The Possible Sesameseed Integration
Welcome to this week’s edition of the RHIZOME Wire!
A potential integration with Sesameseed
This past week, the following tweet appeared on my timeline:
At this point, I had never heard of Sesameseed the project, nor SEED, the token, so I of course started to do some more digging.
What I found was a pretty unique and interesting project.
If you’re interested in learning the basics of Sesameseed and don’t feel like doing it via reading, I’d encourage you to watch this video, which is both entertaining and interesting (and only about 10 minutes):
Now, if you don’t want to watch the video but do feel like reading, then stick around!
Here is how Sesameseed describes the project:
Sesameseed is a multi-chain digital asset staking community which started as a grassroots social media campaign in April 2018. Sesameseed’s unique rewards structure, fueled by the SEED rewards token, provides stakers better rewards over time than can be earned through other staking options.
The Sesameseed community earns rewards from multiple blockchains by staking to any one of Sesameseed’s SEED nodes, or simply by holding SEED.
And here is how SEED works:
SEED is a multi-chain rewards tokens that can be earned by staking with Sesameseed on any one of a number of different blockchains. Each SEED is backed by the node reward tokens earned by Sesameseed on those different blockchains. The SEED rewards economy is designed to be the easiest way to earn the best staking rewards over time.
SEED can be redeemed at any time for these multi-chain rewards in Sesameseed’s staking wallet, Sprout. Every day more node rewards are used to increase the total redeem value. SEED can also be purchased or sold on an exchange, historically at a price well above the redeem value.
Holding SEED is desirable since it:
automatically stakes on all its blockchains to earn more SEED
passively compounds staking rewards every day (“set it and forget it”)
continuously increases in redeem value over time as it is held.
These features make SEED the easiest way to maximize staking rewards from multiple blockchains at once.
The best way to think of this is that Sesameseed is a smart-contract whose job it is to earn staking rewards with as many chains as possible (as of now, the first three major chains they operate nodes on and earn rewards with are TRON, Harmony, and Ontology). All those rewards from those projects are dumped into a giant basket of sorts; meanwhile holders of SEED could claim their share of those rewards (based on the number of SEED tokens they own) by trading in their SEED.
Here is the most recent SEED redeem value:
So, if you have one SEED token, you can claim it for the above amounts of each of those tokens.
Now, you’re probably wondering, how is SEED distributed?
As part of their process, Sesameseed creates a native SEED token on every blockchain they stake with. That means they’ll likely be creating a SEED IRC-2 token built on the ICON protocol, which will presumably be automatically distributed to those who delegate their ICX to the Sesameseed node. While this SEED token will be IRC-2, it will still have all the benefits and claiming rights of all the other SEED tokens built on other blockchain networks.
At this moment, it’s a combination of unclear and complicated just how SEED will be distributed to ICONists (and until Sesameseed is even approved for their grant application, we probably won’t get too many details on the exact process for ICON).
In addition, Sesameseed has also built the Unifi Protocol, which is essentially a DEX that allows cross-chain trading of various DeFi tokens:
Unifi Protocol is a group of non-custodial, interoperable, decentralized, and multi-chain smart contracts providing the building blocks for the next generation of DeFi development. Unifi provides a bridge to connect the existing economy of Ethereum-based DeFi products to growing DeFi markets on other blockchains. Unifi utilizes the time tested SEED Bridge to connect any Ethereum or EVM/NVM-based DeFi products to other blockchains.
There’s probably enough to write about the Unifi Protocol to justify it’s own article, so I won’t delve too much into it here, but I encourage you to read their abbreviated white paper.
I will also point out that the integration of Unifi into the ICON network will give ICONists access to the Unifi Protocol from the ICON protocol, which could open up a number of possibilities as far as trading IRC-2 tokens across chains.
So what are the benefits for ICON and ICONists of this possible integration?
First, for the network itself, we are gaining another node operator. While we certainly have no shortage of those, having another experienced node operator is never a bad thing.
In addition, due to the unique tokenomics of SEED, we’re indirectly onboarding what could be thousands of more people into our community, based on the fact they now have an interest in the success of ICON. Remember, the SEED token value is based on the rewards that can be claimed. If ICX is added to that basket, as the value of ICX increases, so will the value of SEED — so thousands of new people, many of whom may have never even hear of ICON until this week — are essentially now ICX holders who have a vested interest in the success of the project.
Furthermore, as mentioned above, ICON will presumably be able to integrate with the Unifi Protocol, which opens up a number of other possibilities.
And for individual ICONists?
Let’s start with this paragraph, from the article “SEED Minting and Distribution System”:
Sesameseed’s current plan is to expand the SEED rewards economy to include more than 40 blockchains. As Sesameseed continues to innovate, The SEED Minting and Distribution System, as well as Sesameseed’s expansion plan may accelerate, grow or adapt as opportunities that will benefit SEED holders are discovered.
As of now, ICON would be the fourth token to be added to Sesameseed (presuming no others get added beforehand, which is a possibility). To a degree, this would make us “early investors”. SEED is still relatively cheap, due to the fact that the protocol is only capturing rewards from 3 blockchains at the moment. (Obviously, capturing rewards from 40 blockchains will add more to the “basket” compared to only three chains.)
At the same time, with fewer chains onboarded, it should presumably be easier to accumulate SEED tokens during the distribution process (as there will be fewer people who are entitled to a distribution). Over time, it will get harder and harder to earn SEED (as distribution is hard capped at 100K SEED per day).
As a result of these dynamics, it’s likely that as the intrinsic value of SEED rises, and the challenge of “mining” increases, the value of SEED should increase — both in terms of what it sells for on the open market, but also due to the intrinsic value it holds in the amounts of token rewards it can be redeemed for.
Finally, SEED also provides a built in diversification beyond ICX. By holding SEED, you’re entitled to own stacks of all the other tokens on the chain, which gives you exposure to projects beyond just ICON.
As mentioned, the Sesameseed integration is pending approval of a grant from ICON, which I assume to be an almost assured outcome (considering ICON reached out to Sesameseed, rather than the other way around). But if you like the idea and the project, be sure to vote for approval of the grant.
In the meantime, be sure to follow Sesameseed on Twitter, Telegram, YouTube, or Reddit.
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