Blank AMA Summary Recap with Shin Chan Community
We held a live AMA with Aleksandras Gaska - CEO of Blank and Iman - CTO of Blank, on 4th March 10:00 PM (UTC+8). Here’s the recap for those who missed it.
Introduction
JH|Shin Chan: As we know Blank Wallet is The most private, non-custodial Ethereum browser wallet.
The Blank wallet Public Sale (IDO) will take place on the Polkastarter platform on Friday, 5th March 2021. 🎉🎉🎉
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: And listing on Uniswap will happen the same day!
JH|Shin Chan: Before we start the AMA, can you please introduce yourselves and tell us how you start your crypto journey?
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: Sure!
I actually bought my first Bitcoins in 2014, and I’m sure as many, at the time not realized the true potential in it :D
Ever since 2017, I’ve worked in the blockchain space, helping projects with marketing and so on. The year of 2020 was a building year for me — I’ve started it by joining another team who wanted to build a Bitcoin sidechain, but ever since I got familiarized with DeFi space and its issues for privacy, I was inspired to create Blank — that’s where all my time has been spent for the last few months.
JH|Shin Chan: Do you have any news or any project update would like to share with us?
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: I think the most exciting news have already been presented here! This week is very interesting for us as we’ll see the Polkastarter IDO and Uniswap listing.
Besides that, we are planning to releasy early-access Blank wallet this month!
And a public version later next month.
Twitter AMA Section Begin:
Q1: “ Hiding the critical information is a really required feature for privacy and is good for legit users; but what about the users with illegal activities? How would be your approach if someone or an enterprise comes to you and ask for help to resolve an illegal issue?”
Iman|Blank: The token itself ($BLANK) is not a privacy coin, so we do not fear any issues when it comes to that. When it comes to the wallet and privacy smart contracts itself:
In case regulations stiffen up, what may happen is that CEXs may start asking for more questions if You make a deposit from Blank wallet. For this, we have created a proof-of-funds report.
You, the user, can create a report which displays proof which address Your money came from (effectively getting rid of the whole privacy aspect).
However, this isn’t on the blockchain and serves as a report which You could then use as a proof to anyone You’d like. As outlined before, this is likely mostly needed for when You wish to comply with centralized exchanges or government institutions (if they ask You to show proof of where Your money came from).
Q2: “We all know that there are two kinds of wallet available in the market. One custodian and non-custodian. Which one is used by Blank wallet and why?”
Iman|Blank: Blank is a non-custodian wallet, since the user is the only one who can access his funds.
Q3: “In your wihte paper you mention that you will have Alpha or Beta tests for the wallet; What is the threshold of withheld tokens that a user must overcome in order to be invited to any of these tests?”
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: Yep!
As mentioned before, we plan to have an early-access wallet this month. The amount of BLANK tokens required will be announced a week before the wallet release, but we want to limit the early-access functionality only to the most loyal and true BLANK token holders, so it may be in the range of 10,000 USD worth of tokens.
Q4: “Other wallets can be import to each other. For example, we can import trustwallet to imtoken, then to metamask etc. Can we import trustwallet, or metamask to blankwallet and vice versa?Please tell us??”
Iman|Blank: That is a great question! We will also support BIP44 seed phrases with Blank and actually use some of the same libraries as MetaMask in the background. So, switching wallets should be as smooth as it gets!
Q5: “Blank will send a third of their fees to those staking the ETH/BLANK pair on Uniswap as an incentivation for liquidity providers, how long will the LPs receive this benefit? And what are the benefits for the early investors on this platform?”
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: So we have a following plan in place:
Once our initial V1 wallet version is released, we actually won’t have our own privacy smart contracts, and instead will be using tornado.cash smart contracts for their initial privacy liquidity.
At this time, before our privacy smart contract is released, a third of collected fees will be used to incentivize Uniswap liquidity provision.
In the upcoming months, once we release our own privacy smart contract for Blank wallet, the incentives will be switched from incentivizing Uniswap LPs to incentivizing privacy liquidity providers (those that pool funds on the privacy smart contract).
Live AMA Begin:
Q6: How Blank keep users’ funds safe? Blank use its own chain?
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: It is widely known that the DeFi ecosystem has encountered its fair share of hacks. The various hacks stemmed from the Turing-complete code, which has so far made the system rather vulnerable. Blank’s team, dealing with such a delicate matter, sees hacking as a big issue in the Ethereum space.
To limit these concerns, we will use industry-proven strategies that have been efficient in helping with transactional or payment-based platforms. For example, we will examine tested and industry-vetted open source projects, the code of which has been successfully used in preventing hacking risks.
Besides, we will audit the code before releasing it to the public with at least 2 different independent auditors — and publish their reports before releasing the update for our users.
Lastly, we will implement the bug bounty program, where users will be able to detect bugs for a reward. The bug bounties will be classified by severity in 4 types: from lowest (1) to highest (4).
