March 4-th held an Ask Me Anything session at ICOSpeaks telegram chat. From the Aquaris side there was
Before we go to the first set of questions, could you please do a short self-intro?
👨💻 Alex | COO | @AlexAQUARIS My short story is that I come from an IT background and began my career in data management. I became interested in crypto and blockchain technology when I got an opportunity to join one of the most prominent peer-to-peer crypto startups back in 2017. There, I established and grew global teams and became Head of Support. I later moved on to work in the Compliance Department of the same company and helped establish processes there. Currently, I am the COO at Aquaris 🌊 👨💻 Andrei | co-founder | @Andrew_AQUARIS
I’m Andrei, co-founder of the AQUARIS project. Nice to see you here on a Friday! My background is in shipping, engineering, port, and ship management. While at sea, I spent a lot of time on the internet researching blockchain. I went on to work in the crypto industry after seeing the big future in the field. It leads to over 5 years of experience in the blockchain industry, working with several crypto projects that have reached good heights in cryptocurrency. From these experiences, I now believe it’s time to grow a project I can call my own, combining my 2 great passions.
We also have 2 other colleagues who couldn’t join us today. Mikhail. He’s had 30 years of experience in the fishing industry. He’s held different roles: from sales, fish farming, processing fish products, and is currently in charge of a fish processing and distribution business in Estonia. So, you can say he’s the Aquaman 🔱 but don’t tell him that. 🤫 His role in AQUARIS focuses on dealing with the factories directly and the production side of fish processing. Mikhail works to ensure that everything runs as smoothly and efficiently as the technology we’re working with.
And the last one is Dmitri, who is leading the Business Development side of AQUARIS. He has taken different managing roles in the past, starting from a team lead and growing into a project manager since 2017.
Let’s get started!
Q: Could you share what Aquaris is all about, and what your goals are? What inspired its creation?
A: AQUARIS integrates blockchain into the aquatic product industry, which streamlines operations while increasing profits with the addition of transparency to the process.
Using the fish processing industry as an example, those things are achieved by first bringing core business together — distributors, fish processing facilities, certifiers, and start-ups concerning seafood and water products — to minimise the impact on nature.
To add to what Alex said, our fish production process is powered by renewable energy, with surplus energy sold for profit into the local power system. We will substantially lower the cost of mining by using solar panels to power our facilities. We can enhance our yield by eliminating the high electric expense that usually cripples mining companies.
You can read more about that in our first Medium Blog:
About what inspired us – COVID-19 caused many people to lose their jobs, and we wanted to help. One of our team members, Mikhail, has been in the fisheries industry for over 30 years and proposed that a fish processing plant can create employment opportunities. We thoroughly researched the idea and saw an excellent opportunity to help those who lost their jobs.
On top of that, we live in Estonia, a country that has relied on a healthy sea for food and income for centuries; we want to give back and wish to make a difference by preserving the oceans and all water resources. We aim to have the AQUARIS operation be as green energy-dependent as possible. Such things take time. We all have experience in their respective fields. With our combined skill sets, we can make it happen.
Q: Aquaris has the primary goal of sustainable aquaculture, a much-needed field in the future. How will Aquaris be used to increase the efficiency and decrease costs of aquaculture as a whole? Are there other utilities you plan to use Aquaris for?
A: Our long-term plan is to expand the business on water parallels. Short term plan is to leverage the knowledge and experience we have now in the fish industry to make sure the project gets a smooth start and reaches an optimal operational state as soon as possible. In the current world, I think it would be difficult to decrease the costs of aquaculture in general but we aim to increase efficiency by making sure modern technology is used in the fish processing factory.
There are 3 stages to our plan. The first one is fish processing factory modernisation. This will enable us to export fish products internationally, making partnerships beyond the EU, specifically to Africa and Asia markets. The second is to expand the use of solar energy to power the factory. The third is to leverage crypto and mining processes to add additional revenue to the business and make sure to reuse the excessive heat from miners for an eco-friendly operation.
Q: Can you talk about tokens? What are the benefits for investors in holding/staking tokens? What’s the role your tokens play in this ecosystem?
A: There is a reason why we say AQS is a discount token for the water industry. Our business partners will be able to use the token for payment and in return receive a discount as they also have to participate in staking.
Where does this leave all the other users? Generally, the threshold to enter the aquatic industry is very high. What we want to accomplish is to provide users with a token for staking and enjoying consistent yields. The bravest of hearts are free to ride the price waves with their buy and sell orders. The AQUARIS staking pool offers up to 15% per year, with a combined reward reaching upwards of 25%, featuring four staking levels based on the amount staked. These accounts will be accessible via the AQUARIS Portal.
