In the final part of "The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin" series, we outline our request for funding from the Qubic Computor-Controlled Fund (CCF) to jump-start a Qubic-based stablecoin.
We are Valis, a dedicated group supporting the Qubic community through software, smart contracts, tokens, and services. Our mission is to develop solutions that enable free and instant payments worldwide. Execution and transparency are our cornerstones. The Valis team is composed of a mix of full-time employees, contractors, and volunteers.
Valis was co-founded in June 2024 by Qsilver, a well-known contributor to the Qubic Community, and Spelunker, who brings over 20 years of experience in Product Management across SaaS and consumer-facing startups and scale-ups. Both founders have experience building bootstrapped and funded companies. Together, Qsilver and Spelunker combine their deep expertise in Qubic technology and product development to drive Valis forward.
Valis will use the funding to build the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of a Qubic-based single-chain Stablecoin for the European Union market. This MVP will contain only the essential features necessary to meet the primary needs of EU early adopters. Integration with centralized exchanges, the marketing launch, and expansion into the US or Asia are not included in this funding request.
Our unique selling proposition (USP) leverages Qubic for instant finality and feeless transactions, combined with the Valis Network’s superior scalability, to deliver unmatched throughput. These network-dependent factors provide a competitive edge that no other stablecoin or chain in the market can match.
Unlike multi-chain stablecoins focused on liquidity and reach, our single-chain approach ensures a consistent user experience (UX) in speed, cost, and scalability. This makes our stablecoin particularly well-suited for use cases that demand either high performance or consistent UX, such as High-Frequency Trading and Decentralized Finance. For more details, see Part 3: The Best Option.
The funding will be allocated across four key development areas, including Smart Contracts (SC) Development, Non-SC Development, Integration, and Compliance.
To ensure equivalent value issuance, seamless transfers, proper collateral return, equitable profit sharing, robust collateral management, transparency in operations, and democratic governance, we plan to develop the following feature groups using Smart Contracts (SC):
The above feature groups could be implemented as one or several SCs. Some features may be developed as back-end infrastructure (e.g., Collateral Management), as oracles, or as a combination of SCs and oracles (e.g., Audit), rather than purely as SCs. All SCs will be integrated with one another where appropriate.
Since Qubic Core plans to charge SCs based on usage (e.g., storage, CPU usage), all SCs will incur protocol-level fees. Valis plans to cover all protocol-level Transfer fees while charging additional application-level fees for Redemption and Governance.
In addition to SC development, several non-SC components are crucial for offering a stablecoin to EU consumers. We will leverage solutions from third-party vendors where appropriate:
Valis’ vision for a world with free instant payments comprises several phases, each a stepping stone for the next one. Valis Stablecoin builds on our previous developments and, once operational, it will serve as the foundation for next developments. Therefore, Valis Stablecoin will be integrated with:
We will ensure full regulatory compliance while maximizing privacy through a dual incorporation strategy. Our primary incorporation will be in a privacy-focused jurisdiction, where a holding company will own the intellectual property and shares of our operational entities, safeguarding founder identities while meeting local legal obligations.
Since our initial focus will be on the EU market, the operational entity will be established in a crypto/fintech-friendly EU jurisdiction, such as Estonia or Lithuania. This entity will handle all customer-facing activities, regulatory interactions, and daily operations within the European market. We plan to secure an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license to offer compliant financial services across the EU, with the issued money recorded as tokens on the Qubic DRT. We will closely monitor the development of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and adjust our strategy accordingly.
For future expansion into the US, we plan to incorporate a third entity in a business-friendly state like Delaware, ensuring compliance with US regulations, including acquiring Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs) as required.
Additionally, we will implement robust AML/CTF measures, and ensure compliance with data protection laws and electronic records and signature laws, maintaining operational resilience across all jurisdictions. This structure will enable us to protect privacy, optimize compliance, and efficiently manage operations across key markets.
