In recent years, the crypto infrastructure and development tools industry has seen significant growth and innovation. As the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology continues to expand, the need for robust infrastructure and efficient development tools has become paramount.
As blockchain technology advances, new protocols, and enhancements successfully address issues like transaction validation, consensus, interoperability, and scalability. However, decentralized, reliable, and fast access to the blockchain remains a significant challenge. Incentivizing blockchain participants or infrastructure companies to operate full nodes for a stable network and providing reliable access to the blockchain without relying on centralized providers has been a long-standing issue in the Web3 space.
In 2022, Morningstar Ventures participated in the Series A Round of Bware Labs – a pioneering company building a one-stop shop to provide people with decentralized blockchain access. This month's review below will cover everything from the founding team behind Bware Labs to the $INFRA tokenomics, its business model, and unique Blast API features. As always, we will end the review with our thesis of what we like about Bware Labs and where we see potential challenges for the project.
What is Bware Labs
Bware Labs is a pioneering company that builds innovative infrastructure solutions and development tools for the crypto industry. Recognizing the need for an infrastructure platform that prioritizes high performance, decentralization, security, and accessibility, the team’s vision was to construct a decentralized platform that could be the backbone for the next generation of decentralized applications (dApps), free from reliance on a centralized network.
Bware Lab’s core product is Blast API –a multichain, subscription-based API platform. Since its introduction, Blast has grown its user base to 4,000 weekly active users, with over 50 enterprise customers. It supports more than 43 networks and 24 chains, such as; MultiversX, Aptos, Sui, Starknet, Arbitrum Nova, and more – thus surpassing over 100 billion total API calls. Leveraging a cutting-edge proprietary solution for proxying and routing user requests, Blast achieves industry-leading response times and high reliability.
Other products provided by Bware Labs include;
- Indexing services
Founding Team and Fundraising
The company was founded in 2020 by Co-founders Flavian Manea(CEO), Alexandru Minulescu (CTO), Radu Enoiu (Head of Product), Alex Filip (Smart Contract Lead Developer), and Matei Popp (DEVOPS technical lead).
The team of now 50+, and two dogs, are a mix of experienced professionals with deep blockchain, software development, and cybersecurity expertise.
In February 2022, the team followed up with its Series A funding round, bringing its total raised capital to $7 million. Investors included Infinity Ventures Crypto, Woodstock, Hypersphere Ventures, Blizzard, Coingecko Ventures, and others. Among those in the previous round were GBV, Spartan Group, and us at Morningstar Ventures, who participated in both rounds.
Tokenomics – Upcoming $INFRA Launch and the Role in the Blast Economy
On the 30th of May, 2023, Bware Labs will launch its highly anticipated token – $INFRA. The token's launch will enable its flagship product, Blast, to be permissionless. The ERC20 Token will be available on Ethereum and bridged on Avalanche. MultiversX will also list the token on its xExchange, and a portion of the token supply will be bridged as an ESDT in the upcoming days.
The utility of the $INFRA token within the Bware Labs ecosystem is the next stage of powering the Blast protocol and improving the state of the Web3 infrastructure. $INFRA provides the base for Blast’s staking and delegation mechanism, with the main role of incentivizing node operators – allowing Blast to achieve decentralization and become permissionless.
The total supply of $INFRA is 100 million. The initial circulating supply will be 3,855,000 $INFRA with a market cap of $1,927,500.
- Protocol Incentives: Rewards for Node Operators and delegators participating within the Blast protocol. Subscription revenue is used to buy back INFRA tokens for staking rewards.
- Provider Incentivized Testnet: Testnet rewards for infrastructure companies and node operators.
- Marketing: Marketing activities. The number of tokens unlocked for exchange marketing represents 15% of the marketing fund (550k INFRA), with a vesting schedule for the remainder.
- Community Airdrop and Incentivized Testnet: Airdropped INFRA tokens for community members and testnet participants.
- DEX and CEX Liquidity: Tokens for liquidity on decentralized and centralized exchanges.
- Treasury: Tokens for protocol enhancement, bug bounties, and node operator incentives.
- Core Contributors: Tokens for the Bware Labs team and development incentives.
- Seed Round Investors: Vesting schedule for early investors.
- Series A Investors: Investors who helped scale Blast.
- Public Round: Campaigns for community INFRA token opportunities.
- Advisors: Tokens for valuable insights and connections. Same vesting schedule as Seed and Series A investors.
Our Analysis:
Strengths:
- Up until Blast, the Blockchain API market was either centralized or decentralized and lacking in performance, with the listing of INFRA, builders in the Web3 space have the opportunity to make no trade-off when choosing their infrastructure provider. Bware Labs' core product, Blast, is central within the Bware Labs framework and serves as a blockchain API platform that grants access to some of the most relevant networks within the blockchain space. Through Blast, developers can obtain RPC, REST, and WebSocket access to an expanding array of blockchain networks by following a simple two-step process.
- Bware Labs has significantly expanded its presence in the blockchain infrastructure industry, striving to establish an all-encompassing ecosystem that caters to the needs of Web3 participants. This ecosystem now encompasses an extensive range of services, including Avalanche Subnets and Polygon Supernets, validators, custom indexing services on the Klaytn Network, snapshot services for Aptos, XPLA, Persistence, OKP4, Nolus, and Uptick, as well as faucet services. Additionally, Bware Labs serves as bridge operators for Avalanche, deBridge, Axelar, and Connext, further enhancing its comprehensive offerings. Bware Labs also has a long-standing relationship with MultiversX, a project we are also proud of working with, and recently MultiversX announced a portion of the $INFRA token supply will be bridged as an ESDT on its mainnet in the next few days, followed by the listing on xExchange on May 30th.
Challenges:
- Decentralized models face barriers to performance and accountability. Blockchain technology is at the heart of Web3, but it still needs improvement, especially if it wants to reach widespread adoption. Ensuring the audience understands the infrastructure and utility of the upcoming launch of $INFRA might create challenges for growth. Furthermore, the crypto infrastructure and development tools industry is highly competitive, with numerous established players and new entrants competing for market share. Bware Labs must differentiate itself and continuously innovate to maintain a competitive edge.
What’s next for Bware Labs
The most exciting upcoming launch for the team is the $INFRA token release on the 30th of May. To stay up to date on all launch details, make sure to follow Bware Lab’s Twitter ➡️ here. The team will also host an $INFRA staking competition starting June 1st, where participants can win from a 100,000 $INFRA prize pool. There will be 6 pit stops to achieve during the competition, or as the team calls it – the race. Each level will unlock higher numbers of winners, and there will be a raffle giveaway.
To find out how you can participate in the race, read more ➡️ here.
Learn more about Bware Labs:
🌐 Official website: https://bwarelabs.com/
📡 Official Global Telegram Community: https://t.me/bwareLabs
🐦 Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/BwareLabs
📜 Blog: https://medium.com/bware-labs
🕹️ Discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/VPkWESgtvV
