Abstract
FriendsFingers is an open-source Decentralized Application (DApp) built on Smart Contracts running on Ethereum Blockchain.
FriendsFingers will help startups and small businesses to start a trustworthy Crowdsale based on Ethereum with no setup costs and zero lines of code required.
Furthermore, Shaka (HAK), an ERC20 Token issued by FriendsFingers, will give holders rights to be active part on platform key decisions like in a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
A lot of people may have already ideas that they want to develop but they need help and some funds to bring them to life.
But who would lend money to someone they don’t trust?
A solution may be starting a classical crowdfunding or an IPO, but they require a lot of paperwork to fill out and many other complications to be covered.
Blockchain will solve many of these problems allowing everyone to build their crypto-based crowdsale.
The public ledger is the strength everyone can use to ensure investors not to be fraud.
Using FriendsFingers, people can easily deploy a Smart Contract that will hold contributor's money until any given date or goal is reached. Depending on the outcome, the funds will either be released to the project owners or safely returned back to the contributors.
All of this is possible without requiring a centralized arbitrator, clearing house or having to trust anyone.
People can even use the token they create to keep track of the distribution of rewards.
Have a great project?
Discover how to bring it to life with FriendsFingers.
What is Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference.
These apps run on a custom built blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure that can move value around and represent the ownership of property.
This enables developers to create markets, store registries of debts or promises, move funds in accordance with instructions given long in the past (like a will or a futures contract) and many other things that have not been invented yet, all without a middle man or counterparty risk.
On traditional server architectures, every application has to set up its own servers that run their own code in isolated silos, making sharing of data hard. If a single app is compromised or goes offline, many users and other apps are affected.
On a blockchain, anyone can set up a node that replicates the necessary data for all nodes to reach an agreement and be compensated by users and app developers. This allows user data to remain private and apps to be decentralized like the Internet was supposed to work.
Problem
ICOs can be compared to IPOs and crowdfunding. However, while IPOs deal with investors, ICOs deal with supporters that are keen to invest in a new project much like a crowdfunding event. But ICOs are different from crowdfunding in that the supporters of the former are motivated by a prospective return in their investments, while the funds raised in the latter campaign are basically donations. For these reasons, ICOs are referred to as crowdsales.
Although there are successful ICO transactions on record and ICOs are emerging successfully within the digital era, investors are cautioned to be wary as some ICO or crowdsale campaigns are actually fraudulent. Because these fund-raising operatives are not regulated by financial authorities such as the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), funds that are lost due to fraudulent initiatives may never be recovered.
Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture.
Crowdfunding has created the opportunity for entrepreneurs to raise hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from anyone with money to invest. Crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo attract thousands of people hoping to invest in the next big thing. Many crowdfunding projects are rewards-based; investors may get to participate in the launch of a new product or receive a gift for their investment.
There are many limitations beyond every new IPO. First, traditional crowdfunding platforms do not accept projects from countries where they have no presence. Second, they charge high commissions (15-20%), as do the payment systems people must use to contribute with. Third, they are overwhelmed with "failed" projects that let down the backers and the platform itself. Fourth, the larger crowdfunding platforms became all about big companies with strong marketing, rather than about creators with bright ideas, but no marketing budget.
Launching a crowdfunding campaign or an IPO requires a resident to be present in one of the countries of official work, and there is also a lot of paperwork to fill out. As a result, many creators have no access to large crowdfunding platforms, limiting their fundraising opportunities, and narrowing the reach and diversity of the platforms.
The recent diffusion of cryptocurrencies may change this situation, making fundraising easy and potentially accessible everyone. Decentralization, crypto-currency, and smart contracts are the new solutions for a project to raise funds. Obviously according any applicable laws, regulatory requirements, or rules in your residence country.
So Smart Contracts can solve all of these problems but, to deploy a Smart Contract, it requires a lot of technical competencies or to pay (lot of Bitcoins) in advance to a company to do it for you.
Solution
Fund a project with a trustworthy crowdsale.
Many people or startups already have ideas that they want to develop on Ethereum or simply they need to raise funds for their projects. Who would send money to someone they don’t trust?
