Ontology Project Progress and Future Plans

Published in

OntologyNetwork

10 min readJul 31, 2018

Dear all,

Ontology MainNet, “Ontology 1.0”, officially launched on June 30th and is stable after several weeks of operation. The Ontology team would now like to share with the community Ontology’s progress in its current state, as well as our future plans.

We will continue to update the community periodically through articles like these. We look forward to more voices and support from the community.

Ontology MainNet, Ontology 1.0

Ontology MainNet 1.0 is a complete blockchain public chain platform and distributed trust cooperative platform which includes the following module functions:

1. Dual-Token Economic Model

Cost-benefit settlement model, for blockchain node operations, network management, and dApp services.
Governance model based on the economic model.

2. Consensus mechanism which matches the governance model.

VBFT uses PoS to support economic governance and VRF to extend the consensus participation group. In Q1, it has already supported 42 nodes and ensured finality with BFT.
VBFT rapid support for business-level project demands.

3. Complete Smart Contract System

Original native contract system. We believe some basic protocols should be available on-chain which represent universal values, just like laws. A larger value network is supported by these basic protocols. For example, we have now defined attested value, identity, authority management, governance pattern, etc., and we plan to have Oracle, atomic swap contract, and more. We have optimized the general protocols to provide faster management and cheaper costs.
Shared smart contract system jointly developed by an Ontology and NEO joint working group with Turing completeness.
Consensus management contract which implements the governance model.

4. Complete Distributed Ledger System

A cross-system and cross-region distributed ledger and distributed identity management and authentication framework (can be used on people, objects, and virtual content) without a central administrator or centralized database.

5. Comprehensive Client Application ONTO

ONTO already has ONT ID management and digital assets management, with several attestation types including CFCA and social media accounts. We have worked together with NCC group, Baimaohui, SlowMist, and other security audit institutions to enhance the security of client-end applications so users can securely and safely manage their digital identities and assets. Furthermore, ONTO will connect and apply to more scenarios, support more trust anchors, and work with more dApps, to become a comprehensive application product for Ontology trust ecosystem.

6. Ontology Blockchain Explorer

Ontology blockchain explorer provides blockchain, transaction, and ONT ID checking and status monitoring to provide attestation authentication for the trust ecosystem and provide high-efficiency inquiry services for people, assets, objects, and affairs on-chain through TSE (Trust Search Engine) integration.

7. Smart Contract Development and Application Platform SmartX

SmartX is Ontology’s comprehensive smart contract development and application platform that currently supports Python and C# for smart contract development. We are optimizing compiler and user experience to continuously improve development efficiency. More development language support will be available at a later stage.

8. Ontology Integration

Building a product solution package for the Ontology technical ecosystem, integrating multiple independent product modules from comprehensive client applications, traditional internet client applications, and dApps to the Ontology blockchain, realizing a complete end-to-end blockchain solution.

9. Performance

Rapid dynamic block generation.
5,300+ tps achieved in open-source version.
10,000+ tps achievable with future improved modules.

Ontology Work Progress

1. Service Partnerships: Ontology has partnered with important partners such as CFCA for China identity services, and is also in contact with well-known biometric identification service providers and related partners. Internationally, we have finalized a partnership with IdentityMind for KYC services and will continue to have more service partners in different countries and continents.

2. Ecosystem Applications: Several application ecosystems using Ontology technology in different sectors are currently under development. We work with teams such as COT who provide a smart hardware and IoT platform, PTS who are a new-generation credit service network , DAD who focus on distributed advertisement distribution and cooperation, Contentos who are committed to use blockchain technology to rebuild the content ecosystem, BDN who are a business data network based on blockchain technology, and Cocos who are a one-stop mobile game development solutions platform. We also cooperate externally with CarBlock, the first decentralized car business market based on car data, as well as LianAn Technology and CertiK on security.

