Telos (TLOS), one of the most promising and scalable Layer-1 EVM-compatible blockchains, continues to shine. The Telos Foundation’s recently published Q2 Report not only discusses enhanced user onboarding but also looks ahead to Q3 and Q4. Telos’ main focus will be securing top-tier exchange listings, DeFi platforms, Market Makers, Liquidity Providers, Fiat Gateways, Wallets, and service providers in addition to fulfilling their ambitious roadmap for 2022. At the time of press, the Telos ecosystem has 50+ projects with more than half joining during Q2.
Telos’s ecosystem is constantly evolving and Telos Foundation aims to provide transparency and visibility to the public. This is critical, particularly given the current volatility in the crypto markets. The goal of this report is to provide summarized data and financial reporting not included in their monthly reports.
In Q2 Telos focused on ensuring there is improved context to the spending and its value to the community. TCD and Liquidity Budgets are handled outside the foundation but have been included for easier viewing.
Telos Foundation - From Hiring to Execution Mode
In the previous quarter, they did a tremendous amount of hiring, increasing their staff by up to 4x. These talented individuals wasted no time settling in, and as Q2 commenced, they were already locked in and firing on all cylinders. Consequently, it was no surprise that the team significantly boosted output in social presence, leads, partnerships, community building, and events.
Q2 Highlights
- Mass exposure events at Consensus and Dcentral brought in well over 200 high-quality leads.
- Over 29 projects joined the Telos ecosystem in Q2.
- First full-team gathering and team building achieved while in Austin. They are incredibly excited about what has come out of the in-person collaborations resulting from this event and are full of optimism for what the future brings.
- Telos announced new tier-1 exchange listings, including Huobi, among several others, who listed TLOS organically due to increased visibility.
- Improved Onboarding – Major improvements made to user onboarding experience via Rubic (Swap between other chains directly to any telosEVM assets) and Simplex (Buy TLOS with card).
- Continued investments and grants at a rapid pace.
- Huge lift in social metrics across the board
The Spend
Total TF Spend $882,447.47
As part of Telos’ commitment to total transparency, they have prepared the following financial summary of Q2 spending. Telos’ goal is to provide easily digestible information for the Telos community to assess that the allocation of funds was not only handled diligently but also resulted in the impressive growth of the Telos ecosystem within a quarterly window.
It’s very easy to overlook the tremendous progress made without the vantage point of a summarized document. This quarter Telos has consolidated the total spend in both USD and TLOS (based on a 20c TLOS price) to make for easier viewing rather than broken down into multiple currencies.
Projected TF runway as per June 2022: 13 months (up 1 month from Q1)
Despite the drawdown across global markets, TF has retained and even extended its current runway since last quarter through vertical integration initiatives and hiring. TF is currently looking at additional opportunities to extend its runway as a cautionary measure stemming from the markets; however, at present, there is no need for layoffs outside of those required through structural improvements.
Marketing and Events – $404,712.26
Expenses Summary
Marketing consists of salary for marketing employees as well as different marketing initiatives. Significant expenses included Consensus and Decentral, which, while paid up in advance (in Q1), included travel and hotel expenses that were absorbed in Q2.
Social Media Key Achievements (Q2 vs Q1):
- Net audience growth up 1662.2%
- Audience Growth up 37.3%
- Published Posts up 51.8%
- Impressions up 46.6%
- Engagement up 146.9%
- Total Articles Published: 59
Events – Consensus, Decentral, Bitcoin 2022, NFT New York, etc
The team was successful in its efforts to boost the presence of Telos while in attendance at DeFi events throughout Q2. This helped tremendously to move Telos from a relatively unknown ecosystem to a quickly emerging one.
One of the massive benefits of the sponsorship of Consensus was the Telos World side event that allowed us to shine a light on a number of the Telos ecosystem projects, service providers, and partners.
Telos world at consensus featured a swath of different ecosystem partners.
Business Development – $140,331.56
Expenses Summary
Business Development (BD) consists of the salary and expenses of the BD team, whose primary focus is the onboarding of DApps and creating partnerships for Telos. Throughout Q2, the Business Development team has delivered on its objectives, recruiting and partnering with developers to build new projects on the Telos EVM and incubating them alongside the projects built on Telos Native.
Telos is pleased to have welcomed the following 29 projects during Q2:
- DIA — a cross-chain, end-to-end, open-source data and oracle platform for Web3.
- Rubic — a multi-chain protocol that allows swaps between 15,000+ tokens in a single click and a Telos Ignite recipient.
- Brokoli — a DEX and suite of eco-focused tools that allow users the choice to make a positive climate impact without added costs.
- ARize — an innovative 3D, AR & VR supplier for businesses, metaverses & NFT creators alike, and a Telos Ignite recipient.
- Kyte One — a platform that aims to provide a one-stop solution for all the growth hacking needs for crypto startups. Kyte One is yet another Telos Ignite recipient.
- Artik Finance — a platform where investors can suggest, discover and vote for early-stage projects with solid fundamentals and great potential for long-term growth.
