O3 Labs recently conducted an ask me anything (AMA) via Reddit, which was the team’s first wide scale community outreach since announcing it was under new management in May 2020. Participants were invited to post questions for the AMA via Twitter and Reddit with the O3 Labs team responding to questions over two days. Individuals with the top ten most voted on questions were each rewarded with 4 NEO.
O3 Labs participant included included core developer, Zhi Liu (also known as Blue), community manager, Sophy Fang, and social community architect, Alexander Diji.
The trio answered questions regarding plans for O3 Wallet, goals of the new O3 Labs team, and trends in the blockchain industry, amongst others.
A transcript with questions pertinent to O3 Labs and Neo can be found below:
Q1: What are the dApps currently available in the O3 Wallet? And, what is your opinion on modern dApps?
Sophy (community manager): Current dApps in the O3 Wallet include FTW, Blocklords, and other Neo ecosystem dApps. You can search for dApps through the explore site in the O3 Wallet.
dApps are an inexorable trend in the blockchain industry. I think one of the important benefits of dApps is their role in the sharing economy.
Q2: What is the mission and vision of O3 Labs?
Sophy: Our mission is to become the world-leading crypto wallet and the largest gateway to the Smart Economy.
Q3: Are there any plans to change O3’s name to mark your new management change?
Sophy: No, we will continue to use the name of O3. At this point, the O3 Wallet for iOS has been removed from the AppStore, but that was due to a trademark dispute with a non-blockchain related company called O2.
Moving forward, we will unveil a new logo and UI for the next version of the O3 Wallet.
Q4: O3 Labs has recently increased its activity on Twitter, such as sharing thoughts and conducting polls. Are there any other activities in the that the community will be able to participate in?
Alexander (social community architect): Yes, there will be a number of activities that the community will be able to participate in, such as contests, polls, giveaways, etc.
Be sure to follow the official O3 Labs Twitter account and watch for updates through https://community.o3.network.
Additional social platforms will be added as well.
Sophy: We also plan to run an O3 volunteer program for a sort period of time, and hopefully will continue the program for the long term.
Q5: Will the team maintain the fiat on-ramp functionality? Are there plans to integrate fiat on-ramp through other currencies?
Sophy: Yes, we will continue offering our fiat on-ramp function. While it currently only supports NEO, we exploring potentially adding supporting for BTC and ONT in the future.
Q6: With ETH 2.0 coming, why should a project choose to develop on Neo3? What is Neo’s competitive of edge on Ethereum?
Alexander: Advantages of Neo include:
Network Speed – Neo’s chain is much faster than Ethereum’s. Improved TPS means the network is more efficient. Currently, Neo is at least 200% faster than Ethereum.
Compatibility – Neo is far more dynamic and versatile when compared to Ethereum. Developers can build dApps on the Neo blockchain using common programming languages like Java, C#, and Python. Ethereum relies on one, highly specific programming language, which is Solidity.
Transaction Costs – Ethereum gas fees are very expensive! The average ETH transaction fee on June 11th, 2020 – was US $3.90 per transaction! In comparison, most transactions on Neo chain are nearly free.
For cost conscious organizations like institutional clients and large corporations, the decision to choose Neo’s blockchain over Ethereum’s will be a relatively easy one!
Q7: What will be O3’s next steps towards achieving mass adoption? What blockchain use cases are you currently working on and which use cases do you think will be the most successful in driving blockchain technology adoption?
Blue (core developer): Adoption is not only related to technology and product progress, but also has a lot to do with the stage of development across the industry. But, it will happen eventually. In my opinion. Peer-to-peer and smart contracts have already exhibited themselves to very successful use cases.
Q8: On moving forward through your roadmap, what are your most important next priorities? Does the O3 Labs team have solid fundamentals (i.e., funding runway and community support) to achieve those milestones?
Blue: The most important next priority for O3 Labs is enhancing the infrastructure and upgrading products.