3. Governance Nodes: Ontology has 42 nodes in total and has built a complete economic model and compensation model.

Ontology Triones nodes recruitment will remain open. Whether you are a node applicant, operator, or individual, you can join Ontology’s governance and operation in different ways. Ontology will also keep the process open and transparent. Ontology has designed a generous compensation model for individuals and institutions that take part in node governance and will continue to give long-term compensation. The value of Ontology will also improve with the expansion and increase of Ontology’s applications.

4. Ecosystem Cooperation: Ontology is the first blockchain project from China to join the DIF and the first blockchain project to become an IEEE member.

5. Community Expansion: Ontology has designed and released technical communication compensation guidelines and also released the first batch of compensation to the technical community. We welcome more developers to join the technical community and look forward to hearing more ideas and see more contributions. For further details, please refer to this article.

6. Accelerator: Accelerating Ontology ecosystem members from early development and helping blockchain adoption in some application scenarios to support the digitalization of the real economy. All mature products, application platforms, or companies can use blockchain. Already COT, BDN, and some projects have joined the accelerator program, and we plan to have more than 20 enterprises/projects joining the program before the end of the year.

7. Fund: Ontology Global Capital has invested in Points, CarBlock, Contentos, Fission Capital, DAD, Cocos, CertiK, BDN, Hardron, GAEA, Blockchainer, Blockchain of the World, and more. Ontology will focus on deploying distributed business scenarios that are implementable, with users and real requirements in blockchain and the real economy. This will encourage more users to use trusted and reliable Ontology blockchain services to form an active and valuable application ecosystem.

8. Team Building: In the recent months, we have another batch of top talent join Ontology, contributing to our business, technology, research, and product teams. Ontology has now developed into one of the largest public blockchain teams with coming close to 100 members. Our research design, engineering work, solutions, and business development are at the forefront of the industry and are improving continuously to guarantee the success of Ontology’s future developments.

9. Technology Research: The Ontology research team is functioning well and continues to expand. It carried out a large amount of basic technical research and design on blockchain and security code, and formed research groups with many universities for joint research and project realization on a number of frontier issues. The first output of research findings will be ready in Q3-Q4. At the same time, preparation for an Ontology research institute will start.

Next Steps

Socrates, Q3-Q4 2018

Technology

In Q3 and Q4 in 2018, apart from continuing optimization of the main chain infrastructure, Ontology will focus on its application ecosystem and isomorphic chain and cross-chain prototype realization and pilot projects to further develop the ONT ID-based trust and collaboration application system.

Blockchain Underlying Technology

Further optimize the governance model and consensus network construction mechanism, diversify methods and approaches for ONT holders to participate in governance. Support all ONT holders to take part in Ontology platform governance easily and earn governance rewards.
Optimize the efficiency of consensus and accounts, further improve performance.
Complete transaction parallel processing optimization testing and launch.
Further improve the scalability of consensus and accounts on an organizational structure level to lay a solid foundation for diversifying service chains in the Ontology chain network.
Launch Ontology Oracle service.
Continue optimizing Ontology’s storage management and network, support blockchain network nodes to provide more diversified and efficient blockchain basic services, and provide support for a more reasonable blockchain basic service cost-benefit solution for nodes.
Cross-chain framework for isomorphic chain. Pass Ontology’s value model to new Ontology ecosystem chains while continuing ONT ID support. At the same time, start the development of the first industry-specific business public chain.
Continue to optimize the smart contract system. Based on the characteristics of Ontology’s ecosystem, further optimize existing smart contracts of the first phase, enabling the Ontology smart contract system to support more complicated business logic, provide more efficient cross chain contract invocation, and provide a more convenient, more secure contract development tool for Ontology ecosystem smart contract developers at application level.

