the BANANA token, we saw that we needed our liquidity pool to be a lot deeper, because we had a lot of users actually trading that token. So, what we did with Treasury Bills is it’s a way to incentivize users to support the projects that they love. So, they support at ApeSwap by selling their LP tokens that they had to ApeSwap. And in return, they would get more BANANA tokens. So, it’s sort of a way where you can incentivize your community to support the project because ultimately, community members love if the project is around for a long time, because then they can get invested, they can partake in the Telegram groups, they can support the project thoroughly. And that’s the whole reason why we came up with the structure. It is new, so it’s difficult to understand, but we have a lot of material on it. So, if anybody needs more info, I can provide links off to this and we can explain that a little bit more.

Anita Mlakar: 23:22

Yes, of course, we will be talking also where they can get more information and where they can find you a little later. So, this is why they are different from let’s say traditional LPs, right? Like you explained.

Boba: 23:35

Yes, so it’s still the LP model. But basically, it’s a way for you to support the project that you love. So, what you would go, and you would essentially trade your LP tokens for more of your project that you love tokens, so you would get a nice discount.

23:53

So, to say I would go and I would trade $100 worth of LP tokens and if the discount is 6%, I would get $106 worth of 3air tokens because I’m supporting this project and they would like to reward you, project would like to reward you for helping the project out. So, it’s sort of a way where you can get your community involved to build that liquidity pool nice and deep so that in future users can come and trade easily. It’s not that these unfavourable pricing impacts or slippage, just those are all big terms. But basically, what it means is, you get less bang for your buck. You get that 80 cents that I spoke about instead of the $1 that you really wanted to trade.

Sandi Bitenc: 24:47

It’s just because when you buy something the price changes. So, if you buy a token the price will go up and then because you bought so much that the price went up, when you push the price up 20%, then you’ll only get 80% of the trade that you put in. So, this is why and then when the liquidity pool is deeper, so when there’s more money in, you can make bigger trades without actually moving the price.

Boba: 25:18

Perfect. That’s exactly.

What kind of partnerships does ApeSwap offer?

Anita Mlakar: 25:22

Okay. So, you have partnership also with 3air, we will be talking about that. But just tell me what kind of partnerships do you offer to crypto projects? Why would they connect to ApeSwap?

Boba: 25:39

Good question. So, at the moment, like I mentioned, we are training towards sustainability. So, meaning, helping projects build out that liquidity pool that we spoke about. And obviously, when that’s easy, and nice and deep, then we know that support all the trades and all the volume of users and community members that want to trade. So, I guess what ApeSwap does differently that no other DEX does is that we actually use analytical models, we use all the data that we’ve collected on coins, and tokens to make sure that we’re advising, and we are there every step of the way with our partners. We are not letting them just go out and do whatever they think is best we can actually provide them with data and tell them like, listen, we think that this could be better for you and your community and your longevity. So, I think that’s the key difference that ApeSwap is training towards. And we’ve just seen that, that is a way for projects to bold and be here for long term.

Sandi Bitenc: 26:50

I think it makes a lot of sense when you say about sustainability, because the swaps or the DEXs are sustainable, in a sense, you want people to trade their right to swap tokens, and for them to actually swap tokens, you need to give them the best option. So, the deeper the liquidity, and the most of the tokens. And when the liquidity, if the LPs people usually don’t hold the LPs, so they’ll try in the beginning and make some money off of it. But then they’ll probably just because you can actually trade the LP tokens back and give it back to the DEX and then you’ll get your share of the pool. So, in our case, 3air and BNB but the project itself, usually they really want to have the pools as deep as possible, they really care about the pool, while the users usually don’t. So, when the projects themselves hold their own liquidity, it is far more sustainable and far more likely that the pools stay there, and that the money will stay actually in ApeSwap. So, I think it’s a really cool method that you’re doing.

Boba: 28:09

Thank you. Yeah, that’s exactly it.

