Voi: Aligning incentives and addressing industry shortcomings
The project is spearheaded by Chris Swenor, co-founder of Reach, a blockchain development platform, and HumbleSwap, an Algorand decentralized exchange (DEX). Swenor initiated work on Voi in 2022, driven by a desire to establish better incentive alignment with the blockchain’s developer and user community. He was frustrated by what he perceived as industry shortcomings.
Swenor expressed frustration over the disproportionate ownership by venture capitalists and early builders, who held over 90% of all tokens, while those still actively participating in the bear market did not have significant ownership of the chain. Despite this, they continued dedicating their efforts to its advancement.
A distinct token with no connection to ALGO ownership
In contrast to the failed EthPoW fork of Ethereum, Voi will introduce its own crypto token. However, the ownership of this token will have no bearing on the ownership of ALGO.
Voi’s position in the market
As per DeFi Llama data, Voi’s seven-day dex volume is currently below $10 million, ranking it 38th in this metric.
Swenor praised the Algorand technology, emphasizing its exceptional speed and capabilities compared to other technologies he has worked with in the past.
Allocating 75% of market cap for ecosystem growth
One of the main differences between Voi and Algorand lies in Voi’s allocation of 75% of its total market capitalization to “ecosystem growth.” This includes node runners, and nearly 500 nodes have already been attracted to the Voi testnet, although it is unclear how many of these are independently operated.
According to Swenor, a small proportion of the network token will be reserved for operations and the core team.
Voi’s focused go-to-market strategy
Voi aims to concentrate on a specific range of applications with an emphasis on “membership infrastructure” as part of its go-to-market strategy, diverging from Algorand’s institutional focus.
Notably, Arrington Capital, an original Algorand investor, and Sonic Boom Ventures, founded by former Algorand, Inc. CEO Steven Kokinos, have both invested in Voi. Kokinos sees Voi as complementary to Algorand, highlighting their ability to connect the two networks for asset exchange using technologies such as state proofs.
Swenor mentioned initial skepticism from the remaining Algorand team regarding Voi. However, their perception has evolved over time. Swenor believes they now view Voi as beneficial to Algorand’s overall mission, as the two projects have differing objectives and do not perceive each other as threats.