VAI Token — What’s it’s purpose? A history and it’s mission.
VAIOT’s VAI Tokens are regulated as Virtual Financial Assets under Maltese law.
Understanding that a VAI is a Virtual Financial Asset that is issued by VAIOT, the Virtual Financial Asset issuer, is key to understanding the nature of it’s existence. Since VAIOT’s inception, the VAI token has had it’s future laid out. By law, no less. Under the VFA Act, a VFA issued by a VFA Issuer MUST have it’s token utility and purpose clearly stated in the whitepaper. Not only that, but the VFA issuer, VAIOT in our case, is also required by law to carry out that intended purpose outlined there. Over the past 5 years, we here at VAIOT have been devoted to bringing our AI vision to the world.
As is stated in the Virtual Financial Assets Act itself,
“Matters to be specified in a whitepaper of an issuer and requirements for its approval and publication […] The whitepaper shall contain the information which, according to the particular nature of the issuer and of the virtual financial assets offered to the public, is necessary to enable investors to make an informed assessment of the prospects of the issuer, the proposed project and of the features of the virtual financial asset. This information shall be presented in an easily analyzable and comprehensible form.”
To understand the VAI token, you must understand it’s regulated status. From understanding it’s regulated status, you may then understand the upcoming use-cases of the token. Today, as we move closer than ever to the release of the AI Legal Assistant, we aim to help clearly lay out both of these concepts so that the market, our community, and future users have a firm grasp of the past and future of the VAI token. In the last 5 years, VAIOT and it’s VAI token have developed into a matured, organized, and efficiently functioning digital asset looking to and poised to disrupt the legal services market.
Read VAIOT’s Whitepaper here in full in order to fully understand the whitepaper and mission laid out by VAIOT, and approved by Maltese authorities.
Regulatory Overview
Virtual Financial Asset means any form of digital medium recordation that is used as digital medium or exchange, unit of account, or store of value and that is not: electronic money, financial instrument, virtual token.
VAIOT was the first ever project to be regulated under the Virtual Financial Assets Act (VFA Act). According to the VFA Act, our company, the project, and the token offering itself were audited several times, verified, and approved by Grant Thornton and the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). We purposefully chose a regulated environment to provide our investors with the necessary security. Read the VFA Act here, in it’s entirety.
Under the definitions of the Act, a cryptocurrency or a token may be classified as a Virtual Financial Asset, or VFA, and the Act provides a comprehensive set of rules that will both protect consumers and support the growth of the industry and its stakeholders. The Act outlines stringent requirements for those that are launching cryptocurrencies and tokens.
Why Malta?
Malta was the first country in Europe with a clear regulatory framework for blockchain projects in 2018, which was the year of VAIOT’s company incorporation. As we always wanted to be fully transparent with our community and provide a proof of us being legitimate project, Malta was the way to go.
VFA Framework
The MFSA devised the Virtual Financial Assets Framework to support innovation and new technologies for financial services in the area of crypto assets whilst ensuring effective investor protection, financial market integrity and financial stability. Find out more about the VFA framework from the MFSA website itself.
In the words of Grant Thornton, our VFA Agent, “Virtual tokens, or ‘utility tokens’, are DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) assets which have no utility, value or application outside of the DLT platform on which they were issued and may only be redeemed for funds on the platform directly by the issuer of the DLT asset.” To put it simply, the DLT Platform is where the utility of the asset is realized, thus the value and application follow that initial purpose. The token has no utility outside of the platform but retains value outside of the platform. The VFA Act requires issuers to list the token on a digital assets exchange so that it may be accessible to the public.
In short, the VAI token, by nature of it’s creation, only exists to support the VAIOT ecosystem and act as yet another part of the collection of tools, protocols, and technology VAIOT is using in order to bring our AI Assistants to the world.
Use-Cases for the VAI Token
There are several token use-cases stated in our whitepaper that are key factors in the overall development of VAIOT both in the short and long term. Each of the following examples of token use-cases not only strengthen the VAIOT ecosystem, but empower future users and community members to benefit from interacting with said ecosystem.
First and foremost users of our services and holders can use VAI to pay for services provided across the VAIOT ecosystem, which in turn will provide a variety of benefits depending upon the situation. Our website also gives a short run down of the VAI token use-cases, but let’s dive a bit deeper here today.
1. Juror token for Decentralized Dispute Resolution System (DDRS)
Bloomberg Law defines Decentralized Dispute Resolution, or DDR, as a method of resolving disputes between private parties using blockchain-assisted technology and a decentralized set of decision-makers, as opposed to a centralized decision-making authority. This innovation may assist parties in resolving disputes arising out of “smart contracts” — programs that enable self-enforcing agreements built on blockchains. It is said that decentralized justice systems are a form of “digital courts” where disputes are settled by jurors acting under economic incentives to provide fair rulings. DDR has a potential to deliver a fast, cheap, and fair dispute resolution for various claims around digital economy and even more traditional disputes.
Bloomberg Law also states, “More broadly, some believe that DDR might offer an attractive substitute for typical methods of dispute resolution, including court litigation and private arbitration. Proponents of DDR believe that it may permit parties to resolve disputes more quickly, at lower costs, and with enhanced protections for the decision-making process.” We here at VAIOT happen to be such proponents. The VAI token itself will play a key role in the adoption of DDR on a wider scale by acting as the juror’s token for VAIOT’s Decentralized Contractual Dispute Resolution System.