3air and ApeSwap partnership:

Anita Mlakar: 28:13

Okay, dear community, please do write down if you do understand that if you have any questions, you’re welcome, of course to ask them. Now Boba and Sandi do tell us a little more about our partnership with 3air. How did it came to this partnership? And what is it about and how?

Sandi Bitenc: 28:37

Yeah, so I will start. So, it’s actually we provided some liquidity on ApeSwap and we’re actually aiming to have the majority of the liquidity. I think right now already we have the majority, the biggest pool actually on ApeSwap. So, we have there a 3air BNB pool as we were talking about, and then Boba and offered us to set up a farm for us, and also a treasury bill for us. So, this is the partnership part, and we didn’t talk about farms. So, what farms actually are is when you can stake the LP tokens in a contract, so kind of in this farm, and then while the LP tokens, are there, a stake there, you will get a reward. And right now, actually, ApeSwap is providing their own BANANA token for the rewards so we’re not diluting the 3air token and then afterwards, we started our treasury bill and with the treasury bill, you could then take the same LP tokens or create new ones, and then you can, in a sense, sell it to us. So, through the pool, you would sell or you would give away your LP tokens, and then you’ll get 3air tokens back at discount. So, I don’t know Boba. Do you know what the discount is right now actually?

Boba: 30:10

I think when I last checked, I checked about an hour ago, it was 9%. So, it’s a pretty decent discount. And yeah, I just want to shout out like Sandi, you explained that BANANA farm incredibly well, but yeah, if anybody would like to partake, it’s open, you get rewarded in BANANA. That’s our token, there’s so many things that you’re new on a platform with that, there’s some pools that you can go and stake that in. And then obviously, we would love it if you would partake in Treasury Bills and support 3air and make sure that you’re obviously getting that nice discount. But then it’s also like a benefit, because there’s a nice NFT that you get with this, it’s limited edition to 3air for this bill. And that’s a nice little incentive that we throw in. And the nice part of this as well, if you get those tokens, you could go back, you could go back, go back and pay those again, with BNB and go back into the farm and earn more BANANA. So, we would love it if community members partake in it this way. It just helps us out and it helps, obviously 3air out. And I know that’s what the community wants.

Anita Mlakar: 31:39

Wow, it sounds great. And we all love BANANAs, that’s for sure. So, let’s do that. Just joking a little bit. Okay, now we had a nice comment. I hope you saw it. So, John said that he knows both working with both of you. And he’s really looking forward to this partnership. Thank you.

Boba: 32:05

Thanks, John. That’s awesome.

Where can everyone find more info on ApeSwap?

Anita Mlakar: 32:08

Okay, so this is really a nice partnership and since you were explaining so much about what you were doing and how people can participate. So, Baba, how can actually people learn more about it? Where can they find you? Where can they read about it? How can they find you?

Boba: 32:28

So, on ApeSwap, if you go to ApeSwap, you’ll see there is a tab that says “Raise” and there you would find the Treasury bills, you will find 3qir there. If you go to ApeSwap, and you go to our BANANA farm section, you’ll see 3air is right at the top, because obviously, we would like to promote 3air as much as possible. And then you can also see there’s a tab that says “Explore”. And on that Explore tab, there’s documentation, but I don’t know if we can drop it here. But maybe we can drop it in the Telegram group, or any way that the community can access it. But there’s a lot of detail on this. And if you just go to our Twitter page as well, you’ll see we do a lot of education and there’s a lot of education on this upcoming. And it’s sort of just because this is so new, like it’s not farming, it’s not a pool, it’s something totally different. We have to be mindful that we have to take users through this experience and help them understand why this is important.

Anita Mlakar: 33:42

Okay, Baba, I went through your page, I see that you’re also active and having conversations on Twitter, on Reddit, on Discord, on Telegram. And what I really liked is that you have so many sentences starting on your page, how to… how to do something- how to… so you’re really educating people and I think they will really learn a lot also at your page.

