Cryzen Whitepaper (Draft)
Cryzen Whitepaper (Draft)
Cryzen Whitepaper (Draft)
AND
X EN T OKEN
W HITEPAPER (D RAFT )
Shuvro Biswas
MS A PPLIED M ATHEMATICS
(C O -F OUNDER , C HIEF E XECUTIVE O FFICER & C HIEF A RTIFICIAL I NTELLIGENCE O FFICER )
Robin Raymond
P H D M ATHEMATICS
(C O -F OUNDER & C HIEF T ECHNOLOGY O FFICER )
Kirill Kanshin
P H D P HYSICS
(C O -F OUNDER & C HIEF D ATA S CIENTIST )
© 2018 C RYZEN LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
3 XEN Token . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 Token Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7 Future Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
I NTRODUCTION AND P ROBLEM
S TATEMENT
The cryptocurrency exchange and price space is highly inefficient and volatile. In
a single day, prices may swing upwards of 10% on market news and sentiment.
In order to take advantage of interexchange inefficiencies (e.g. arbitrage between
exchanges), and intraexchange inefficiencies (e.g. price volatility, price/informa-
tion lags, etc), a robust algorithmic trading platform is required supporting both
backtesting and live deployment of trading algorithms.
In this whitepaper we describe the state of the art Cryzen trading platform
and accompanying XEN token. The Cryzen trading platform consists of two parts:
backtesting and live deployment. Backtesting consists of running or simulating a
trading algorithm on past price, social media, and other data, while live deployment
consists of running that same trading algorithm (without modification) on live
markets. Our trading platform (described in more detail in section 2) abstracts
away minute detail related to 1) the need for consistent and reliable data, and 2)
the need to interact with various cryptocurrency exchanges.
XEN token (an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain) will be one of the
first dividend tokens to be deployed and connected to a private system for the
purposes of distributing profits to token holders. XEN token will distribute 40%
of profits made from three revenue sources: 1) value as a service fees (a 5% fee on
user profits), 2) premium service fees, and 3) proceeds from trading the Zen fund, a
special fund that will be powered by the XEN token sale and traded by an in-house
(Cryzen) quant team.
All revenue and profit data from the aforementioned sources will be made
available to our users publically. A smart contract / oracle system will then au-
tonomously make use of this public information to distribute 40% of profits to XEN
token holders on a periodic basis (profits are calculated in USD, and the equiva-
lent is paid out in ETH) - the other 60% of profits will be used to fund ongoing
operations of Cryzen LLC.
The Cryzen trading platform is the foundation of all trading algorithms. There
are two major aspects to the Cryzen trading platform: 1) data collection and man-
agement, and 2) backtesting of algorithms on past data, and live deployment of
those same algorithms to the market. The Cryzen trading platform is accessed via a
web interface called the code studio where all algorithms are developed, backtested,
visualized, and deployed. We discuss all of the major aspects of the Cryzen trading
platform and code studio in the sections below.
Our data collection systems record data from several exchanges, including but not
limited to: Coinbase Pro, Binance, Gemini, and Okex (more will be supported on
an ongoing basis over time). For exchanges that support websocket connections,
we collect orderbook level data at 1 sec intervals. For exchanges that support rest
api calls only, we collect orderbook level data at 5 sec intervals.
While the cryptocurrency markets are inefficient enough that price data
alone is sufficient for profitable trading strategies (e.g. arbitrage, classic momen-
tum strategies, etc), we intend to further support social media, news, event, and
blockchain level data sources to allow for a full spectrum of trading capabilities. To
this end, we will collect the following data:
8 Chapter 2. Cryzen Trading Platform
Users will be able to backtest on all of these data sources as well as run
algorithms live on these feeds seamlessly.
The backtesting and live deployment system is best described by the diagram below.
Users of the Cryzen trading platform develop (or modify) a trading algorithm A
which takes as input: data feeds + previous feedback, and produces as output:
actions to execute.
All input data feeds are provided to the most recent time point tn . Feedback,
however, always corresponds to either the previous time point tn−1 , or even earlier
time points tn−k , where k is an integer greater than 1.
has been filled). Delayed or tn−k feedback relays to algorithm A the delayed conse-
quences of an earlier set of actions it took (e.g. A initiated a cryptocurrency transfer
from exchange X to Y, k time points ago, and is now receiving feedback that the
transfer has completed).
