ISO Updates, June 1st

As promised back on May 25th, today we are happy to share some important updates, plans, and new developments.

To start, we’ve just published the first in a series of whitepapers that will describe how SundaeSwap will work in detail. In response to community input, this first paper outlines the foundations for our platform, identifies some of the challenges we face in building a decentralized exchange on Cardano’s eUTXO model, and enumerates our proposed solutions to these challenges. Future white papers will present each of these solutions in greater detail. You can find this whitepaper here.

Second, we’re also pleased to share four new additions to the SundaeSwap team. Combined, Miklós, Jason, Mark, and Chris bring a wealth of expertise in technology, law, FinTech, and more. See the team page to learn more about them, and keep an eye out for even more announcements as we expand the team further.

The third deliverable we promised today was an update on the timing of the Initial Stake Pool Offering which we are diligently working to launch. When we went into planning the ISO, we knew we had an innovative solution to the problem that many startups in this industry face: accessing capital and involving the average consumer. While we remain ready to launch the ISO at any time from a technical standpoint, as we explored the regulatory space, it became clear that it wasn’t going to be as easy to navigate the legal issues as we had hoped.

We think the ISO platform is a fundamental game changer: the ability to democratize startup funding is a concept we at SundaeSwap believe in. By leveraging the mechanics of staking on Cardano, the ISO offers a unique approach to fundraising that does not put any participant's capital at risk: at no point do participants lose control of their assets, and they are able to opt out of staking with no need to communicate with SundaeSwap.

Bringing any innovative financial product to market in the U.S. without a safe harbor is incredibly challenging, especially in the cryptocurrency space. Without legal clarity, it is very difficult to launch new products like the ISO, regardless of the greatly improved protections they offer participants and the transparency they provide.

We understand that regulators have a legitimate role in this space and that early fundraising platforms suffered from a lack of investor protections. We are fully committed to having a transparent, innovative and regulatorily-compliant ISO and are taking the time needed to do it right.

As for the exact timing of the ISO, this is a tricky question to answer as with all things involving new innovations and untested legal issues. Being on the bleeding edge has its drawbacks. The lack of regulatory clarity has not changed since the decision to delay the ISO, and it would be unfair of us to make future predictions until we have a clearer regulatory path. We will continue to provide regular updates each month going forward. One of the first updates will be a policy paper (sometimes known as a “green paper”) that explores the options we see for the upcoming regulatory landscape.

At the end of the day, we will continue to do all that we can to ensure the long-term success of SundaeSwap. We’ll continue to do our best to remain as transparent as possible with any decision we make in the future.