Boba: 34:09

Thank you. That’s amazing to hear.

Do you also have an explanation video?

Anita Mlakar: 34:17

Richard has a question.

Boba: 34:18

That’s a great question. So, at the moment, right as we are speaking, I don’t know if I may say this, maybe I’m spoiling something. But we’re recording videos as we speak. And, yeah, I’m thinking we’ll have those out before the end of the year. And those would explain specifically how it works, how the mechanics works, why it’s important, and why we would love for community members to partake in this. So yeah, that’s coming. Watch our socials. I’ll probably also be sharing that with Sandi and the team, and they could share that on your Telegram as well and your twitter if they want. So yeah, it’s coming.

What chains are already implemented on the platform and what are the fees?

Sandi Bitenc: 35:08

Cool. Look, Boba what I wanted to ask also is which chains your DEX is already operational on and also, can you tell us a bit how you compare in regards to fees to other DEXs?

Boba: 35:28

Great question or questions. So, first of all chains, we started off on the BNB Chain, second largest DEX by many matrix behind PancakeSwap. We started nearly two years ago on the BNB Chain about, let’s say, a year and a half ago on Polygon. And then we also recently expanded to Ethereum and Telos, so Telos is our newest expansion, and we were excited about that partnership as well. And then to answer your second question of fees, like I said, we take on every swap 0.2% fee, but actually 75% of that fee goes to the LP provider, so goes through the community members to people that partake in ApeSwap. So that actually goes to the ApeSwap treasury is just a 0.05%. So really small, and then comparing to other, PancakeSwap it’s more or less comparable to the other DEXs on BNB Chain, it’s more or less comparable, obviously Uniswap V3 is the most efficient one at the moment, and obviously with less costs, but we’re trending in that direction. And you’ll also hear something soon, I’m not gonna spoil, but you’ll hear something soon about that as well.

Sandi Bitenc: 36:57

Okay, so you’re also going to V3, and the polls where you optimize your liquidity a bit and then provide it from a price to price.

Boba: 37:09

So V3, obviously, that still Uniswap V3 is still, I think it’s still under close, you can’t really see what they’re doing. So, they had one year where they closed everything off. But we’re looking at a bunch of models out there. So, the balancer model, V3, Uniswap V3, we’re looking at a lot of things and trying to see what makes sense for us moving towards the sustainability that we mentioned, and what makes sense with capital efficiency in mind, especially looking at protocol owned liquidity and sustainability.

More info on Treasury Bills:

Sandi Bitenc: 37:45

Cool. I also think that Uniswap is a bit more expensive in regards to fees, it depends. There you can actually choose, when you are a LP provider, you can actually choose how much of the fee will be, right?

Boba: 38:03

Exactly. It’s sort of a gaming system, without these tranches where you would sort of invest your money. I think that may confuse people, but basically you could be very capital efficient, if there’s a lot of people in that tranche. But if there’s not, then obviously capital efficiency the user can decide what they want to set the rate at, the trading fee, which, obviously is not ideal for most trades. But yeah, I think I’ll leave it at that. Still a long way to go but we are looking constantly. Luckily, we have a dev team working on this 24/7 and like I said, I’m they extremely busy at the moment. Something I didn’t mention about treasury bills, there is a Zap function. So, if somebody goes to the Treasury bill, there’s an easy way to get your LP tokens. So, there’s a Zap function. If you click on the 3air BNB token or treasury bill, you’ll see at the bottom left of that little window that pops up, this is Zap function. Easy to go from BNB or Bitcoin or Ethereum into your LP tokens and then it’s easy to go to Treasury bills and partake.

Sandi Bitenc: 39:24

With one click?

Boba: 39:28

Two click. So first to zap and then second to partake, but we’re trying to get it to one click.

Sandi Bitenc: 39:37

Yeah, and the capital efficiency in DEX is a totally other conversation that will take another hour or two or three probably. So will not open that Pandora’s box.

