Kylin AMA recap — with Crypto Society -28 December 2020
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Let’s do it!
Bilo 2000
It’s our pleasure to have you with us today, Dylan Dewdney, Kylin Network’s CEO. I would like to welcome you here on behalf of our entire community.
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Thanks so much and look forward!
Bilo 2000
Could we begin with a brief history of yourself and your team, and your roles at Kylin Network and what you were doing before Kylin Network?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
I’ll try and keep it brief, though it’s a pretty long story tbh:
For me:
1) I wanted to be an academic, and I was really interested in revolutions and social movements throughout history. In paradigmatic revolutions, ideas about Hegelian Dialectics, punk ethos, the Situationists, etc.
2) Started to get into ideas about value in online life in 2006–7
in game currencies and economies
etc.
then discovered BTC randomly in late 2010
Shelved it in my mind then came across it again late 2011, and just got progressively more involved in the space/industry
Lots of twists and turns
That’s me in a nutshell. Re: the team:
We are a pretty deep group, and I am unsure of other groups in Polkadot space at least with as many heavyweights involved
We were all sort of biding our time until a technical framework came along that we felt could comprehensively, and economically solve the Oracle Problem.
We felt that was Polkadot. When the time was right, we struck.
Bilo 2000
Thanks for indulging — Always interested in hearing about revolutionaries like you and many in this ecosystem :)
Can you tell us about why you thought Kylin Network needed to be built and what problem it solves?
How did Kylin Network start?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
I felt that the Oracle Problem needed to be solved, that is, how do we connect real world events and info to the chain?
I didn’t think it could be solved adequately until Polkadot came along. I think the idea was that ERC-20 / ethereum was the route to a lot of this, but the technical team there really sat a lot tbh. I know this because I know people close to the highest levels of that team and some people were literally just chilling for a while.
Bilo 2000
Nice! — thanks
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
I might be speaking out of turn, but we needed a framework and we needed a technical innovation in order to unlock the potentiality of an economical oracle solution
That was contained in Polkadot — there are still some major challenges ahead, but the basic way forward of a shared relay chain is the correct way IMO
Bilo 2000
How would you describe Kylin Network if you were talking to someone unfamiliar with digital assets?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
If they were completely unfamiliar with digital assets, I’d say, well, you know google and Facebook are ad companies, right? And these companies form an overall global economy based on the buying and selling of data. Well, what if this buying and selling of data was not centralized? What if companies could monetize any sort of data they wanted, or hook into premium data feeds and squeeze value where they couldn’t before?
Bilo 2000
Very interesting
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
That’s what Kylin represents in the long-term vision.
The low-hanging fruit and the easier part quite frankly is enabling the DeFi world in crypto, which depends on reliable price feeding. If I’m selling apples, I need to know how much people will pay
We help people have a reliable picture of the price of apples
Bilo 2000
Thanks — great explanation!
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
my pleasure!
Bilo 2000
Some more technical questions here:
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
please
Bilo 2000
If you run a validator or nominator on either Polkadot or Kusama, does that increase your chances to be able to run a Kylin validator in the earliest stages of Kylin Network?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Well, yes, in a circumspect, way, though
We have a vetting process to become part of the first round of validators and one of the indicators would likely be that
Bilo 2000
Since you are building as a project in the DOT ecosystem: what are your plans for the rococo testnet, and eventually for the DOT parachain auctions in 2021? What is your goal and how do you intend to achieve it?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
As soon as the POC testnet is done, we will press forward.
With respect to the parachain auctions, we are gathering resources for a massive shot at this IMO.
The goal is to get to parachain, of course, but the biggest goal is use and use cases and people getting value out of what we are up to.
Bilo 2000
As a decentralized data network, and mainnet en route for q1 2021 are there already established use-cases, i.e. concrete partnerships in the sectors that you list as possible applications on your main site, that you could reveal or describe?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Just to be clear, mainnet is probably late q2 (if not q3)
Established use case is clear: traditional oracle services for which we have already announced many partnerships (and more to come!): tidal, reef, deficliq, etc. etc.
Bilo 2000
Ok — good to know — thanks for correcting that
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
These projects are willing to partner based on this use case alone as we are able to provide oracle services extremely economically (i.e. we will likely power our own basic price feed)
With respect to use cases outside of price feeding for defi — there are some concrete things we’ve been discussing with partners: i.e. helping them monetize idle data and data sets behind a KYL-enabled paywall. A lot of the info at the command of these projects is extremely valuable.
