Mars Protocol: Team, Vision, and Future Plans

Mars protocol, with 15-20 full-time contributors, aims to replicate a centralized exchange experience in DeFi.

### Mars Protocol: Building a Leverage Trading Platform on Cosmos with an Engineering-Heavy Team and $600K in Total Fees
* 👩 Mars Protocol, a leverage trading platform on Cosmos, has around **15 to 20 full-time contributors**, mainly consisting of engineers, front-end engineers, smart contract engineers, back-end engineers, UX designers, and community managers.
* 🚀 Originally launched on Terra at the end of 2021, Mars Protocol quickly reached **$300 million in TVL** as a money market protocol before Terra collapsed. The team then realigned its vision to stay on Cosmos and focus on building the **best place in crypto to trade on leverage**.
* 💰 Mars Protocol is well-funded, with a **runway similar to that of a general DeFi project**, and recently **burned 300 million** of its total supply of **1 billion tokens**.
* 🎯 Dissatisfied with the decision to launch its own chain, the team is now moving its governance to Osmosis and **focusing on building its product fully there**. The team is very satisfied with its **exceptionally talented and hardworking members**.
* 🎨 The Mars Protocol V2 UI introduced **more functionality** than the V1 money market UI, but the team acknowledges the complexity and is working on **simplifying the user experience** and creating **more video tutorials**.
* 📈 With nearly **12,000 unique active wallets** across Osmosis and Osmosis, Mars Protocol plans to launch its end-state product with **cross-margin positions and cross-collateralization** on Neutron in the next few months.
* 🚀 In the mid-term, Mars Protocol plans to allow users to **build their own third-party vaults** on the platform, while in the long term, it aims to expand the platform's utility for Mars stakers and continue to **build a deep, feature-rich product**.
* 🛡 Mars Protocol's smart contracts have had **zero hacks** so far, and the team takes security and risk extremely seriously. The team aims to be viewed as the "**A+**" of Cosmos in terms of security.

Interview with Mars Protocol

Defi Geek

The Birth and Development of Mars Protocol

Mars Protocol has around 15-20 full-time contributors, mainly consisting of engineers, UX designers, and community managers.

The project originated from the Tera blockchain, quickly gaining $300 million in TVL, and went through a realignment to focus on becoming the leading platform for leveraged trading in crypto.

The team is satisfied with its exceptional members but has been dissatisfied with the decision to launch its own chain, leading to changes in governance and a shift to the Neutron blockchain.

The Mars Protocol has also made UX changes to address user difficulties.

Challenges with the Mars Protocol Interface and the Need for Tutorial Videos

The Mars Protocol interface has both a simple V1 and a more complex V2, causing confusion for users with multiple accounts.

The team acknowledges the complexity and is working on simplifying the user experience and providing more tutorial videos.

Developers in the market may not prioritize making tutorial videos due to a focus on shipping and a mentality that video creation is a waste of time.

Improving UX in Crypto and Tracking Mars Users

Improving UX is crucial in crypto, as many products are complex and assume a high level of user sophistication, leading to a need for better explanations and usability.

The number of unique active wallets on Mars is currently around 12,000, with plans to release more detailed statistics through a dedicated stats page on the UI and app.

Mars protocol aims to become more popular by launching a product with the same capital efficiency as centralized exchanges, offering spot trading, margin trading, lending, borrowing, and leverage under one credit account, with plans to launch this full product on Neutron in the next months.

Plans for the Future of Mars Cryptocurrency

Mars is planning to launch the Mars V2 with additional features and perks in the short term, including a vault building functionality for third-party vaults.

There are also plans to introduce an "earn" product similar to Anchor and expand the cryptocurrency's functionality for yield opportunities.

In the long term, there is a vision to launch a trading competition in 2025 and expand the economics model to provide utility to Mars stakers.

Mars Protocol's Token Utility and Burning Mechanism

Mars Protocol offers fee reductions, rebates, and access to limited yield strategies for staking their token.

The protocol recently burned 300 million of their F supply, significantly reducing the total supply to increase the token's utility and bring it closer to the market cap.

Mars Protocol aims to compete with other projects by offering lower trading fees, funding rates, and expecting higher revenue and fees with the launch of their new product, Pairs in A.

Unique Features of Mars Platform and Future Plans

Mars platform offers unique features like no limitations on user positions due to a P&L vault mechanism, cross-collateralization, and use of multiple types of collateral.

The platform is currently focused on deepening its product on the existing chain and does not have immediate plans to add new chains.

The ultimate goal of Mars is to create a top-notch product that can attract users from various blockchains and provide an awesome experience, while also having an active and caring community.

Expanding the Cosmos Community and Mars Protocol Features

The Mars community is actively working to attract users from different blockchains and non-chain users to expand their community.

They focus on the product, offering features like margin trading and yield opportunities for Cosmos assets.

The Mars protocol prioritizes security, with a conservative approach to risk and a track record of fast recovery from hacks.

The protocol also collaborates with projects like Pit for airdrops to early adopters.

Mars Protocol is not planning to do a Mars air drop like other projects, but they are open to other projects building on top of their credit accounts.

They are considering integrating NFTs into their protocol to offer special privileges, although nothing is confirmed yet.

The Mars Protocol is planning to launch a public test net with incentives, including a bounty program for finding bugs and a trading competition with rewards.