Thus, our hacking prevention will consist of 3 rather contrasting, but complementary mechanisms: tested technical solutions, the third party audits from the experts, and the participation of Blank’s user community.
Q7: I am an EXPERIENCED DEVELOPER AND ETHICAL HACKER, do you have plans for HACKATHON so as to check the security of your ecosytem periodically and also invite developers to build?
Iman|Blank: We are definitely planning some bug bounty events later down the road, before releasing the app fully. Stay tuned to our announcements regarding that!
Q8: You stated in your medium that Blank allows the user to easily interact with privacy smart contracts on Ethereum to hide the amounts and the origins of cryptocurrency held, in a decentralized, non-custodial, and frictionless manner.
What mechanism do you have in place to ensure that Blank, due to its privacy is not used for money laundering?
Iman|Blank:That’s a very good question! We are utilizing zkSnarks to ensure that the privacy smart contract actually leak no information out to anyone, but the user himself. On the extension itself we are utilizing existing tornado software, that’s proven to work since many years now.
Regarding what privacy is used for, we cannot really comment. We strongly believe that privacy is a human right, and we want to protect that right.
Q9: Projects that are not traded on major exchanges remain unnoticed. What do you think about listing the token on the leading exchanges
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: We have already started talking with a few largest exchanges, and have agreed to discuss the CEX listing process after Blank wallet is launched!
Q10: On etherscan, it shows all the tokens my wallet is holding IN THE Wallet ADDRESS. IS Blank LIKE THIS? OR DROP IT?
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank: Exactly! Instead of holding crypto on a wallet, it will instead be held on a smart contract, where it will be hard to track who it belongs to. That’s the privacy aspect of Blank!
Q11: There are many privacy coins in the market. People can easily buy privacy coin & achieve the anonymity purpose for their transactions. What is the difference between Blank Wallet & Privacy Coins?
Iman|Blank: $BLANK is not a privacy coin in and of itself. We are building privacy software though. A fact is that the majority of action and also DeFi is almost completely running on Ethereum, which is why we see the need of a solution for Ethereum users to regain their privacy. That’s what the Blank wallet aims to do.
Q12: Right now the ERC-20 tokens so Ethereum Network are suffering the huge transactions fees issues, for that reason other blockchains like Tron and BSC are gaining more adoption now, so Blank will be compatible with other blockchains too?
Aleksandras Gaska |Blank:
It’s important to outline few aspects here, how we plan to battle gas issue:
Short term
Mid term
Long term
Short term:
We believe that initial Blank’s user base will come from wealthy DeFi investors. We believe that there’s a correlation between higher amount of wealth, and the higher desire to receive privacy.
Which is why we feel like in the short term, our initial users won’t be worried about high gas fees, as they would be willing to pay that price for privacy. For instance, in the recent months, the usage of Tornado.Cash (which has similar gas prices) only increased.
Mid term:
Certainly, for long-term growth, having lower gas fees is important.
As mentioned, we are looking into separate blockchain solutions such as Layer 2 — Optimism, or separate blockchains such as Polkadot or Binance Smart Chain.
The important note to make here, is that the whole blockchain needs to have usability and ecosystem, before we are ready to deploy there. If there are no users there, its pointless to expand into that solution, even if the gas fees are low.
Long term:
I feel like blockchains have a similar “chicken-or-the-egg” problem that privacy solutions face. For blockchains, the issue is clear: developers don’t want to build on blockchains that have zero users, and no users wants to use blockchain that has zero developed solutions.
That is why we believe that Ethereum 2.0 has the biggest odds of continuing this DeFi legacy, and it’s only a matter of time when it comes out.
By the way, Vitalik Buterin recently introduced proposals that have already affected the gas usage on Ethereum which contributed to much lower gas fees (https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/3298)
Q13: Sometimes I join to airdrops that new projects are making for users. Can I get airdrop tokens using Blank?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: So far, we don’t have any plans for airdrops.
Q14: Do you have any Coin Burn / BuyBack systems or any Token Burn plans to increase the value of Token & attract Investors to invest?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: A third of collected fees will be used to market buy BLANK token and burn it.
Q15: Why do eth address need stay anonymous? I think the eth address is good enough, if owner didn’t expose there is nobody will know it
Iman|Blank: That’s a good question! The only problem here is though, that with the current structure, it is really really easy for many parties to identify a person based on their Ethereum address. Both Dapp websites, wallet and also node providers can very easily get your IP through the packets sent to them.
The average Ethereum user is very easy to identify, even though he is not aware of that.
Q16: I can use UNiswap in wallet?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: You will be able to connect Blank to Uniswap once we complete the web3 integration, yes!
Further, You will be able to hold any erc-20 tokens just like You can on any other wallets (including Uniswap token!)
