we hosted an amazing AMA with Social Impact Network on the 10th of August
And here we will put some of the best questions:
Q1) Can you introduce yourselves to our community?
Cedric Lehmann : Hi everyone, I’m Cedric Lehmann living in Germany and co-founder of Social Impact Network. Thank you for giving me the chance to have this AMA.
I am fascinated by decentralized systems, especially blockchain networks and crypto tokens. 4 years ago I decided to go into this direction professionally.
In 2018, I co-founded blockchain consulting and software development company MLCrypt GmbH with Felix and for the last year we have been working on Social Impact Network.
Felix Maduakor : Yes of course! Hey there!! I am Felix Maduakor. Nice to meet all of you! I hope you have a great day.
I am co-founder of Social Impact Network. Have been working within Crypto the last couple of years and I am in Bitcoin since 2013. I am really excited to talk with you today about SI Network.. has been a long way.
Q2) Can you briefly tell us what is Social Impact Network ?
Cedric Lehmann : Social Impact Network brings impact investing to DeFi. Impact Investing is an investment strategy where you invest in projects that have a positive effect on society in addition to making profit.
The goal of Social Impact Network is to provide DeFi protocols through which investors can invest and at the same time do something positivie for our environment and society.
Cedric Lehmann : In the traditional world/CeFi, these are e.g. Green Bonds or Clean Energy ETFs (which are traded in stock exchanges). Here you could invest in a clean energy bond that implements projects to reduce CO2, white at the same time delivering profits to investors
This is exactly what we will bring to DeFi, only more efficient, more transparent and with higher returns than in CeFi!
SI Networks flagship product is SI Pools. Here you can invest in real assets such as solar PV systems or wind farms. At the same time, you can see how much impact (saved CO2, clean energy produced) your investment has generated. You will be able to trade the generated impact – similar to CO2 certificates.
Together with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Lebanon and Jordan, we are currently building the Sunny Pool – the first SI Pool. The goal is to electrify Lebanon, where population suffers from extreme energy blackouts
We are also implementing protoocls for yield farms and investors who would like to be part of the governance. But that would go beyon the scope here. You can find more information about this on https://docs.social-impact.network.
Q3) Let’s now talk about the milestones you have achieved so far and about your upcoming plans?
Felix Maduakor : We have been developing SI Network for about a year. Since then, a lot has happend.
We have been able to become part of several accelerators like DLT4EU and Google for Startups, gained stakeholders and partners from the energy sector and got government funding (Germany)
Our supporters are local banks, and also companies from the energy sector like CrossBoundary and Engie energy access. Together we could already identify the first real-world impact project in Lebanon.
This project can be cof-financed with UNDP Lebanon, EU and Social Impact Network.
You can follow us on twitter to learn more about the project
We are right now looking for the first beta test, buiilding a larger network in DeFi and conducting a strategic VC sale.
After that there will be our public sale and the launch of the platform!
Q4) Every project has a story behind their name, Can you tell us more about the story behind this? Who are the team behind this project? can tell us their background?
Cedric Lehmann : Yes, of course. This is a short but funny story. 🙂
We participated as a team in a crypto accelerator where we worked with UNDP and developed the idea of Social Impact Network.
Our challenge name was “Digital Impact Coins”, but when we saw the acronym DIC, we decided against it.
However Digital Impact Coins became to Social Impact Token, the governance token of the Social Impact Network.
We are a German based team, Our co-founders were researchers at the HGI, Europe’s biggest IT security faculty. From here, we started our own crypto startup.
When we met with UNDP Lebanon and realized what we as investors were missing in DeFi (impact) and understood the problems of UNDP and other impact partners. The Social Impact network was born.
As a team, we are all almost bitcoin dinosaurs. We have been in the space for about 7+ years. So far more or less undercover, but we have experience the biggest events in space. From the DAO hack to the blocksize debate for bitcoin. We were there.
Q5) DeFi is one of the hottest and most sought-after topics in the blockchain space right now. Can you share your opinion on DeFi with us? Do you think DeFi will disrupt the current financial system? What is Social Impact Network’s approach to the DeFi sector?
