Community AMA, October 2023

DIA is hosting a monthly Telegram AMA session with the core team. This monthly event aims to improve direct communication between DIA and its community by collecting community concerns and suggestions and having the DIA core team answer them.

Below is a recap of the October 2023 Community AMA on Oct 3rd, 2023. We had Dillon Hanson, BD Manager, and Anze Noc, Community & DAO Lead at DIA in this Community AMA. Let’s take a look at what was discussed:

Can we expect more L1 and L2 network integrations in the near future, or is the current focus mostly on new partnerships with dApps using DIA’s oracles? 

Certainly, there currently are more exciting L1 and L2 integrations in the pipeline that I am looking forward to finalizing and announcing. Additionally, we continue to actively seek out and solidify more dapp partnerships. On the DIA BD team, we place significant emphasis on both chain partnerships and dApp partnerships.

As it relates to chain partnerships, we actively focus and research both new emerging, and popular, blockchains. We strive to partner with blockchain foundations early in their lifespan and be one of, if not, the first oracle on many promising blockchains. We have found historically that this furthers DIAs likelihood of success and capturing significant market share on these chains.

As it relates to dApps, we aim to supply projects building on any supported chains with reliable data and oracles, and are constantly growing our number of partnerships weekly, even within periods of market downturn. By integrating new blockchains, we position ourselves to serve any dapp that is building on those platforms. Both these strategies go hand in hand and are crucial for our business case.

With the growing number of oracles available, what’s DIA’s plan to acquire a bigger market share?

Similar to the last response, we aim to continue growing DIA’s market share by deploying and partnering with promising blockchains, partnering and supporting promising and innovative dApps, and continuing to add to DIA’s product suite by increasing the amount of use cases we support across different oracle-related verticals (such as NFT-fi, LST-fi, Game-fi, etc), and improving the DIA tech stack to make it more advanced and future-proof. 

There are numerous strategies we employ on the DIA BD team to ensure that we are hitting these goals and successfully improving DIAs market share. For example, our presence at IRL events, coupled with a strong digital footprint on social media and other relevant ecosystems, helps us maintain visibility. 

Additionally, We actively cooperate with development teams, L1 & L2 blockchains, and other influential entities in the Web3 space. As mentioned, we partner and deploy our oracle infrastructure early on new emerging chains and by providing granular data sourced directly from the origin, we ensure our relevance. Furthermore, we continuously adapt our products to align with current narratives and trends.

All these activities combined have so far helped us grow in terms of usage of our oracles, improve our brand recognition and image and position ourselves as one of the leading oracle providers in the space.

How does DIA prioritize which blockchains to integrate next? 

The decision to integrate new blockchains is influenced by several factors. These include on-chain activity, social activity, the number of deployed dapps, and or the type of dApp an individual chain may be targeting as their demographic. Furthermore, we evaluate the amount of inbound demand for oracles, the relationship with the blockchain foundation, whether the chain has other oracles supporting it, and the overall opportunity for DIA to have a strong strategic positioning on the chain.

We also are interested in and consider narratives during different market conditions. For example, currently, we have noticed that Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions are quite high in demand from dApps. This will not necessarily dictate whether we deploy on a given L2 or not, but it is always important for us to analyze and understand current market positioning and the direction of the market as well.

We also consider the availability of our internal development resources at that time, the complexity of the integration, among other factors.

I saw DIA was present at Permissionless and Mainnet NYC last month. Can you share some insights into how that went and what benefits came from it for DIA?

Our presence at Permissionless and Mainnet NYC was highly beneficial. It led to the establishment of great new connections and leads for our Business Development department. We were able to strengthen our ties with existing partners and integrated blockchain teams, such as Polygon, Arbitrum, zkSync, for example, as well as strengthen our ties with blockchain foundations and teams that we have not yet partnered with.

Additionally, it provided an excellent opportunity for bonding with the Polkadot community and builders. I, for example, collaborated with the events coordinators at Parity Technologies to host an ecosystem Dinner for the Polkadot ecosystem in NYC. On the other end, DIA’s Co-Founders Paul and Carl hosted a strategic event during Berlin’s dAppcon conference.

