Exclusive: Cardano-based DEX WingRiders says it’s ‘building for the future’

Cardano-based DEX platform WingRiders recently completed a $4.5 million seed and private funding round, which the platform said was oversubscribed. True to this, the funding attracted names such as cFund, Longhash and Spartan Group.

WingRiders hopes to launch an automated market maker (AMM) DEX platform that helps users avoid issues that continue to plague Ethereum-based DEXs.

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In an exclusive Q&A with Invezz, WingRiders highlighted their future plans, including mainnet launch, token integration and wallet development.

WingRiders: We are building infrastructure for the future of Cardano

1.       WingRiders recently announced it had secured $4.5 million in an oversubscribed seed/private round led by cFund, with participation from Spartan Group and COTI among others. Any comment on this in relation to the project’s goal?

With a new project such as ours, it is important to gain the backing of well established players for the purposes of funding, as well as for the validation that such support provides to the wider Cardano community. All of our announced backers are well respected, and have a deep understanding of the cryptocurrency sector in general, the Cardano ecosystem in particular. This for us means a lot, as it shows that our belief in the value of the project is shared by industry leaders.

2.       How does the team plan to utilize the funds and are there timelines/milestones to look forward to here?

Our roadmap in terms of development of the project is clear.  Once we are live on Mainnet, we plan to continue developing further wallet and token integrations. In addition to the development progress, standard operating expenses such as marketing, staffing, and operational costs will be funded via this raise. Once we complete our public TGE, we estimate that we will have sufficient leeway to continue developing for a longer time with current projections to reach sustainability of the platform.

3.       The first Decentralized Exchange (DEX) to launch on Cardano earlier in the year did not have a completely smooth start after a few problems in slow transactions and slippage? Has this in any way helped WingRiders as they prepare to go live?

In viewing the development of Cardano over the last 12 months, it is important to understand that with sufficient foresight and understanding of Cardano based development,  these problems were clearly going to have to be dealt with by all projects working on exchange platforms. Our team was aware of the issues, but there is value in seeing how other projects face such challenges. 

4.       The Cardano ecosystem has seen an influx of projects since its smart contract functionality went live in 2021. Multiple DEXs, wallets and other protocols are at various stages of development or close to launch. But notably, Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson recently said he looks forward to this project. What does the WingRIders team think will set the project apart from the rest amid the likely “competition?”

The critical pieces that will define success and failure of projects are universal – first, does the team have the capability to execute on business and technical level? A well skilled team is much more capable than an unskilled, ad-hoc team. We do not believe that we are special, and we believe all work and development on Cardano is ultimately good for the entire ecosystem. 

We have received funding from a number of funds, IOHK via cFund, Spartan, LongHash, COTI, and a host of others. Independent of our competitors, we do have strengths – we are very much developer-led. We consider the ability to execute to be the most important skill in the space – If you cannot build what you promise, then you are just doing marketing. Every step of our journey has been rigorously considered from an execution-based perspective.

In terms of parameters and platform features, we first validate the possibility to reach a goal. If it is possible, that is when we announce it. Our aim is to build the infrastructure for the future growth of Cardano and blockchain. We prefer to build things of value for the community, not just for ourselves. 

5.       This might be related to the above question, and if so, provide further context targeting the retail investor. Here is the question: Why should investors be looking forward to staking on the WingRiders DEX?

WingRiders is building for the future, but we are not building a company. We aim to establish the DAO and reveal the details of this prior to any future TGE. Governance tokens will give the ability to determine the future development pathway for the project. 

Second, as the platform migrates to Mainnet, liquidity demands will be built. Once this takes place, any staking or liquidity pool provider will gain the opportunity to earn through their work doing so. 

Technically, our platform is well received in terms of execution and speed. Furthermore, a critical pillar is the security of tokens held in smart contracts. As our development encompasses integration of HW wallets, the 3rd largest wallet, as well as additional wallet projects, we poured all this experience into the current code. To ensure we are on the right track, we are being audited by CertiK.

6.       Token availability and support could be key to the DEX. Tell us about this.

At the beginning of the Mainnet launch, we will be supporting all of Cardano native tokens. Potential cross chain support is closer than one might think. Its form and extent will be developing in the ongoing year quite dramatically. 

The reason we integrated with Nu.Fi is that their roadmap is clear on their desire to add more blockchain integrations. We have big plans coming in the future, which we will announce on https://twitter.com/wingriderscom.