Bilo 2000
Thanks — I will get to some of the oracle type question further on in the conversation
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
In addition, there are cool innovation paths that — to some extent — have value to society that can’t really be measured in crypto or dollars like validating election outcomes, or unfettering the concentration of wealth to the centralization of the internet
Bilo 2000
That’s great and actually leads down a path where I personally am seeing more and more adoption of social benefits rather than only financial ones. Good on you and your team!
love your gifs btw :)
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
One thing that I’m particularly keen on helping to kick-start is the monetization of genomic data
Bilo 2000
That requires a high level of privacy — how do you address that?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
People can literally start potentially whole companies on the basis of an ideation within Kylin
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
One of the bottlenecks is that indeed.
Bilo 2000
Fair enough — very glad to see that it’s an acknowledged challenge which only means it’s something you view as essential
Bilo 2000
When it comes to Application Scenarios, Kylin mentions “automatic payment of insurance such as flight delay insurance” and “off-chain real-time price data” as well as “casinos and games.” Are you engaged with non BC real world companies in relation to these scenarios and if so can you tell us more, even some names if possible please?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Kylin allows a framework whereby data can be bought and sold in a decentralized way. This element has been missing previously, so projects like these:
https://www.labiotech.eu/genomics/blockchain-control-genomic-data/
have had sort of a basic issue in the past that they’ve needed some framework to address this, but they just haven’t until now
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
So these companies have a way to actualize your genomic data, but not really an effective way to address market creation in a decentralized manner
Bilo 2000
What is the Kylin token used for? Can you describe the Tokenomics?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
This is actually a slow process getting enterprise-level (non-BC) companies involved. You typically need to get engaged with their innovation departments and/ or BC inno deps. If they have them. We are starting those convos now
But yes, it looks very promising that an insurance company would like to get in front of something that could easily erode an aspect of their business (flight insurance). In this example, Kylin would be driving the results to know when payouts would, occur in a highly efficient flight insurance application of some kind.
Bilo 2000
Thanks for your detailed answers
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Kylin token is:
1) staking and arbitration of nodes, 2) access — for example behind a paywall 3) governance
Bilo 2000
Thanks — what percentage of the total supply is already sold and what are the plans for the public trading coming up?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Approx. 17% of tokens are spoken for either through investment or advisory
Bilo 2000
Thanks — Do you know when the token will be made available for buying/trading and where?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Re: public trading, in all likelihood we will list on a tier 1 or 1.5 exchange with a concurrent liquidity event (I personally like Polkastarter a lot).
The timing for this is still Jan/Feb.
Bilo 2000
That’s fantastic! Looking forward to this
What is the most powerful narrative which drive tokenomics in the current zeitgeist of DeFi and desire for yields?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Greed
Bilo 2000
hahahahahahaha
moving on ;)
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
True though, no?
haha
Bilo 2000
Very true!!! lol
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
I think despite that, though (and less cynically), is the narrative that sees DeFi to finance as basically what email was to postal services
Bilo 2000
Is Kylin Network disruptive and if so how so? & Would you consider Kylin a competitor to Chainlink or other oracles?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
I see us as more constructive than disruptive in the sense that we are not really trying to say, ‘hey we are disrupting this or that established industry” — it’s more like we are building something entirely new.
We are laying out an entirely new path toward a globalized, decentralized data economy that people will imagine on. Kylin is a sandbox, ultimately.
Not directly, no, though we certainly include these services and it’s very likely that if we achieve everything we want to we would be a natural choice for anyone wanting them
Bilo 2000
Does what your building compete with other oracles though or does your oracle do something different that they don’t?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
We compete directly in the sense we accomplish same function. I think the way we do it is more robust and ultimately more sustainable in the long-term bc of where we are building — Polkadot. Oracle services are going to be pretty cheap very soon I think. The more important play IMO is actualizing the overall data economy
Though most people focus on the oracle + defi dynamic
Bilo 2000
Thanks — That’s perfect. Its more interesting to investors I think to see new projects competing with the older ones — This drives re-innovation as well
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Agreed
Bilo 2000
Speaking of which, there are several Oracles both on DOT and other platforms. Some of these are giants like Link, Band etc. All these projects will compete against each other for the available market share. Is there a way to collaborate with the competitors rather than compete for the market share pie?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
I don’t think we need to tbh — and I see obsolescence for any project focusing only on oracle
Bilo 2000
Clear — Thanks
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
The thing is that, logically, why would you not, all things being equal, use a handful of oracles?
