Thank you to the NanoNews Community for participating in Ask Me Anything (AMA) with IOTX on September 29, 2020. This guest star Global Community Lead . If you were unable to join the live AMA, no worries, here comes our 72th AMA recap!
We are glad to meet here:
Alina , Global community Lead IOTX For taking your time out from busy schedule for the AMA!
Introduction Session
Q1: Can you introduce yourself to the community? What is your background and how did you join Iotx ?
Hi everyone! My name is Alina and I am a Global Community Lead at IoTeX. I have been with the project for 2.5 years and joined shortly after it was founded in 2017. I was fascinated by the team’s background and project’s vision when I first came across it.
Knowing how valuable our data and privacy are and the problems that exist in this space, I wanted to become a part of a project that is solving these problems and giving people back the full control.
I have a degree in BComm and over 14 years of experience working in Customer Service, Marketing and Project Management, as well as co-founded several start-ups.
My role includes managing IoTeX’s communications channels, developing community engagement strategies and overseeing the Brand Ambassador Program in order to bring IoTeX’s products and services to the masses and communities across the world.
Q2: Can you briefly describe what is Iotx ?
IoTeX started in 2017 as an open-source project with a vision for the Internet of Trusted Things – an open ecosystem where humans and machines can interact with guaranteed trust, free will, and privacy. IoTeX combines blockchain, secure hardware, and confidential computing to enable trusted data from trusted devices for use in trusted Dapps.
IoTeX was built 100% from scratch (no forks!) and is tailor fit to support Blockchain + IoT use cases. IoTeX is now empowering privacy-preserving smart devices like Ucam and Pebble Tracker, which are the world’s first #OwnYourData devices. The IoTeX team is based in Silicon Valley and consists of 30+ top tier engineers and scientists from Uber, Google, Intel, Facebook, and other top tech companies. Currently, the IoTeX Network is maintained by 60+ global Delegates (https://member.iotex.io) including Blockfolio, CoinGecko, DraperDragon, and more.
Q3: What companies/projects do you see as competitors, and how does Iotx stand out compared to them?
IoTeX has deep expertise in both blockchain and IoT, which has allowed us to launch the world’s first blockchain-powered IoT products. We have not seen any other project launch real products like IoTeX. We are way past the white paper phase — these days, the proof of real products matters a lot. Only two years after IoTeX launched our first code release in April 2018, we already have many devices powered by the IoTeX platform, not just prototypes or PoC, as well as:
1) Launched a fully decentralized Mainnet with DPoS staking maintained by 60+ global Delegates (http://member.iotex.io/), including Blockfolio, CoinGecko, DraperDragon, and more
2) Launched REAL IoT products like Ucam (https://ucam.iotex.io/), the world’s first private security camera built in partnership with Tenvis (https://www.amazon.com/TENVIS-Wireless-Surveillance-Security-Auto-Cruise/dp/B071DDBT7M) and Pebble Tracker (https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2020/02/IoTeXs-Cellular-IoT-based-tracker-delivers-environmental-and-condition-data-for-assets-in-transit), a decentralized asset tracker built in partnership with Nordic Semiconductor (https://www.nordicsemi.com/).
The best part is the technology we built-in to Ucam and Pebble Tracker can now be applied to many other types of cameras, trackers, and other IoT devices. We are just getting started!
Q4. What is the use-case of the Iotx Token?
The $IOTX token is the lifeblood of the entire IoTeX Network — it is used for a variety of things including gas for txns/contracts, staking/voting for delegates and network upgrades, and also to register new devices and service providers to the network. Lots of detail to explore, which you can start here to learn more about our tokenomics + utility of IOTX: https://medium.com/@iotex/iotex-tokenomics-part-1-utility-of-the-iotx-token-781ff9c866e3
Q5. What are the major milestones Iotx achieved so far & what are in future pipeline?
IoTeX is just getting started – as of today, IoTeX is already powering smart devices that allow users to own and control their data, but we have much greater long-term goals.
Our next steps are to enable privacy-preserving Dapps that leverage the trusted data and trusted devices enabled by IoTeX, and eventually form diverse human-machine economies that will power new decentralized ecosystems where humans and machines can interact with guaranteed trust, free will, and privacy.
