$OPUL / Opulous | Milky FA Report

Crypto Assessor
13 min readSep 17, 2022

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Version 1 - August 22nd 2022

Introduction / Concept:

We’re reshaping the music industry with the world’s first Music Fungible Tokens. Invest in your favourite artists and own a real piece of the music.

Network(s):

• Algorand — Contract Address: https://algoscan.app/asset/287867876

• Ethereum (ERC20) — Contract Address: https://etherscan.io/token/0x80d55c03180349fff4a229102f62328220a96444

• BNB Chain (BEP20) — Contract Address: https://bscscan.com/token/0x686318000d982bc8dcc1cdcf8ffd22322f0960ed

Without doubt for me Algorand is the best Layer 1 blockchain around. Building and developing with them gives Opulous a significant advantage over any competitor.

Smart Contract Audit:

Certik completed a smart contract security audit in April 2022.

No Critical or High risk factors were found.

In July 2022 Certik completed an audit of the staking pools, 2x High Risk Centralisation factors were found, without being resolved. Both involved the admin commands, Opulous stated they will implement a multi-sig. The CEO has confirmed to me the multi-sig wallet will be implemented in a week (from date of report). Until then they are using a hardware wallet to keep the staking pools secure.

Certik audits: https://www.certik.com/projects/opulous?utm_source=CMC&utm_campaign=AuditByCertiKLink

On a special note it should be acknowledged that Opulous actively seeking an audit on their staking pools should be applauded. This is exceedingly rare, so rare no other projects come to mind right now from those I’ve researched, and is an excellent indicator the security of their protocol is of the highest priority to them.

USPs (Unique Selling Points) / Key Points:

  • Opulous Launchpad:
    - Buy MFTs (Music Fungible Tokens) to invest in artists albums, singles or Eps
    - When the revenue from sales of the above increase, so do your earnings from the royalties of the MFTs.
    - Investors can withdraw MFT earnings directly from Opulous account.
  • Opulous Exchange
    -
    Buy, sell or exchange MFTs in an open marketplace.
  • Opulous Loans
    -
    Artists can borrow to the amount of the projected revenue of their work for the next 12 months.
    - Investors can stake crypto assets to earn passive income, this supplies the capital to provide artists with loans.
  • Industry experts within the team and amongst their Advisory board
  • Early mover advantage for this concept
  • Significant technological advances over their competitors

Team & Advisors:

Which is better, the team or the advisors? Who cares, they’re both amazing and working together to develop this project!

Whether in a bear or bull market a quality team is ALWAYS important, but in a bear market a quality team will continue to build and develop regardless of the market conditions. This team is one of the best I’ve seen in a project. It reminds me a lot of the “Dream Team” from the Space Jam movie. If you wanted to launch a music based blockchain project you couldn’t do much better.

Another thing to consider; As my part of my research process I often seek to speak to teams directly to get missing pieces of information not available in documentation released. This process can be gruelling, frustrating, and is the single biggest cause of delays to release my final reports. I went on the Opulous community TG page asking a couple of questions, within a few minutes the CEO Lee Parsons reached out to me personally, discussed details at length and arranged for the CMO Fernando to have a meeting with me and finalise tokenomic details. This level of engagement from a CEO is seriously rare. A brilliant reflection of the management of the team and their desire to actively engage with their community.

Marc Aché is no longer involved in the project as of July 2022. He was employed on a temporary contract basis.

There’s no indication Opulous have submitted themselves to a KYC Audit. The team is fully dox. Though I don’t believe there is a risk of rugpull, the tokens still aren’t fully vested and they’re of Centralised control. Whilst I don’t necessarily think a KYC is necessary, I think it’s something the team should think about just to give that extra reassurance to any retail investors who see KYC Audits as important.

The CEO has confirmed to me they work with Applied Blockchain, who are a Blockchain Developer Shop. Applied Blockchain are the ones who’ve built the protocol. As such a KYC audit on the devs likely wouldn’t be possible, unless Applied Blockchain KYC their devs. Applied Blockchain are ultimately responsible for the smart contracts and technical development. This risk is mitigated with the implementation of a multi-sig wallet. 1 signatory from Applied Blockchain, 2 from Opulous. However, I do think an in-house CTO to oversee the smart contract development would have been better

Link: https://appliedblockchain.com/

Partners &/or Venture Capital (VC) Investors:

Quality is always better over quantity! When you have an excellent concept you don’t need a great deal of investors, only a select few which agree with your ethos.

Algorand (in my opinion) is the best Layer1 blockchain without any competition. With them close by as a development partner… It stands you in good stead for a bright future!

Roadmap:

Opulous released a Roadmap update on their Medium account. Whilst the targets are good, it’s far too short term. The roadmap should be at least 1 year long at a minimum, but ideally going to the end of 2023, with subsequent updates being released annually. What this roadmap update also tells us, they’re ahead of their targets compared to the original release of the roadmap from earlier this year. For example, the Music Loans services are now being launched Q1 2023 instead of Q2 2023. This is an excellent indicator of a team working well and delivering.

