While we are discussing tokenomics and funding, I wanted to share the current state of Firo core team’s finances so people have more information.
Team receives approximately 16,200 FIRO (~USD54,270) every 30 days (dependent on block times).
We also receive some small amounts from OpenCollective donations (thank you so much!).
Reserves (being used for inventory in market making on Huobi) : ~$200,000 (comprised of USDT, FIRO and BTC)
Overhead Expenses:
Research & Development: 33,400 USD + 200 FIRO
Community Management: 2400 USD + 110 FIRO
Market making: 5,000 USD - 7,000 USD
Management & Support: 7200 USD + 600 FIRO
Infrastructure Hosting + Sysadmin: 3500 USD
Marketing & Partnerships & Advisory: 2150 USD + 610 FIRO
Total: 53,650 USD + 1520 FIRO
General notes
The amounts above are the amounts invoiced to us. Some of these expenses, while denominated in USD, they are paid in FIRO and it’s in their discretion whether to hold or sell it.
Our break even point with current reduced expenditure without dipping into reserves is about USD3.80. The ideal sweet spot for prices to be for smooth running of FIRO is about USD 5. For expansion, we would be looking at USD 7 or so.
Market making generally costs more but cause of our long term relationship we have negotiated temporary reductions until the market recovers.
These expenses have already been trimmed down significantly. There are several retainers and contributors where we paused their engagement until price recovers. This include social media management retainers, graphic design, UI designers, mobile developers and third party contractors for development work.
Previously when we had some excess, core team have also used funds to partially fund FCS proposals like the audit we did with Hashcloak.
Contributions from our NFT sales from Firo Moon apes, Firopunks team contributions and our Railgun partnership where we help them with feedback/testing have helped cover things.
Development and Research
For blockchain developers and researchers of our calibre, we’re getting an absolute steal. The budget currently funds 2 senior developers, 2 junior developers and 2 researchers. This budget does not include contractors which may work with us for a retainer or project basis.
Typically you would be looking to pay 120-200k USD a year (or 10k-17k+ USD/month) for each of these mid-senior developers. We also do not offer employee benefits (like medical, insurance etc) that would arise from a typical employment.
They have stayed with us for loyalty, a good work environment and belief in the leadership and project. We’ve had some projects head hunt our developers but the core ones have stayed despite being offered significantly more. I would like to reward them and increase their pay if price goes up to reward them.
Market Making
The reserve number of 200k USD fluctuates up and down as since it’s being used for market making, part of the inventory is in crypto.
I’m personally providing my own FIRO and crypto reserve holdings for Binance, FiroDEX and Bitmart market making as a way to support the network. I do not host any masternodes personally because of this.
The market maker we use operates on Binance/Huobi on all the pairs we’re listed on. Market maker uses Firo’s reserves for inventory for Huobi and my own personal crypto for inventory for Binance. The market makers strategy is to keep a market neutral position. Market maker retainers typically cost a lot more but we have negotiated lower rates while our price is low due to our long term relationship.
Bitmart and FiroDEX market making, I do myself personally or with the assistance of our sys admin.
Marketing, Partnerships & Advisory
This includes paid coverage and some retainers for publications to push out our news, advisory for introductions and listing assistance and promotional events.
Management and Support
This includes my remuneration along with Anwar and Ajay. Anwar is my right hand guy who helps keep everything running smoothly be it from helping to monitor the overall Firo ecosystem and alerting me to things that need my attention or helping to test. Ajay supports Anwar in testing, social media postings and being the first line of contact for the many offers we get.