Services

DDXF, which supports blockchain-based exchanges, to provide a foundational service for increasing on-chain circulation.
New DataToken regulations to bring more industries to blockchain and further support decentralized data exchange and off-chain collaboration. While supporting the non-homogeneity of each token, it also supports an evaluation system.
Support for a trust system based on ONT ID and trust scenarios with multiple parties involved. Using the ONT ID and attestation system, we will adopt more trust anchors and connect finance, credit investigation, KYC, data exchange, process collaboration, and more scenarios.
Continue to optimize SmartX, upgrade the Python compiler, provide contract formal verification function, and support multi-party collaboration and exchange contract based on DDXF. At the same time, implement a compensation package, integrate a fair governance policy, and reflect on each participant’s contribution to combine smart contract compilation, transaction, collaboration, and community construction. This will form a healthy smart contract development ecosystem.
The Ontology technical community will participate in the planning, design, and implementation of technology planning.
As blockchain uses decentralized theory as the foundation for system infrastructure, the infrastructure makes use of competition to continuously innovate.

Academic and Technical Research

Blockchain technology innovation is inseparable from the support of advanced academic theory. Ontology continues to track theory, transforming the research spirit to engineering. Ontology will carry out the following in terms of research direction:

Network protocol research to analyze, research, and optimize DHT protocol’s performance, quantify related network protocol performance, and perform prototype verification.
Cryptography research, especially the research on cryptography primitives including threshold cryptography and zero-knowledge proof. Emphasis on support for different consensus algorithms for blockchain applications.
Consensus randomization research based on a large-scale open network to provide theory support for security, finality, and robustness problems that future public chains may confront.
Continue to track new possible technologies and provide theoretical foundation for secure and highly efficient public chains.

Community

The vision of the Ontology ecosystem is to build a trusted and reliable internet. We will open community products for the Ontology ecosystem, including an Ontology-based technology marketplace to work as an open technical service exchange for the Ontology ecosystem. Ontology’s technical contributor plan provides more opportunities for projects and volunteers to contribute and compensate accordingly. The technical community achievements exhibition will provide a platform for the community to show their work and communicate. Ontology’s technical articles further promote communication between Ontology’s core research and development team and the greater technical community. We will share more technical thoughts in Ontology’s development and exploration process, and promote closer cooperation between our core team and the technical community.

Marketing

As of now, Ontology has English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, and other language Telegram and Discord groups, as well as white papers in English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Dutch, and an official website in English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Ontology also has international employees who are in charge of the development of our international communities.

In terms of external communication, Ontology has opened official accounts on international and domestic accounts such as Medium, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, and more. We also release Ontology updates through media and communities internationally.

Regarding offline activities, recently Ontology has held London and Tokyo community meetups, a US MainNet Pre-Launch event, as well as two technical sharing sessions in Shanghai. Ontology team members have been actively participating in major industry forums internationally and have continued to promote Ontology’s concepts and core technical advantages to the public and different industries.

From August, Ontology meetups and hackathons will be held across the world until the end of the year. We look forward to seeing as much of the community attend!

You can sign up for our Korean and Japan MainNet launches here:

Korea MainNet Launch

Japan MainNet Launch

Ecosystem

Research Institute and Academic Plans

Blockchain’s development is inseparable from technology. Technology realization is inseparable from a theoretical direction.

Ontology will face more technical challenges and need more academic support. Therefore, Ontology will start a research institute plan, recruiting more talent and absorbing academic achievements, exchanging ideas and opinions, and enriching future development.

Please stay tuned for updates on Ontology’s academic endeavours.

Other

Ontology’s ecosystem construction will continue to follow two main principal lines, which are trust anchor and application implementation. This means introducing diversified trust sources for applications in flexible ways and connecting with mainstream business bodies to jointly develop industry solutions using Ontology. At the same time, we cooperate with newly-established companies exploring blockchain-based business models, and via incubation, cooperate and support the diversification of application in the ecosystem.

Team

Our core team will keep expanding technology, marketing, and business talent, maintaining one of the biggest public chain teams. At the same time, we will start opening offices in the US, Japan, and South Korea, and build teams to develop different communities globally, cooperate with companies in more industries, work on business incubation, and support the expansion of more business scenarios in different regions.

We look forward to the year ahead with you.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Ontology Team

Are you a developer? Make sure you have joined our tech community on Discord. Also, take a look at the Developer Center on our website, there you can find developer tools, documentation, and more.