I also wonder why they don’t update the roadmap to the website so it’s easily accessible to all.

Medium link: https://medium.com/@opulous/opulous-announces-roadmap-update-for-2022-23-b1d84ce7869d

Tokenomics:

  • $OPUL is the native token of the ecosystem
  • CMC reports a circulating supply of 43.9 million tokens, which is 9% of the maximum supply of 500 million.
  • The vesting schedule is well considered but some parts are now obsolete as Opulous changed the monthly vesting to daily vesting for the private and seed investors.
    - The majority of the tokens to be issued are going toward the Ecosystem and Foundation Reserve.
    - There will be no deflationary mechanism due to Opulous intention to be SEC compliant as a non-security. The tokenomics indicate $OPUL is an inflationary token.
  • I like the team’s vesting schedule:
    - 12 Month cliff, 0% released at TGE
    - 25% released at 12 months
    - 25% released at 24 months
    - 25% released at 30 months
    - 25% released at 36 months
  • Opulous changed the vesting schedule in March 2022
    - The CEO has confirmed to me the new vesting schedule implemented March 2022 is upheld by smart contracts
    - The early investors can claim daily rewards from their Opulous platform since April 2022.
    - Further details of this change can be found at the following link, or in the soon to be released Whitepaper: https://opulous.medium.com/opulous-updates-were-changing-our-token-vesting-schedule-be649059b2bb
    - The Team; Advisors; Liquidity Pools; Foundation & Ecosystem are still following the original vesting schedule shown below:

 It’s always imperative to verify you’re using the correct protocol and not a fake one, otherwise this may result in your linked wallet being completely drained of all your assets!

  • Revenue streams for the protocol are as shown in the image below:
    - Staking pool and OVAULT launchpad fees are collected in $USD and converted into $USDC. This is held in a Multi-Sig Operational Reserve used for business expenses and paying the artists.
    - Exchange fees are collected in $USDC and held in the Operational Reserve.
    - Other fees are paid in $OPUL and held in the Foundation Reserve
    - Loans services not yet launched, but when they are will have a similar structure to the MFT ecosystem
    - When the MFT Exchange is launched Opulous are planning to collect 1% transaction fee
    - MFT Launchpad collects 15% fee; Royalty Vault collects 5% fee

Socials / Community Engagement:

  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/opulousapp
    - Joined January 2021 with over 71k followers. The community engagement levels is generally quite good.
  • Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/OpulousAnnouncements
    - Just under 2k subscribers. A surprisingly low number.
  • Telegram (Community): https://t.me/opulousapp
    - Over 15k subscribers. Some useful information and links by the admins. No indication they are heavy handed in blocking people.
  • Discord: http://discord.gg/opulousapp
    - I’m very surprised there’s only 2.5k subscribers to the Discord, considering how popular they are on Telegram and Twitter.
    - The above invite on their linktree doesn’t work
  • Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Opulous/
    - Over 2.6k community members. Some useful articles posted by the community.
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Opulousapp
    - Over 1.65k subscribers. No uploads for 2 months. I believe this is where they’ll market the artists signed up and releasing albums through them
    - I think the team should publish a number of tutorial videos to help onboard non-crypto music lovers into crypto. Examples of videos will be in the Summary section.

Useful Links / Information Sources:

Listed Exchanges to Buy (and compatible pairings):

  • CEX (Centralised Exchange)
    - Gate.io (USDT, ETH)
    - KuCoin (USDT)
    - MEXC (USDT)
    - AscendEX Bitmax (USDT)
    - Huobi Global (USDT)
    - And more exchanges listed on CMC
  • DEX (Decentralised Exchange)
    - Uniswap v2 (USDC)
    - PancakeSwap v2 (BUSD)
    - Tinyman (ALGO, USDC, YLDY)
    - Algofi (ALGO)
    - XCAD (XCAD)

How to Buy:

My preference is always to use a DEX where possible. CEX’s may often be easier to use for those new to crypto, but you don’t own the assets.

“Not your keys, not your crypto!”

As this is built on Algorand I’d personally use Tinyman or Algofi. For these you’ll need a MyAlgo wallet. It’s a non-custodial wallet for your browser, but no browser extension like MetaMask or Solflare.

Link to MyAlgo: https://wallet.myalgo.com/

If you prefer using an EVM DEX then PancakeSwap would be the next best option, you’d need $BUSD. When using Uniswap you’ll be paying ERC20 gas fees. I don’t think I’ve ever used Uniswap for that very reason.

When using a DEX always make sure you use the correct contract address. The correct contract addresses can be sourced from CMC (the link of which is further down this report), and the contract address showing under “contracts” in the top left below the website link on the page. The correct contract addresses further up this report are sourced directly from CMC, but it’s always good practice to do this yourself.

Summary:

There’s a lot to talk about with this project. I can see why it’s so popular and why so many people have been near begging me to look into this for the last few months. Opulous did come on my radar last year, but at the point it was little more than a concept. Now it’s something far more.