- Yield Hub — a yield aggregation protocol allowing users to compound returns on their favorite DeFi farms.
- OmniLend — OmniDEX’s newly launched lending platform, integrated with DIA Oracle, the first lending platform on the tEVM.
- ApeSwap — A leading DEX featuring a wide range of DeFi products where users are incentivized to pool liquidity on ApeSwap through yield farming to earn the native currency, $BANANA.
- Nuco Cloud — A Web3-based cloud computing solution allowing users to monetize unused computing power for the benefit of the global community.
- Immunify — The world’s first AI-based smart digital disease health registry dApp with self-sovereign identification NFTs to support better health care in Africa. An Ignite Grant recipient.
- Mystery of the Moon — A brand new Metaverse NFT game inspired by lunar exploration. Facts and lore. An Ignite Grant recipient.
- Incognito — A platform to buy and sell cryptocurrency privately — “Incognito mode for your crypto.”
- FitEvo — A next-generation Move-to-Earn platform supporting several exercise types (not just steps!) with a unique gamified user experience. An Ignite Grant recipient.
- Reign of Terror — A futuristic cyberpunk P2E game with NFT ownership of characters and land within the ecosystem. An Ignite Grant recipient.
- Nabox Wallet — An open-source multichain wallet with a built-in cross-chain bridge function.
- Simplex — The leader in fiat on/off ramps for crypto, Simplex is now live and integrated into the Telos website. You can now buy $TLOS instantly with a credit or debit card.
- AirLyft One — The first-ever multichain decentralized growth hacking platform that can help blockchain projects run campaigns and distribute rewards on-chain. The integration is now complete and live on the Telos network.
- ActiFit — The latest evolution in Move-to-Earn gaming has come to Telos. Get rewarded for your daily exercise activities to earn rewards, and yield-farm your earned AFIT tokens.
- VeFi — An all-in-one multichain NFT marketplace that enables users to bridge and trade NFTs across different Blockchains.
- Multisender - — A platform that allows users to send ERC721 and ERC1155 tokens to thousands of addresses in a single transaction.
- Sky Meta — What started as a gaming guild quickly evolved into a scalable guild platform allowing guilds and casual investors to easily manage, delegate and monetize their GameFi NFTs.
- tDrive — Distributed IPFS blockchain storage solution offering decentralized, simple, on-demand storage solutions.
- DeBank — //debank.com/ — An all-in-one cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to track their entire portfolio through various chains and help users track DeFi applications, compare interest rates, manage assets, find DeFi projects and analyze risks.
- Exchange Listings — $TLOS continues to expand onto new centralized exchanges. Telos is proud to be supported by Huobi , MEXC , HotBit, DigiFinex Global, adding to its list of supported CEXs.
One of the main focus areas for the BD team during the last two quarters was growing the EVM ecosystem which now has over 50 projects and counting with more than half of these joining during Q2.
In addition to the substantial increase in Telos EVM adoption over the past quarter, TF continues to support Telos native. They are expecting a huge increase in Telos Native apps over the next few years with their considerable investment alongside EOS, WAX, and UX to upgrade and promote the core code layer and smart contract platform. Telos’ maiden platform presents itself as a home for apps that they believe to be potentially game-changers with large user bases. Below are just a few of the Telos native apps they provide ongoing support and assistance to. Its team is excited about what each is building as they demonstrate early signs of mass market potential.
Taikai Network – TAIKAI is a builder hub that connects creators and companies using hackathons, bounties and hiring challenges to help you grow.
Qudo - A cutting-edge app that aims to revolutionize the multi-billion dollar gaming industry. Players can achieve In-App-Unlocks using QUDO-friendly games, while developers can improve their games through the QUDO B2B marketplace or give back to the community by creating additional rewards.
Appics – A reward-based social media application that runs on top of the blockchain and enables people from around the globe to turn likes into currency.
Zeptagram — Zeptagram is a blockchain-based trading platform where music IP-rights owners can tokenize their assets.
Grant And Venture Recipients in Q2:
Rubic, Sky Meta, Imuunify, 6-C Index, Gami, Reign of Terror, FitEvo, Chainport, Kyte One, Arize, Mystery of the Moon, Tranching, and BitKeep
The BD team deployed over 1.3 million TLOS in grants and venture investments via the 12 million TLOS initiative. These costs are not included in the figures above.
Operations – $118,557.02
Operations consist of SAAS tools, job postings, legal fees, etc., used to ensure an efficient working environment at the TF, along with the salaries of the CEO and COO. Both of these roles make contributions across all the different responsibility areas of the TF.
It also includes any contractors, strategy, or operations hires that do not fall under other business areas and payment to strategic Telos partners to cover RAM costs.
Community – $148,705.29
Community-spend consists of a regional community manager, Telos Eagles, and management Salary. In addition, community relations have initiated giveaways and influencer spending to broaden Telos’ exposure to the DeFi community.
