An Exclusive Interview With The Co-founder Of Crypto528!

Another co-founder and I had the idea for Crypto528 about a year ago in fall of 2021 when BTC was near its all-time high. Our original idea was to tokenize cryptocurrency mining and distribute the rewards back to token holders. It’s been a long journey since then, but we’ve grown to a project team of nine people along with five advisors. Currently we are in the process of developing a unique trading platform that merges multiple defi concepts into one project.

We’re huge proponents of decentralization and our goal is to empower people in our community to help drive decisions in the organization. Our vision has always been centered around ESG and how we can use blockchain to make a difference in the world. Crypto528 supports equality in blockchain and globally on all levels. That’s why we’ve decided to donate 5% of our token supply to various charities that are approved by the DAO, and have embedded ESG policies into our organization’s constitution.

Our goal since the beginning was to bring like-minded people together around a project that drives value for our community and for the world as a whole. We looked at things that the world so desperately needs help with, such as poverty, war, famine, climate change, and extinction.

In 2015, scientists at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity concluded that “Every day, up to 150 species are lost” which could be as much as 10 percent a decade. So given that trajectory by 2025, 10% of the world’s species will be extinct forever. Traditional organizations have been slow-moving to make significant changes to help drive sustainability for our planet, and key decision makers in the world often seem to have a short-term vision for the planet with the focus being centered around profit.

We look at the decentralization element of blockchain as an opportunity to bring people together globally, to create a new future for our world built around sustainability, peace and equality. By becoming a Citizen of the 528 DAO Republik, it means you believe that as a community we can have an impact in shaping the world to become a better utopian society.

We’re really excited for this limited-edition NFT collection which tentatively should be launched by September 15th. We wanted to do something different for our seed round fundraising stage, so we decided to do limited-edition NFTs which will also have our DAO governance token (C-528) attached to them. We looked at a lot of different concepts for the NFTs, and one that we really liked was the idea for a turtle. When we started looking into the current NFT collections for turtles on OpenSea, we noticed there was a gap in the NFT market for some cool looking turtle NFTs. We also started digging into the spiritual meaning behind turtles and found this from an online source:

“Turtle symbolism and meanings include longevity, perseverance, steadfastness, protection, retreat, healing, tranquility, the Earth, and transformation.”

This spiritual concept fit with what the DAO Republik is all about, and really resonated with us. We decided to take it a step further and create a turtle for all members of society regardless of your background. We also came up with an idea of developing a metaverse game which would be a turtle version of something similar to “The Sims” video game. We are looking at creating something like that in the near future, as long as it’s approved by the DAO.

We’ve also included NFTs in the collection for football, cricket and rugby fans. There will only be 528 of these made, and each one will give the holder a multiplier on staking rewards distributed by the DAO, so make sure to get yours before they’re all gone!

The AI system at Crypto528 is proprietary in-house developed using Python and was created over eight years ago by one of our co-founders. The system has been lent out to be used by various hedge funds but is now solely used for Crypto528. The AI was developed by a trader who is an engineer, along with the assistance of a PhD in mathematics and a physicist. It uses applied mathematics to analyze the order inflows and outflows of an underlying asset and then provides trade signals based on the order flows. The AI has been continually learning for the past eight years and has repeatedly surpassed the S&P benchmark year over year, so it’s a huge asset for the DAO.

The staking model for Crypto528 has two different elements to it. One is as a DAO governance token (C-528) holder, the other is as a Liquidity Pool (CLP) holder. As part of our liquidity model for the trading platform, we’re enabling users to deposit collateral into the community vault which is then used as margin to lend out to traders, along with yield farming and AI trading.

As a C-528 DAO governance token holder, you’re entitled to receive 30% of the total rewards distributed to token holders. The remaining 70% of rewards distributed to token holders are distributed to Liquidity Pool (CLP) token holders as compensation for funding the liquidity to the organization. CLP token holders do not have any voting rights in the organization and are only entitled to receive staking rewards.

Elections play a key role in the DAO Republik. The DAO has a unique governance structure where there are eight Chancellors and one Overseer that make up the governance board. Every four years the DAO will hold elections where any C-528 tokenholder is eligible to run as a Chancellor electoral candidate. The voting will be done off-chain and the top eight candidates with the most votes will be elected Chancellors for the next four years. There are no minimum requirements to be a Chancellor besides being a C-528 governance token holder. C-528 governance token holders can also form political parties, create their own party platforms, and unite together behind their candidates. A maximum of two candidates can be submitted per political party.

The Republik also has an elected official known as “The Overseer” who acts as a final check on any voting proposals submitted through the DAO voting process. This ensures that all proposals align with the DAO’s constitution and acts as a safeguard against any malicious proposals.

All members of the governance board are compensated by the DAO. Each Chancellor is entitled to receive 1% of the organization’s distributed staking rewards for a total of 8%. The Overseer has a special allocation of 2% of the staking rewards distributed by the DAO in order to ensure the integrity of their oversight. The logic behind compensating the governance board is to ensure that there is full time management of the organization and that the board is motivated to continue driving value for Citizens and the DAO as a whole.

As a fail-safe, any access to the DAO treasury must be approved in a majority vote by Citizens and C-528 tokenholders have the power to impeach Chancellors or the governance board at any time, by submitting an impeachment voting proposal that bypasses the governance board altogether.

When we looked at other defi trading platforms in the space, we found that most of them aren’t operating legally and often have anonymous teams with no legitimate company formed. This drives the question of trust on these platforms, along with who actually holds the decision-making power in them. Our goal is to create a defi platform that operates legally, is open and transparent, and is backed by a team of professionals. As well by operating as a DAO, any key decisions made in the organization are done through a vote by the community.

We also have some seasoned traders on the team, one of which who has previously worked for Citibank as well as various hedge funds, so we understand both the retail and institutional component for the platform. We’re also encouraging active participation in the development of the platform through our Discord community, so that we can truly create a trading platform that’s built by traders for traders.

We are also looking at implementing a loyalty program, where traders on our platform receive a % back in stablecoin for every trade they make, which is deposited directly into the wallet of their choosing.

The C-528 governance token enables holders to become Citizens of the Republik. This ensures voting rights, the ability to run for office in elections and the opportunity to submit voting proposals and receive staking rewards distributed by the DAO. If you want to get involved, be sure to subscribe to our socials to get the latest updates on the project, including the official release date for our limited edition NFTs which have C-528 governance tokens attached to them.