VAIOT’s AI Legal Assistant will allow users to enter legal relationships based on its contract negotiation and creation module. Each such relationship can lead to a potential dispute between parties. Traditional systems designed for dispute resolution are ineffective when it comes to handling large volumes of transnational, small value claims. The process might be too slow, expensive, and legally complex to be considered by the parties. At the same time smart contracts can self-execute what’s directly written in their code but can’t handle more complex situations. Here’s where the concept of decentralized justice and blockchain-based DDR systems come in place to ensure more efficient process for resolving disputes, reducing costs, and handling small-scale transitional litigations at pace.
VAIOT’s DDRS is a judicial system built for resolving disputes coming from contracts and formal documentation created via VAIOT’s AI Legal Assistant and recorded on the blockchain. Such contracts are governed and tracked through smart contracts created by VAIOT’s AI Systems hence decentralized dispute resolution shall be their default setting. In practice each such legal relationship would allow parties to specify the type of dispute resolution to be employed for the purpose of the particular contract. We know that smart contracts allow one to automate the implementation of legal agreements without relying on human actions.
VAIOT’s DDRS would allow dissatisfied party to enter a case into the system without the need to enter into a lengthy and costly legal or arbitration process. Additionally traditional contracts between parties, that were not originally based on blockchain, may also be treated through a decentralized blockchain-based dispute resolution service. Each party will be delivering evidence for the case that will have to be reviewed by the DDR’s Jurors ahead of deciding. Voters (Jurors) would then record their votes on a blockchain with the outcome of the case (voting) to be presented only after a time for votes is concluded.
Essentially when you create a contract with someone to do “ABC” tasks and they do not complete or stay true to the agreement signed, then you could open a dispute where VAI token holders can participate as jurors.
VAI Token is to be used in VAIOT’s DDRS to:
a) Allow holders staking VAI to enter the system as a Juror, provided they meet minimum VAI threshold.
b) Reward Jurors within the DDRS for decisions made.
VAI rewards will be given out to Jurors depending on the verdict reached for the case. Specific measures will be put in place to ensure the proper quality of Jurors’ decision-making process. Parties will have the option to opt for a dispute resolution by a panel of arbitrators who will be selected among VAI holders with specific skillsets or experience based on proofs provided through the zk-SNARKS-supported mechanism. Such panels of arbitrators will receive higher rewards for decisions reached than in traditional, wider DDRS cases with Jurors. Several factors such as the amount of tokens you hold will affect your power in voting, track record of resolution engagement, and others will play into the weight of a juror’s vote.
2. Payback Bonus
In page 108 of our whitepaper we define the Payback Bonus as “Tokens granted as a payback bonus after a product or a service is bought by the user via the VAIOT Platform. Such VAI Tokens can be used for further purchases thus reducing prices of products.”
To explain further, if you were to pay for services within the AI Legal Assistant using VAI tokens as opposed to other cryptocurrencies or fiat, service costs would be discounted. If you were to pay in any other way you would receive a percentage of VAI back for your purchase. Let’s say for example a contract costs $10. When a user pays in Euro or Ethereum they would get a $1 VAI payback that they could claim at any time. This mechanism, which we will release more details on around the release of the AI Legal Assistant’s V1 launch, incentivizes the use of VAI as a means of exchange across all of the services we will provide, thus ensuring a healthier and more stable token economy.
3. Staking
VAIOT offers it’s community and users a variety of options when it comes to staking their VAI tokens. Whether its through staking on KuCoin or on our own platform users can safety take advantage of several ways to earn with their VAI and take part in our ecosystem in the future.
It’s also worth mentioning that our staking platform, stake.vaiot.ai, is fully decentralized and audited unlike many staking platforms. Whether it’s LP staking on erc20 or polygon VAI single-asset staking, our users can rest assured that our platform security and efficiency are top notch. To learn more about our staking opportunities, read our article on Single-Asset staking here or join our Telegram community.
4. Micro-licensing
When verified legal professionals create custom legal document templates on our platform they can license them to other users for a fee, therefore generating a passive revenue stream. The VAI token would facilitate these microtransactions allowing for a peer-to-peer marketplace of legal templates verified by external lawyers and our proprietary AI systems.
5. Premium Access to Services
VAI Holders will receive certain benefits within VAIOT applications and services dependent upon how many tokens they hold, to be specified in tiers at a later date. The top tiers will receive free legal consultations through VAIOT’s network of certified lawyers, priority service as part of VAIOT’s legal document certification service, several free contract generations and analysis services, reduced fees, and much more.
In Summary
The VAI token’s success has been decided for it since even before day one. From the ground up we have been required to do with the VAI token as we said we would do in our whitepaper and VAIOT has never stopped building since that point! As the launch of the V1 of the AI Legal Assistant is just around the corner we look forward to bringing all of the tokens use-cases into everyday use. Thank you for reading, VAIOTEERS.
About VAIOT
VAIOT offers a portfolio of blockchain-based AI Assistants for businesses and consumers to provide automated services and transactions. Faster, easier, and affordable.
Read our AI Legal Assistant Lightpaper here.
For more information about VAIOT, visit our website www.vaiot.ai, or join our Twitter , Telegram Community, Discord Server or Youtube Channel for continuous updates.