Boba: 39:51

If you want. I’ll get one of our devs on board and we can chat about it on one of your AMAs if you want to dedicate one to that.

Sandi Bitenc: 40:00

Let’s see you if the community wants it at one point in time, why not?

Boba: 40:05

Awesome!

Where is Boba form?

Anita Mlakar: 40:05

We gave a lot of information today, we did educate a lot. And I’m sure that people will also look up for you and find out more. I would really like to thank you, Boba for being with us today. May I just ask you? Boba are you originally from Italy?

Boba: 40:24

No, I’m not. Sandi probably don’t want to hear this, but I tried to speak with Sandi just because of this. I’m super passionate about Africa because I am an African. So that’s the first reason why I wanted to get in contact with Sandi and wanted him to collab with us. I am super happy to say that this happened, and I think it was meant to be.

Sandi Bitenc: 40:50

Yeah. And if you listen to Boba speak, there’s this “Ya” in that you all know where his from immediately.

Boba: 41:06

Yeah, South African. I am also African but yeah, I’m super excited for what you guys are gonna achieve. I’m amped for it.

Anita Mlakar: 41:17

Okay, really looking forward to getting to know you personally, there will be opportunity, I’m sure. And in the meantime, of course thank you very much for being a part of this AMA. And looking forward to the next one. As you spoke to Sandi, there will be a next one about other things. So, thank you very much and have a great day.

Boba: 41:43

Thank you so much, guys. And thanks for having us. And long may this partnership continue. I love your background, Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 41:50

Let me know if you come to Malta.

Boba: 41:54

For sure. Yeah, it sounds incredible, I would say. So gonna look at tickets now.

Anita Mlakar: 42:05

Okay, bye. Thank you.

Boba: 42:08

Bye guys.

Market update:

Anita Mlakar: 42:14

It was so informational and educational and inspiring. So, I’m really glad that Boba was with us. Sandi, we have a couple of more minutes to talk about 3air and what is going on? And of course, for you to give us the market update because it was interesting again this week, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 42:35

Yeah, I don’t know. You can say interesting. Some people were probably crying. I was just like, this is like a, an action movie or something that happened in the last few days or a horror movie or something like that. But we got another giant in the crypto space collapsing. And that’s actually Alameda Research and it dragged down FTX. So, I think we can say the second biggest exchange actually, so just after Binance and it started, I think on Friday or Thursday, previous week. And some information came out somebody leaked some info that Alameda Research is actually a VC fund. So, they are investing in new projects and supporting them and so on. So apparently, their balance sheet was not what they were saying it is. It was inflated with their own token. So FTX were issues their own token like 3air. And then Alameda were actually leveraging that token and took out loans against it and was buying other stuff with it that were also illiquid. So, at one point in time, they became illiquid. And also, because FTX was actually bailing them out a few times and giving them a lot of tokens. That came out and then in a sense a bank run started. And they did a really crucial mistake.

44:24

I think it started already a few weeks or a few months ago. So, the owner of FTX and Alameda Research is Sam Backman-Fried or SBF as they call him. And he was lately lobbying for a lot of regulation and regulation in DeFi space that not a lot of crypto projects actually want it or liked. And I was giving you my opinion on regulation already. In the past I do think that some regulations should be there. But of course, we should not KYC each and every wallet or DEX or whatever. So, I think he was crossing a bit the line. And then he was also poking at CZ. So, the owner of Binance, they’re a bit bigger than them. And I think there was a small war going on between those guys.

45:29

Then CZ came out and said that they’ll be selling off all the FTT tokens. So, all the FTX issued tokens, because they were actually their early investor, and they had like, really a huge amount of token there. And they said, like, this is not going good. We’re just gonna sell the token on the open market. And they actually announced that, and then everyone else started selling. And then from FTX, or Alameda, they actually came and openly said that they’ll be buying the token for $22 off of Binance of CZ. And that was really bad. Because if you do such an announcement publicly, you just invite in speculators and then I think FTT token was one of the most heavy shorted tokens right now. And of course, they couldn’t support the price at $22 for long. Then afterwards, everything just collapsed.

