While DeFi has long been labelled as “Wild West” of crypto, it is the storage of untamed opportunities for the ones who apply proper tactics to uncover them. Since day one, volatility has remained the number-one concern – but the other side of the coin has been the chance to multiply your savings that is hard to contest with on a traditional market. However, the recent years exposed many loopholes in crypto regulations and highlighted the need to develop a simple legal framework for business. This grew especially obvious with the CFTC-ruled Polymarket case: following a charge of the protocol with $130 million in traction with a fine of 1.4 million USD, the result was a provision of the clear path for other projects to follow in the binary options industry; this occasion once again re-stated the tremendous significance of legal compliance even on decentralized grounds – the lesson hard-learned for many DeFi operators even today.

The niche of binary trading has become a booming industry. More innovative solutions are being developed to meet the growing expectations. Value Network, an innovative multi-chain prediction markets protocol, was established by Artem Levin in 2018. It supports a vital mission. From its inception, the project seeks to tackle the worst problems in the sector. Binary options will be the primary focus of the project starting in 2020. This lack of transparency in this niche was an issue. Binary options trading has always been frowned upon by investors. Value Network found a way to repair this: through an automated market-making mechanism on multiple blockchains blockchain synchronized with the veracious Chainlink oracle, Value Network took a proactive step away from the stereotype of the platform’s conspicuous performance, often putting the interests of traders at stake.

Value Network created a series of technologies in order to address the problem of regulatory negligence that was previously a cause of numerous scandals. This included unwelcome offers, price faking and identity theft. The open-source source code for the project is available on Github. SumSub, an industrial KYC solution, and claims of rewards sourced directly through smart contracts are also included. Value Network is a proactive organization that has set the bar high in adopting the standards created by CFTC following the Polymarket incident. But this is not the sole source of strength for Value Network: to upgrade the platform’s functionality, the project recently announced the referral system that split commissions received from trades and spreads them across referral wallets. Future Value Network’s interoperability will bring together spillover advantages from smart contracts across underlying wallets. It is expected that this project will become an ambassador for wider DeFi philosophy by creating a decentralized, accessible space.

Inspired by Value Network’s guidance, I reached for Artem Levin the founder, an accomplished entrepreneur whose experience will enable me to identify the most recent trends industry- and project-wise.

First, can you please tell me more about you and your work experience.

Thank you for having me. I’m Artem Levin, I’m the founder and the founder of the Value Network project. I was passionate about decentralized products, and blockchain’s capabilities led to me establishing my own project in 2018. It specialised in cryptocurrency-backed loans. We decided that binary trading options would be the fastest growing field product and we did so in accordance with the time flow. From eight years in the field, I have learned valuable lessons. These include optimization and product interface. And, of course, legal standing for any project that is decided to move forward with. The expertise acquired in various aspects of developing a young startup project – namely, development of technologies, marketing and R&D, gave me an invaluable insight into the project’s intrinsic principles of operation, and the importance of relating those with the general industry trends. It was a must that I became an expert in each.

2. How did Value Network come to be?

The desire to establish Value Network came, first of all, from recognizing the scale of the problem present in the binary options industry: “scam” used to be almost synonymous with this type of activity. The sad truth is that the lion’s share of all platforms were engaging in the provision of fraudulent services and thus, reaping off the clients by displaying unfair rates and theatricalizing issues with withdrawals. A reliable solution for binary options was urgently needed. We decided to focus our efforts on binary options in 2020 and revived the business. Our goal is to fix the problem facing the Binary options market by placing bets against one another on multiple blockchains. This allows for users to challenge each other. We are different from other prediction markets platforms because our UI interfaces can be used by anyone.

3. Can you speak a little bit about Value Network’s mechanics?

Binary Option is a dynamic type of derivative called prediction markets. Binary options are financial exotic options where the payoff can be either a fixed/dynamic or zero amount. This works better than spot in flat markets.

You have, for example, the asset ()Time to expire (3 months), Strike Price (100000 USD). This allows you to predict whether Bitcoin’s value will increase or decrease by more than 100K over the next 3 months. Settlement of markets takes place by an open-source smart agreement. This checks the Chainlink price at expiration and then transfers funds to winners in proportion to the pool. In the above example, if you predicted 150$ on HIGHER but others had 135$, then you will get 135$ back. You have 100 percent of the pool. As 50% of the pool, 67,5$ would you get if you had a friend join you on HIGHER for an additional 150$.

