On the 8th of July, 2021 at 16:00 UTC, Decentralized Club had the honor of hosting Venkatesh Karanalu (CEO) of Pontoon Finance for an Ask-Me-Anything session on their Telegram page with a community of over 30,000 people. It was hosted by DC Admin, May.
The session was divided into four segments. Introductions were made in Segment 1, questions from the Twitter and website community were answered in Segment 2 and 3 respectively, and live questions from the community members in attendance were answered in Segment 4.
If you missed this event and would like to know what PontoonFi is all about, you can find a recap of the interview here. Note that slight edits have been made for clarity.
Segment 1 - Introduction
[May]
Hello, नमस्ते, 大家好, Привет, Selamat!
My name is May and I'll be hosting the AMA with Pontoon Finance.
Today, we have with us Venkatesh Karanalu, the CEO of Pontoon Finance.
You're welcome to the Decentralized Club and it's an honor to have you here.
[Venkatesh]
Hello Everyone, Good day. A pleasure to be here.
[May]
I look forward to having an insightful conversation with you.
Could you quickly tell us more about yourself and your job description at PontoonFi?
[Venkatesh]
My background is tech and served IT for 14+ years as a Data Centre manager. My previous role includes DataCentre architect. Joined Crypto at the end of 2017 as a small trader and then progressed as an investor to multiple firms.
I coordinate with the tech team of Pontoon along with marketing and partnerships strategies.
[May]
That's a lot of experience right there.
Once again, you're welcome to our community.
Shall we take project introduction questions?
[Venkatesh]
Yes, please
[May]
Okay.
Q1. What problems does Pontoon Finance aim to solve?
[Venkatesh]
Pontoon solves:
1) Fragmentation
2) Composability
[May]
So simple, I like it. 😁
Q2. Could you elaborate on the details of your partnership with Polygon and what it means for your project?
[Venkatesh]
We have technical collaboration with Polygon and we are testnet ready for them to use the bridge for the transfer of tokens from Eth to Polygon and vice versa for now.
[May]
Great!
Q3. How is your platform used for liquidity mining? What are the steps involved?
[Venkatesh]
We have single token-based pools that we create for individual tokens and the user adds liquidity and earns rewards.
The steps involved will be launched as an educational tutorial and will be announced through our official announcement channel.
[May]
Okay, great.
Q4. How can we buy $TOON and how will its price be positively affected in the long term?
[Venkatesh]
We are yet to go live and will be available on all leading exchanges once launched.
Since fragmentation issues and composability concerns are solved by Pontoon through a liquidity program, the price will be Affected effect as we have kept 35% overall release as rewards and this will affect positively for the long term.
[May]
Q5. What is scheduled for Pontoon to achieve this year?
[Venkatesh]
We are very little behind the schedule due to delayed audit reports and we are testnet ready for Eth, BSC, and Polygon. Once we receive reports, we will go for a launch and the Q2 roadmap will be fast-tracked along with Q3 fulfillment. Overall we plan to achieve all the roadmap that's been published on our website.
[May]
Please share your social media links so the community can stay updated with your project.
[Venkatesh]
Chat: @pontoon_fi
Announcements: @pontoon_announcements
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PontoonFi
[May]
Great!
Let's move on to Segment 2 where we take Twitter questions 🎉
Segment 2 - Twitter Questions
[May]
Q1. Please I would like to know which blockchain infrastructure is Pontoon Finance currently utilizing? How will this blockchain ensure the scalability of your project and align with your project aims and objectives?
Twitter Username: @Greyhair_08
[Venkatesh]
We are on Ethereum blockchain infra and we have started our strategic partnerships discussion with Elrond for now on scalability.
Our composability structure ensures objectives across blockchains.
[May]
Good one.
Q2. I would like to know more about these Pontoon features: your trusted cross-chain bridge for the transfer of tokens and your decentralized relayer network. How efficient are they in liquidity mirroring and fragmentation?
