Welcome everyone! The time for the prePO X COINKO Interview has finally come!
COINKO:
Hello, I’m Jerome Kim, and I will conduct today’s interview!
Today, prePO Founder Xavier Ekkel will talk about derivatives, private markets and a new P2E platform!
And before we begin, Xavier, please introduce yourself!
prePO:
Thanks for having me, it’s a pleasure to be here!
So I first got started in crypto back in 2013, but more heavily since 2017 with Ethereum because you could build dapps on top of it. I was living in Korea developing independent video games, hosting online game jams (hackathons for game development), and also learning Solidity — I even attended a blockchain game jam in Korea!
From there, I was the first developer on mStable, and then went to work for Canva as a software engineer. Decided to jump headfirst into building prePO to solve my own problem (and a problem I frequently saw amongst the people I knew) — not being able to get exposure to private companies before they go public.
COINKO:
It’s really interesting that you’ve been working at Crypto for so long.Your experience in Korea is also very impressive. In particular, mStable is a project that was deeply recognized by Korean users during the Defi boom, and this will not be a coincidence.
Could you please introduce prePO briefly for users who meet your project first?
prePO:
prePO is a decentralized exchange allowing anyone, anywhere, to speculate on the value of any pre‑IPO company or pre‑token project.
We’re doing this because the world we currently live in is one of financial exclusion, and this is especially true when it comes to accessing private market opportunities. This is because private companies raise funds:
- In limited time windows
- In limited total amounts
- For a limited number of investors
While all types of investors miss out on private market opportunities, retail investors are especially excluded due to various reasons including:
- Not having enough capital to meet minimum requirements
- Not having the required qualifications
- Not having the right connections
Our mission is to democratize private markets, allowing all investors from anywhere in the world to access these sorts of opportunities — and this is made possible through the power of DeFi.
As a result, things like SpaceX, Klarna, OpenSea and MetaMask can all become tradeable, before they even have a public stock or token.
COINKO:
Great! Thank you for the detailed explanation. The lists you mentioned above are things that people are very interested in. It’s amazing that it provides an experience to trade them. Shall we take some time to find out how to implement them?
Now, let me ask you a few questions from COINKO about pre-IPO market derivatives and your project.
Agenda Q&A with COINKO
COINKO:
First of all, Your project has a very interesting structure. There are various attempts to apply the derivatives market into blockchain such as dydx, perpetual, etc. However, adoption of the pre-IPO market is a whole new thing. Projects in the pre-IPO stage are usually traded in the form of an OTC market. Derivatives into pre-IPO markets are in the early stages of the market, so I think there are various views on their utility and value.
Please describe why you select to grow the pre-IPO market and the infrastructure of the market?
prePO:
As you say, there are various DeFi protocols that already exist which offer synthetic exposure to publicly traded markets like listed equities and commodities.
prePO is purely interested and focused on pre-public markets because this is where retail investors are mostly excluded from, and also where huge returns can be made, often in orders of magnitude greater than public markets.
There are no other DeFi protocols which are focusing on the pre-public segment of the market like we are.
Other synthetic asset protocols exist that allow users to create ‘synths’ which mirror the price of publicly traded markets like foreign exchange, equities or commodities, but not for private assets.
COINKO:
Second, You have 3 layers of reward incentive structure. It is interesting because it is a platform that can successfully investigate market prices. However, since the pre-IPO market is a market that does not actually own stocks, I think some reliability and reward should be guaranteed, so can you explain in detail?
prePO:
Yes absolutely. Like you mentioned, it’s important to note that you aren’t purchasing real stocks or tokens with prePO — you are getting synthetic exposure to the upside (or downside) of an asset’s eventual public valuation.
It is the synthetic nature of our markets that allow us to infinitely scale participation, transforming limited access into unlimited access.
With respect to rewards, there are 3 layers:
1. trading fees (for LPs) or profit/loss (for traders)
2. idle yield (from yield farms) on all LP/trading positions — we call this ‘collateral farming’
3. PPO token incentives
For example, this means that a trader could be making a loss on a long position, but still make an overall profit due to PPO incentives and collateral farming!
