Layer 1, 2, 3 Chains Explained | DeFi Qredo Analysis Feb 2022 – Strong Future?

Here is why you should check out this decentralized custodian protocol for institutional crypto investors.

Ren & Heinrich did an in-depth analysis of this project – based on one of their Twitter followers telling them to take a closer look.

Key Facts QRDO

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, lets begin the analysis with the project’s website.

Qredo’s website is great. There’s not extensive 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.

Qredo doesn’t hide important documents such as their whitepaper, lite paper, yellow paper, and token paper. They are all placed very prominently on the site.

Source: Qredo

There’s also some easy to digest information and visuals on the future roadmap, fundraising history, partners, and investors. Their list of customers/ clients and strategic investors to date is impressive.

What stands out is that Qredo’s website offers a lot of information material. There is a FAQ section, videos, press releases, product descriptions and more.

All of this makes it very convenient to research the platform. Other crypto projects should take this as an example!

Well done!

Qredo’s website also features the leading people behind Qredo including links to social profiles on LikedIn.

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.

These are all excellent 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’s 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’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 infrastructures lack the controls for businesses to legally operate in DeFi.

What are some of hurdles institutional users face?

To name a few:

• 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 key holders need to approve in order to sign a transaction.

How does Qredo support crosschain interoperability?

The Layer-2 network acts as an immutable asset registry that enables instant cross-chain functionality on supported Layer-1 blockchains. Swaps happen between addresses on the Qredo blockchain at a low cost.

This works by a process which Qredo calls crystallization, where underlying Layer-1 assets are mapped to the Layer-2 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.

$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 incentivise 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 on board 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 are 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. 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.

Now, let’s have 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 solidly.

It is definitely recommended that you check out the different channels. You’ll find a lot of detailed information that can’t be easily reproduced here (Twitter limitations).

Is there anything not to 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 it’s definitely worth-while to have a closer look at this promising Layer-2 decentralized custodian project Qredo (QRDO) in the DeFi space – a strong future ahead?