Sometimes a good idea takes a lot of funds and collective effort. You could ask for donations, but donors prefer to give to projects they are more certain will get traction and proper funding.
FriendsFingers helps you to start a crowdfunding that would be ideal for investors: you set up a goal and a deadline for reaching it. If you miss your goal, the donations are returned, reducing the risk for donors. Since the code is open and auditable, there is no need for a centralized, trusted platform. Therefore, the only fees paid will be the Gas fees.
You don't need to have any technical skill or to pay nothing in advance.
By using Ethereum, you can create a contract that will hold a contributor's money until any given date or goal is reached. Depending on the outcome, the funds will either be released to the project owners or safely returned back to the contributors. That is all possible without requiring a centralized arbitrator, clearing house or having to trust anyone.
You can even use the token you created earlier to keep track of the distribution of rewards.
Rewards in crowdfundings are usually handled by a central unchangeable database that keeps track of all donors: anyone who missed the deadline for the campaign cannot get in anymore. Instead we are going to do this the decentralized way and just create a token to keep track of rewards, anyone who contributes gets a token that they can trade, sell or keep for later.
Donors get to keep their tokens, even if the project doesn't achieve its goals, as a souvenir.
How FriendsFingers works
The crowdsales started on FriendsFingers and the corresponding tokens creation processes will be organized around Smart Contracts running on Ethereum Network. All the source code of both Smart Contracts and platform will be verified on Etherscan and published on GitHub, where you can read and analyze any line of the code you will use. Our platform itself will be a DApp (Decentralized Application) hosted on GitHub pages. We have no servers and no databases, we don’t store any datas in places you can’t see them. All will be public on the Blockchain and open-sourced on GitHub to have a strong and trustworthy crowdsale.
Furthermore, Shaka (HAK), our token, will give holders rights to be active part on platform key decisions like in a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
If you trust us, your investors will trust you the same way. We want to give you the better solution to make your crowdfund trustworthy and disruptive.
FriendsFingers
Starting Crowdsale
Users that want to start a crowdsale on FriendsFingers must only fill a form with all informations needed to start it like the project name, the crowdsale goal and target, the crowdsale deadlines, the name of the token to issue, the tokens rate per ETH, the Ethereum wallet address where funds will be collected and some others informations regarding crowdsale official links and Whitepaper.
They can also choose an amount of tokens to be issued for crowdsale creators at the beginning of the crowdsale.
After the crowdsale end no more tokens can be issued.
The unique requirement users must have to start their crowdsale is an Ethereum wallet address with a small ETH balance to pay the Gas fee (Note that Gas fee, as explained below in the Helpful links section, is not for FriendsFingers but it serves only to pay miners that will include your transaction in the blockchain).
After the creation process creators will receive a public link for their crowdsale so they can share it on their promotion channels.
FriendsFingers does never ask to send money or crypto or to share password or keystore of any digital assets.
Entering the Crowdsale
To enter the crowdsale, investors should go in previous generated page where they will find any informations regarding the project as inserted before.
Participants willing to support crowdsale can do so by sending Ether currency through FriendsFingers platform or by sending Ether to the designated address using their preferred Ethereum wallet. By doing so, they are purchasing crowdsale's token at the rate creator has chosen before which are sent instantly to their wallet.
Token will be transferable only when the crowdsale is over to avoid to see them on secondary market before than crowdsale end.
Everyone can even verify his transaction and see the received tokens exploring the blockchain (for instance using Etherscan) or through FriendsFingers platform itself.
Closing the Crowdsale
At the end of the crowdsale, creators can choose to restart another round with lower rate per ETH for a max of 5 times, or they can decide to close the crowdsale.
The later rounds will have a goal of 0 (zero) ETH because of we suppose that they reached their goal in the first round and they are only issuing other tokens at a lower rate (they can't set a rate greater than previous rounds as written in the Smart Contract).
When creators close the crowdsale the token ownership will be transferred to them, so they will have any rights to make actions on it.
