Review on Ontology by Jerry Siegel
Ontology (ONT)
Ontology is building a high-performance blockchain platform capable of combining several different blockchains together, improving cross-chain transactions and cross-platform interoperability for dApps.
For example, dApps on separate blockchains for cannot always cope with all the functionality, scalability and full applicability of a cross-chain application scenarios. To solve this problem, Ontology devs decided to design a hyper-transition chain in the form of a matrix grid, which can bring together several blockchain chains.
Technology-wise Ontology is using a combination of PoS, verifiable random function and BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) systems.
Token:
Ontology implementing a two token system (ONT & ONG). ONT coin can be used for staking in PoS, whereas ONG is a utility-token in the platform ecosystem that is used to access Ontology on-chain services.
Started out as NEO-based token, Ontology quickly became the most hyped and financially successful NEO-based project. But the team did not held an ICO and raised funds in 2018 mostly from private investors selling at 0.20 USD per token.
ONT distribution is raising a lot of questions from the community, mostly out of concerns of centralization. Ontology is capped at 1,000,000,000 ONT. Out of this supply around ~30% belongs to Ontology and ONLY 12% was distributed to retail investors and to the community. The rest of the tokens were distributed to private investors and institutional partners. 🤔
Features:
1. Combining different services.
Users can collect and manage their personal data from various sources, including government agencies, banks, businesses. The same can be applied in business - a company can collect and manage data on its products from different stores, suppliers, etc.
2. Ability to customize functionality.
Ontology has implemented their own blockchain for open services, the structure of which can be customized to suit any situation. Cross-chain interoperability designed to meet the specific needs of any industry.
My personal feeling about the project:
Ontology has developed high-tech blockchain solutions for the interaction of people and businesses at the level of the real future. The project was actively promoted by the creators of NEO. It is possible that the Ontology project is a new bet of NEO developers on the future development of the blockchain.
I can say that their "hype score" is very high. But if we put the hype aside, and look closely at the ONT distribution, we can see that substantial amount of ONT belongs to the few (not to the many), and this does raise questions and brings the risks of centralization to the light.
Delving into this project, I can't really expect that their technologies will be broadly applicable in the near future, but if that's the case, blockchain will be used everywhere. The project is now acquiring all sorts of technology and application partners, gather contributors that actively participate and contribute to their platform.
Pros
- Narrow niche and very promising vector of the development progress
- Really good work of marketing & PR team
Cons
- High risks of centralization of the ONT supply
New products
Comments (2)
July 20, 2020
Hi Jose, I like what they doing tech-wise, but my main concern is that ONT hasn't been fairly distributed from the beginning, cause the project was launched due to VC funding. This creates a risky situation for retail investors that decide to invest now, because ONT price drop dramatically if those investors decide to sell.
Although I can agree that the project needs money in order to succeed with their idea and pay developers, but I think ONT could have been distributed more fairly between the community.
July 20, 2020
Hello. Jerry. Great review. I agree the project has been done with a free idea partially closed to centralization. However, it does not depend on it anymore, the network is growing up extensively, and showing excellent outcomes not only for the company but also for those who were investing during these years.
Being a blockchain dedicated to solving data issues, instead of just growing the financial market is what makes it unique and a little bit linked to governmental institutions. Where do you think their technology is going instead?