The timing of this report is coincidental, but ideal. Phase 1 is about to begin, where Opulous offer their own native DeFi staking pools on the Opulous Dashboard https://app.opulous.org/

The concept of this project is brilliant, and for this first time in maybe 70/80 years there’s a genuine solution to the dirty side of the Music Industry. Of course some artists earn great wealth, but never as much as they should rightly earn due to the inhibitive contracts of Management Agencies, Record Labels and other 3rd parties.

This platform may give music artists true freedom to develop and earn as they see fit, and those who invest can share in the rewards.

There is a mix of centralisation and decentralisation here. The investment pools offer decentralised opportunities, but the token issuance from genesis seem centralised. Of course this could change in the future, but the problem is the roadmap doesn’t go far enough to ascertain if full decentralisation is in their planning.

There’s a potential revenue stream I’ve not seen mentioned in any articles or documentation to-date, so I’m not sure if this has been considered by the Opulous team, but if not then they should. Should Opulous partner with a Metaverse project they can expand their utility by offering live music events of their signed artists, and collect revenue from ticket sales, tickets paid in $OPUL.

Market research is always important when entering a new field and as the below image shows, they seem to have done theirs:

It seems the Opulous team are working very hard to make themselves compliant to the SEC. Whilst America is very good for music industry revenue, it’s not the only market. And to be compliant to the grossly incompetent SEC could severely handicap the potential of this protocol as a genuine DeFi provider. The SEC under Gensler sees anything decentralised as evil. I say ignore America for now; Focus on onboarding global stars (there’s plenty of non-Americans stars); and wait until the political environment in America has changed to be more welcoming of blockchain & decentralisation.

Opulous has the potential to bridge music lovers into crypt. But to do so effectively they need to produce educational content to guide those who’ve never used crypto.

If Opulous included tutorial video productions on their website, they could access a plethora of new retail investors which would make their competitors green with envy:

  • How to create a MyAlgo and Pera wallet
  • How to fiat on/off ramp
  • How to withdraw and deposit (send/receive)
  • How to use Algofi and Tinyman
  • How to use Staking and Farming pools
  • How to use Opulous Dashboard

This project was not easy to research due to two factors, lack of information on the website and lack of whitepaper. The CEO has assured me the whitepaper is due soon, it’s a shame this hasn’t been released pre-phase 1 launch as that timing for marketing purposes would have been perfect. As well as the whitepaper there needs to be far more information uploaded to the website. Whilst Medium has its advantages, not many people use it, especially those new to crypto. Thus they’re limiting their potential audience. A section for the tokenomics, roadmap and whitepaper links would be ideal on the website.

I sincerely believe Opulous has a strong future, but they need to sign more artists. If they manage to get just one artist with worldwide recognition and a stellar reputation for their integrity, then this protocol could explode. Unfortunately, there’s been numerous hip-hop artists involved in rugpulls and pump’n’dump campaigns. As such that particular sector/genre now has a bad reputation in crypto. This should be taken into consideration when they select who to approach.

To achieve 5*:

  • Onboard more global music stars (preferably non-Americans with good reputations)
  • Successful launch of Phase 1
  • Release whitepaper
    - Including updated tokenomic information, and elaborate further on Tokenomics as I’ve provided in this report
  • Update roadmap to be minimum 1 year, but ideally to the end of 2023
  • Update website to provide more information to potential investors such as:
    - Whitepaper link
    - Roadmap section
    - Tokenomics section
    - Dashboard link (when launched)
    - DEX links such as Tinyman, Algofi etc
    - Tutorial Videos

UPDATE NOTE:
Since the time of this audit the native staking pool on the Opulous dApp has been a resounding success since it’s launch. At the last count as of a few days ago over 13m $OPUL is staked, at the prices of that day this accounted to roughly $1.5m. For a project with a marketcap of $5m (according to coinmarketcap) this is outstanding. I’m one of those staking my $OPUL on the dApp.

My Rating:

4* (out of 5)

FA Audit Result:

  • Smart Contract Audit: Pass
  • KYC Audit: Recommended, but not required
  • Fully Doxxed Team: Pass
  • Team Skillset: Pass
  • Concept provides Solution: Pass
  • Tokenomics: Pass
  • Roadmap: Improvement needed
  • CMC Listed: Pass
  • Whitepaper Quality: To be released soon

Disclaimer:

  • All content contained within this report is merely an expression of my personal opinion and should never be interpreted as financial advice.
  • The primary purpose of the structure and content of my reports is intended as an educational tool to assist you as part of your own research methodology.
  • I am not a qualified Financial Advisor, nor am I member of any professional financial body.
  • I am not responsible for any financial/investment/trading decisions you make.

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Better Together!

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Crypto Assessor
Crypto Assessor

Written by Crypto Assessor

Research & Due Diligence Lead @TheBirbNest | Networking @SolidProof_io | Delivering #Web3 Solutions to #Crypto Projects | Educating Crypto Investors

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