Users will develop trading algorithms through a web interface called the code
studio (depicted in figure 2.3). The code studio provides an online / browser
based ide for algorithm development in Python and supports syntax highlighting,
autocomplete, code collapse, autoindent, and more. Furthermore, the code studio
features a mini dashboard which will display trading logs and render/visualize
backtesting results with respect to price and action data (i.e. it will render an
overlay of what a user’s script did on top of the price charts of the cryptocurrencies
involved).
view or edit code). In reality, this “code-free” interface to trading algorithms, is just
a high level code editor that manipulates template algorithms behind the scenes
and runs them through the normal machinery.
The Zen form of a trading algorithm can be easily generated using our
parameter tagging library. After development of a trading algorithm, the user can
indicate trading parameters using our parameter tagging syntax. For example,
consider a trading algorithm containing the following variable:
buy_amt = 10
Cryzen will provide many classic trading algorithms in both code and UI
/ Zen form so that both coders and non-coders can utilize them. This includes
but is not limited to: arbitrage algorithms, momentum algorithms, and portfolio
rebalancing algorithms.
The Cryzen trading platform provides out of the box trading parameter optimiza-
tion solutions. Once an algorithm’s parameters have been tagged, we have the
ability to parse and understand trading parameters. A simple extension of this capa-
bility is to run many backtests in parallel (using our docker container architecture)
where different trading parameter values are tested in different docker containers
12 Chapter 2. Cryzen Trading Platform
to find the most optimal configuration of parameter values (most optimal with
respect to “searched” parameter configurations, rather than all possible parameter
configurations). Consider a trading algorithm containing the following lines of
code:
The Cryzen trading platform will also contain a separate machine learning interface
for the development and training of predictive machine learning models. Using
this interface, users will define some aspect of the future to predict, given some
aspect of the past, and a machine learning model to mediate that prediction.
For example, the user may want to predict the standard deviation of cryp-
tocurrency prices over the next hour (volatility in other words), given the average
price, volume, and twitter sentiment of that cryptocurrency over the last hour,
using a random forest model. The user will first specify the time interval to train
their model over (this includes a start time ts and an end time te for the given
interval). Afterwards, the user will specify the hyperparameters of their model, or
conduct an automated grid search over hyperparameters. Once the user is satisfied
with the performance of a trained model, this trained model can be used on both
the backtester and live markets. To do this, the user would import their trained
model into the Code studio and write trading logic based on the predictions of the
imported model (multiple models can be imported and used in combination in the
Code studio).
Curious readers may wonder how exactly machine learning models are
backtested since training models on a given time interval and backtesting anywhere
13 Chapter 2. Cryzen Trading Platform
on that same time interval would be biased (i.e. the machine learning model was
trained to perform well on said time interval). To address this issue, we ensure that
backtesting can only be done from te onwards. The Cryzen trading platform will
simply not allow users to backtest imported models on dates prior to te to prevent
biased / unrealistic backtesting results.
We allow users to share algorithms freely to the community. We believe this is cru-
cial to foster innovation, peer review, and thoughtful discourse in the algorithmic
trading community. Interesting / promising community algorithms will be aug-
mented with our parameter markup language and made available to non-coders
through the Zen interface as discussed above.
The Cryzen trading platform boasts a state of the art backtesting system that takes
into account some of the special challenges present in cryptocurrency trading. As
usual, we enforce the constraint that the same algorithm used for backtesting is
also the same algorithm that is deployed live, and that there is no distinction from
the algorithm’s point of view between the two (this is typical of most backtesting /
live deployment systems).
Most backtesting systems work with candlestick data (open, close, high, and
low prices over some time interval - usually 1 minute). These systems make the
assumption that there is unlimited volume on the best bid and best ask (or within a
candle) for purposes of backtesting. Our backtesting system, however, conducts
simulations at the level of orderbooks at up to 1 sec frequencies. This is necessary
for accurate backtesting in the cryptocurrency markets as volumes on the best bid
and best ask in these markets are often quite low and it becomes severely inaccurate
to make an unlimited volume assumption here.
XEN token will be one of the first dividend tokens, distributing profits generated
from Cryzen revenue sources to token holders.
The three primary revenue streams for Cryzen (40% of which will be distributed to
XEN token holders) include: 1) value as a service (VaaS) fees, 2) premium service
fees, and 3) proceeds from trading the Zen fund.
VaaS fees apply to user profits: if a user has made profit through algorithmic trading
on our platform for a given month (across all trading strategies and algorithms
employed), he or she will be charged 5% on those profits. In specific, user profits
for a given month is calculated as follows:
For the duration of each live algorithm, we record the buy and sell behavior
across all exchanges involved. For each transaction, we record the currency used
for that transaction (amount used), and the currency gained as a result of that
transaction (amount gained). An amount used is always a negative number, and an
amount gained is always a positive number. For all currencies involved, a running
account of the net position is kept (total amount gained + total amount used). At
the end of the month, the net position of each currency is converted into dollars
(based on the current market price of each currency) and summed to yield the user
profit. If the user profit is positive, we charge 5% of it as the VaaS fee for the given
user.