Felix Maduakor : thank you for this question
Defi is goint to take over the traditional finance sector! Simply because its more efficient.
Although I would like it to happen, but I believe that not everyone is likely to have Metamask installed or own a hardware wallet
But I am convinces that at least alomst everyone will have access to DeFi in one way or another.
Whether through service provides like coinbase, through a traditional bank or directly through software
Social Impact Network will be the first protocol for impact investing and ESG investing in DeFi.
In the traditional sector ESG and impact investing have already become huge investment areas (715 Billion in 2020) and this long term trend will also be seen in DeFi
SI network will start in DeFi and gradually expand to the traditional sector so that everyone can benefit from the advantages of Social Impact Network
In the long run we are looking at increasing mass adoption of DeFi through Si Network
Everyone will be able to do impact investing with mor efficiency, transparency and higher returns than CeFi allows.
And here we will put best questions from our members and Social Impact Network fans:
Q1) Can you list 1-3 killer features, of this project, that makes it ahead of its competitors ?
Cedric Lehmann : I will outline the three most important features that Social Impact Network provides for DeFi.
- Impact Investing -> There is no good way in DeFi how you could invest in real-assets with social impact like electrification or co2 reduction. With SI Network you actually don’t need to directly invest in a project, you can also just farm or insure SI Pools and still be able to trace the amount of CO2 which you have been avoiding while earning your profits
- Real-asset exposure: Almost all DeFi projects don’t have impact in the real world, they are completely digital based at the moment. With SI Network you are able to expand your crypto protfolio to real-world assets like solar PV systems without leaving the DeFi space.
- Insuring and farming -> While you are able to generate impact with you investments, you can also use it for farming or hedging SI Pools against defaults. At launch there are multiple way how you are able to generate impact with using SI Network depending on your preferences. You don’t want to invest directly in a real-asset pool? No problem, just use SI Network’s yield aggregator and add impact to your farming.
Q2) I saw about the DeFi climate fund and the UNDP partnership at Yahoo Finance.
So, what are the benefits of partnering with UNDP for the SINetwork community?
What other partnerships have you had so far?
And what does your defi climate look like?
Felix Maduakor : Si Network has been created together with UNDP Lebanon. UNDP is a well known international aid organization and part of the United Nations.
They help to ensure that projects within SI Network are creating measurable social impact. They propose interesting impact projects to SI Network and help with initial due diligence.
We are also working with various orther partners and supporters from the energy and finance sector.
For example GLS Bank, a German-based ethical bank. They will allow Social Impact Network to move to the traditional space (CeFi) and attract more CeFi impact investors.
Q3) In how many ways or what are the ways your project generate revenue? What is the revenue model? How it can be beneficial for both investors and for project itself?
Cedric Lehmann : All impact projects are generating revenue. For example the solar PV projects are generating revenue through offtakers who pay for the generated energy. Social Impact Network provides loans to companies implementing the projects. All fees which are generated in SI Network through providing loans, deposits and withdraws are flowing directly into SI Token.
So if you hold SI Token you benefit from the overall growth of the SI Network and the token value.
The loan taker benefit from cheaper loans, faster decision-making processes and more transparent funding process. Often these loan takers lack financial services in their environment.
Q4) The highlight of your site is ”Sunny Pool”. Can you describe Sunny Pool in detail? How do you plan to make Social Impact Network the future of fundraising? What are the competitive advantages and new innovations you bring to the ecosystem?
Felix Maduakor : This is a freat question. You can imagine Sunny Pool is something like an investment fund for Solar PV systems.
There are investors investing in the pool, then a governance system (based on delegated voting) decides after due diligence which projects should be funded.
Sunny Pool provides a loan to implement the project and receives returns and live impact data
Right now there is in DeFi no protocol allowing to invest in real-world impact projects. Social Impact Network is going to change this
On the CeFi level we bring a more efficient, more transparent solution which provides higher APY than the traditional market due to DeFi integration.
