Prudent approach to launch of FOTA and related tokens

Trinh Ngoc Duc, CEO of FOTA, talked with VIR’s Linh Le about the company’s journey in the past year and its upcoming plans

As a young company, FOTA’s recent fundraising result was impressive. What are some of the challenges that you met along the journey?

We started in November. Most companies would not choose to begin their journey during this time, as there were so many other projects throughout making the industry too competitive by the end of that year. In addition, scams and low-quality projects have caused investors and consumers to be a lot more cautious. So even in its infancy, FOTA has met a lot of obstacles and had to put in double effort to swim upstream amidst the market’s downturn.

As we prepared for launch, there were two factors that we focused on: finding the best-suited incubator to help us build our roadmap and strategy, and a lead fund that can provide support and guidance. Last year saw not only a boom in new projects but also the birth of many new venture capitals. Being selective with our venture capitalists was also crucial for success.

What do you think is FOTA’s biggest selling point?

One of the factors that contributed to our initial success is our commitment to product quality even in the early stages. Most blockchain games only stop at the whitepaper stage. For us, we attended to all elements of our product, from storyline to graphic design to the play-to-earn aspect.

Prior to launch, we spent more than a year putting together a core team, looking into case studies of successes and failures as well as refining the game’s character and marketing plan. Attention to detail was how we survived the late-2021 market saturation.

One big concern in the blockchain game market at the moment is cybersecurity. How does FOTA tackle this issue?

There are six important steps in any software development project: analysis, design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Most tech projects focus on development in the early stages, as that’s what generates revenue while putting security off till maintenance when products have already been launched and users have put money in the game. Research shows that 31 per cent of projects could not recover after cyber attacks.

Even from the beginning, we have employed a method which focuses on resilience, by incorporating cybersecurity from the analysis step and constantly being on the lookout for attacks. We’re currently partnering with Microsoft for its computing service, as our CTO was one of Microsoft’s cybersecurity specialists.

The company is planning to release tokens in May. What measures were taken to get ready for this event?

A crucial step is to select a suitable initial decentralised exchange platform to ensure the highest volume of transactions and boost the token’s value. Our partners include venture capitalists, influencers, and others. After all the groundwork, the next step will be to ensure that our coding, smart contracts, and documentation all stand up to inspection.