It also means that any liquidity provider who is yield farming stablecoins would generally be better off doing that indirectly via prePO, because they can earn 2 additional layers of rewards in addition to the same yield farming yield.
COINKO:
You designed a model that can effectively predict the market through in-depth rewards. The price survey method of the Conjoint method will create demand for many projects.
Last, Please describe your strategy to grow the whole market and describe your eagerness for the users who don’t know why they should select you.
prePO:
We believe prePO is filling a major gap in the current crypto and DeFi market and will naturally attract users over time once our mainnet is live.
We have this view because we know, like many others, that investing early on in a company or crypto project’s life can be highly lucrative and can offer far greater returns than what can be achieved in public markets.
This isn’t a secret, but the challenge for many has been how to access these opportunities which are private in nature, and therefore limited to select investors — usually VC and private equity.
prePO is creating an entirely new way for everyday investors, regardless of their background, qualifications or connections, to get access to these sorts of opportunities — and so we’re confident that traders and investors will see the value in using prePO to get exposure to private markets.
We’re also confident that LPs will see the value in providing liquidity because they face no liquidation risk and can achieve very close to a market neutral position.
Combined with the other layers of rewards mentioned earlier, LPs who are yield farming with stablecoins would be better off doing so indirectly via prePO in order to capture these rewards.
We’re currently working hard to deliver on our roadmap.
We recently launched our Simulator which allows users to simulate different scenarios as a trader or liquidity provider on prePO, as well as getting a sense of our simple user experience and how the mechanics work.
We also just launched our NFT game called Acquisition Royale which is a play-to-earn battle royale game focused on mergers and acquisitions. Acquisition Royale will integrate with the core prePO platform in various ways and will also help to grow our community by capturing the surge in interest around NFTs, blockchain gaming, and the metaverse.
Over the rest of Q4 we will be working on launching the governance system, preparing for a launch on a testnet, and the launch of the PPO token.
COINKO:
Thank you for your detailed answers. Now, it’s time for the users’ questions!
prePO:
Let’s go.
User Q&A
COINKO:
Q1 @anhkima
What plans do you have to grow rapidly in terms of users, global market and partners? What are your strategies in building a big and strong community?
prePO:
We’re thankful to be backed by some top tier investors in the crypto industry including Apollo Capital, The LAO and Maven 11 Capital, and founders from top crypto projects including Illuvium, Zed Run, mStable and Alchemix.
We also recently launched our play-2-earn battle royale NFT game called Acquisition Royale which is helping to accelerate community growth by tapping into the surging interest surrounding NFTs, gaming, and GameFi. We are working on various collaborations and partnerships with other NFT projects and influencers which will also help.
COINKO:
Q2 @danhaiphong
What are the steps to become a part of your community, and start getting revenues? Where do we buy, where do we sign up? This looks like an amazing project!
prePO:
The easiest way to get involved and start earning rewards is by joining the prePO Discord community!
Here you will be able to be kept up to date with all the latest developments regarding our launch and can also earn daily rewards for engaging with the community.
COINKO:
Q3 @davidnguyensk
I love how this project is placing importance on the community aspect. It’s something that I think is lacking in a lot of projects. How can early investors really help the project grow before it launches? From providing liquidity to general participation, what different roles are there when it goes live?
prePO:
That’s a great question!
We actually launched our prePO Preacher Program a few months ago for interested community members to earn rewards by getting involved early in the project. There are various tasks which can be completed in exchange for ‘discordPPO’ tokens, which will have a number of benefits in the future!
These tasks range from simply following us on social media, to referring friends, to creating a YouTube video about prePO.
You can start completing these tasks HERE.
It’s all about spreading the good word and growing the community!
Once prePO mainnet is live, participants within the prePO ecosystem can become involved by being a trader, an LP or a ‘pregen’ — the title given to anyone who is a PPO token holder!
PPO token holders will be able to participate in the prePO DAO governance system and will be able to make and vote on proposals, including proposals for the creation and settlement of prePO markets, and can be rewarded for doing so!
