Crypto DeFi Platform Qredo (QRDO) Analyzed
Why you should check out this decentralized custodian protocol for institutional crypto investors.
In this article, I will share with you my research findings of crypto defi project Qredo ($QRDO), a layer 2 decentralized custodian protocol.
And let me tell you this much in advance: I like what I am seeing here.
My analysis of this project comes from one of my Twitter followers telling me to take a closer look. If you haven’t already, you should give me a follow as I am sharing a lot of exclusive content on Twitter and it’s also easier to reach out to me in case you have any questions or are looking for information!
But now back to business. Gather round, there’s a lot of interesting stuff to unpack!
Here are some interesting numbers and stats:
• Qredo was founded in Q4 2018.
• As of now, the project has raised $50 million from investors.
• In early 2022, the network had over 11.000 monthly users and more than $8 billion assets under management.
Nice.
Now, let's start our analysis with the project’s website.
Qredo’s Website
Qredo’s website is great. There’s not much copy on the homepage but it’s on point. You immediately get an idea of what the project is about and what the main features are.
What I especially like is that they don’t hide important documents such as the whitepaper, lite paper, yellow paper, and token paper. They are all placed very prominently on the site.
There’s also some easy-to-digest information and visuals on the future roadmap, fundraising history, partners, and investors.
What stands out is that Qredo’s website offers a lot of informational material. There is a FAQ section, videos, press releases, product descriptions…
All of this makes it very convenient to research the platform. Other crypto projects should take this as an example!
Well done!
Team & Partners
Qredo’s website also features the leading people behind Qredo including links to social profiles on LikenIn.
I like what I am seeing here.
The team around Anthony Foy, Brian Spector, and Josh Goodbody brings together people with years of experience in different fields and companies.
This doesn’t only apply to the c-suite. Also, the programmers, cryptographers, and business developers have a lot of expertise in their fields.
Good prerequisites for long-term success.
But where Qredo really shines is when we take a look at their partners.
Qredo can build on partnerships with well-known companies such as Deribit, Coinbase, and MetaMask Institutional. In addition, the project attracted funds from crypto VCs such as Kenetic, Spartan, and 1kx.
You only get such big names and funding on board if you really know your business.
What does Qredo’s cooperation with its partners look like?
Let’s take their partnership with MetaMask Institutional as an example. MMI gives institutions access to defi with 15.000+ protocols on Ethereum mainnet and compatible chains. They also connect users to custodial partners.
In other words, MetaMask Institutional relies on providers such as Qredo so that institutional users don’t have to compromise on their requirements for safety, compliance, and security.
For Qredo that means access to thousands of MetaMask’s 10 million users.
How does that work in detail?
Let’s check out the whitepaper!
Qredo Whitepaper
Qredo’s whitepaper and other docs provide information about the project’s background and which market needs it wants to fulfill.
Qredo’s focus is on traditional financial institutions.
Why?
Because existing defi solutions are optimized for individuals, not corporations.
To better understand this, let’s look at the hurdles institutional users face.
Generally speaking, existing crypto infrastructure lacks the controls for businesses to legally operate in defi.
Some of the issues:
• Centralized custody poses a risk for access to digital assets.
• On some chains, transaction confirmation times are too slow & transaction fees are too high.
• There are lots of security issues & trading insecurities such as front-running bots.
• The fractured infrastructure makes reporting a challenge.
• Poor cross-chain interoperability.
How does Qredo solve these problems?
To decentralize custody, the network utilizes multi-party computation (MPC). Parts of keys are distributed among different nodes. A certain number of the keyholders need to approve in order to sign a transaction.
How does Qredo support cross-chain interoperability?
The L2 network acts as an immutable asset registry that enables instant cross-chain functionality on supported L1 blockchains. Swaps happen between addresses on the Qredo blockchain at a low cost.
This works by a process that Qredo calls crystallization, where underlying L1 assets are mapped to the L2 wallets on the network. This mapping gives Qredo the ability to make a “proof of funds claim” at all times and enables frictionless and fast cross-chain atomic swaps.
Qredo Token Use Case & Distribution
$QRDO is a utility and governance token for the Qredo network.
In total, there are 2 billion tokens (hard cap). The first 1 billion is issued over the course of two years. The other tokens will be distributed to network users over the next 50 years to incentivize network usage.
What’s special about Qredo’s tokenomics?
They don’t just reward miners and validators but all users. Anyone holding QRDO in the network will automatically earn a staking yield of 10.1% APY.
The goal is to get a lot of users onboard which results in greater network security.
This is needed so the project can fully decentralize.
Qredo’s plan is for the community to eventually govern itself through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Once the transition is made, $QRDO will be a governance token where one token counts as one vote.
What about distribution?
According to the Qredo token paper, the team’s share is 22% while investors get 34%, mostly vested until mid-2022. Currently, 48% of $QRDO is held by the top 100 wallets, which also includes some exchanges.
The token is traded on multiple exchanges including major ones such as KuCoin and Bitfinex. The current total market cap is $100 million with a daily trading volume of $12 million.
Important to know for potential investors: $QRDO was audited by Quantstamp and NCC Group. Their assessments found some common issues which have been resolved by Qredo.
Qredo’s Social Media Channels
Now, let’s take a look at their social media channels.
Qredo is active on multiple networks:
• Twitter (51k followers as of February 2022)
• Telegram (13k)
• Discord (3k)
• YouTube (1k)
• Medium (290)
They publish a lot of great content and there is plenty of user engagement.
While their Twitter, Discord, and Telegram focus on real-time interaction with users, their YT and Medium channels feature in-depth content including user guides.
Here, too, Qredo performs very solidly.
I definitely recommend that you check out the different channels. There you will find a lot of information that I cannot reproduce here due to length limitations.
Final Words
Is there anything that I do not like about Qredo?
Well, not really.
• The project seems to be very solid with a well-defined target group and use case.
• The team brings a lot of expertise to the table.
• The tech is great.
• Their partners and investors are great.
So if you are looking for a potential crypto investment opportunity in the defi space, you should take a closer look at this project. (NO financial advice!)
