The bullish case for Hathor (and HTRFDT)

PS: This piece was written before I started working at Hathor Labs.

For a more general introduction to Hathor, check out my post Hathor — bringing blockchain to the masses?

Where the 2017 bullrun was fueled by pure speculation and ICOs with websites and whitepapers made up of fluff, strong fundamentals are needed for projects to become winners in this cycle. What we used to fantasize about in 2017 is now actually happening — institutions and big money are recognizing crypto as actual building blocks of an optimistic future where users own and control their own data, and the elite are no longer alone in having financial weapons.

If we look at the crypto market currently, even though there have been some potential danger signs that the top is already in (Soulja Boy wanting to create his own token, Elon’s Twitter bio update, Mia Khalifa buying the top on the dog stocks, to mention a few), I have no doubt that this run is only just getting started. Miss Khalifa was on to something though, as many traders rely on Dogecoin pumps as an indicator of altseason being imminent. Doge just did a 10x and the last time that happened was in March 2017. More solid analysis also supports this timeline of us being in Q1 2017 right now and suggests that Bitcoin might top out this October.

So we’re definitely early if anyone was doubting. And with HTR continuing its sideways action for what seems like forever, now can be a good time to look away from the chart and just let the accumulation/manipulation/whale games/bots/trading competitions or whatever this low time frame noise is, play out. Zoom out and look at what’s really happening here. Infrastructure is being built on top of Hathor. We’re witnessing the birth of a new ecosystem. It takes time. It has to.

Right now some of the most highly anticipated events for Hathor short term are the upcoming product releases from HTRFDT, a project owned and managed by SaaSquash Technologies, a Canadian-based software company. HTRFDT is not part of Hathor Labs, however both sides have confirmed that they are cooperating closely on the technical side, with Hathor Labs offering their full support.

HTRFDT is currently working on three different Hathor related projects that we know of. The first publicly known and most eagerly awaited product is definitely HathorSwap, which will be the first(?) DEX built on Hathor. So what do we know about HathorSwap so far then?

• Private beta to launch in Q1
• Version 1 to launch in Q2, will have HTR/hETH and HTR/custom Hathor token pairs
• Version 1.5 in Q3, HTR/hUSDC and HTR/hUSDT pairs
• Version 2.0 in Q4, HTR/hBTC and HTR/hDOT pairs
• HathorSwap will be a 2-decimal platform (0.00)
• Liquidity pool application will open soon
• V1 liquidity pools will be managed on a decentralized blockchain database + node.js + express
• V2 liquidity pools will be managed by Hathor nano contracts(!)
• You will be able to list your own custom Hathor token on HathorSwap
• There will be no gas fees
• Transactions will be instant
• Users will be able to wrap any token on any chain, simulating cross-chain trading
• An API will be built for HathorSwap live price data integration with Coingecko and CoinMarketCap
• The team’s main priority is security and all code will be audited and validated by multiple parties before launch
• One of the original Ethereum developers is working on the project
• The HTRFDT team will soon be publishing some articles on Hathor’s medium so keep an eye on that for more updates

There is one element of HathorSwap which is still a bit unclear to me. Liquidity providers for HathorSwap will supply HTR or ETH. However, as there isn’t any Hathor <> Ethereum bridge available yet (that is publicly known at least) HathorSwap is unable to offer true cross-chain trading yet and they are tackling this by enabling users to wrap tokens. Say that you mint hETH, if there is no decentralized bridge there needs to be a centralized custodian holding the ETH. HTRFDT has mentioned that one way that they are looking into handling this is by creating an HTRFDT vault which would be holding the deposited ETH. This will probably be a temporary solution until a bridge is in place. Some will argue that this doesn’t make it a true DEX but I’m thinking that if they can deliver a seamless user experience, 99 percent of users won’t care.

On the subject of seamless user experiences, to accompany HathorSwap is an integrated Chrome extension for confirming core actions in the system. “Think MetaMask with less buttons”, the team said. The extension has been in development since early January and HTRFDT is building it in parallel to HathorSwap. The team has emphasized their focus on transparency and creating low-friction experiences for the users, so an extension like this fits right into that strategy. Browser wallets are a familiar way for crypto OGs to manage their funds and also very much in line with the Hathor team’s focus on simplicity and building great user experiences. Create user friendly solutions, get friendly users.

HTRFDT is also planning a very interesting pilot program which aims to bring the power of Hathor’s one-click token creation feature to forward-thinking e-commerce shops. If you are a merchant with at least $500k of existing average annual sales, and you see the potential in adding a tokenization element to your business, you should definitely apply for the program.

If HTRFDT succeed with their product launches they should become one of, if not the most powerful and ubiquitous player on the network for the foreseeable future. On CT, many people seem to think that HathorSwap is Hathor itself and are referring to it when talking about HTR’s market cap, so HTRFDT has already created a strong brand there.

If HathorSwap becomes the Uniswap of Hathor (Uniswap logged more than 30 BILLION DOLLARS in monthly trade volume only in January by the way), and their ‘MetaMask for Hathor’ gets adopted by both traders and other developers building layer 2 solutions (yes, they plan on opening up their extension for other developers to build on), HTRFDT will be in a sweet spot. While they have stated that they are in this for the long run I’m sure the guys are fully aware of the importance of being first as well and therefore are heads down building right now.

No matter who wins this race in the end, this development is great for the Hathor network and what the Hathor team is working towards — attracting developers and companies to build on top of the network, which will bring in the users too. This is how you create an ecosystem and gain adoption. Add to this the fact that HTRFDT is only the tip of the iceberg and we don’t know what we don’t know. I believe that once the Hathor team gives us a glimpse of the stuff they’re working on behind the scenes and under NDAs, the floodgates will open. For now, I’ll just position myself and sit tight.

Full disclosure: I have not received any forms of compensation from Hathor Network or other parties for this article. I do however own some HTR tokens. None of this is financial advice. Do your own research before investing in anything. The Hathor team has read and approved this article.