Our main goal for the rest of the year is to welcome the world to build amazing things on the IoTeX platform. With Mainnet GA, the IoTeX platform is now ready to support a wide variety of use cases across blockchain, IoT, and privacy. Our goal is to build our ecosystem of builders and contributors that will bring great network effects to IoTeX.
We are starting this process by launching our new developer grants program called Halo (https://iotex.io/halo). We have already received many interesting proposals for new projects that people want to build on IoTeX, including asset tracking use cases, healthcare devices/wearables that let you own your health data, and industry-wide tools like DEX and wallet integrations. We encourage any developers out there to take a look at Halo and apply for a grant!
Twitter Session
Q1. Blockchain + IoT + Privacy is a fairly new market. How is IoTeX better than others when there are competitors aiming for similar use cases?
IoTeX has one of the strongest and most technical teams in the entire industry. We are at the forefront of cutting-edge tech in the blockchain space, but we are also equally cutting-edge in the IoT space, including hardware, connectivity, and large-scale architecture. The IoT industry recognizes our potential too – IoTeX was recently selected as the Co-Chair of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) Blockchain Group along with Amazon and Huawei. We built our entire blockchain and IoT middleware from scratch and launched several blockchain-powered IoT products in only two years. The best part is we are just getting started – there is so much future potential for IoTeX.
The biggest opportunity for IoTeX is the size of the IoT industry and the fact that nobody is doing what we are doing better than us. Many people are focused on DeFi projects right now because they see finance as a huge industry — finance is a multi-trillion dollar industry, but so is IoT! In fact, IoT is growing at a much faster rate than most industries. Today, there are 25 billion IoT devices around the world and there will be >100 billion IoT devices by 2025. We have big goals to power all types of devices in the future and be the decentralized infrastructure to enable the future of privacy and IoT.
Q2. You released IoTeX Mainnet GA to enable the interaction between humans and the machines. What were the main reasons to switch from Ethereum? What advantages did it bring to you?
IoTeX has always had the vision to be a fully native network, as the requirements for IoT use cases using blockchain are fundamentally different than other general purpose platforms.
IoTeX is a native blockchain now, but we started as a hybrid network between Ethereum + IoTeX blockchains. We issued our ERC20 token (IOTX-E) in 2018 and then launched our native network in April 2019. then we started to migrate away from Ethereum throughout 2019+2020, and finally in june 2020 we launched our Mainnet GA, which made IoTeX a completely native network! That means the network uses $IOTX as the native coin and all smart contracts / transactions are all on IoTeX.
This philosophy is not just talk — we have built it into our platform at every layer. IoTeX is much more than just a blockchain, we also have robust IoT middleware and dev tools that make creating trusted devices easy for developers. The platform consists of multiple layers to bring privacy-IoT use cases to life. Something that Ethereum or any other blockchain out there cannot do.
We respect Ethereum and what they have done for the industry, but for IoTeX’s vision for the future of smart devices, Ethereum is not designed for it. IoTeX is! For those that want to learn more about the platform, you can read the “core concepts” section of our developer documentation: http://docs.iotex.io/
Q3. About mimo a decentralized protocol with automated liquidity, built on IoTeX. Liquidity is the major problem compared to centralized ones. How does mimo solve this problem and create the liquidity for DEX which is different from centralized exchange?
Just a quick intro on mimo for those that haven’t heard about it yet😉
mimo is the fast, low cost, cross-chain DEX that launched Sept 22 on IoTeX. You can now enjoy 5-sec trade finality, 1/10000 the fees of Ethereum, and cross-chain trading!
mimo allows anyone to trade or provide liquidity for various pairs of assets, where those that provide liquidity for a specific pool will share the transaction fees from trading. A portion of each trade 0.30% goes to liquidity providers.
Please see this thread for more info: https://community.iotex.io/t/mimo-managing-liquidity-pools-step-by-step-instructions/1523
Q4. Does Ucam have a specific market or it will be available to everyone of us? And congratulations on this milestone!
Thank you, this definitely was a very important milestone for us at IoTeX!
BTW Ucam’s launch on Amazon is today, for which we are super excited and will have something special planned for the community! 🤩
Ucam is the world’s first absolutely private home security camera that lets you 100% own your data.
