Key Takeaways
- Sanctor Turbo Demo Day is an event hosted by Sanctor Capital.
- The investment firm organized the event to conclude its six-week mentorship program.
- The event saw demos from the three participating projects and panel discussions featuring a host of industry heavyweights.
Sanctor Turbo Demo Day gave viewers a first look at the inaugural class to graduate from Sanctor Turbo, as well as expert panel discussions covering three of the hottest topics in the crypto space today.
Sanctor Turbo Hosts Demos
Sanctor Capital, an early-stage blockchain-focused investment firm, has concluded its first six-week mentorship program. The three teams selected for the alpha class presented their projects for the first time at a demo day on Sep. 14, showcasing the cutting-edge blockchain technologies they have been developing.
The first project to demo was Koii Protocol, which aims to provide faster, cheaper, and more rewarding ways to build cross-chain compatible decentralized apps. To show off the abilities of the Koii network, the team demonstrated Atomic NFTs. By using Koii nodes, which can bring web data onto the Koii blockchain, NFTs on the network can react to different metrics such as how many users view it. In the presentation, a flower NFT changed its state as more users viewed it, fully blooming when enough attention was focused on it. Using Koii’s Finnie wallet, users can import their NFT collections from MetaMask or OpenSea, letting them permanently store the NFT images on Koii using Arweave.
The second project preview was from Synchrony, an on-chain copy trading protocol deploying on Solana. “Copy trading” involves copying the trades of a leader in the space, and in this case it’s an automated service that copies trades a leader makes to a user’s own account. By providing this service on-chain, Synchrony is developing trustless copy trading. Users can define the parameters for copy trades to execute and decide which assets they wish to copy trade, affording a high degree of control. In addition to copy trading, Synchrony also allows users to create their own indexes composed of assets, other indexes, or even user wallets.
The final project presentation came from Thorswap, a decentralized cross-chain swapping platform. Thorswap offers one-step cross-chain swaps without wrapping assets or going through a centralized exchange. As all decentralized exchanges need high levels of liquidity to function efficiently, users can also deposit native Layer 1 assets to earn yield on Thorswap. Users will be able to connect all their existing wallets to the platform to easily swap across different chains without giving up custody of their assets.
Industry Experts Lead Panel Discussions
The event also saw several panel discussions.
The first panel focused on interoperability in the crypto space and featured Yearn Finance creator Andre Cronje, ThorChain technical lead Chad Barraford, Moonbeam CEO Derek Yoo, and Jump Trading director of special projects Hendrik Hofstadt.
Cronje kicked things off by outlining his view that the multi-chain crypto landscape is similar to where Ethereum was in 2017 to 2018. He explained that while infrastructure is being built and deployed, the true potential of multi-chain interoperability has not yet been realized.
The group then discussed how liquidity mining has brought users to various Layer 1 chains but was perhaps falling out of favor as it failed to generate long-term value. This led to the discussion that interoperability means more than just token transfers, with additional applications such as cross-chain price information and data hosting being equally important.
Lastly, the cohort put forward their views on the future of interoperability in the crypto space, with ThorChain’s Barraford highlighting the need for a multi-chain wallet. Cronje also added that improved user experience would likely be a priority if more users are to start engaging with multiple cryptocurrencies as an interoperable network.
In the second discussion, Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko, Jump Trading director of strategic investments Kanav Kariya, Multicoin Capital managing partner Tushar Jain, and Synchrony founder Andrew Fraser talked about bringing traditional financial players into the world of decentralized finance.
While Solana’s Tuesday network outage overshadowed the discussion, the group also focused on what sets the chain apart from its competitors. Solana’s high fidelity data streams and ability to handle up to 65,000 transactions per second allow it to support existing traditional financial services without a loss of functionality.
Additionally, Fraser pointed out that the user experience in traditional finance products is still superior to anything in DeFi so far, citing slow transactions and high gas fees on Ethereum as problems. He went on to say that Solana is in a great position to address these issues, allow greater financial inclusion in DeFi for smaller investors.
Finally, the group discussed how NFTs could play a role in onboarding traditional financial services, explaining how their use for recording insurance, medical records, or on-chain identities could improve current off-chain solutions.
The final panel explored how NFTs are redefining art, economics, and value. It featured Arweave co-founder Sam Williams, Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung, NFT artist and photographer Kevin Abosch, and Koii Network founder Al Morris.
The discussion started with moderator Jon Rice asking the group if they thought NFTs were in a bubble. Opinions were mixed, with Williams answering yes, but with the caveat that bubbles are a natural part of any new revolutionary market force. On the other hand, Yung disagreed, pointing out that people have always bought expensive things publicly to show off their wealth, sharing the view that NFTs are just a continuation of this trend.
The cohort also speculated on the future of the NFT space, exploring the idea that non-fungible assets are forming a new standard of information. With the integration of data storage chains like Arweave, art can more reliably survive the test of time. Williams views an enduring record as especially important, stating that better ideas can be generated when people have more access to old ideas.
Another possible direction for the future of art came from Yung, who talked about the idea that NFTs are open assets. Current NFTs have the capacity to spawn entire derivative ecosystems around them if enough people are interested in making it happen. The recent craze of Loot NFTs exemplifies this idea, showing that the value of NFT technology extends far beyond the ownership of a digital asset.
Overall, Sanctor Demo Day was a huge success, highlighting the work of projects in the Sanctor Turbo program, and allowing developers from the up-and-coming projects to discuss ideas with experts in the crypto industry. The next demo day will happen in the coming months, with texts available on the Sanctor Capital website.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies. Andre Cronje is an equity holder in Crypto Briefing. Some of the equity-holders in Sanctor Capital also hold equity in Crypto Briefing. Han Kao is the former CEO of Crypto Briefing.