Bilo 2000
Could you please provide us with some challenges Kylin has faced but overcome?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Definitely the beginning. Just establishing that we were a real, legitimate project could be tough. You can take it personally at times. Then the web 3 grant. Pitching our first advisory members. Getting our first funders. The daily challenges both personal and professional that always intervene.
Bilo 2000
I’m sure this was not easy
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
We were extremely strategic, that said, about our timing and the market conditions and focus on oracle + Polkadot definitely have helped
Bilo 2000
This might be tied to the question above, but as we all understand oracles face this problem of high costs and difficulty in feeding off-chain data. Could you please expand on how Kylin is looking to break through this problem?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
and in this space, it’s a nail-biting procedure not rushing investment (to get the right investors), but knowing how volatile everything is too, and some broader macro thing could happen making that super hard
The issue is technical — it’s a sequential chain on ethereum: everyone is in line to get their lunch at the cafeteria, which tries to serve a variety of ok food at once to the broadest possible audience (and as anyone who has tried the meatloaf will know, it’s ok, but nothing amazing). The parallel-ness of Polkadot is more like a bunch of food trucks that share a power source and serve each person in a specific way to their needs: taco truck, burgers, Chinese, etc. etc.
Most prosaic and accessible way I can put it
Bilo 2000
That’s perfect — Concise and well explained as usual 😁
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
To extend that analogy further so it really makes sense:
Say the cafeteria has a pizza day, well, lines will be long
Pizza day is interest congestion
Bilo 2000
hahaha — You’re making me hungry now 😋
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Haha anyway, clearly haven’t eaten yet
But yeah, there’s a problem of throughput in providing oracle services via eth
But, yeah, in Polkadot, another food truck (serving pizza) just rolls up and parks
Bilo 2000
Who are you primarily targeting as a consumer of the products and services that Kylin will offer? Government, Business, or retail markets?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
All tbh — there’s no ultimate primary target, per se. in the beginning, we will be working through Kylin Labs primarily to drive use cases within crypto-oriented businesses, but concurrently, we will drive conversations with paths to traditional business, banking, etc. everybody needs useful, validated data, and/or can sell it
The same way that defi operationalized idle crypto assets, Kylin will operationalize idle data
Bilo 2000
Ok thanks — its good in that you have a wide horizon of possibilities
How are you with time? How much time do you have left for us?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
8 minutes
Bilo 2000
ok — will rush through😰
Out of your ecosystem fit partners you have listed on your website and in your white paper(the same 6 in both places, with the addition of Phala on the website), you have publicly announced partnerships with a few of them. Have you been in contact with all of them about future collaborative efforts?
Can you tell us why the newly announced partnership with Plasma play is important and can you let us know if there plans for more such partnerships in the future?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
…Unfortunately — this AMA has been awesome so far
Bilo 2000
No worries mate — If you can’t answer a question now; you can answer it later if you are rushed.
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
Those examples were more how we saw ourselves evolving — i.e. potential ecosystem. In any case, we are on the mark, and I do expect them all to probably become integrated as time goes on.
Bilo 2000
Thanks Dylan — Do you wish to let us know anything else that was not covered in the questions above?
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
and yes, we are close to every crypto project listed there
Plasma Pay is important bc we see us co-evolving really well together
no, I think we are pretty good!
Bilo 2000
Thank you for your time in answering our questions here today. We are all very appreciative of your time and of the answers you have provided.
Kindly choose the question you found the most interesting so that we can provide the person that asked that question with the prize.
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
It’s been a total pleasure
Bilo 2000
With this, we will open up the chat for those who wish to personally thank you for your time with us here today.
Dylan Dewdney | Kylin Network — CEO
This one was excellent!
Thanks so much to your community for having me today. Really truly appreciate you guys giving me the time to talk about Kylin and asking such great questions.
Please check us out at:
TG: https://t.me/KylinOfficial
Polkadot based project news and AMAs: https://t.me/PolkAMAOfficial
Medium: https://kylinnetwork.medium.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kylin_Network
Website: https://kylin.network/
Crypto Society TG Group: https://t.me/cryptosocietyy
