“Focus on building” and “Focus on delivering” are the mottos of Filip, the CEO of Ceres, who believes in the importance of consistent building efforts, especially in such difficult market conditions.
Dive into our exclusive interview with Filip the CEO and Danijel, Lead Dev of Ceres.
You both have an interesting history in the blockchain industry. Can you share what about SORA caught your attention and convinced you to contribute to its growth so early on?
Filip: I joined the SORA community very early during the last bear market, and I had the opportunity and time to learn about SORA and its philosophy from the very beginning. In addition, I am a fan of the Polkadot ecosystem, which was an additional bonus for SORA in my eyes.
Danijel: In my final year of college, I focused on studying blockchain technology and became more involved in the crypto community, where I met Filip, who introduced me to SORA as an interesting and promising project. I also became interested in Polkadot technology, and that’s where my story of building dApps on SORA began.
How does developing Dapps on the SORA network compare to developing on Ethereum?
Danijel: Let’s say that building dApps is more demanding on SORA than on Ethereum because practically everything needs to be built from scratch, since there are no existing dApps to compare with. Additionally, there is currently no smart contract option on SORA. Personally, this represents a greater challenge and more interesting development for me, and it’s easier to showcase my knowledge and abilities.
You have a great track record building DApps on SORA. Could you tell us what you achieved during these 3 years building on SORA?
Filip: I can say that the Ceres team has achieved and built a lot on the SORA network in the last 3 years. We have developed Ceres Tools, which is the most widely used product among the SORA community, alongside Polkaswap and Demeter Farming. We also have Liquidity Locker and Token Locker, which have increased the DeFi security on the SORA network. Additionally, the previously mentioned Demeter Farming has helped boost liquidity on the SORA network. We have created one of the first Play2Earn games in the Polkadot ecosystem – DEO Arena, which has had 7 seasons so far. There is also the Ceres Launchpad, which will be extremely interesting for new builders and investors in the future, as well as Hermes DAO, a decentralized investment fund with a governance platform where every vote holds equal weight regardless of the token quantity one holds.
Very impressive, apart from all of that, are there any other exciting community projects on SORA that you want to mention?
Filip: Well, it is definitely worth mentioning Polkaswap, which could easily become the main DEX in the Polkadot ecosystem in the future, especially with the upcoming order books and bridges. The cheap and fast transactions on the SORA network will definitely be one of the main reasons why Polkaswap could achieve that, especially with the integration of Demeter Farming on Polkaswap.
Could you tell us what projects you are working on right now?
Filip: Currently, we are working on collaborations with other projects and developing Ceres Blockchain Solutions as one of the main builders, not only on the SORA network, but also across the rest of the Polkadot ecosystem. I believe that this is beneficial for SORA itself because all of our in-house projects are closely tied to SORA, thereby bringing SORA closer to other builders and the Polkadot community. Specifically for SORA, we plan to release a new DApp by the end of Q4 2023 or the beginning of Q1 2024. We are currently in the research phase and want to hear the community’s opinion, that is, what they believe is most needed at this time in addition to existing DApps. The new platform will have its own token, which will be airdropped to Ceres holders and very likely to holders of other tokens within the SORA ecosystem.
How can other developers join the SORA dev community and what kind of support do they get?
Danijel: New builders are always welcome in the SORA ecosystem. Based on my own experience as a user of the SORA Builders programme and the support we have received from the community through tech and marketing assistance, I can say that the programme is excellent for new teams. However, one could say that the problem lies in the fact that few teams are willing to learn about Substrate. I believe that Substrate is the future, and new and small teams like ours should focus on new things instead of copying existing projects built in Solidity. It may be easier, but the end result is certainly not the same. I would like to emphasize that the SORA community is always supportive of new projects thus small projects can have an easier time succeeding and gaining more attention on the SORA network than on larger chains.
How do you see SORA DApps overall, developing in the next few years?
Filip: I believe that in the coming years, when the market recovers and the Polkadot ecosystem regains focus, SORA and the dApps built on it will play a significant role furthering the development of the entire ecosystem. Currently, it may be challenging to watch and wait for a bull market, but I believe we won’t have to wait much longer.
This is not financial advice, always do your own research.
