On The EasyBake Airdrop
Last month, EasyBake announced an airdrop for the UniLayer Community requesting users to register their address and hold a minimum of UniLayer tokens in order to qualify. The requirements were designed to ensure only those interested in the project would receive a share of tokens. No more. No less. This requirement was later revoked as we devised another way to ensure this condition is met without requiring any additional work by the users. This article will cover a few topics: (1) the motivation for the airdrop, (2) what changed and (3) what’s next.
Motivations for the Airdrop
The primary motivational factors for the airdrop were twofold: (1) to invite traders to partake in the EasyBake protocol and (2) to ensure we acquire key seed investors.
The second (2) reason was unbeknownst to anyone, but was the primary factor in proceeding with an airdrop. The rationale followed thusly: confidence in our trajectory would quell the inevitable anxiety that ensued with the inevitability of an airdrop. As we all know and expect, in crypto, when users receive an airdrop, most are likely to immediately sell, causing an immediate loss in the value of a token. This happens regardless of the quality and perception of the project. In fact, when this happened for the UNI airdrop, there were so many users claiming and dumping, it clogged the entire Ethereum blockchain.
As such, it is incredibly vital that the remaining holders of the token have strong reason to believe in the authenticity and longevity of the project.
One of the most compelling manners to instill this confidence is by backing the project with legitimate and wise seed investors, which was precisely what we had hoped to secure with the announcement of the airdrop. Namely, seed investors that would enable us to achieve our prime initiative, which is placement in the Polkadot ecosystem, which requires significant backing by key players in the industry. Such as those investors that back MakiSwap, our (step)-sister project.
Why We Backed Out
Some have surmised that the reason for the change of heart must’ve been because our beloved Chef Buns thinks with her emotions (likely because that how men think women behave), but the reality of the matter was the cancellation came about as the result of a weeklong deliberation following a conversation with the founder of UniLayer.
Chef Buns is the lead developer for EasyBake and also a developer for MakiSwap, but is not a crypto marketing expert. As such, she reached out to Geo, founder of UniLayer, to inquire about the intricacies involved in acquiring seed investors.
It wasn’t until after this conversation that it became evident the only way to acquire seed investors requires outsourcing the brand to another owner as American citizens cannot be held liable for what may be considered a security. Additionally, this would require incorporating EasyBake and thereby centralizing it in nature.
This led to a number of internal conflicts as, for those aware of the backstory, EasyBake was designed in honor of Chef Bun’s grandmother who passed away the weekend after a meeting with Geo establishing the origins of EasyBake protocol. Buns missed her grandmother’s final birthday dinner that evening as she normally visited her grandmother every Friday and her family let her know about the dinner last minute, but she had a meeting she knew would be life-changing. That weekend, Texas experienced a historical freeze and her grandmother was unable to get her normally scheduled dialysis, which led to her being hospitalized, brain dead, then pronounced dead before Buns was even able to say goodbye.
In her honor, EasyBake updated to a purple primary theme (instead of pink) and the name Chef Buns came about as her grandmother loves sweets and she loved heating up honey buns with butter. Her grandmother never left the kitchen and her sweet tooth is what ultimately led to the late Odilia passing away (diabetes).
The thought of EasyBake being owned by someone else in addition to becoming centralized did not sit well with Chef Buns and this prompted a week-long deliberation to identify the optimal way to proceed.
This deliberation included identifying key private investors who would proceed with financing the protocol, but were turned off by the idea of an airdrop, which would essentially dilute their investment and thus profitability.
In an effort to save the protocol, remain decentralized, and ensure the namesake belonged to the community and not in the hands of an attorney or foreign citizen, Chef Buns made the unilateral executive decision to call off the airdrop seeing it as a necessary loss in order to ensure the project could still stand on its own. Thinking and seeing the airdrop as a gift, she did not anticipate how ugly things would turn out as a result of the cancellation.
The result of the cancellation was the ensuing backlash by the now-wronged UniLayer Community and to those who genuinely felt this was their best way to acquire tokens early and invested in UniLayer as a result, I am sorry. We never intended anyone to invest in anything for the airdrop and this is precisely why we devised multiple other ways to acquire the airdrop, namely surveys and participation points. Half the allocation for the airdrop was originally for the EasyBake Community and this is precisely to deter users from spending a dime to acquire tokens early.
In any case, we made the decision to cancel and we realize this led to a wave of disappointment on the behalf of the UniLayer Community, of which Chef Buns has been apart of since day one. For those who are unaware, Chef Buns was the first ever moderator of UniLayer and she was the lead developer for MakiSwap. After the announcement, she is now neither. The community she once stood for has, for the most part, turned its back on her and has insisted she cannot be trusted (amongst much worse insinuations).
The implications go beyond just personal attacks against Chef Buns and her business acumen, but towards the UniLayer Protocol as well. If it is not already abundantly clear, it should be noted this was not up to UniLayer and Geo has been personally targeted as a result of this revelation when he also played absolutely no role in the decision to cancel. He was made aware of it a day before the announcement was made (as a courtesy) but there was nothing he could say or do to stop the inevitable.
What’s Next?
Now that the facts are on the table, we invite you to discuss the best way to proceed as currently it is a situation whereby we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
Chef Buns has demonstrated that she is committed to doing what the community thinks is best and if that means proceeding with an airdrop in spite of the difficulties this may lead to in acquiring funding, then so be it. The intention was never to use UniLayer or deceive anyone and it is hurtful to read the insinuations being made regarding EasyBake and Chef Buns. While your feelings matter and are valid, as are the feelings of the developer who has been working day in and day out to make MakiSwap and EasyBake a reality for you all.
We invite you to participate in the forum and let us know your thoughts on this matter. Let’s sort this out together, as it should be done, as a community and let’s finally put the negativity to rest and optimize our path forward.
We would love to hear what you have to say Discussions are now live in our forum.
Warm Regards,
Chef Buns