What is TaaS?
Token-as-a-Service (TaaS) is the blockchain product of advancement in the Internet of Things. This is an innovative business approach that identifies opportunities and presents worthy cases to investors.
Based on this information, they can then capitalize on the burgeoning blockchain markets that are coming up without having to worry about some of the inherent risks and/or technical barriers which are usually experienced in trading, transfer, and ownership of tokens and cryptocurrencies.
TaaS exists as a last generation closed-end fund (CEF). It is built on the Ethereum platform and uses cryptographic audit technology in offering shares which cannot be redeemed from the fund. All the tokens that are issued on TaaS are distributed through a profit-sharing approach on smart contracts.
The role of the smart contracts in this venture is to allow owners to receive 50% of the profits earned every quarter. In order to keep growing their capital pool, 25% of the profits earned will be reinvested back into the investment fund. This is a good idea in the sense that over time, the investor will see an appreciation in the net asset value of the tokens they have invested in.
In so doing, TaaS effectively becomes the first ever blockchain token that has had its value linked to the performance of the parent project.
What TaaS does is to do away with the barrier entries that have prevented users from investing in digital assets, and at the same time, they have allowed investors to enjoy a safe and stable flow of income, hence the introduction of TaaS as a business model.
What is the problem that TaaS Solves?
The World Economic Forum released a paper that predicted the role of the blockchain in the next frontier of the global financial system. The blockchain, among others, was listed in the top 10 emerging technologies that would disrupt industries all over the world.
There is more than enough evidence to the fact that blockchain technology is already gaining the necessary attention. For early adopters, there is sufficient room for growth and opportunity for investment.
When investing in the traditional financial market, funds bring together capital from different investors with the intention of earning them some benefits. Some of the obvious benefits that they earn from these funds include professional management for their money, diversified portfolio and low cost of trading on the dollar.
The funds then invest the money hoping to make significant capital gains. There are, however, a number of participants who must come into play, such as lawyers and accountants.
The biggest risk to this process is the role of human interaction, which is often the weakest link in any system.
The issue of conflicting interests arises all the time. Case in point, the 2007/08 financial crisis that was purely the result of unethical management by financial institutions and money managers, rendering individual investors the unlikely victims.
These are some of the challenges that TaaS is out to do away with. The TaaS model brings together blockchain tools and applications, and emerging crypto economics to empower the investors, and give them the tools and knowledge to invest in the blockchain realm.
TaaS provides tools that validate the trading activities and flow of money, making this an easy process even for investors who have no knowledge of the blockchain system.
How does TaaS Solve the problem?
TaaS is making strides in the new financial revolution that is taking place courtesy of blockchain technology. This project is about a comprehensive approach in fund management, raising capital and auditing, factors that have been the driving force behind the fund management industry, albeit with a few concerns from time to time, thanks to human interference.
Fund management is often riddled with a lot of controversies when the issue of trust and transparency comes up. To mitigate these challenges, TaaS promises the following:
- Proper management and recording of profits and losses
- TaaS is always in possession of all funds that have been declared
- Investor funding was not done from accounts owned by the company
This is quite a proposal, and anyone who has been in or dealt with traditional fund managers understands how huge a task it is. So, how does TaaS plan to go about it? The following is the transparency strategy that is implemented by TaaS:
Proof of Reserves
To protect users’ digital assets, TaaS only allows trading with exchanges that have implemented a Proof of Solvency (PoS). These are the only exchanges that are given priority and preference on TaaS. Just as is the case in Kraken and Poloniex, any cold storage reserves must be auditable.
Auditable Exchange Accounts
Any account that will be used to trade on the exchanges must have a view-only API key. This key allows users not only to verify the balances, but also the trade history for the transactions that have been conducted with that account.
The idea here is not to increase the security risk, given that exchanges that manage large volumes of cryptocurrency, and TaaS already has an account with all the major exchanges from where you can trade. In light of this, TaaS will have an audit page with a list of all the aggregate account information and API keys.
These are pulled from the exchanges automatically. For those who are familiar with Tether, it almost looks similar to the implementation that Tether uses.
Proof of Reserves for Non-Exchange Accounts
Any non-exchange account, for example, a cold storage address that is used to store TaaS funds must provide a proof of ownership. Transactions with special markers or similar features to OP_RETURN, depending on the protocol that is used on the specific blockchain, will be sent from every account to determine whether or not the account is held by TaaS.
Proof of Reserves for FIAT Accounts
There must be proof of authenticity for fiat currency reserves that are held in the TaaS bank and exchange accounts. TaaS will use a TLSNotary or any solution that is available and relevant to obtain cryptographic proof of this. This can be done by recording the SSL signatures that are presented at online banking sessions.
Periodic Blockchain Snapshots
In order to maintain proof that there is no mismanagement of data between different audits, TaaS will develop a smart contract that can hold all snapshots that are taken of the audit data.