Collectively, we find that our presence at high-relevance conferences throughout the year is very significant for further establishing DIAs relevance and perception within the industry, and also for creating and strengthening our ties with current and future partners. In the web3 space, most work is done remotely and online, and we’ve noticed that connecting with partners and people in real life, strengthens ties so much more and creates so many more opportunities for DIAs expansion and success altogether. 

How is DIA planning to actively engage and incentivize the community amidst negative market conditions, emphasizing potential enhancements or expansions of the DIA bounty program to encourage more community involvement?

During negative and uncertain market conditions, our strategy is to focus on initiatives that directly support and add value to our core operations. 

While expanding the program means scaling up, we are currently not looking to do so during market cool-off phases. This decision is influenced not just by low token prices but also by reduced institutional and retail interest in the market. We believe that such periods are best utilized for building. With our core team, we have the necessary resources to work on the most crucial initiatives. 

Our DAO already encompasses a broad set of roles that add direct value, such as DIA Community Hub operators, community moderators, rangers, scraper development, product beta testing, content creation, BD support, and research, among others. 

The deployment of new bounties and projects will be contingent on our ongoing initiatives and the availability of internal resources. Currently, there’s no aggressive plan to expand the bounty operation, but we remain open to expansion when the time is right.

What led to the creation of “The Ultimate Web3 Builder Hub”, and how can the community benefit from it?

The “Ultimate Web3 Builder Hub” was conceived due to the absence of a centralized resource where one could find the most relevant links and resources about the top L1 & L2 blockchains. It eliminates the need for endless searching within websites and documentation. 

This hub not only saves time for professionals and retail investors by providing all relevant information in one place but also serves as a potent SEO tool for DIA. 

The hub fosters collaborative work with top L1 and L2 blockchains through contributions and updates. It also paves the way for content creation and direct cooperation with the included projects. 

The DIA DAO community can benefit by participating in the production of new content, using the hub as a personal resource, and attracting new community members to the DIA DAO.

I saw the announcement of the upcoming Beta Testing campaign. Can you share more information about that and how I can apply?

Certainly! We have a lot of new product development underway, and we’re building a beta-tester team to help us stress-test and assess the quality of our upcoming product releases. 

This particular campaign is designed to test our new oracle-related product. Our aim with this tool is to bring DIA a step closer to offering the most open and reliable oracle services in the industry. 

In the future, we plan to have more beta testing campaigns available for our DAO members to participate in and receive rewards. By participating and completing this testing, you’ll earn a “Beta-Tester” role on Discord, giving you priority for future beta testing campaigns. There’s also a monetary incentive with a reward pool that will be split among participants who complete all the required testing steps. 

You can join the beta testing campaign by applying here: https://forms.gle/xpcD3xqmxXWZD1n46 

I noticed a tweet about the updated DIA App and was wondering if you could share more about it and why is the DIA App even important?

The DIA App underwent several updates. 

These include:

• a range of SEO upgrades, including: 
• more internal linking, 
• improved link structure, 
• better page indexing, and redirects. 

We’ve added more general content for enhanced context and user experience, along with a new flow for data requests. The app now features a new dropdown for token pair stats and general SEO content for data sources. Aesthetic changes include a new look with a collapsing sidebar and top bar. The DIA App serves as a comprehensive showcase of DIA’s data guiding developers on available feeds and sources across the 35+ integrated blockchains. It encompasses the feed builder, oracle builder, and platform health monitoring, providing a holistic overview of DIA’s offerings and data.

Are there any IRL events your team is planning to attend in Q4?

Certainly! We are gearing up to participate in Devconnect in Istanbul. Not only will we be attending the conference, but we’re also in the process of planning the second iteration of Infra Gardens in collaboration with several partners. In addition, we’re exploring opportunities to attend various side events and are considering organizing exclusive events with specific projects and individuals.

I may also host another local event in New York, and am currently researching and putting together some plans for this!

Furthermore, we’re contemplating a visit to Lisbon for the WebSummit and ETHLisbon, where we might also host side events. While these plans are still being finalized, rest assured that all details will be communicated to the public in due course.

Have questions for the DIA core team? Submit the questions here and get featured in the next AMA in November 2023: https://forms.gle/cUDRwuEDm6UUHPWe6