Cross-Blockchain Operability Critical to Mass Adoption of Cryptocurrencies

Since the advent of Bitcoin in January 2009, we have seen the introduction of a wide plethora of Blockchains for various uses and across all kinds of financial markets. Today, the hundreds of existent public Blockchains amount to a total market cap of over $100 bln, without counting the private Blockchain installations.

From this situation arises a challenge: if we as a community do not find a way to connect all these Blockchains, trillions of dollars will be dispersed in such a way that is not reflecting their true value. So what is the solution? It is one that we have seen in a similar setting 30 years ago already.

From intranets to TCP/IP protocol

Before the invention of the TCP/IP protocol, the Internet was also dispersed in many local networks. These intranets provided local efficiency over the more traditional point-to-point communications such as letters, faxes and telephone calls.

The real breakthrough only came in 1973, when different intranet networks realized that they could use a unifying Internetwork protocol to communicate with each other, thereby extending their reach.

With the requirements for an intranet to join the so-called Internet dropping to the bare minimum, it became possible to add almost any intranet, no matter how basic or sophisticated its characteristics were.

The initial adoption by users was relatively slow, as the services offered in the beginning were limited. There was one major factor, however, that eventually sped it up significantly. The same providers that were already offering mail, fax and phone services could now add the Internet to their portfolio, allowing them to generate extra revenues. Early adopters started, and the late ones followed.

Today, the Internet spans across the entire world and information that used to be accessible only locally is now accessible from anywhere, even from the moon. Information is stored on servers all over the world, while routers create the backbone.

Connecting Blockchains through COMIT

Now, how does this translate into connecting Blockchains? What if there was a way to connect literally any Blockchain, without creating a new larger Blockchain, like some companies have suggested?

Creating a new Blockchain would be like a large intranet, that all the other intranets would have to trust. It would be way more difficult to convince everyone to have that trust than it is to leave everyone on their Blockchain and just connect them to the rest of the ecosystem. 

For this purpose, the COMIT Network (Cryptographically-secure Off-chain Multi-asset Instant Transaction Network) has been released in 2016 by the R&D lab at TenX. It aims  to connect Blockchains together with a simple and open protocol - “The Interchain.”

What does such a network look like? Just like the Internet, a stable and trustworthy backbone is needed. Any large Blockchain provides exactly that because just like on the Internet, different modalities will be interconnected. For example, the initial Internet never foresaw mobile app messaging services, but these have been implemented without any problem. The same holds true for COMIT, where any new Blockchain can be connected to an existing one through the use of the COMIT Routing Protocol (CRP). 

The concept of Liquidity Providers 

A user today who is paying with cryptocurrencies must wait minutes if not hours before a transaction is accepted by the counterparty. With the adoption of payment channels such as the Lightning Network or Raiden, a user can transfer assets instantly from person A to person B. If person B then opens another payment channel to person C, person A can also transfer assets instantaneously to person C via B, as long as person B provides enough liquidity.

In theory, there can be an infinite chain of participants between person A and C, as long as they all provide enough liquidity. Again, such transactions are immediate, without person A needing to know which route the assets took to end up at person C. Person A can trust this system as the routing protocol ensures its correctness and the cryptographically-secured payment channels ensure flawless functionality.

In order for this network to have enough liquidity (in the example above, person B needs to provide enough liquidity to enable a transaction between person A and person C), COMIT introduced the concept of Liquidity Providers (LP). LPs can be seen or understood as hubs or nodes in the COMIT network that create payment channels to users, other LPs and businesses. They are a core part of COMIT, just like servers, routers and ISPs are to the Internet.

System’s advantages

The adoption of this system will be seamless, fast and will bring great benefits to all of its participants, just like the Internet did. Some of the main benefits of COMIT include:

• Open source infrastructure;

• True instant, frictionless and cheap global payments;

• Access without limitations to any asset or business process connected to a Blockchain;

• Cryptographically-secure trustless global transactions;

• New business opportunities for companies;

• New recurring revenue streams for banks and other liquidity providers; and

• Rapid adoption based on existing networks.

Dr. Julian Hosp, co-founder & CVO, explains TenX’s vision: “We have already checked and over 95 percent of all the Blockchains, especially the largest ones, can be connected with each other. With COMIT, our vision for the world seems to become reality: sending money as cheap and seamless as sending a WhatsApp message.”

To bring this to the market in the quickest way possible, TenX is working on an ambitious plan. In addition to their already globally-working, zero-fee, multi-currency debit card, they are going to implement COMIT as their backend. In order to do so, the company is organizing a token sale starting tomorrow.

June 24: ICO

TenX has set and released an ambitious plan to bring their vision to reality in the upcoming months. Further to offering a working product already, TenX has raised $1 mln in the first round of funding from famous investors such as Fenbushi Capital that is led by Bo Shen and Vitalik Buterin.

On June 24, TenX is organizing a token sale. The funds will, amongst others, be used to fully integrate the COMIT (Cryptographically-secure Off-chain Multi-asset Instant Transaction) network into their backend. The contributions raised will also serve in financing additional research projects, attaining a banking license and doing a full integration of TenX as a web application and on iOS.

Here is a summary of the terms of this ICO:

• Ticker symbol: PAY

• Token background: PAY is built as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum Blockchain

• Start date: June 24, 2017

  • 9 AM: New York Time

  • 2 PM: London Time

  • 3 PM: Munich Time

  • 9 PM: Singapore/Hong Kong/Shanghai

• End date: Four weeks after the token sale start date

• Token price: 1 ETH = 350 PAY

• Percentage of all tokens offered to public: 80 percent

• Percentage of all tokens sold immediately: 51 percent

• Percentage of tokens distributed to the community over time: 29 percent

• Company long-term incentive alignment: 20 percent

• Target amount sold: 200,000 ETH

• Escrow of funds: Funds secured in multisig escrow account

• Token holder incentive: For every transaction, the token holder receives a 0.5 percent reward (ETH)

• Card holder incentive: 0.1 percent of personal spending reward (PAY)

• Early bird bonus: 20 percent 

To get further information on the upcoming token sale, please visit the TenX website and read their white paper. You can also stay tuned in with any new developments on social media.