Q5) Social Impact wants to have an impact on this world for the better by helping projects and causes. But, can you tell us more about how is the selection process of such projects? Who choose them? How periodically are funds send to this causes? For how long is a project funded?
Cedric Lehmann : Yes, project selection is really important.
For this SI Network has an own protocol SI Governance which allows decentralized decision making.
SI Token holders who would like to take part in project selection have to stake their tokens and at the same time risk a portion of their tokens. In case of a default of a project, a portion of the staked tokens get liquidated to cover the loss.
However, for staking and taking this risk of loan defaults, the staker receives additional yields.
Since we know that many of SI Token holders might not actually want to decide on the projects, you are also able to delegate your voting power to experts from the Energy field, who can vote for you while you still receive yields.
Regarding the term: Successful voted projects, receive immediately the funds (loans). Loan terms may differ, but they are around 5-6 years. However, all tokens are liquid and you can trade them at any time.
Q6) When and where will it start? Share your pre-sale Link if possible?. Does your project have any events before Listing?
Cedric Lehmann : Hello mate, thanks for your questions. We are currently conducting a strategic sale with selected business angels and DeFi/crypto VCs. After that we will have a private sale in mid of October, you can already signalize your interest here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CCcT_5-QwCaOk_uEeqk0iguIM9kZxHL-O8-HvZjYzr8 . The public sale and launch will be at the end of the years, most probably in November after an audit from CertiK.
Q7) What are the requirements for me to be a delegator for Social Impact Network and what are the benefits of being a delegator?
Felix Maduakor : Delegators are SI Token holders who want to earn additional yield by insuring a SI Pool. Everyone who has SI Token and stakes them in SI Governance is able to delegate their voting power. Delegatee (the ones receiving voting power) can be any wallet, but some experts are whitelisted and highlighted.
Q8) Crypto market is in recent bear market and in this scenario it is very hard for investor to trust and invest on any project. How do you see this challenges and why should we invest on your project?
Cedric Lehmann : Our project is designed for long-term success. We don’t just go along with the hype. We have been in crypto professionally since 2016 and have survived several bear markets. We care about fundamentals and continue to build even in bear market times to make this world a better one. Our vision is a decentralized world where every impact investor can earn passive income while making a measurable difference in the real world.
Q9) I read that the social impact network is designed to remove pain points in the current fundraising scene. What do you think of the main defects of current fundraising platforms and how the social impact network will solve this problem?
Cedric Lehmann : In 2020, impact investing was valued at $715 billion and it’s growing every year. Even BlackRock has said it’s the investment opportunity of the future. But the problem is that traditional impact investing systems are not transparent and the investments are not flexible. So there’s a massive opportunity for impact investing to go onto the blockchain, which is already a problem Social Impact Network is solving. But by using DeFi, we’re taking it one step further, because now we’re linking the high liquidity of DeFi with the huge investments that are already flowing into impact investing. So it’s like bringing two different worlds together that are both already big and growing massively. And for DeFi investors who have never been able to invest in real-world assets before, Social Impact Network solves that problem by allowing them to expand their portfolios without having to leave DeFi – you can just continue doing yield farming like you always do, but your investment portfolio is diversified 🙂
Q10) What is your marketing strategy for attracting new users and investors and retaining them over the long term?
Felix Maduakor : Social Impact Network has multiple products offering yields. Within the first 3 years you receive SI Token as a reward for using the platform, as investor, delegator, yield farmer. Furthermore we are partnering with DeFi prototcols.
Within the traditional sector we are working with banks to get Social Impact Network to traditional impact investors.
And this was the end of our AMA with Social Impact Network.
If you have any other questions you can ask here:
ℹ️ℹ️ Useful links ℹ️ℹ️
Website :- https://social-impact.network/
Medium :- https://social-impact-network.medium.com/
Twitter :- https://twitter.com/SINetworkHQ
Linked :- https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialimpactnetwork/
Discord :- https://discord.com/invite/HxhVncqsJX