When each round of the crowdsale ends, if it reaches the goal, funds will be immediately transferred to the creator designed wallet except a little fee of the raised amount which will go to FriendsFingers wallet. FriendsFingers will also take a percent of each round max token supply to help creators with token distribution. Starting fee is 5% and it should be only decreased in time according to the Smart Contract. Creators can also receive discount on fees as expressed below in Shaka Token description.
If crowdsale doesn’t reach the goal, investors can easily claim their funds back and creators don’t have to pay any fee to FriendsFingers. Creators can't be able to restart a crowdsale if it ended under the goal.
According to the Smart Contract, if some investors don’t claim their refunds a year after the crowdsale end, these can be transferred to FriendsFingers wallet and used for platform development or for any other purpose decided by a public vote as expressed below in Token description.
Some details about the tokens
Technically the token creators are issuing is a "mintable", "burnable" ERC20 token and at the end of the crowdsale the finish minting function will be called by the Smart Contract by blocking the total circulating supply. It means that tokens can be created only during the crowdsale and nobody can create an additional amount of tokens after the crowdsale end. This increases the confidence of investors ensuring them that creators can't be malicious or undervalue token price by generating more tokens than they have declared before.
Note: FriendsFingers does not provide any legal or marketing support for your crowdsale (at this time) excluding what expressed in this Whitepaper, so you will be responsible for a successful and legal campaign by sharing your project using your own channels. FriendsFingers only provide you the way to start an Ethereum based crowdsale without having any coding requirement and without any setup cost.
FriendsFingers ICO
FriendsFingers is starting its own 3 rounds Crowdsale and ICO on FriendsFingers platform.
The Smart Contract we will use for FriendsFingers crowdsale will be deployed through the same contract users will use in order to build their crowdsale.
In less words we will be the “Project Zero” of our platform in order to ensure users that they will do their crowdfund the same way we are doing our.
Participants willing to support the development of the FriendsFingers Project can do so by sending Ether currency through our platform or by sending Ether to the designated address using their preferred Ethereum wallet.
By doing so, they are purchasing Shaka (HAK) at a fixed rate which will be sent instantly to their wallet.
Estimated rate is 2400 HAK per 1 ETH, but we want to give early investors a 100% and 50% bonus on token value during the first 2 rounds to incentivize the currency distribution.
The accepted currency during the ICO is Ether (ETH)
Token Creation has an hard cap ("Target") for each round: once this cap is achieved, token creation will stop and no further contributions will be accepted
Token Creation period will be splitted in 3 rounds of 24 days, if Target is not reached sooner
The Target amount of the first round is 2000 ETH
Max supply of HAK created during first round is 9,600,000
Max supply of HAK created during entire ICO is 48,000,000
Max total supply of HAK created is 160,000,000
Tokens that are not sold during the crowdsale will be not produced by the Smart Contract
At the end of the crowdsale the Smart Contract will automatically generate another 112,000,000 of HAK that will be distributed to Platform, Team and Advisor as described below and hold using a token vesting Smart Contract. So these tokens will be released at a monthly percent in the next months after the crowdsale end.
16,000,000 HAK taken from Platform supply will be immediately transferable after the ICO and they will be used in the Incentive and Bounty program described below. At the end of the crowdsale token generation will be disabled by Smart Contract blocking the max supply to 160,000,000 HAK.
Shaka Token Details
Name: Shaka
Symbol: HAK
Type: ERC20
Estimated Price: 2400 HAK / 1 ETH
Price during ICO:
Round 1: 4800 HAK / 1 ETH (+100% bonus)
Round 2: 3600 HAK / 1 ETH (+50% bonus)
Round 3: 2400 HAK / 1 ETH
Maximum Supply: 160,000,000 HAK
Crowdsale dates: FEB 2018
Accepted Currencies: Ethereum (ETH)
Maximum Cap (Round 1): 2000 ETH
Each token offers the following rights to its holder:
Right to vote on platform key decisions.
Each token grants its holder one vote which may be used at token holder’s discretion participating in platform proposal. The more tokens one has the more votes one can cast with a max of 100 votes per user. Only whole HAK tokens grant votes - if a token holder owns a fraction of HAK token, such fractional HAK token does not grant any voting rights.