Ucam is a partnership between IoTeX and Tenvis, a security camera manufacturer since 2005. They sell security cameras to governments, enterprise, and consumers and their last product on Amazon sold over 2 million units: https://www.amazon.com/TENVIS-Wireless-Surveillance-Security-Auto-Cruise/dp/B071DDBT7M/
Even with this success, they came to IoTeX for the next big feature for their security cameras: privacy and security. And this partnership allows to create a blockchain-based product for the masses, regular people that do not have any crypto/blockchain knowledge!
Q5. The biggest barrier for DeFi is that of interoperability, providing cross chain interactions and multiple blockchains, how does your unique solution solve this?
IoTeX is working on a similar concept to DeFi called DeFIoT — decentralized finance for the Internet of Things (IoT). This is all about allowing people to tokenize and monetize their IoT data by trading on data marketplaces and investing in other financial use cases. September was actually #DeFIoT month for IoTeX, and we have already launched 1) ioTube (http://tube.iotex.io/), a cross-chain bridge to Ethereum, 2) BUSD stablecoin integration, and 3) mimo cross-chain DEX.
We will have two more phases to announce this month — the most exciting ones yet!
Read more about DeFIoT here: https://medium.com/@iotex/defiot-unlocking-the-trillion-dollar-iot-data-market-c76a5204cb0e
Live AMA session
Q1. Now, IOTX Available Supply is 5,399,999,890 and Total Supply is 10,000,000,000
My question :
Is IoTeX have or any plan for Token Burn or BuyBack program, For increase the value of $IOTX? If yes, Then till Now, How much coins were Burned in Total yet?
In August, we introduced an innovative tokenomics design where 1 Billion IOTX (10% of total supply) will be Burn-Dropped as we onboard the first 1 million “Powered by IoTeX” devices. Out of the 1 Billion IOTX to be Burn-Dropped, 90% will be burned and 10% will be “dropped” (i.e., distributed to voters that auto-stake for ≥ 91 days (https://medium.com/@iotex/native-staking-on-iotex-mainnet-ga-machina-is-live-5ab572a22d57)).
Throughout the Burn-Drop program (https://medium.com/@iotex/iotex-tokenomics-burn-drop-to-bootstrap-1-million-iotex-devices-66a43a1a68d7), a total of 900 million IOTX (9% of total supply) will be burned and taken out of circulation, while 100 million IOTX (1% total supply) will be “dropped”.
This process will be facilitated by smart contract and a new Burn-Drop will be triggered immediately after every new “Powered by IoTeX” device is onboarded in a cumulative fashion.
Q2. What the problem is IoTeX trying to solve? How does it affect everyday people and businesses?
To understand what problems IoTeX is trying to solve, we need to look into what’s IoT and how it currently impacts us.
These days, all types of smart devices like cameras, thermostats, and virtual assistants are being installed in our homes and businesses at a blistering rate. Even traditionally “dumb” devices, such as beds, mirrors, and toilets, are now equipped with WiFi and powerful sensors to make them “smart” – this phenomenon is called the Internet of Things (IoT). Whether you know it or not, IoT is part of everyone’s lives and allows people to interact with machines to drive efficiencies and create value.
However, today’s IoT is owned and controlled by institutions (e.g., tech giants, governments) and not users (like you and me). All of our highly sensitive IoT data, such as the videos from our home cameras, are owned by institutions and manipulated without our consent. Do we really have to accept a future where we are surveilled by institutions that collect our data, make our homes targets for hackers, and manipulate even the way we behave? No – we can build a much better future with IoTeX.
IoTeX’s goal is to enable a future that is connected, empowering and safe – no intrusive ads and surveillance, just privacy and peace of mind without sacrificing usability. The IoTeX platform enables builders to easily launch privacy-preserving IoT devices, apps, and networks. Just like Bitcoin has created a decentralized financial ecosystem, IoTeX is empowering a decentralized ecosystem for our smart devices — the Internet of Trusted Things.
Q3. ✅Why Iotex uses the roll-DPoS consensus mechanism instead of other DPoS? How effective is this new mechanism? Do errors occur during operation?