Q: Are you planning your Token Public Launch anytime soon? What’s the current status? I bet some of our members are curious about how to purchase them right now.
A: The private round is now over, but it is still possible to buy AQS tokens lower than listing price: At the end of April, we are conducting an IDO on the Zelwin.Finance Launchpad. So, please join our community at https://t.me/AquarisCommunity to ensure you don’t miss the date announcement!
Q: Watching the growing dynamics of NFT sales, the question came up: you are positioning yourself as a progressive company. Do you have plans to expand in this direction as well?
A: We actually will be launching a series of NFTs, each of these NFT tokens will be equivalent to a certain number of one-time claimable AQS tokens. To be precise, it will be half a million tokens or more per NFT. This is also a great way to purchase the high-potential asset at a price far below the listing price of the exchange. In the coming days, we will announce the start of sales on the OpenSea platform. Stay tuned!
Q: An important aspect of any token economy is the tokenomics themselves, can you break down the token spread and the release schedule?
A: Now for the bigger picture of tokenomics I would like to refer you to the 10th slide on our slide deck
Everyone who bought the tokens during the Private round is going to receive the full amount within a 12 month period with monthly partial unlocks. As we mentioned, IDO will be taking place on Zelwin.Finance, AQUARIS will be listed on DEX soon after launchpad with token distribution happening just prior to the token listing.
Q: Great! What can enthusiasts/investors expect when it comes to future plans aka roadmap? What do you have in mind for Aquaris in the next few weeks or months?
A: So we had a roadmap laid out. I am happy to say we have been keeping up with it rather well until the end of last year, things did slow down a bit for Christmas month but now we bounced back. I am all for transparency and do not mind admitting being a slightly behind the initial plan. Considering how quickly things change in crypto space I believe we have done well to be where we are now!
As for more news and updates I think we have already mentioned the bigger ones in the earlier questions, but do follow us on our social media channels to be the first to hear the latest and greatest from us 😃
Q: Awesome, that’s it. I’m quite sure we’ve covered all the main topics today. Could you please share the links to your Social Media channels so that our community can get to know Aquaris a little better?
A: Visit our website: Join our Telegram group:
Get updates on LinkedIn:
Follow us on Twitter:
Q: Have you being audited ? Have not heard you talk about that security of funds is what every investor craves for and plans to escape incase of insecurity if funds,scams and rug pulls ? How strongly built are your security put in place?
A:When being asked about an audit this is a veery broad question. I will try to break things down and speak where we are now.
We have had our token code audited by pessimistic.io
Our legal team is also finilizing Legal Opinion for AQUARIS.
As for general safety we will be using a 3rd party service Fireblocks as a wallet provider. They work with huge companies and are one of the biggest players on the market, so thier security practices are extensive.
Q: Almost 4/5 of investors are focused purely on the price of token in short term instead of understanding the real value and health of the project. Could you tell us on motivations and benefits for investors to hold your token in long term?
A:Thats a fair question. I would even say those 4/5 people are not investors but are purely traders.
Due to the unique approach AQUARIS has utilizing its tokens I believe we can attract both parties – investors and traders. We offer an excellent staking program and very competetive long term gains. On the flip side since our activity is linked to regular business and the contrats there are ususally 3-4 or even 5 years. It can indicate that we are here long term and are also able to make long term profit projections to keep our users and business partners happy 🙂 Q: NFTs is hot trending now, Do you have a play to have NFTs in your platform? If so, can you tell us the plans of your project in NFTs? A:Yes, we have in planes to use NFT on our platform. Firstly, we will soon start the INO program where we will use NFT certificates for the token presale program. So you all have a chance to buy Aquaris token with the lowest price before we go on IDO and then on DEX. Next, we will sell NFT which will give a bonus % to the staking program for Aquaris token. Later will do NFT for business clients who will get extra discounts on our platform. Q: Token Burn and BuyBack program play an important role in increasing Token value Do you have a token burn or buyback program plan to attract investors?
A:Great that you ask about this!
We actually have a burn fuction coded into the contract. Burn will be happening at a much later date.
Similar situation with token BuyBack, if you would look at tokenomics you can see that once reward reserve is depleted we will start buying back tokens to share with the users who are staking AQS token on our platform.
Q: According to the roadmap, what is your most important next priority?
A:At the moment we are most looking forward to IDO listing and DEX soon after.
Then our focus will shift to reconstruction and optimization of fish processing plant. Next would come installation of solar panels and mining equipment for hot air utilization from miners and redirection this heat to the product drying process.
ICOSpeaks hosted an AMA Session with the Aquaris Team. That’s all for today.