46:34

So, SBF/Sam Backman-Fried he was actually still tweeting out that everything’s fine that they are not leveraged. And then in FTX exchange, they don’t leverage users funds, and everything’s there. But also, then after half a day or a day, the stopped withdrawals. And we’ve seen this a few times this year already, when the withdrawals are stopped, there is something really ugly going on. So, there was a liquidity crunch that came because of all of this. And yeah, there were just an illiquid. And then Sam Backman-Fried actually went to CZ and asked him for help. And CZ, also Binance is right now looking into buying up whole FTT. So, with one blow, they actually took out the biggest competitor that they had, and buying them up, accumulating totally in full. So yeah, this is what happened, and it just drags everything down.

47:51

There’s the elections and looking at the markets, also the elections are not really supporting the markets right now. The Europe has started raising interest rates a lot again. So, the DXY or the Dixie did come down a bit. So, Euro is now again, worth more than $1 but this usually is bullish for the markets. But right now, I think it’s not the right way how it’s actually going. It’s just when everyone is hiking up the rates, the money just flows out of the stock markets and other assets and going into cash. This is what’s happening right now. And causing the markets to go to crash down a bit. And, of course, the big crash that we’ve seen in the last two days. And there was, I think in the crypto market, there was almost 260 billion I think wiped out in two days alone. So, it was really crazy. And it looks like it’s still continuing. I don’t know if Alameda and FTX are selling off all the assets that they have or something like that, but for sure it looks like there’ll be some more pain coming in the next few days or weeks. But I do think that now that the second biggest exchange has crashed, I think this could literally mean that the Crypto Winter is coming to an end so hopefully we see this clean out now and then we have a bit of a more healthy market and we can start building up from here again. Hopefully!

How does the current market situation reflect on 3air?

Anita Mlakar: 49:54

It is about time. Okay, Sandi now, looking at all this, I know, you gave us an explanation, but how do you feel about all this? I mean, what is your personal opinion? You know, following all this, seeing what is happening? And of course, building, let’s say, good project in the crypto world?

Sandi Bitenc: 50:21

Well, for now, yeah, of course, we are affected, I cannot say that we’re not. So, our token is just not performing as well as it would if we would be in a bull market. So that’s for sure. Also, fundraising is harder and everything. And people are just, they’re all on their toes, they’re really antsy, whatever, a small thing that they don’t like, they’re really, you know, they can get angry really fast, and so on, and those things, but it’s the market, it’s not really us. We are doing our work as much as we can. And it’s hard to build a community in such a market because people left the space and so on. So, it does challenge us. And yeah, as they say, the best project survived the bear market and some other projects, they just don’t, and this is how you get a healthy market in the end. So, we are doing our best to really go and get through this bear market. Our product, we are 100% certain and confident that our product is good that it’s needed, and that will have huge adoption. But we still need to build it out in full. So that’s how it is, and this is what we’re focused on right now. Not so much on the markets.

Is the token release scheduled for about 1 million tokens a day?

Anita Mlakar: 52:05

Yeah, this is what is happening right now. So, Sandi thank you. We have a comment here. Just let me see- Is the token release schedule about 1 million tokens a day? Unfortunately, I haven’t figured that out through the website yet.

Sandi Bitenc: 52:23

I don’t know how many tokens per day are actually issued. I don’t know. So, there is a chart, if you go to app.3air.io and you open up the app and login, you will see a release chart and there is exactly how many tokens are released into the market. But I don’t know off the top of my head how many tokens are released, but I don’t think that a million is released. I don’t think so.

52:57

You need to understand that not everything that is released is actually going to hit the market. So, there are quite a lot of more tokens released for the staking rewards that are actually given out as a staking reward. So those are actually going to be given a staking rewards for a prolonged time. Also, some of the tokens are released into the marketing and nothing from marketing. Actually, 3air is not selling anything into the market right now. So, actually everything that would go to our wallets is nothing from that is hitting the market.