The IoTeX Network utilizes Roll-DPoS consensus, which we designed in-house. To support the high scalability required for IoT use cases, IoTeX decided to use a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) design, but we also made significant improvements to traditional DPoS. Instead of a fixed number of Delegates (e.g., EOS has 21 block producers), IoTeX randomly selects 24 of the top 36 Delegates to mine blocks every hour. This randomness improves the decentralization and security of the overall network, without affecting the performance. Roll-DPoS enables IoTeX to be one of the fastest blockchains in the entire industry with 5-second block times and instant finality for transactions.
You can read our Roll-DPoS yellow paper here: https://res.cloudinary.com/dokc3pa1x/image/upload/v1559623484/Research%20Paper/Academic_Paper_Yellow_Paper.pdf
Q4. Kindly explain more
CONFIDENTIAL COMPUTING
DECENTRALIZED IDENTITY
What roles do they play in iotex ecosystem
The IoTeX platform utilizes a unique architecture to meet the unique demands of Internet of Things (IoT) use cases. Our multi-layer architecture combines smart devices, IoT Cloud + decentralized storage, and blockchain. IoTeX is all about generating trusted data from trusted devices to enable trusted applications!
Let me describe each of these layers:
▫️ Device Layer: To trust a device, it must have a verifiable identity and its actions must be verifiable by others, which is exactly what IoTeX enables by combining secure hardware and blockchain, two tamper-proof technologies.
▫️ Storage Layer: IoT devices generate a lot of data, but not all of it can be stored on blockchain due to cost/scalability reasons. Today, data processing is performed “on the edge”, reducing the need to store large amounts of unfiltered data on servers. Pre-processed data can then be stored on the IoT Cloud (e.g., AWS) or decentralized storage (e.g., IPFS) and “hash” them to the blockchain for verifiability and data provenance.
▫️ Blockchain Layer: Blockchain is the root of trust for the entire IoTeX Network. Our blockchain is open source and one of the fastest in the entire industry — 5 second block time with instant finality! Not only does it enable standard P2P transactions and smart contracts, but it is also used to register device identities and “hash” data (stored on Cloud/decentralized storage) to the blockchain.
Q5. Staking is Most Popular Nowadays to encourage investor to hold token tong term & Provides Long Term Growth to Projects .. Does IoTex Support Staking ??
Also, What are Requirements for Becoming a Validator Node ??
Good question — a robust consensus mechanism is very important for a growing network. The IoTeX Network utilizes Roll-DPoS consensus, which we designed completely in-house.
Basically every hour, 24 of the top 36 delegates (voted by the community) are randomly selected to produce blocks — there are different categories of rewards, more details can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SvbsdfTofVccCULDkm97ZJniodwKzcEIDzKxD-O9ap4/edit
For normal staking, delegates will receive about 10% ROI and they share these rewards with their voters. as a staker in the IoTeX network, you can earn %8+ ROI by staking and voting for a delegate! Check out here for more detailed staking returns: https://www.stakingrewards.com/asset/iotex
If you are interested in becoming a Delegate (BP), please see the manual https://community.iotex.io/t/official-iotex-delegates-thread/1263
Q6. As IOTEX & IOTA are both working in IOT space, What are the similarities & Difference between both of this? What has Iotex Done better then IOTA in the field of IOT space?
Regarding IOTA, IoTeX and IOTA are not enemies. Yes we are both working in the blockchain+IoT space, but we are actually working on different things. IOTA prides itself on enabling feeless M2M payments, while IoTeX is building a network for privacy-preserving, human-centered smart devices. Rather than debate IOTA vs. IoTeX technology, what I will say is that IoTeX in only two years vs. five years for IOTA has done things that IOTA has not:
1) Launched a fully decentralized Mainnet with DPoS staking maintained by 60+ global Delegates (http://member.iotex.io/), including Blockfolio, CoinGecko, DraperDragon, and more
2) Launched REAL IoT products like Ucam (https://ucam.iotex.io/), the world’s first private security camera built in partnership with Tenvis and Pebble Tracker (https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2020/02/IoTeXs-Cellular-IoT-based-tracker-delivers-environmental-and-condition-data-for-assets-in-transit), a decentralized asset tracker built in partnership with Nordic Semiconductor.
