Meet VaporFi - Nodes for everyone!
For the first edition of Vestorportal.com Spotlight we got the opportunity to talk to VaporFi. Thomas Ehrlich, one of the two founders of VaporFi, answered 20 interesting questions about him, his co-founder Jose and - of course - VaporFi.
VaporFi is a Node-as-a-Service project on the Avalanche Blockchain.
Tell us something about your team, who are you and what is your background?
I (Tom Ehrlich) have a background in the Automotive Industry, I've been in it for 12 years and improved structure, systems, development, and most importantly profits each of those years. I have a passion for learning, teaching, and helping others become the best versions of themselves.
Jose is a highly enthusiastic Software Engineer with over eight years of experience. Jose's love for technology made him work both the front-end and back-end sides of web development. He has also participated in many Startup Weekend competitions and Hackathons around Europe.
Jose has worked for some of the biggest European IT companies, like Movistar (#1 Telecommunication Spanish company) and eDreams Odigeo (biggest European OTA).
How did you two get into crypto?
I got into crypto in late 2016 and I saw it from the economic standpoint that governments will continue to print fiat endlessly, and when you take all that fiat and put it in to something with a hard cap; it's bound to go up endlessly. I'm a perma-bull...
Jose got into crypto back in 2017. He got fascinated by the technology potential and got involved in Dash's Masternodes forks by the end of 2017. After the ICOs boom, around late 2018, he discovered Smart Contracts development, and since then, he started learning Solidity programming.
What is VaporFi?
VaporFi started as a DeFi-as-a-Service company, transitioned to a Nodes-as-a-Service company, and we're transitioning to a NaaS/Blockchain company hybrid model. Our node holders will always be the focal point of our ecosystem. We wake up to build for them and each product added to our ecosystem will go towards providing an income to our node holders.
We will build a lot...
How did you connect between each other and who came up with the idea of VaporFi?
Jose and I met on crypto twitter, it's amazing. I wanted to start a project, but I'm more of a business developement/idea guy. I needed a dev. Jose had a tweet out there that somehow popped up on my timeline, saying "Who wants to build a node project?". I sent him a message saying, "you build it, I'll market it".
I gave Jose a list of 10 names which I thought were marketable, he picked Vapor.
For about 10 days we worked back and forth the phone, text, zoom on the following: ideas, vision, morals, doxxing to each other, building a community, and so much more. We needed to be comfortable with each other and our visions before moving forward.
Why did you decide to doxx yourselves?
We don't have anything to hide, our hearts are in this, we aren't going anywhere. We've been SUPER transparent since before launch and it's important to put a face to a voice in a lot of businesses. With what happened in the NaaS/DaaS space in December, we set out to be as transparent as possible.
How does the decision-making regarding changes being made to VaporFi look like?
It's gone from Jose and I just chatting about it to talking about it with our mods, to now having a full on team working on an organizational decision making structure. We're putting processes in place to streamline decision making, make sure it's the correct decision, and make sure we're able to answer all questions community may have afterwards by providing them with data.
Why did you choose to build on Avalanche?
We decided to build on Avalanche because they already had a few DaaS projects running and we felt that rather than people wanting to bridge that they'd want to roll profits from one project to another on same chain. Not just that, but the cost compared to transacting on ETH is amazingly cheap and quick.
What do the Tokenomics of VaporFi look like?
We started with a supply of 1B VPND. We've burned over 300K at this point I believe, and there is also a burn feature when people merge 2 nodes in to 1.
Are there any taxes for creating or compounding VaporFi nodes?
Not at the moment, no. There's a 10% claim tax currently.
What are your plans to achieve long term sustainability?
That's the ongoing question for this space. We have a "Diamond Hand" bonus feature which currently pays above and beyond the daily 1%. It's something that'll eventually need to be rolled back to achieve sustainability. We're in talks at the moment and should have a proposal up soon.
We hope to find ways to provide income to our node holders outside of VPND by creating other products, buying back VPND and adding it back to rewards pool and support price, and much more.
Could you tell us something about the assets the VaporFi treasury holds?
We hold:
- 2 Avalanche Validator Nodes (will be used for VaporChain)
- 1 Gala Node
- 1 Constellation Node
- 1112 Sushi
- 10 Pokt nodes
- We currently hold 111 Strong Nodes (100 of which we made after receiving 1000 $STRONG in an OTC deal
- We also have 40,700 Avax ($3.5M at time of writing) staking on Benqi at 11% APR
- Then another 14,336 Avax sitting, waiting to get deployed to other investments.
Our last gem is Bored Ape Yacht Club #3442. He is a marketing piece, one which has given us great exposure already and much more to come.
What is VaporChain and what will it look like?
VaporChain will be our own fully customizable blockchain. It'll be faster and less congested than Avalanche. We have had numerous upcoming projects reach out to us wanting to launch already.
We'll hold Hackathons on there with prizes for people to help us build a full product suite.
Why did you decide to build your own Subnet on Avalanche?
We like to be different, we were the 2nd in our space after Strong to announce our own chain, we want to stand out and build a full suite of products for our community to enjoy.
Is there any ETA on the release of VaporChain?
When it's done :)
Will there be any rewards for holders who already owned VaporFi nodes when VaporChain goes live?
Still trying to figure out the best way, but there will be an airdrop to node holders.
Are there already projects who will run on VaporChain?
We've been in touch with a bunch that want to launch.
Are there any new products that VaporFi will offer in the near future?
VaporChain, VaporDex, VaporYields, VaporChat, Vapor ____, Vapor____, Vapor____, ...
So much planned.
Will VaporFi nodes rewards stay at 1% or are there any plans to change the yield?
1% is the baseline for now, sustainability will forever be an ongoing chat. We have 78% of our community compounding at the moment which is a lot more than we expected. We'll eventually have to cap amount of nodes.
How would you describe the core values of VaporFi?
Transparency, community first, until we have generational wealth we're all the "little guy". We see what banks, governments, large companies do to 99.99% of population % we want to help everyone whether we're able to help them buy that extra toy for their child, a sandwich for lunch, make a mortgage payment, or buy a new car.
There are a lot of Nodes-as-a-Service protocols out there - why should someone choose VaporFi?
We're doxxed, we've been transparent from the start. We think different, we'll build different, and we'll market different from everyone else. If we do what everyone else is doing, we'll just blend in.
As a builder on a blockchain, where do you see this technology as well as cryptocurrencies going in the coming years?
It's tough to say, I'd like to see the technology used everywhere, small businesses, schools, government etc.
I feel like if someone in government DOESN'T want to use blockchain, it's not because they don't understand it; it's because they do and they're scared for what it could expose.
Blockchain is amazing, when I explain it to someone it gives me goosebumps about all the things that it could be used for.
How to buy a VaporFi Node?
In order to buy a VaporFi Node you will need a MetaMask wallet:
- Learn how to setup a MetaMask wallet
- Learn how to setup the Avalanche Network on your Metamask
- Learn how to navigate on Trader Joe XYZ
Below you will find a useful step-by-step guide to setup a VaporFi Node in form of a Youtube video.
If you want to support us, you can also setup VaporFi nodes via our referral link.
How do you buy AVAX?
One of the easiest ways of buying AVAX is by using exchanges like Kucoin, Coinbase or Binance.
If you do not want to use a centralized exchange you can use a decentralized exchange.