The smart contract holds these snapshots forever. Each of these smart contracts has a convenient contract explorer that make them efficient.
What makes TaaS better than the competitors?
TaaS has implemented several functionalities that have helped to position it as high above the rest as possible. The following are some of the features that are inherent to TaaS:
Market Research
The TaaS project uses a combination of reports, news items, market data and opinions collected over different blockchain ecosystems. Each of these is collected individually for every digital asset.
This is to make sure that there is a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative audit for every digital asset that is listed on TaaS. Therefore, TaaS is able to aptly measure and determine the likelihood of the project to flourish and survive, given that so many projects have been introduced with a lot of promise in the past, only for them to disappear shortly after.
Analytical Approach
There is a lot that TaaS has borrowed from the concept of fund management in the traditional funds market. One of these is the need for a careful analytical approach.
There are different indicators that are in use at TaaS, technical, index groups and fundamental indicators, which help to determine all there is to know about a given digital asset. They will look at a lot of factors, including strategy testing, measuring volatility and hashrate graphs.
Objectives for Investing
For you to succeed as an investment trader, you need to have a clear objective. You need a strategy that defines your investment process, and you need to understand it better than anyone else. Through Kepler, TaaS takes an in-depth examination of the market.
This is useful in that it helps to determine the assets that have been performing well within their investment objectives, especially with a view to the time they have been available in the market, and the level of exposure that is acceptable in that scenario.
Whether you are investing as an aggressive investor or not, through Kepler, you have an efficient formulation strategy that will help you choose the correct asset class.
Other than that, Kepler also takes a look at the liquidity level of the digital assets in question, providing you a clear insight into a variety of investment scenarios. Therefore, whether there is a catastrophic low in the market or a moment of euphoric high, you are always well-informed, and ready to make the correct decision.
Managing Trading Accounts
The plan is to roll out Kepler into most, if not all of the cryptocurrency exchanges. When this is done, users can look forward to a seamless trading experience, fully organized, while at the same time offering the best alternatives for arbitrage.
Portfolio Management
It is understandable that constantly monitoring your portfolio might not be one of the easiest things to do. In fact, it is an arduous and tasking affair. It is exhausting, to say the least. Whether in traditional fund management or in managing digital assets, this is a situation that most people shy away from. However, through Kepler, portfolio management never got easier.
Kepler analyzes and understands your risk exposure and the acceptable portfolio risks for you. In so doing, you are able to get an early warning should there be any risky situation or condition coming up.
Through machine learning, Kepler is designed to improve over time, learning to identify predictions and sentiments in the market, predicting even the slightest change in reactions to a $1 movement in the price of Bitcoins.
To do this, Kepler uses a combination of trend-following procedures to determine the trajectory of a portfolio, either with a short or long-term view.
How can TaaS be categorized?
TaaS is a closed-end fund that is specifically designed for blockchain assets. There are many innovations for smart contracts that are supported by a cryptographic audit.
Through these, TaaS aims to position itself as a leader in investment innovations for the blockchain space, by providing an income model that is based on subscriptions.
What’s TaaS’s vision on Security?
TaaS is a blockchain project that offers a comprehensive, new model to fund management, capital raising, and auditing. It has been dubbed the next big thing, considering that it leverages fund management services on the benefits of blockchain technology.
Examples of TaaS use cases/applications
Business Model
TaaS is building a closed-ended fund (CEF), which is the closest iteration of a real-world model. The CEF offers shares in an IPO and closes to new capital soon after it starts operation. TaaS operates in the same way, just for digital assets on the blockchain.
Cryptographic Audit
Transparency is one of the most important things in any hedge fund, and this is no different from what is happening at TaaS.
TaaS works together with am Ethereum asset platform, Ambisafe. Together, they have built a protocol for cryptographic auditing.
This is to ensure that all profits that are earned are always recorded, ensure transparency in the flow of money, and to make sure that the company is always in possession of any declared funding.
Profit Distribution
TaaS uses smart contracts to distribute fund profits, efficiently spread out to cover all the tokens outstanding.
The smart tokens make sure that there is a proportionate distribution of profits according to the contribution. Large investors, therefore, can look forward to a proportionate high return. In the event of a loss, the smart contracts remain inactive, limiting user exposure in the process.
Reserve Fund
TaaS is designed in such a way that it returns 50 BTC for every 100 BTC that is earned to the users who own TaaS tokens. TaaS also reinvests 25 BTC into the fund. This is a solution that helps to keep the operating base capital growing without necessarily having to seek additional investment through secondary means.
Resources
https://coincheckup.com/coins/TaaS
https://taas.fund/fund/faq/ https://static.taas.fund/media/white_paper/2018/01/29/TaaSWhitepaperv.1.0.pdf