Q7. Explain more about HALO GRANTS
To fuel community development and contributions, we launched Halo, the official grants program for the IoTeX Network. Halo is targeted at developers interested in building IoT and privacy-related projects on the IoTeX platform, as well as ecosystem builders that want to expand the capabilities and reach of IoTeX. Halo will pave the way for new trusted devices/applications and fuel the next generation of IoTeX.
I advise you to read more in our blog and apply https://medium.com/iotex/iotex-halo-grants-program-fueling-the-internet-of-trusted-things-c779182e31e2
Q8. • Why do you say that Ucam is 100% private? Aren’t conventional cameras also private? Does Iotex have access to the recordings? Why is the blockchain necessary for these products?
Ucam uses blockchain-based identity and the encryption keys are generated using the IoTeX blockchain in a decentralized fashion to make sure only the user has a copy of the encryption key for full privacy. With Ucam, nobody can access your device or data except you, or people authorized by you. We have many exciting plans for Ucam — we are currently working with IPFS to add decentralized storage to the camera and are also planning to launch other form factors of Ucam, such as doorbell + outdoor camera. The great thing about Ucam is the firmware/software that IoTeX developed can be used on almost any camera, so we are actively exploring new types of cameras to power with IoTeX — Ucam is just one of many “Powered by IoTeX” products in the future!
With Ucam and other “Powered by IoTeX” devices, we use decentralized identity + blockchain technology to ensure data is end-to-end encrypted and only decryptable with the user’s private key. Similar concept as using a blockchain wallet to protect your cryptocurrency, but we apply it to our data as well! A very sophisticated tech stake makes this all happen combining software, hardware, and firmware. Here’s a good comparison if Ucam and other cameras on the market today
Q9.Could you comment on the uses of your token, how it encourages users to buy and stay in the long term?
There has never been a better time to get onboard with IoTeX! Over the past two years, we have pushed aggressively and proved that we are capable of building real technology with real impact on the world. Now that our platform is ready for the world to build on, we are so excited to see what the coming years will bring to IoTeX!
In the short-term, IoTeX has an exciting next couple of months planned – we shared new growth-driven tokenomics, that are now in the kick-off phase, exciting partnerships, and major research achievements. To highlight our upgraded tokenomics, the IOTX token will have unique utility that will bring IoTeX to the next level: 1) stake-for-governance, 2) network transaction fees, 3) stake-for-service (e.g., service providers stake IOTX to service “Powered by IoTeX” devices), and 4) device registrations (e.g., IoT builders stake/burn IOTX to register trusted devices). While 1) and 2) are already active in the IoTeX Network, 3) and 4) will unlock new interactions between service providers, IoT device manufacturers, and users. Full details can be found in our blogs:
Part 1: Utility of the IOTX Coin (https://medium.com/@iotex/iotex-tokenomics-part-1-utility-of-the-iotx-token-781ff9c866e3)
Part 2: DAO-Based Tokenomics (https://medium.com/@iotex/iotex-tokenomics-series-part-2-dao-based-tokenomics-cc546f7f57c7)
Part 3: Burn-Drop to Bootstrap (https://medium.com/@iotex/iotex-tokenomics-burn-drop-to-bootstrap-1-million-iotex-devices-66a43a1a68d7)
In the long-term, you can expect even more “Powered by IoTeX” devices to transform the way we interact with our smart devices – finally, we will be in control of our devices and data destinies. The state-of-the-art technology we built-in to Ucam and Pebble Tracker can now be applied to many other types of cameras, trackers, and other IoT devices. One industry we are especially excited to break into is the healthcare-IoT industry, due to the sensitivity of data collected by these devices. Our ultimate goal is to enable interoperability between all devices on the IoTeX Network to power borderless human-machine economies!
Thank you for trusting NanoNews as the organizer of the event today, hopefully everyone can understand about IOTX
Don’t forget join and follow social media from IOTX
💻Social Media
✅Telegram Group
https://t.me/IoTeXGroup
✅Twitter :
https://twitter.com/iotex_io
✅Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/iotex.io/
✅Medium :
https://medium.com/iotex
✅Reddit :
https://www.reddit.com/r/IoTeX/
✅Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdj3xY3LCktuamvuFusWOZw
✅Official Website :
https://iotex.io
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