2017 was the year of excitement, speculation and lots of expectations with the publishing of numerous “white papers” associated with the launch of tons of ICOs. This year we are moving into the next cycle of development phase of Blockchain technology & Cryptocurrencies. Lots of promising projects launched last year are reaching the maturity stage where they are moving on to their independent networks called “Mainnets” — short for Main network. In layman’s terms Mainnet is a blockchain where transactions of a particular digital currency takes place.
The biggest example is this regard has been the Lightning Network — an off chain solution or an alternative digital highway for Bitcoin where it becomes more scaleable since it doesn’t clog up the main Bitcoin Blockchain. This Mainnet was launched on Mar. 15, 2018 after which multiple other Alt.coins made a move on to their own Mainnets. Until now, Ethereum has been providing the one stop solution platform for all the new projects in the Crypto arena.
We will just take a quick look at some of these promising matured projects who have either made the move or about to do so. With their own Mainnets they will be swapping their Ethereum based ERC20 tokens for their own Mainnet issued tokens. What would be interesting to see in the coming weeks & months would be the performance of these independent networks once they are detached from the “Mother ship Ethereum”. This will also define next phase of the development in the Blockchain & Crypto Revolution. Let’s take a look at some of the most promising launches:
EOS: (MarketCap Rank №5) One of the most promising ICOs in the past year (raising $4 billion) has finally made the move to its Mainnet — EOSIO platform on Jun. 02, 2018. EOS was presented as an ambitious project in Consensus 2017 by its developers Block.one. Although the move has been less than ideal with multiple issues still needing to be resolved, Coin swap hiccups, account freezes etc. a diligent team behind this ICO seems poised to make it into a success as it continues to be touted as direct Ethereum competitor with its DApps decentralized platform.
TRON: (MarketCap Rank №10) This has been another promising project with their outspoken CEO Justin Sun. Their Mainnet Odyssey was launched on May. 31, 2018 & earlier today their genesis block was created to mark TRON’s independence from the Ethereum network. The migration from the ERC20 tokens to TRX tokens was touted to be completed by today but they have pushed back the deadline a few days further. TRON uses the same DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) mechanism as its counterpart EOS thus claiming to be 10 times faster than Ethereum, offering more security & zero transaction fees. TRON CEO claims that Odyssey will provided a bigger, better & more efficient decentralized Eco system than Ethereum once the transition is complete.
VeChain: (MarketCap Rank №17) Sunny Lu is the CEO of the VeChain Foundation who also founded the startup Qtum (another important digital asset). Thor Mainnet launch is planned for Jun. 30, 2018 which is being touted as one of the biggest & most promising for numerous reasons — VeChain has been around for much longer than both EOS & TRON with a privately functioning platform since 2015, has an impressive list of partnerships including Microsoft (IT), DB Schenker, PwC (Audit & Advisory), BitOcean (Financial Services), DNV GL (Certification) and a bunch of others in different industries and more importantly VeChain’s use case in IoT. Sufficed to say they had got a head start with their decentralized platform and want to start launching the DApps as soon as possible. Each of the current ERC20 based VET tokens will be replaced by 100 VEN tokens once the swap takes place.
Ontology: (MarketCap Rank №19) Ontology is based on the NEO Eco system and are natural partners in the race to digitize the world. Chinese company OnChain launched the public platform Ontology with the aim to help businesses integrate the blockchain technology without any prior knowledge. The most interesting aspect of ONT coins was that they never had an ICO sale rather the NEO coin holders were Airdropped with ONT coins — For every NEO coin 0.2 ONT was awarded. The ONT Mainnet will be launched on Jun. 30, 2018 as per their team’s announcement on Medium. On the completion of migration all NEP-5 ONT tokens will be swapped with ONG Mainnet tokens.
Oyester: (MarketCap Rank №332) Originally called Oyester Pearl (PRL) it is a relatively new kid on the Crypto block with the aim to disrupt the advertising world. It basically aims to produce the first ever decentralized storage platform which is based on Tangle — an IOTA blockchain infrastructure. This offers a new revenue model whereby visitors to a website will offer small amount of their computational power for the storage of files on a decentralized ledger. The Mainnet was launched on May. 31, 2018 announced on Medium.
NULS: (MarketCap Rank №100) This ambitious project intends to offer a customizable & flexible Multi chain and Cross chain Eco system to work on top of the exiting Blockchain by employing Proof of Credit algorithm & smart contracts. It basically offers simpler programming environment for the less tech savvy. The Mainnet was launched on May. 31, 2018.
Cardano (ADA — MarketCap Rank №8 ) Honorable mention here of Cardano, which like VeChain has been running its own Mainnet since September 2017 — next phase of their road map includes an upgrade to Shelley which is the path to full decentralization of the Cardano. This is expected to take place sometimes at the end of this quarter or Q3. However, No migration of tokens will be taking place.
We are entering an interesting time in the Blockchain revolution where a lot of promising projects are beginning to see the light of day with their independent networks. This is the time when we will be able to differentiate between the good, the bad & the ugly. A lot of “paper-only” projects will get wiped out as the ones with real promise start to deliver. Exciting times ahead…
Here’s a link to two related articles of mine USD backed Cryptos — An overview & EOS — New superstar of the Crypto Elite Club
Stay in touch: Twitter | StockTwits | LinkedIn | Tradealike | Facebook
