At the beginning of 2023, IgniteDAO announced the launch of Torch – a Web3 non-custodial smart wallet for the Zilliqa blockchain.
Torch offers several key features that set it apart from traditional wallet solutions, including autostaking, instant unstaking, easily executed limit and market orders, a reputation point system, and more.
Thanks to these features and the ease-of-use that sits at the core of Torch’s design, the mobile wallet has seen impressive adoption since its initial launch. Torch is available for both Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded from the Google Play and Apple Store.
As the first decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) legally registered in the Netherlands, IgniteDAO builds products and platforms on the Zilliqa blockchain that offer full user autonomy.
To find out more about the philosophy behind the design and features of Torch, as well as IgniteDAO’s plans for 2023, we spoke to IgniteDAO co-founder Milan Shoukri.
An accessible, non-custodial smart contract wallet
Milan explains that the philosophy that underpins his development of applications built on Zilliqa is centred on the idea of utility.
“At the end of the day, what we want is applications to be used, we want millions of people using applications and not to be concerned about protocol solutions,” he says.
“We want to position ourselves between the protocol and application layer to make it easier to onboard users from Web2 to Web3. So we need to find solutions that are comparable with Web2 solutions in the sense that they are intuitive and not too complex, and provide wallet infrastructure that delivers that.”
The solution to this onboarding challenge that retains futureproof integration with the Zilliqa blockchain is a smart contract wallet like Torch, Milan explains.
“With a smart contract wallet, you have a piece of software that connects with smart contracts on the blockchain, and that lets us connect things continuously and build tooling and infrastructure directly on-chain.”
“With traditional wallets, actually connecting to smart contracts is a bit more difficult. There are other types of solutions for this challenge, but we think smart contract wallets are one of the better solutions for connecting directly with the chain and onboarding more people to Web3,” Milan adds.
This approach is the one taken by Torch wallet, which is designed to be compatible with future innovation while offering a smoother onboarding experience for those new to the world of decentralised applications.
“There are going to be innovations in the future, and we don't even know what they're going to be yet, but many current wallet solutions haven’t even thought about that,” Milan says.
“We want to have the infrastructure ready to connect to those new innovations in a way that isn't too complex and where we don't have to launch a completely new wallet.”
This accessibility is built with user autonomy in mind, however, as Torch is a non-custodial wallet that gives users complete control over their private keys and funds. Milan explains that non-custodial wallets are increasingly important in an industry where trust in centralised parties is often tested.
“We’ve seen a trend in a lot of different people kind of coming into crypto from all over the world, and there's always an element of security versus trust.”
“Ideally what you want to have is a non-custodial solution that is highly secure, where you don't have to trust people anymore,” Milan adds.
“Even if Torch were to go offline, you would still be able to access your tokens. The smart contract wallet is an extension of your seed phrase or funding wallet, so you can always access it – it's completely non-custodial.”
Reputation and rewards
Among the most unique features of the Torch wallet is its built-in reputation system. This system allows users to earn reputation points when staking ZIL to the IgniteDAO Staked Seed Node (SSN).
“We decided to create a reputation system that aligns with on-chain staking and allows us to track how long and with how many ZIL somebody stakes. So for every claiming cycle, we are able to distribute reputation points automatically to each user’s smart contract wallet,” Milan explains.
The reputation system offers a number of perks, while staking to the IgniteDAO SSN also allows users to access Torch’s instant unstaking feature.
“We currently have seven reputation levels, and every level gives you a discount on the features inside the smart contract wallet. So if you are at level two, you might get a 20% discount on fees for setting up limit orders or a 20% discount on the fees for instant unstaking,” Milan says.
“We want to incentivise people to stake with our SSN and build up their reputation. Once people start building up reputation, once we start to expand and grow the community, the reputation points will start to become an aspect of your wallet’s identity where you will be able to unlock more and more perks.”
This reputation system could also be expanded to the IgniteDAO ecosystem and offer access to a range of possible features, from decentralised identities to domain names.
“There are many ways of adding and compounding value on the reputation system, and it becomes more attractive to stake with us and build reputation which then creates more value. We think reputation points are foundational for the vision of scaling a DAO and adding new components,” Milan says.
Zilliqa, EVM and plans for 2023
Looking back at when IgniteDAO was first launched on Zilliqa, Milan says they saw that a properly constructed DAO could deliver valuable and scalable applications to the ecosystem due to the smart contract capabilities of the blockchain and the relative lack of competition.
“One of the reasons we launched on Zilliqa is because there was not much competition. We wanted to innovate and create a superior wallet that can onboard Web2 people without there being a lot of competition. For example, sometimes you don’t need many different DEXes, you just need one good DEX that generates 80% of the traffic. That is how we see product building on Zilliqa,” Milan says.
“Launching on Zilliqa also gave us more opportunity to innovate in the right way and add more components to the smart contracts we have deployed.”
Speaking about the rollout of EVM compatibility to the Zilliqa blockchain, Milan says he is excited for the changes this will bring, as well as the potential influx of forked Solidity dApps and their users to the Zilliqa ecosystem.
“I feel the launch of EVM is very bullish in a sense because it just unlocks so many new doors and attracts so much new liquidity for the ecosystem.”
“We have a wallet that can scale with those applications and innovations and also has this compound effect; if there are more users, that just keeps adding more value. For us, we can position ourselves as a gateway for onboarding more people that are new to Zilliqa or Web3,” Milan adds.
More than 1,500 Torch wallets have already been created, and Milan is confident this growth will continue as they build out more features and functionality.
“The highest priority right now for the short-to-medium term is launching a browser extension version of the wallet, as well as optimising Torch and making the wallet more user-friendly,” Milan says.
“We’re also looking to launch the EVM smart wallet contract and potentially a dApp connected to it.”
Other exciting new initiatives coming soon from Torch and IgniteDAO include a feature that decreases staking costs and increases rewards, as well as governance features for the DAO itself that may be linked to user reputation in future.
If you’re interested in supporting the work IgniteDAO is doing and extracting further value from your staking through Torch’s reputation system, download Torch and start staking through the IgniteDAO SSN.
“Get involved and start supporting us by staking with our SSN through Torch – that helps us towards our goal of growing the wider ecosystem so we can build more,” Milan says.