Balancer-friendly Fork | Balancer DAO Interview with Developer Daniel from Beethoven X Team

(Author Joey Wong is a member of Balancer DAO. This is not financial advice.)

The author Joey Wong is a member of Balancer DAO. All content is not investment advice.

Daniel from Beethoven X x Joey Wong

Today, we are delighted to invite Daniel from the development team at Beethoven X for an interview. Balancer's community members are both familiar and unfamiliar with the Beethoven X team. Let's see what sharp questions they have.

JW: Hello, Daniel. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Our community members have heard a lot of high praise about the Beethoven X team from Balancer DAO members and are eager to learn more about you and Beethoven X. Could you give us a brief introduction of yourself? How did you get into the cryptocurrency industry?

Daniel: Hi, I'm Daniel, one of the developers in the Beethoven X team. I have a Master's degree in Computer Science, graduated in California. After graduation, I traveled around and enjoyed outdoor activities like snowboarding while freelancing, just like I do now—doing whatever task comes my way to the best of my ability. About six years ago, I settled in Europe and founded a web 2.0 startup focusing on user experience in the travel industry. So, I particularly focus on a seamless user experience online and offline. As for my exposure to cryptocurrencies, it dates back to 2017/2018 when I dabbled in it, like many others, then took a break for a year or two. In early 2020, I returned and started delving into DeFi and the evolution of Ethereum. I am fascinated by DeFi, the technology of using code to replace intermediaries is amazing.

JW: Does your family know you are in the cryptocurrency industry?

Daniel: Yes, they do. My mom was quite worried at first because I had a stable job. To join Beethoven X, I gave up my position as CTO in a company of over 20 people. Haha, my mom thought I was crazy, especially since she is Korean and has a more conservative mindset. Yes, I am half Korean.

JW: Why choose to fork Balancer? Why choose Fantom as the starting chain?

Daniel: For me, Balancer stands out in its ability to make assets work by allowing customized exposure to assets, such as Weighted Pools where I can set up 2, 3, 4, 5 types of assets in different proportions. Balancer v2 feels like many difficult processes have already been written, and you just need to build on top of it, execute correctly, and get these features, making it easy for rapid iteration, allowing for easier, faster, and better construction. I feel Balancer has not received the recognition it deserves. So, we chose to fork Balancer.

As for Fantom, I am very interested in Fantom and am also a fan of Andre Cronje, so you understand why I chose Fantom. Of course, Andre is a dramatic figure, but I understand his mindset as a builder. I don't really know him personally, but from what he writes, says, and does, I genuinely believe his intentions are good, always approaching problem-solving. Of course, Fantom's speed and low cost of use are also reasons.

JW: What is your favorite feature/pool type on Balancer? Why?

Daniel: That's a tough question. I think Boosted Pools are an incredibly innovative concept, pushing liquidity pools to another tier from a capital efficiency perspective. I think it has not received the market attention it deserves. I really love the idea of liquidity leverage, keeping a small amount of liquidity sufficient for trading in the pool and finding interest elsewhere to create sustainable long-term income. This is a great technology and an opportunity for our Beethoven to showcase its potential.

JW: As an anonymous team, have you encountered any difficulties along the way?

Daniel: Definitely, being anonymous is a challenge, but it also has its beauty. The difficulty lies in that it is not something I have done before, so it is definitely a new experience, and you have to be aware of it constantly, which can be distracting. But on the other hand, it's also freeing. Initially, we faced some challenges, such as people trying to dox us, especially as an early-stage project, people were skeptical. But we overcame that, people now accept that we are anonymous, that we are a trustworthy group, that we are well-intentioned, and I am not sure how we did it. I would say that by showing up every day, doing our best to be transparent, people eventually accept it.

JW: Do you have KPIs internally?

Daniel: I don't have any, it's difficult to have KPIs when writing code. The core members don't have any either; we have been working together for several years, understand each other's work, and have high expectations of ourselves. As for new members, I have high expectations. Marketing and content are handled by Mr. Kind, who is good at setting KPIs, as he has more background in enterprises.

JW: DAO is a hot topic in the crypto space recently. We have seen DAO chaos like SushiSwap. What is your view on DAOs and governance tokens?

Daniel: I often marvel at the organizational skills and commitment of highly engaged community members to DAOs. I believe that just like in any organization, there will be turmoil and reorganization from time to time, and DAOs are no exception. At Beethoven, we are slowly decentralizing, although we are still quite centralized compared to Balancer DAO.

JW: Regarding voting, according to the Messari report, last month, there were 5 proposals on Snapshot for fBEETS holders to vote on. Does Beethoven X have guidelines to balance voter rights and voting fatigue?

Daniel: Hmm, we don't have them internally. We have a gauge vote every week, which is regular, and the rest are ad hoc. For example, recently, a community member proposed an increase in platform fees, all initiated by the community, about one or two proposals per month, there are no established guidelines. But if there are too many proposals, we will space them out.

JW: I see Beethoven X conducting some social science research and establishing a Social Science Lab. What is that? Why is it important?

Daniel: The Social Science Lab is managed by Josey, who focuses on gamification, engagement, and qualitative research. If you were a future anthropologist looking back at this moment, I think you would find it interesting and unique. We have many spontaneous organizations like this emerging, which is a resistance to the existing system. DAO is one of them and has gained attention. Communities are built around a concept, a technology, or even a protocol and start building systems and processes. People mainly participate anonymously through instant messaging software, their level of involvement is unprecedented, perhaps because it is related to financial investment, such as owning BEETS or BAL. The connections that arise are very interesting. Josey is researching these to see if this information can be incorporated into the future development of the protocol.

JW: Do you have any specific plans on the Optimism chain? For example, how to increase TVL? How to attract other projects to migrate and settle in Ops Beets?

Daniel: Great question. We focus on partnerships. In addition to strengthening existing relationships, we are also looking for new partners, mainly from Jeffrey and Solarcurve's networks. We have Balancer v2 technology with Weighted Pools, Boosted Pools, LBP, all ready, just waiting for Optimism's adoption to increase. Of course, marketing and content creation are also necessary.

JW: Do you have any plans to keep Beethoven X alive in the next bull market? Does Beethoven X have a roadmap for the coming year?

Daniel: As a team, we are quite financially flexible, with most people having personal support. So, even if we really enter a long bear market, the team will have funds, and we will be able to continue our work. Of course, we will also cut expenses. We rely on Fantom rewards as the runway for construction, so we don't need to capture the price increase of BEETS, as long as we reach a certain TVL level, we can survive for many years with Fantom rewards. I think we have enough funding to operate for the next year. And with so many smart people in the team, I think if we need it, we can easily get new funding.

I want to create an incredible user experience. Our advantage is being able to leverage Balancer Labs, a very strong technical team. However, they are not very interested in integrating how people use their technology, so this is where our Beethoven X team can shine. For me, the top priority is to create a world-class experience.

JW: Taking a broader perspective, which chain do you think will dominate in 5 years?

Daniel: This is a huge unknown. I estimate that Ethereum will continue to be the primary base layer in the next five years. It has survived long enough, has built a technology-driven EVM, has a large number of supporters, and continues to undergo significant development. I think most meaningful innovations will continue to happen on the first layer. At the same time, I believe Fantom has a strong ecosystem, an excellent foundation, and a good chance to survive the bear market, which I think will be quite lengthy.