Of course, we are developing a long-term plan for the team, funding, and community support.
Q9: On Twitter, the O3 Labs team has announced a new version of the O3 Wallet. Are there going to be new functions and features in the new version?
Sophy: Moving forward, we will enhance the user experience by adding new functions such as non-fungible tokens (NFT), DeFi, and hardware wallet integration. We also aim to phase out features that aren’t popular with our users.
Blue: Our favorite DeFi functions include autonomous lending protocols and swap protocols.
Q10: How many developer’s does O3 team have and who are those developers?
Blue: There are six community developers which include Steven, Hactrox, Lin-SiYu, RenPeilun, Lvyikai, and myself.
Also, we have recently brought Alex on as an O3 business developer, and Sophy and Caroline manage community operations.
For further information about the new O3 Labs team, refer to prior Neo News Today coverage.
Q11: What are your plans to educate and raise awareness and adoption among the community to make more people understand O3 token and its technology?
Blue: Apologies, but the O3 Labs team has never issued an O3 token.
Q12: What plans does O3 Labs have for global expansion? Is O3 only focusing on certain markets at this time? Or, is your team focussed on building and developing? Gaining new customers and users? Partnerships?
Sophy: O3 Labs is an international team. Our goal is to become a globally leading decentralized cryptocurrency wallet—and to that end, the O3 team is geared towards delivering optimized digital asset management services for Neo users around the world.
Q13: Do you have any strong competition from other companies in this niche and what are the strengths of your project as compared to other similar projects that make it stand out?
Sophy: Metamask is a benchmark for our competition in the wallet market. Additionally, there are other crypto wallets doing well that we aim to compete with, such as Trust and Atomic.
Comparing those wallets with the O3 Wallet, right now it only supports NEO. Moving forward, we aim to strengthen the O3 Wallet’s usability by potentially also supporting BTC and ONT.
Q14: In regards of NFT’s, what features are you working on?
Blue: Browser support and the ability to transfer NFT’s in the new version of the O3 Wallet.
Q15: The shuffling of the O3 Labs team may slow project development and deviate from the existing plan. Can you share your thoughts on the changes the new team will bring to the ecosystem?
Sophy: The original O3 Labs team’s core values still inspire us to this day. Therefore, we will continue to focus on delivering an optimized user experience by regularly interacting with our community and listening to their feedback.
Q16: Do you guys have new plans for the wallet and the community?
Blue: Sure, we are upgrading the product architecture and brand. After we release the new version of the O3 Wallet, we’ll disclose the new roadmap for product development.
Q17:Do you have plans to integrate other tokens?
Sophy: We have plans to integrate other tokens and are considering adding support for BTC first.
Q18: What’s the key contribution of Neo to the mainstream adoption of digital payments? Are there any current initiatives in regards to possible partnerships or applications that will be built on the Neo blockchain?
Blue: Neo aims to be developer-friendly, and to better serve large-scale business applications.
Q19: Is O3 targeting companies? How can community members contribute to the project? Does it have any benefits for small investors?
Sophy: We are not focusing on companies. In our perspective, businesses represent the whole blockchain industry. Currently, we are focused on optimizing for better services.
Q20: Does the O3 wallet have any future plans to be integrated to have a social aspect, as in sending messages from wallet to wallet?
Sophy: We are not considering the ability to send messages from wallet to wallet. Instead, we aim to focus on improving services that bring about a better user experience.
Note: Some edits have been made for formatting and readability.
The full AMA can be found at the link below: https://www.reddit.com/r/NEO/comments/hb8mey/reinvigorated_o3_is_on_the_way_join_the_ama_with/
About The Author: Dylan Grabowski
Dylan is a reformed urban planner with a passion for covering the Neo ecosystem. His objective as a writer for Neo News Today is to report news in an objective, fact-based, non-sensational manner. When not behind a computer screen, he can be found in the mountains rock climbing. Find Dylan on Twitter (@GrabowskiDylan).
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