Highlights:
- The community team began professionalizing its regional management program which included full translation of key posts coming from the TF into multiple key languages
- The community team continued to provide global opportunities to community members via the Telos Eagles and grow Telos knowledge and support in every corner of the globe
PR – $29,751.46
PR consists of the salary for a PR manager and the costs for vendors managing PR publications. PR shares some staffing with Marketing, hence the considerable low spend. Telos paid for many PR services upfront in Q1 which lead to low spending in Q2. In the future, Telos is contemplating including PR-spend under marketing.
Telos Liquidity Team
Q2 was a roller-coaster ride, but overall, Telos was able to withstand the harsh market conditions by working proactively with its partners. Though the market conditions hampered Telos’ strategies, during this period, Telos achieved an ATH in volume and has managed to sustain adequate levels over time.
They also worked very hard to secure prominent exchanges, fiat gateways, and DeFi partners like Huobi (among other CEXes), Simplex, ApeSwap, BitKeep, and others. Telos’ CEX listings resulted from organic growth and widespread attention toward the expanding Telos ecosystem.
Telos joined other team members at DCentral, Consensus in Austin, Texas, and attended Binance’s 5th anniversary in Paris. During these events, they followed up with existing partners and made a lot of new connections with top exchanges, wallets, and service providers in the industry. They are actively following up on these connections and working towards new partnerships.
Looking ahead to Q3 and Q4, Telos’ focus will be primarily on securing top-tier exchange listings, DeFi platforms, Market Makers, Liquidity Providers, Fiat Gateways, Wallets, and service providers. They will continue working with their existing and new partners to launch an incentive program to boost the DeFi activity across Telos.
Service Provider Expenses (paid from Liquidity Funds) :
April: 7067 USDT
May: 6000 USDT
June: 6000 USDT
Total: ~$19067 USDT
Q2 Salaries(paid from TF): $60000 (Includes USDT and TLOS)
Exchange Fees:
Listing, referral fees, and Campaigns : ~$450,000 (Includes USDT and TLOS)
Telos Core Development (TCD)
Telos has grown the core development team significantly since March 2022 to add further full stack and front-end resources to deliver on the demanding roadmap for Q3/Q4. Their team also increased in size to a total of 19 members, which includes retainers and associated resources. But adding personnel was far from the only growth the TCD achieved.
Telos Core Development had an outstanding second quarter due to consistent delivery of innovation and improved user experience. Adding a full-time Product Management resource will allow us to speed up the user experience projects, including “Telos-Station” in quarter three, which will be another milestone for Telos’ chain.
Telos’ continued efforts to drive EVM 1.5 and 2.0 will deliver cutting-edge technology and innovation to the EVM Ecosystem. EVM 1.5 is an exciting precursor to 2.0 because it includes various upgrades and user experience modifications. One crucial component is a new indexer, which enables further improvements and additions to Teloscan. Such upgrades include a token overview, holder lists, performance improvement for various services, and a revised block header architecture. Due to significant changes, they will re-index the chain once deployed.
Telos is excited to announce that staking is coming to the Telos EVM. This development provides EVM users with the chance to access attractive passive rewards. Furthermore, as a result of their sTLOS and EVM 1.5 developments, they will also be able to offer a native, non-custodial bridge feature very soon.
Q2 was also an essential quarter for Open Block Explorer (OBE) iteration. This continuous developmental process ensures the availability of an open-source tool for Telos Native. The Q2 release included features such as:
- Voting and BPs
- Brand new Multi-Signature UI
- REX integration
Subsequent iterations in Q3 will include:
- Multi-Signature “lite”
- RAM features
- NFT features
On the community front, the bi-weekly “Telos Tech Talks” AMAs provide an effective way to communicate and inform the community. They have been well received, as can be measured from total views and interaction.
Telos’ further streamlined roadmap for Q3 and Q4 allows us to deliver strategic projects and innovation. The team is working relentlessly on additional improvements to block explorers, EVM, governance, and especially user experience and end-user and developer onboarding.
TCD Budget Report Q2
Though further scaling, adding team members, and external development teams added to our costs, it also resulted in many achieved milestones that established Telos as a leader in blockchain/ DeFi innovation. Our clear focus is to provide the required resources to deliver our roadmap objectives while closely monitoring the cost levels and treasury to ensure sufficient runway.
Total quarterly cost Q2 2022: 550,000 USD*
Projected runway as per July 2022: 13 months
Telos Foundation values its team’s personal information and complies with non-disclosure agreements; detailed staff costs or external rates are therefore not publicized.
Looking Ahead – Telos Q3 / Q4 Roadmap
A small selection of what is to come in Q3/Q4 in the Telos Ecosystem.
Q3
- Liquid Staking — sTLOS Launch
- Major Core Code Upgrade — Mandel
- Core Code (EOSIO) Rebrand and launch
- TelosEVM 1.5
- Telos Branding Revisions (Messaging)
- Telos Explorer Updates (MSIG, RAM, and NFT features)
Q4
- New Website
- Liquid Staking — sTLOS Launch
- Upgrade to EOSIO Mandel version
- Inter Blockchain Communication
- New Cryptography Primitives (Faster EVM)
- TelosEVM 2.0
- New Telos Native SDK’s
Via this site: Telos Foundation Q2 Report