Proposals on platform may interest for instance:
propose or decide to block a fraudulent Crowdsale
propose or decide how to spend funds not claimed one year after the Crowdsale closes
decide how to invest unclaimed tokens after the Incentive program ends
Right to have a discount on platform fee when start a Crowdsale
Right to rate Crowdsales started on FriendsFingers
Possibility to promote Crowdsale on FriendsFingers social and media channels
We may always add rights for token holders, in that case we will communicate them on our official channels.
Shaka Token Distribution
30% ICO
30% FriendsFingers Platform (vested for 20 months)
10% Incentive and Bounty Program
20% Team (vested for 20 months)
10% Advisor (vested for 10 months)
Use of funds
10% Legal: Company establishment and any cost to accomplish legal requirements
20% Communications and Marketing: Expenses for attracting customers, making partnerships, list our token on major exchange websites
50% Product Development: Product development according to development roadmap; hire new developers
20% Operations: Management, Employee salaries
Incentive Program
To incentivize people on using FriendsFingers platform we will give to the owners of successful Crowdsales a reward on HAK, until the Incentive program is open or the reserved tokens ends.
This program will be opened for 12 months, starting from our ICO end and has a token reserve of 13,600,000 HAK. After this term date if we will have any other remaining token in the program, each HAK holder will be asked to choose how to use them in a public vote as granted by token rights.
Rewards will be distributed through a dedicated smart contract and will be sent to the wallet of the creator of any successful crowdsale.
Creators will receive a value of HAK equals to our ICO rate (excluding bonus) of the 1 per mille of the raised amount of their crowdsale.
For instance, if a campaign raised 1000 ETH, the owner will receive the corrispective value of 1 ETH so 2400 HAK. If a campaign raised 10,000 ETH owner will receive the corrispective of 10 ETH so 24,000 HAK.
In addition if owner also have entered our ICO (with any amount) the reward will have a 50% bonus. So, in the previous example they would have received respectively 3600 HAK and 36,000 HAK.
Bounty Program
FriendsFingers will also start a simple Bounty Program for users who want to support FriendsFingers platform development.
It will be open form 1 February 2018 to the end of our crowdsale. Tokens reserved for Bounty program will be 2,400,000 HAK that is equal to a value of 1000 ETH at ICO rate (without bonus).
Participants will find a link creator on FriendsFingers platform to build a customized link for sharing it on their blog or social channels.
Link will be a Google Analytics campaign URL with utm_source and utm_campaign. The utm_source will be your Ethereum wallet address so we can use it for issue your rewards later.
To analyze users’ contribution and issue rewards we will refer only to Google Analytics Campaign Report and it will be shared on FriendsFingers platform and on our social channels.
Each participant will have a number of free HAK based on the number of users coming from his link during the specified period.
The rewards rate will be the 5% of the number of new users coming from Analytics report, so if participant’s link will reach 1000 users he will receive 50 HAK and if it reaches 4800 users he will receive 240 HAK. From Analytics campaign, each wallet address can claim a max of 240 HAK that is equal to enter 0.1 ETH in ICO (without bonus).
To reward participants that are also entering our ICO (with any amount), the number of free HAK will be quadrupled, tripled or doubled if they entered with the same wallet address respectively our first, second or third round.
In addition, in the bounty program page, participants will be able to subscribe to our Bounty Mailchimp list (required if they want to increase their free HAK), enter their Telegram username and a Medium or Steemit post link.
Subscribing the newsletter will double the reward. Joining our Telegram group will double the reward again. Posting a Medium or Steemit post about FriendsFingers or Shaka and having Claps or Upvotes will increase free HAK as a 1% for each clap (from unique people) or upvote until a max of 300 claps or upvotes. They can choose to use Medium or Steemit but they are not cumulative. They can also update this later based on their post success.
At the end of the crowdsale we will check Google Analytics referring to the bounty campaign, searching for their wallet address in our contributors, check our bounty Mailchimp list, search participants' username in our Telegram group and we will look at claps or upvotes on their posts.
