Blocknet

One of the first projects I covered on my YouTube was the Blocknet. I liked the idea behind the project and I felt the team and community were really solid. It was also one of my first larger investments for long term holding, as I mentioned in the video I was “buying all the dips”. I will include information from my original write up but also add updated information for everyone!

The project began development in October 2014 and the goal was to create interoperability through cross-chain atomic swaps and cross-chain data transfer in order to create a token ecosystem for blockchain micro-services. Or in other words, an "internet of blockchains” - The delivery of potentially any kind of digital service from a node on any blockchain to another.

Let me further explain..

It is a protocol for allowing different crypto blockchains to communicate and execute their decentralized applications on a local platform, that platform being the Blocknet.

It’s a decentralized exchange allowing for endless crypto to crypto combination trades.

Let’s talk about the protocol portion of the Blocknet. It allows the capability to build apps utilizing all different crypto services on which ever blockchain the developer chooses. Currently you have platforms aiming to do everything all at once and as a developer you need to look for the platform to build on that will provide the features you need. Blocknet will change that by allowing you to build on whatever blockchain you want and then give you the ability to pull features of projects from other blockchains that you would like to use and allow for utilization in a micro service manner.

Next, the decentralized exchange. It gives people the freedom to trade almost limitless combinations of cryptos without needing to use a dominant trading pair, like btc or eth. For example traditionally we need to take fiat, buy btc or eth, and then move to an exchange that has a pair we are looking to trade. With the DEX (decentralized exchange), you can place an order on the books for anything combo of altcoins, and it will be filled by someone who sees it and was looking to sell what you’re trying to buy.

The following is a list of coins which have been tested and are confirmed to be supported:
Bitcoin (BTC) | Blocknet (BLOCK) | Dash (DASH) | DigiByte (DGB) | Dogecoin (DOGE) | Dynamic (DYN) | Faircoin (FAIR) | LBRY Credits (LBC) | Litecoin (LTC) | Monacoin (MONA) | MonetaryUnit (MUE) | Namecoin (NMC) | PIVX (PIVX) | Qtum (QTUM) | SysCoin (SYS) | Vertcoin (VTC) | Viacoin (VIA) | XCurrency (XC)

They did a UI reveal of their exchange over the summer and it was a live streaming event. Based on the mockups of what they designed the platform looks very promising and easy to use.

January 15th Update

Their official roadmap was also just recently released, which is great because I know it was highly anticipated by the community.

Roadmap

Pros:

The protocol is fully trustless and decentralizes the four core components of an exchange: capital deposits, orderbooks, order matching, and asset exchange.

Decentralized governance

No central entity or one individual is in charge of the project. There are no owners, prevailing company, or centralized foundation to be shut down or taken over.

An anticipated partnership with Bitfinex, the 2nd largest exchange, in the development of Ethfinex. Blocknet will be used for trustless cross-chain trades. This accouchement was released on their medium in August of 2017, and is currently in the works.

Blocknet to Integrate with Ethfinex

Self-funded

The Blocknet did not run an ICO to start the project. And the project has a funding mechanism built into the project. Instead of having x% of all staking rewards and trade fees go to a development fund like most projects, they opted for something more decentralized. Every 43,200 blocks there is a “superblock” which allows the opportunity to generate up to 4,320 more BLOCK.

Proposals are submitted to the network and nodes can vote on them. This happens two ways, there’s a physical proposal written out and posted on the forum, and the service nodes vote on that. The proposals state what is needed/wanted and who is responsible for the request. If the proposal is passed, the funds get paid to the individual who started the proposal. . If a proposal is not passed, nothing gets paid out. Only funds getting paid out are generated. So if a proposal for 1000 BLOCK is passed and it's the only one, only 1000 extra BLOCK are generated, but UP TO 4320 BLOCK can be at a maximum.

You need 10% of nodes to vote and majority to be in favor of the proposal for it to pass. The voting ends at the end of the superblock period.

PoS (Proof of Stake) Project

You receive staking rewards to holding BLOCK on the network. I’ll add the excel sheet to the description but staking returns are approx. 9-14% yearly, or if you run a node which requires 5,000 BLOCK you can earn 21% yearly. Currently running a node is 1.91% more profitable than staking 5,000 BLOCK, which is the same amount to run a node.

The BLOCK coin is used as the medium for trade fees to service nodes which match trades, which is done in service of doing order matching off chain. There's an exchange fee on top of the network fees of the assets you're trading. It's 0.2% for a taker and 0.05% for the maker. 100% of these fees get paid out to the service nodes.

Here you can calculate your staking ROI:

ROI Calculation Excel Sheet

Cons:

The exchange is usable now, but not convenient, you need to perform trades through command lines currently. However the new UI will remove the need to do so.

Also the liquidity of the exchanges is low, but the partnership with Ethfinex will likely resolve that. Also I would like to mention, I see low liquidity as people more interested in buying and holding the project versus trading or selling which can be viewed as a positive.

Since transactions need to happen on the given blockchains they're subject to the on chain tx fees of a given chain, for BTC this is very expensive right now.

As a project they have been more focused on technology and progress than outreach. However, they realize this could use some improving and having been bringing on new team members. I see this as more of a neutral issue because some may see prioritizing tech over image as strength.

The website can be a bit of a deterrent; its very tech focused, and doesn’t talk much about the individuals on the team. There isn’t a lot of marketing buzz words – so at first glance it may seem dry.

They don't currently have a whitepaper, but is planned to be released on March 15th.

Recent Changes and Upcoming Improvements

• The team as started doing bi-weekly updates called “Word on the Block” to help keep the community and others involved up to date. These updates can be found on their twitter and medium page:
  Blocknet Twitter
  Blocknet Medium

• The partnership with Bitfinex on the creation of Ethfinex

• UI release expected for March 1st.

• They will be redoing the website and becoming more focused on public image.

Resources

• Their main website
• Informational Site
• Coinmarket Cap
• Atomic Swaps Explained
• Blocknet nodes explained
• Blocknet Proposal submission guide

$BLOCK donation address if you're feeling charitable!: Bi1MrzBb5EkXQckNFgXtYAw1aDHNkKvRTs

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