18 Chapter 4. XEN Token Revenue Sources
Basic usage of the Cryzen trading platform is free. This includes 1 hour of back-
tester time per day and 1 live running algorithm at any given time. After the
aforementioned free limits are exhausted, the user is charged a small resource use
fee for additional backtester time or live algorithm deployments (the resource use
fees will typically be a tiny markup on docker container run costs, with the goal
being to simply cover costs).
More premium services and features will be added to the Cryzen trading
platform over time. Please see Cryzen Revenue Sources document for further detail.
1 The 1 month free access period does not apply to raw data access.
19 Chapter 4. XEN Token Revenue Sources
The Zen fund is an algorithmic trading fund put together by 20% of the capital
raised from the XEN token presale and ICO.
The Zen fund will be traded by algorithms developed by the Cryzen quant
team. The Cryzen quant team will take an AI first approach with initial strategies
including (but not limited to):
Further, the Cryzen quant team will explore the use of reinforcement learning
for trading cryptocurrencies. Please see the Cryzen Revenue Sources document for
further detail into the categories of algorithms that will be used to trade the Zen
fund and projected returns.
As previously mentioned, 40% of all VaaS fees, premium service fees, and
profits from trading the Zen fund will be distributed to XEN token holders.
T OKEN S ALE
Funds raised from our presale will go into finishing the MVP development
of our project (which includes backtesting and live deployment of algorithms
with access to 5s price data feeds) and getting XEN token through the SEC (U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission) to become one of the first SEC compliant
dividend tokens.
A full ICO will be done some time after our presale (upon compliance with
the SEC). The ICO will be conducted in 3 phases with successively higher prices
per token as described in the diagram below.
A full ICO will be done some time after our presale (upon compliance with
the SEC). The ICO will be conducted in 3 phases with successively higher prices
per token as described in the diagram below.
Over the entire presale and ICO phases, we intend to sell roughly 70% of
XEN tokens. The capital raised therein will be used in the following manner:
21 Chapter 5. Token Sale
Over the entire presale and ICO phases, we intend to sell roughly 70% of
XEN tokens. The capital raised therein will be used in the following manner:
machine learning support (so users can train models and optimize their
parameters).
I Zen Fund – 20%
The Zen fund will be composed of 20% of capital raised (to be traded by
the Cryzen quant team).
I Algorithms to Trade Zen Fund – 20%
The Cryzen quant team will be allocated 20% of capital raised. This will
be utilized to develop, test, and optimize profitable trading strategies
for the Zen fund. Please see the XEN Token Revenue Sources - Zen Fund
Trading section for further detail.
I Research and Development – 15%
The R&D division of Cryzen will be allocated 15% of the capital raised.
This will go towards (among other things): the development of rein-
forcement learning support on our trading platform, sophisticated nat-
ural language based detection of major events in the cryptocurrency
space, and building of DAPP (decentralized application) infrastructure
to slowly allow token holders to govern more and more aspects of Cryzen
operations.
I Business Development and Marketing – 15%
Business development and marketing will be allocated 15% of capi-
tal raised. This will be applied towards onboarding new users to the
platform, which will in all probability directly increase the number of
profitable algorithms running on our platform and thus corresponding
VaaS and premium service revenue streams.
I Legal – 5%
Legal costs will be allocated 5% of capital raised to ensure Cryzen and
XEN token are fully compliant with U.S. securities law in both the near
term and long term future.
Cryzen will also implement a DAPP voting system for token holders to vote on
certain company decisions. Questions will be posed by the Cryzen core team, and
votes will be tallied by a DAPP system where user votes count in proportion to
the amount of tokens held. One of the first use cases of this DAPP voting system
will be to determine what nonprofits our nonprofit fund will donate to (which we
intend to initiate 2-3 years in the future).
F UTURE V ISION
In this section we speculate on Cryzen and what it may look like a decade into the
future. Token holders will get access to a private Cryzen audit platform, where all
information related to company operations is made available (e.g. anonymized
data related to number of employees, cash spent by category, profits earned, and
more).
Many years into the future, the idea is to turn the entire company into a
DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) which orchestrates the complex
interaction between platform developers, project managers, Cryzen quant team,
and the community to maximize long term profits for token holders.
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS