This week we’re joined by Lao Zi, anonymous founder of QiDao Protocol, who shares their advice for building community around a DeFi project.
What are you building and what sets it apart from similar offerings in the space?
We built a stablecoin protocol that lets users lock their tokens and borrow stablecoins against them at 0% interest, essentially letting you use your tokens without selling them. The stablecoins are overcollateralized to ensure the safety of the protocol. All collateral is user managed, meaning that we don’t have any control over your crypto.
Which quality of the Scalability Trilemma do you find to be the most important?
Decentralization is all about giving power back to the community. By giving users control over their funds, you create a safer environment that is more conducive to innovation and scaling (this is evident in the growth of DEXs vs CEXs).
What is the most critical part of forming a lasting community?
It’s important to be transparent in all aspects of the project and to listen to feedback from the community.
When the community believes in you and has a say in where the project is going they become champions for you. There is no stronger or more effective way to grow your community than through people’s love and excitement.
What is something in DeFi that you think more people should be paying attention to?
Making DeFi more accessible and easier to understand for the individuals that are just now coming in and will be coming in in the near future.
Right now for a non-crypto native in DeFi can be an uncertain place with new terminology, the complexities of different mechanisms, and common mistakes that can lose people their money. The change we want to see in the broader financial sector will only come when we lower these barriers to entry for users
What is a critical lesson you have learned on your journey?
Have a solid plan but be willing and flexible enough to adjust for changing market situations and community feedback.
During our 3rd week from launch, there was a black swan event that tanked the crypto markets. We saw the demand for our stablecoin (miMatic) go up because people were looking to payback their loans to avoid liquidations. This demand caused the price of miMatic to stay above the peg during these market conditions.
To alleviate these issues we went to the drawing board and to the community chats to devise a plan to help improve the ability of users to arbitrage the price closer to the peg. Intro the Swap.
What is your favorite meme from the DeFi community?
Fire Elmo
Thanks for reading. Thank you to Lao Zi for joining us and the insights.
Follow @0xLaoZi and check out QiDao Protocol for more.