We will issue rewards using the following formula:
U = number of new users coming from participants' link
F = max(1, 2, 3) if they entered respectively third, second or first round of FriendsFingers ICO, 0 otherwise
N = 1 if they subscribed our bounty Mailchimp list, 0 otherwise
T = 1 if they joined our Telegram group, 0 otherwise
M = number of claps or upvotes on the Medium or Steemit post until a max of 300
Free HAK reward = (U * 5 / 100) * (1 + F) * (1 + N) * (1 + NT) * (1 + N(M / 100))
So, referring to previous examples, 1000 new users, entered the first ICO round, subscribed, joined and having 300 claps or upvotes on post means 50 * 4 * 2 * 2 * 4 = 3200 HAK; 4800 new users, entered the first ICO round, subscribed, joined and having 300 claps or upvotes on post means 240 * 4 * 2 * 2 * 4 = 15,360 HAK (that is equal to enter 6.4 ETH in ICO (without bonus)).
At the end of the bounty program we will enable a Smart Contract to distribute free HAK rewards using the same Ethereum wallet used in link generation. Participants will receive free tokens in a max of 24 days. After this date any remaining token in Bounty reserve will be used for promotion (like Airdrop or any other solution to be discussed in a public platform vote).
Note: FriendsFingers has the right to not issue rewards for links considered as fraudulent for instance generated by automated tools.
Roadmap
Q1 2018
Any user will be able to start a Crowdsale using FriendsFingers.
Q2 2018
Voting, Incentive and Bounty program Smart Contracts released. Incentive program will be retroactive so also if a user started a crowdsale in Q1 he can claim his rewards.
Exchange listing.
Q3 2018
Platform improvements with filterable Crowdsale list and additional features like the rating system. Adding Swarm and/or IPFS to store any additional datas.
Q4 2018
More and different types of Crowdsale and Smart Contracts creation released.
Risk Factors
The purchase of tokens involves a high degree of risk. Before acquiring tokens, it is recommended that each participant carefully weighs all the information and risks detailed in this Whitepaper, and, specifically, the following risk factors.
Dependence on infrastructure: Ethereum and the Internet implies that FriendsFingers can offer no assurances that a system failure would not adversely affect our software. Break-ins, network delays or other disruptions caused by third parties may result in interruption, delay or suspension of services, which would limit the use of the tokens.
Smart contract limitations: Smart contract technology is still in its early stages of development, and its application is of experimental nature. This may carry significant operational, technological, regulatory, reputational and financial risks. FriendsFingers cannot serve as any form of warranty, including any expressed or implied warranty that the FriendsFingers Smart Contract is fit for purpose or that it contains no flaws, vulnerabilities or issues which could cause technical problems or the complete loss of tokens.
Regulatory risks: Blockchain technology, including but not limited to the issue of tokens, may be a new concept in some jurisdictions, which may then apply existing laws or introduce new regulations regarding Blockchain technology-based applications, and such regulations may conflict with the current FriendsFingers smart contracts and token concept. This may result in the need to make substantial modifications to our smart contract, including but not limited to its termination, the loss of tokens, and the suspension or termination of all token functions.
Taxes: Token holders may be required to pay taxes associated with the transactions contemplated herein in their home countries. It will be a sole responsibility of token holders to comply with the tax laws of their jurisdictions applicable to them and pay all relevant taxes.
Force Majeure: FriendsFingers’ performance may be interrupted, suspended or delayed due to force majeure circumstances. For the purposes of this Whitepaper, force majeure shall mean extraordinary events and circumstances which could not be prevented by us and shall include: acts of nature, wars, armed conflicts, mass civil disorders, industrial actions, epidemics, lockouts, slowdowns, prolonged shortage or other failures of energy supplies or communication service, acts of municipal, state or federal governmental agencies, other circumstances beyond our control, which were not in existence at the time of Whitepaper release. If such circumstances occur prior to the issue of tokens and FriendsFingers is unable to issue tokens within one month from the projected date, the escrow agent may issue a refund at the request of the token purchasers. The refund will be issued in the original amount and form of payment to the same digital wallet where the funds were transferred from.