4. How has the Value Network performed so far? What has the Value Network done since its inception in 2018?

Value Network created the first MVP for crypto-backed loans in 2018 – the same way Ethlend (AAVE back in those days) did. We made significant progress in 2020 towards relaunching a project that had a pivot for prediction markets. Value Network began the year with the launch of MVP. Our project was awarded a QTUM Foundation development grant, as well as investment support by Expert Dojo. We also got in the limelight at Binance Hackathon. The protocol is now available on Ethereum, Binance Chain, and Polygon. In native blockchain currencies, the volume of transactions through the protocol surpassed 600,000 dollars.

Since the niche has always been found slightly more controversial – as the Polymarket case clearly showed – I wanted to ground Value Network on the solid principles of reliable market operation. Let’s not disregard the latest referral system update, which adds value to Value Network operation through expanding the scope towards marketing activities and ensuring that transparency is preserved all the way along with the operation.

5. Which changes was Value Network making in reaction to the CFTC-propelled regulations triggered from the Polymarket case

Let me just mention a couple of things. The first was that the Polymarket decision had major implications for the operation of any binary trading protocol. An overview: The CFTC regulator intervened and extended the rule-of-law to this protocol. This is because it falls within technical terms under the CFTC jurisdiction.

Apparently, all the regulations clarified by CFTC following Polymarket have made Value Network reaffirm its strengths, namely operation on open source smart-contract, ability of withdraw funds even if UI is down and, most importantly, price feeds provided by Chainlink (3rd party service). As user safety is considered a top priority, this makes it clear that Value Network operates in a secure manner.

6. Value Network Blockchain-based referral system – what exactly is that?

The Value Network Blockchain-based Referral System is a network of smart-contracts which settles the division of the commissions from trade volumes to refers. Every blockchain wallet can be connected to a unique referral link. Referees are able to instantly use traffic and influence on the Value Network prediction markets protocol.

Smart-contracts that make settlements between participants are available for review on the GitHub project. The solution has been implemented using the Polygon Layer-2 Ethereum. Value Network will also be working to provide interoperability for referrers. If the referral was sent via Polygon but the trader decides to trade on BSC instead, the referee should be able receive commission from any source.

A Value Network-based referral program based on blockchain technology allows for transparent monitoring of how marketing channels influence the protocol in key metrics, such as volume. The transparent reward tool is used to make this possible. Referrals get a split of all volumes. Value Network Blockchain-based Referral System allows VC Investors to quickly check the allocation of marketing funds and determine the effectiveness of each channel. Transparent, on-chain. Value Network Blockchain-based Referral System allows anyone to track the progress of the project, and receive a reward immediately depending on how influential they are in marketing.

7. What would your assessment of today’s DeFi industry be?

Binary contracts have become hugely popular in the last decade. Due to the emergence of DeFI and blockchain, this is a fresh opportunity not oversaturated yet, that’s why a lot of engagement is going on. DeFi’s total value has risen to nearly $150 billion. That is an even greater amount than the roughly $2-3 Billion figure that was available just two years ago. DeFi has a huge opportunity and it is imperative that this opportunity be realized. Value Network took a proactive approach and developed a DeFi compliant prediction markets protocol. It has seen increased customer loyalty.

8. What trends will dominate the DeFi landscape in the coming years – and how does Value Network plan to stay on top of industry development?

New models for generating financial results are a leader in business opportunities. This model can further serve as a basis to produce a full-fledged solution and potentially, an ecosystem of services, and I believe it’s in there for the long run. Time will tell which path is most profitable. But, no matter which route Value Network chooses, you can be sure of high-level compliance that’s so important in today’s business world.

9. Let’s see, what is the Value Network protocol multi-chain for prediction markets?

Above all, we are planning to make a close interaction with legal and regulatory experts a part of our project’s DNA. We will be able to expand the user base, and build a community around Value Network. The implementation of a Blockchain-based referral system will be an integral part of our efforts to further improve the protocol’s technical functionality. Our followers will be kept informed about all future developments.

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