We aim to build a high-performing team of professionals who take pride in their work and in collaborating with like-minded individuals. These initial key hires will lay the foundation for Valis' culture. While we strive to minimize hiring mistakes, we’re prepared to address any missteps swiftly. Our "slow to hire, fast to fire" approach has proven effective in past ventures, and though it may slow down some initial development efforts, we prioritize long-term success over short-term gains. This careful hiring strategy introduces variability in our timeline, making it challenging to predict an exact burn rate during the first few months. The pace of finding and negotiating with top talent will directly influence our expenditure. Notably, while Qsilver could be our highest personnel cost, he has chosen not to take a salary, allowing us to allocate more resources towards attracting the best professionals.
Reference compliance costs, using Estonia as the operational entity jurisdiction:
Below is a summary of our estimated personnel and compliance costs.
| Personnel Costs | Cost (USD) | Cost (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Back-end Engineer | $0 | €0 |
| Senior Product Manager | $140,000 | €130,000 |
| Senior Product Designer | $120,000 | €112,000 |
| Senior Software Engineer | $150,000 | €140,000 |
| Senior Mobile Developer | $120,000 | €112,000 |
| Senior Smart Contract Developer | $150,000 | €140,000 |
| Senior API/Integrations Developer | $120,000 | €112,000 |
| Compliance Costs | Cost (USD) | Cost (EUR) |
| Initial Capital Requirement | $375,000 | €350,000 |
| Staff Costs | $120,000 | €112,000 |
| Technology and Infrastructure | $120,000 | €112,000 |
| Legal and Consulting Fees | $53,500 | €50,000 |
| Office Setup Costs | $21,400 | €20,000 |
| Miscellaneous Costs | $21,400 | €20,000 |
| Compliance and Reporting | $42,800 per year | €40,000 per year |
| Insurance | $10,700 per year | €10,000 per year |
| Regulatory Application Fee | $3,800 | €3,500 |
| Total | $1,500,000 | €1,373,500 |
We anticipate the following timeline for key milestones:
| Milestone | Month |
|---|---|
| Recruitment and Onboarding | 3-6 |
| MVP Design Completion | 6-8 |
| Smart Contract Development | 8-12 |
| Initial Legal Compliance Setup | 9-12 |
| Internal Testing and Iteration | 11-13 |
| Finalization of Compliance & Licensing | 12-14 |
| MVP Deployment on Testnet | 13-15 |
| User Testing & Feedback Collection | 14-16 |
| MVP Launch | 16-18 |
We’re requesting a total funding of 900 billion QUs, to be distributed through a combination of upfront and ongoing payments to meet the needs of both Valis and the CCF.
| Payment | Description | QUs (billions) | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront | 31% of CCF Reserves as of Sep 2 | 200B | 22% |
| Ongoing | 2% of weekly emissions for 35 weeks | 700B | 78% |
| TOTAL | After 35 weeks (8 months) | 900B | 100% |
For Valis, securing top talent is essential. In our experience, it's nearly impossible to attract high-caliber individuals without guaranteeing their salary for at least a year. That’s why we’re asking for an upfront payment of 200 billion QUs (22% of the total funding requested), which will cover the costs of assembling a single core product triad—comprising a product manager, product designer, and software engineer.
For CCF, we recognize the importance of spreading out payments to validate our execution capabilities and to distribute QU conversions over time. Note that our request for 2% of weekly emissions over 35 weeks does not add to the significant sacrifices already being demanded from Computors (~1/3 of weekly emissions):
Our proposal is designed to fit within the existing allocations, ensuring no additional burden is placed on Computors.
At Valis, transparency and execution are our core values.
All our addresses are public and managed solely by Qsilver, who is the only person with access to the private keys.
We have received 130B QUs to date:
We currently have 104B QUs unspent:
Of the 104B QUs unspent:
With the 26B QUs we have spent so far, we have achieved the following:
Our track record speaks for itself. Computors considering funding Valis can be confident in our commitment to transparency and cost-efficiency. We deliver, and will continue to deliver, exceptional results at a fraction of the cost of other teams.
In exchange for funding the Valis proposal with 900B QUs (nearly a full 1T weekly emission) over 8 months, Computors and Miners receive five key benefits:
At Valis, transparency is a core value. We have already made all our addresses public and published income transparency reports, including one for Donations and another for our first fundraising (the QPOOL & QWALLET Crowdfunding).
As we move forward with the stablecoin project, we will add two more transparency reports: Money Flows and Expenses.
All our reports are updated automatically every hour, offering near real-time transparency into our financial activities.