Disclosure of information: Personal information received from token holders, the information about the number of tokens owned, the wallet addresses used, and any other relevant information may be disclosed to law enforcement, government officials, and other third parties when FriendsFingers is required to disclose such information by law ,subpoena, or court order (also if all informations are already public due the nature of the blockchain and our use of it). FriendsFingers shall at no time be held responsible for such information disclosure.
Value of token: Once purchased, the value of the token may significantly fluctuate due to various reasons. FriendsFingers does not guarantee any specific value of the token over any specific period of time. FriendsFingers shall not be held responsible for any change in the value of the token.
Started Crowdsale: Except all regarding its own crowdsale and explicitly expressed in this Whitepaper, FriendsFingers does not guarantee any responsibility on crowdsale started by third party. FriendsFingers offers only technology and development tools, so projects seeking to conduct their own crowdsale. FriendsFingers has no control over the actions of the projects’ teams. FriendsFingers will provide its tools to any project, however, FriendsFingers shall not be responsible for the completion or success of any crowdsale if such failure resulted from the actions of the projects’ teams or third parties. Responsibility of any third party crowdsale is to be accomplished by crowdsale creator and any other information on third party crowdsale shall be inferred by their own Whitepaper and official links.
Ethereum volatility: FriendsFingers’ services are priced in Ethereum. The Ethereum exchange rate volatility may impact the company's ability to provide services at the indicated prices.
Assumptions with respect to the foregoing involve, among other things, judgments about the future economic, competitive and market conditions and business decisions, most of which are beyond the control of the FriendsFingers team and therefore difficult or impossible to accurately predict. Although the FriendsFingers team believes that its assumptions underlying its forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of these may prove to be inaccurate. As a result, the FriendsFingers team can offer no assurances that the forward-looking statements contained in this Whitepaper will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements contained herein, the inclusion of such information may not be interpreted as a warranty on the part of FriendsFingers or any other entity that the objectives and plans of the FriendsFingers project will be successfully achieved. Please note that the FriendsFingers project may be subject to other risks not foreseen by its team at this time.
Legal
The Shaka token does not have the legal qualification of a security, since it does not give any rights to dividends or interests. The sale of Shaka tokens is final and non-refundable.
Shaka tokens are not shares and do not give any rights excluding what indicated in the Token section of this Whitepaper. Shaka tokens cannot have a performance or a particular value outside the FriendsFingers Platform. Shaka tokens shall therefore not be used or purchased for speculative or investment purposes. The purchaser of Shaka tokens is aware that national securities laws, which ensure that investors are sold investments that include all the proper disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny for the investors' protection, are not applicable.
Anyone purchasing Shaka tokens expressly acknowledges and represents that she/he has carefully reviewed this Whitepaper and fully understands the risks, costs and benefits associated with the purchase of Shaka.
Helpful links
Official links
FriendsFingers official website https://www.friendsfingers.com/
Shaka official page https://www.friendsfingers.com/shaka
External Official links
Telegram group https://t.me/friendsfingers
Telegram channel https://t.me/friendsfingersupdates
Medium blog https://medium.com/friendsfingers
Steemit blog https://steemit.com/@friendsfingers
Twitter profile https://twitter.com/friendsfingers
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/friendsfingers
Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/friendsfingers
Google Plus page https://plus.google.com/103862201832641810283
GitHub repos https://github.com/friendsfingers
External Third Party links
Ethereum official website https://www.ethereum.org
How to explore the Ethereum blockchain? https://etherscan.io
What is a "DAO"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization
What is a "DApp"? https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/383/what-is-a-dapp
What is an "ERC20" token? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERC20
What technically is an "ERC20" token? https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-20-token-standard.md
What is "Gas"? https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-meant-by-the-term-gas
How can I estimate "Gas Price"? https://ethgasstation.info
Ethereum and ERC20 compatible Wallet:
MetaMask
MyEtherWallet
Mist
Eidoo (Mobile)
Where to buy Ether:
Coinbase
GDAX
Binance
Bitfinex