Will next week be the “on the ground” update?

Anita Mlakar: 53:37

Richard is asking, Will next week be the on the ground update? We need some good news building during the bear market?

Sandi Bitenc: 53:49

I don’t know. So, there are some things going on in DRC. Some things are moving. We are waiting for some good news from there. And once we get that and out of our hands, right? So, it’s just a waiting game, nothing else. Once we get that, we’ll do a market update from on ground.

Info on voting:

Anita Mlakar: 54:12

Okay. We are really grateful for this great community Sandi that we’re having and everything that is going also on Telegram and on other chats. And we also have a voting going on where people can vote for our project, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 54:30

Yes, absolutely. I don’t know if we have this in the caption so that we can display the on screen where people should go. But I think there is a link in our Telegram channel if nobody else is there. And what it is, is actually we’ve been nominated for the most impactful social project of the year. And yeah, we’re competing against a few other projects. And a part of the vote is actually up on the community, you go, you vote, it is going to be part who gets this reward. So, I don’t know how to call that.

Anita Mlakar: 55:01

And when will it be announcement of the winner?

Sandi Bitenc: 55:31

It’s going to be during the AIBC, but I don’t know exactly which date, I think it should be stated there. I’ll for sure be at the event that I’m sure I don’t know when it is, but I’ll be there. And let’s see, I think we will be doing a live update from there. I’ll ask some of the team members to film it a bit, and so on. So, let’s see, hopefully, we get this one that will be amazing. I do think that we’re doing really good work with connecting schools in Africa, and I think that should be impactful enough. Because we were actually doing the own groundwork. And up until now we connected, I think, almost 3000 students to Internet for free.

Anita Mlakar: 56:21

Wow! That deserves the award. I really hope that 3air gets it. So, thank you for voting for 3air project. And you can continue to do that this week. And of course, then we’ll see how it ends. Sandi, what are you planning up for this day, or whatever it is left from this day, and then in the next days?

Sandi Bitenc: 56:51

So today, we are going to this crypto meetup here in Malta and let’s see, I’ll have a presentation there. And we’ll try and record it also or maybe we’ll even be able to have it live. Not 100% sure if there’s a good enough connection there. So, this is for today.

57:23

Tomorrow, it just going to be standard work. And Friday, then I know some key members are coming over on Saturday. And then on Monday, we are having the pitch in front of a few VCs at the Ikigai Retreat. And then I think there’s the first side event in the evening of Monday. And I think there are multiple events going on here in the next week. So, one is SiGMA, that’s more gaming, like, Web2 gaming or traditional gaming oriented and also some, casino oriented, so this is SiGMA and then alongside it, it’s the AIBC that’s fully crypto oriented. And then there’s also some tech event and some Med Tech, something medical going on in this space. So, there should be around 15,000 people here I think in next week.

Anita Mlakar: 58:38

All right. Okay. Sandi so we did come to the end of this AMA we will be here, of course next week, the same time, same hour, and I am already inviting all of you to be with us. And to prepare questions. Of course, if you have some for Sandi or for maybe a special guests that will be with us. Thank you very much for taking your time. Thank you very much for sharing everything you did and enjoy you stay in Malta, not just work, do use some free time, just to relax a little bit.

Sandi Bitenc: 59:15

There’ll be time for free time and relaxation. Next week, we are actually going to have the AMA from the AIBC probably from our own booth there, if it’s not too crowded, and I can speak we’ll do it like that. And yes, if anyone wants to come down to Malta, visit us, please let us know in Telegram or wherever we still have some tickets available and we would love to share with our community.

Anita Mlakar: 59:51

Thank you very much and do vote for the 3air project. Have a nice rest of the day and we’ll be back in a week time. Bye.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:00:02

Bye.

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