Q17: Can you tell me all your social network projects?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank:
Official links:
Website: https://goblank.io/
Github: https://github.com/Blank-Wallet/
Medium: https://blankwallet.medium.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlankWallet
Telegram Discussion: https://t.me/blankwallet
Telegram Announcement: https://t.me/BlankWalletAnnouncements
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blank-wallet
Q18: Are there any specific reason for you did named your project as Blank?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: Because with Blank, Your funds go Blank 😎
Q19: The Ethereum Network doesn’t have any privacy or annonimaty with its transactions, so how is possible to you obtain these features? Can you tell us how do you “HIDE” this user’s information?
Iman|Blank: That’s true! By default, Ethereum does not have many privacy features. We are using smart contracts that utilize zkSnarks technology in order to provide full anonymity to the user. Initially, we are utilizing Tornado smart contracts, a protocol that has been proven for years to provider users with complete anonymity on-chain.
I highly suggest you to read this section of our whitepaper to understand in more detail: https://blank-wallet.github.io/extension-whitepaper/book/technical-summary/technical-summary.html
Q20: — Why limit $300 for your IDO?
Recently, I imported my Atomic wallet to my Metamask wallet. As a browser wallet, can I import my atomic wallet to blank wallet?
Iman|Blank: We are limiting the IDO to ensure a fair distribution and also allow many users to take part in it.
And yes, you will be able to import any wallet supporting BIP44 seed phrases to Blank!
Q21: Where can I buy this token? and what use-cases does the BLANK token have in your ecosystem?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: You will be able to buy BLANK token this Friday on Uniswap.
The BLANK token will have five aspects:
Fee reduction for token holders
Token burn from 1/3rd of the fees
Referral and reward systems use only BLANK tokens
Liquidity Providers earn 1/3rd of the fees
Exclusive features and “access-first” functionality to token holders
Q22: After the recent hacks on Kucoin, Vechain, IOTA, and Steem,… How do you provide a better and good security to the project? And how can You protect its users from hackers?
Iman|Blank: It is widely known that the DeFi ecosystem has encountered its fair share of hacks. The various hacks stemmed from the Turing-complete code, which has so far made the system rather vulnerable. Blank’s team, dealing with such a delicate matter, sees hacking as a big issue in the Ethereum space.
To limit these concerns, we will use industry-proven strategies that have been efficient in helping with transactional or payment-based platforms. For example, we will examine tested and industry-vetted open source projects, the code of which has been successfully used in preventing hacking risks.
Besides, we will audit the code before releasing it to the public with at least 2 different independent auditors — and publish their reports before releasing the update for our users.
Lastly, we will implement the bug bounty program, where users will be able to detect bugs for a reward. The bug bounties will be classified by severity in 4 types: from lowest (1) to highest (4).
Thus, our hacking prevention will consist of 3 rather contrasting, but complementary mechanisms: tested technical solutions, the third party audits from the experts, and the participation of Blank’s user community.
Q23: Could you please provide some info about your Roadmap and how BLANK is progressing so far?
Iman|Blank:
Q24: I see great interest in the upcoming IDO Blank Wallet at Polkastarter! Please notify me if there are any restrictions on which wallets will be whitelisted? What do I need to do to apply for a whitelist? What are the maximum and minimum IDO limits? Why did you choose Polkastarter?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: The whitelisting process has been already closed, and the restricted countries were: Excluded countries: United States, Canada, North Korea, South Korea, Indonesia, Iran, Botswana, Cambodia, Comoros, Ethiopia, Ghana, Pakistan, Panama, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, and Yemen
Q25: I have read that a NEW ADDRESS will be created every time I make a transaction using my BLANK WALLET to create a disguise and make it difficult for my transactions to be traced. Does this also apply when I want to receive funds? Do I always have to share different addresses and will funds sent to these addresses appear in the same account?
Iman|Blank: You do not have to always share different addresses when receiving funds. Blank can be configured the way it suits you best, so if you want to have fully privacy you can automatically create new addresses with clean funds from the privacy smart contracts. However, you can also choose to use the wallet like other wallets most of the time.
Q26: How can we do Anonymous transaction on Blank wallet? Do we need to install Blank wallet browsers in order to do anonymous transaction? Or it can be done through BLANK token?
As we all know that Ethereum is a public Blockchain. But Blank aim to enable anonymous transactions on Ethereum chain. So, How BLANK will do that? Can you describe us the process how BLANK works?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: Blank offers a privacy smart contract which is able to hide Your wealth, past trading activity and more. An in-depth explanation can be found on our whitepaper: https://blank-wallet.github.io/extension-whitepaper/book/overview/overview.html
Q27: Will BLANK wallet introduce Governance? Can we vote about this project if we hold BLANK token?
Aleksandras Gaska|Blank: This year we will introduce governance functionality, where they will be able to decide the protocol fees, where to spend the governance pool tokens, etc.
-End-