COINKO:
Q4 @duyhais
Have you been audited ? Have not heard you talk about the security of funds. How strongly built are your security put in place?
prePO:
prePO takes security very seriously. Our smart contracts will be audited prior to a full public launch, plus we’ll be launching bug bounty programs to further strengthen confidence in the security of our platform. We also have comprehensive testing suites for all of our smart contracts.
COINKO:
Q5 @duytrannha
What corner of the world do you plan to arrive? That is, to what extent in the world do you think your Project will be solving people’s problems with the infrastructure you provide?
prePO:
prePO is fully decentralized, meaning that anyone from anywhere in the world can use and interact with the protocol. We would like to see and expect private markets from all over the world to become listed on prePO and we think naturally as a result, people from all corners of the globe will use it.
COINKO:
Q6 @sejini7777
How is the right price maintained?
prePO:
Each prePO market is defined by a specific asset, a valuation range and an expiry date.
The pricing is determined by the speculation of market participants who can go either long or short on the asset.
If the asset is consistently trading at the lower or upper bound of a valuation range, prePO governance can decide to create a new market with a new valuation range.
COINKO:
Q7 @haihaohai
Since NFT is popular nowadays, is there a plan for NFT integration?
prePO:
Yes! We recently launched our play 2 earn NFT game called Acquisition Royale which will integrate with prePO.
prePO will also have many social gamification features — meaning prePO is a ‘GameFi’ platform. For example, you can compete against other users in leaderboards, unlock achievement NFTs, copy the trades of top-performing traders on the platform, and level up for access to exclusive opportunities.
COINKO:
Q8 @HaNghiaa9
Many NFT games now have low player numbers due to the high initial cost for a new player to join, so how does prePO attract more players? Can you say some of its features make it different from another?
prePO:
Acquisition Royale launched on the Polygon blockchain and benefits from low transaction costs and fast transaction processing.
The price of each Enterprise NFT (which you need to play the game) is only 15 MATIC, which means there isn’t a high barrier to entry to participate. Players can also win free NFTs by participating in giveaways in our Discord.
COINKO:
Q9 @haianhtrana
Do you have plans for a pre-sale? Where can we join it?
prePO:
An IDO is very possible this year. The best way to make sure you don’t miss out on our announcements is to join our Discord community and follow us on Twitter!
COINKO:
Q10 @aandrewnguyen
Can you give an overview of your Tokenomics, and the UTILITY of Token?
prePO:
Sure! PPO is the governance and utility token of prePO.
PPO can be staked, which gives you access to future distributions of PPO, and the ability to participate in the prePO governance system (which can give you even more PPO tokens). The staking mechanism incentivizes long-term alignment rather than short-term speculation.
PPO is also distributed to traders and LPs of the platform in order to incentivize active participation.
Finally, PPO can also be burnt to make exclusive NFT purchases, which can provide special benefits on the platform — this also makes PPO a deflationary supply token.
Closing
COINKO:
Thank you for your detailed replies! I’m sure that users were able to learn a lot from this interview. In particular, among the questions and answers from the users, the perspective of how to create the real value of the pre-IPO market was fresh and original. It might have been a great opportunity to understand your model of price positioning. I hope you successfully launch the prePO IDO and the family project, Acquisition Royale.
Any last words before we wrap up the interview?
prePO:
Thanks for having me — it has been a pleasure to talk with you — and for anyone interested in prePO, you can join our community using the links to keep up to date with all the developments which are happening.
prePO.io
Democratizing pre-public equity.
prePO is a decentralized trading platform that allows anyone anywhere to gain exposure to any pre-IPO company or pre-token crypto project. Through synthetic markets, prePO allows users to access pre-public assets that were previously restricted to only the wealthy and well-connected. prePO recently completed $1.1M of Seed-round funding from various VCs such as The LAO and Apollo Capital, and various project founders such as Illuvium, Zed Run, and Alchemix. They also recently announced the launch of their Battle Royale P2E NFT game Acquisition Royale.
📖 Related Links
Twitter (prePO): https://twitter.com/prepo_io
Twitter (Acquisition Royale): https://twitter.com/AcqRoyale
Discord: https://url.prepo.io/discord-coinko-interview
Website: https://prepo.io
Blog: https://prepo.io/blog
