The first project officially integrated into the Everscale ecosystem thanks to grant support was EverKit.org, formerly known to the community as GramKit. Nikita EverKit, the site’s founder, shared with us the details of the project’s development, why every blockchain needs hackathons, what Everscale’s competitive advantages are, and what the power of decentralization is.
Nikita, tell us about the team and your previous work experience
There are six people in our team. Three of them are in charge of programming, and the other three create content and design. The team as it exists today was formed while working on Free TON and Everscale. Before that, we worked in computer security and gamedev. Some still work full time there and part time for us.
What led you to the idea of creating the GramKit project — now Everkit — and why Everscale?
A couple of months before Free TON started, our team was formed for another project that was never launched. I watched the Free TON presentation, and I really liked the basic ideas — decentralization, meritocracy, no token sale — and from day one we decided to join.
The main thing that caught our attention was the desire for decentralization. I believe we still have it, even though many of our processes have become centralized. We still don’t have a one-stop shop, even the initials don’t have a consensus, and this is a more sustainable model in the long run.
What is EverKit and what tasks does it solve for the user?
EverKit is an ecosystem of products around Everscale that enables the user to stay informed, learn the news, and navigate what’s going on. We’re also working on making EverKit an easy entry point for newcomers, so that within a few minutes of logging in, the user already knows where to click and what to download.
If we consider EverKit’s development, how has it changed over this time? What has been achieved and what hasn’t?
Our channel started in June 2020 as a Telegram channel covering blockchain activities. Why Telegram? Because it was initially stated that there was nothing official there.
There’s the TON Labs Telegram channel, and there’s our Telegram channel. We cover topics, promote, and pay for advertising. Now it’s not just a Telegram channel, but also non-content services, such as governance, a branding page, information about coins, and so on.
Now on to what didn’t work out. We had ambitions to make our own wallet, our own staking platform, and our own block reviewer, but we realized that all this was already there. What already exists — Ever Surf, Depooler — there is no need to compete with them; you need to make the products that don’t exist yet. That is going to be more useful for Everscale than another wallet.
What we’ve managed to do is establish a community. A lot of people read what we post. We see the statistics — our resources are used daily, and the number of users is growing.
In what direction do you plan to develop the project further, and how useful was the DeFi Alliance grant to you?
We plan to improve the quality of the content, but first we will be focusing on creating services. We also provide services. In particular, there is one similar to Coinmarketcap, only for Everscale tokens. The site will contain even more information about the ecosystem and what’s happening in it — everything will be structured and collected in one place.
The grant helped us with resources, because now the funds are what is lacking. The degree of development of the Everscale community and ecosystem doesn’t yet provide enough money to invest in the business. For the most part, at the moment, people aren’t making money on the blockchain, but investing their time and money in it.
Right now, we have the resources not only for salaries, but also for a marketing campaign. It hasn’t been launched yet, but we will be starting it in March. This will increase EverKit’s audience, and in general people will join Everscale through EverKit.
What difficulties have you encountered while working on the project?
The main difficulty has been that people found it difficult to understand that there could be some unofficial source of information. After all, when Free TON was launched as a public blockchain with nothing official, and we started advertising it, people often claimed that we were scammers. There are TON Labs, and no one but them can give out this kind of information. Who else might need it? With our example, we just wanted to show that you can simply work without SubGovs, without requests to the budget. You just work. People didn’t understand that because they are used to the fact that everything is usually 99% centralized.
What do you think it will take for Everscale to be in the top 50 blockchain projects by capitalization?
It’s all very simple. We need interesting and useful products. That’s it, nothing else is needed. Here’s an example: I’m not going to promote any other blockchains, but I just heard about an interesting game based on a competing project from the top 10. It intrigued me — it’s very cool, and I don’t care what blockchain it’s made on. I bought this blockchain’s coins and invested in this game because I am interested in it.
If products like these appear on Everscale, people are going to join. In the case I’m talking about, this project ran two hackathons. One of them was unsuccessful, the other was successful. The second time, they apparently fixed all the bugs and got a lot of products from the second hackathon. The projects received prizes and grants, remained, and are developing.
I believe that the products Everscale needs can be obtained by injecting funds into hackathons. This will be both blockchain advertising through hackathon ads and the emergence of new projects. We should spend the money, I believe, not just on grants, but on hackathons first, and grants should be the next step after hackathons. We need to organize at least one, a big one, then see what happens. With prizes to get people interested. If that’s not enough, then we should run another one, and another one. This is a good approach because it’s already being followed, and it works.
What do you think the coolest service in Everscale is?
One of the best working services in Everscale, if we’re talking about on-chain interaction, is Octus Bridge. It’s a useful service with a useful business model, and it works very well. I compared it to our competitors. The fact that it has a relay and is very fast is its competitive advantage.
Why do you think Everscale is more appealing than its competitors?
First of all, I would say decentralization. In my opinion, this is real decentralization, it’s just that the degree of this decentralization is small. It’s small, but it’s there — we don’t have a CEO, either nominally or in fact. No individual or company can decide on their own about payments or anything else. This makes it harder for regulators to attack or pressure the blockchain. I believe this will make a difference in the long run.
What’s more, of course — and I also use other blockchains — Everscale is very fast, very cheap, and very scalable. It is technologically superior to its competitors.