Twitter Username: @theyasflower
[Venkatesh]
Trustless cross-chain bridge - We do not mint or create any synthetic tokens and with this, we eliminate the need for CEX and this will ensure a trustless cross-chain bridge. Transfer happens through liquidity pools provided by LPs.
Decentralized relayer networks: This is to pass on the details of the transaction along with providing a gasless solution.
When the user provides LPs on both chains, it will create liquidity mirroring and the Pontoon bridge uses these pools for transfer along with a fragmentation solution as the liquidity will be kept on Pontoon.
[May]
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Q3. In your Roadmap Q3 2021, you plan to launch a Cross-chain Composability Engine. Can you explain more about the Cross-chain composability engine? How will this be implemented in different chains? What networks will be available?
Twitter Username: @mylhe
[Venkatesh]
We will be releasing technical documentation on the cross-chain composability engine where all details like chains involved, networks, implementation will be made available through our official announcement channel.
[May]
Okay! We look forward to it.
Segment 3 - Website Questions
[May]
Q1. A lot of projects don't have names that stand out but yours is different. What was the inspiration behind your project name "Pontoon"?
Telegram Username: @orinakraj
[Venkatesh]
The initial idea of a new protocol solution was the transfer of tokens through a bridge and we have the same as Pontoon which means bridge.
[May]
https://t.me/decentralized_club/554317
[May]
Q2. You are trying to build a bridge connecting eight (8) networks, how do you plan to execute such a demanding task and at the same time attain a seamless transfer of token across each bridge?
Telegram Username: @Rabbitplug
[Venkatesh]
Our relayer networks and series of validators play a major role here to perform actions seamlessly.
[May]
Q3. Your TOON token will have a token supply of 100,000,000. Can you tell us about the deflationary mechanisms that your token will have and the utility in relation to cross-chain transactions? Will it be useful to pay fees?
Telegram Username: @HisokaM_Hunter
[Venkatesh]
We have an incentivized model that's in place with an overall 35% release from the overall tokens for LP's and a small portion of Tx fees is also provided to LPs. This is across chains where we establish the Pontoon bridge.
[May]
Okay. Great and detailed answers.
It's time for our live audience to send in their questions.
Please select four of the best and most relevant questions after the community.
Try to ignore copy-paste questions and bots.
---Chat was then opened for the live community to send in their questions---
Segment 4 - Live Questions
[May]
The floor is yours.
[Rohim]
Does your project also provide a platform for Dex, STAKING, and Farming in the future? To increase profits for token holders? When do you think of integrating other blockchains into the project like BSC, HECO? Any plans for higher coverage?
[Venkatesh]
Yes, Pontoon supports DEX, Staking, and Farming. We are already testnet ready for Eth, BSC, and Polygon. We aim to go as per the roadmap defined but yes there would be 8+ chains that we have planned.
[Prof. RZ]
In your roadmap, I can see this is a new project. Can you tell us Where are you currently on your roadmap? What are you working on? What will be your next update?
[Venkatesh]
We are testnet ready with Eth, BSC, and Polygon and awaiting audit reports for launch. Do join our community and Ann channels for more updates.
[May]
2️⃣ more questions to go!
[পাগলা ঘোড়া]
-Are you planning to burn or buy back any tokens from the market in the future??
-Do you have such programs??
-Are you planning to burn or buy back any tokens from the market in the future?
-Do you have such programs?
[Venkatesh]
NO burn will happen.
[Jem Trần]
I have seen that you have done many AMAs, my question is, what do you expect to get from so many AMAs, and what are your goals with the community? Do you consider the community to be a fundamental role in the project?
[Venkatesh]
Yes, AMA's are information about a protocol that has launched or yet to be launched. With this program, users' understanding can be easier and a way to connect to speakers. The community will be provided with some programs like bug bounty, themes and memes contest, and others as well.
Currently, Pontoon is having a 3-day Quiz program running.
[May]
Okay, we're all done.
Thank you Sir for your time today. We have learned a lot about PontoonFi and in turn, we wish you the very best with your project.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
[Venkatesh]
Thank you and for the community
[May]
It's our pleasure.