Ontology is a blockchain platform built to accommodate other blockchains, in both private and public sectors so that enterprises can utilize its technological innovation. This guide to Ontology will introduce the ways in which the project plans to accomplish this.

With the ONT blockchain targeting enterprises, it gives businesses an option to either store data privately or publicly. The Platform was co-founded by Da HongFei and Erik Zhang who are also the founders of the NEO blockchain.

Why Ontology?

Ontology was created to provide interoperability between blockchains. Since business would not want to populate all of their information on a public blockchain, with the Ontology blockchain, they choose what to keep private and what to open up to their competitors.

For example, a client may want to open an account with a specific business; they can use a public blockchain which will then interface with the Ontology blockchain to privately store the personal information.

A Brief History Of Ontology

Ontology was born in 2017 by OnChain; a Chinese firm co-founded by Erick Zhang and Da HongFei. Surprisingly, the project did not issue an initial coin offering but airdropped Ontology tokens early this year on its host platform, NEO blockchain.

During the airdrop, the Ontology team gave out 1000 ONT tokens to its newsletter subscribers while those holding NEO tokens were rewarded with 0.01 ONT tokens per NEO token. Additionally, those who attended the NEO DevCon event shared 500 ONT tokens.

In June this year, Ontology migrated to its own mainnet which was followed by a series of airdrops. After migration, the Ontology platform introduced a two coin system as it is the case with the NEO blockchain.

The Ontology platform introduced a unique consensus algorithm called Verifiable Byzantine Fault Tolerance (VBFT). The algorithm combines the functionalities of other consensus algorithms. i.e. it combines Proof of Stake algorithm (PoS) with the Verifiable Number Function algorithm (VRF) plus the features of the Byzantine Fault Tolerance algorithm (BFT).

This combination powers the Ontology Consensus Engine (OCE) that is tasked with guaranteeing “the randomness and fairness of the consensus population generation, and ensure that state finality can be reached quickly.”

The Two Coin System

The Ontology platform has two native tokens i.e. the ONT and ONG tokens. The functionality of the two tokens is different.

The ONT token gives its holders a voice while making decisions on issues affecting the Ontology network. Its holders also receive Ontology Gas (ONG) tokens which are system generated. ONG will be used to power the execution of smart contracts, network storage, among other utilities on the platform.

The generation of ONG will take place for 22 years with different generation percentages per year. All the ONG tokens used on the platform will be distributed to those holding ONT tokens.

One billion ONT tokens were introduced on the platform during the creation of the genesis block. Additionally, after 22 years, one billion ONG tokens will have been generated.

The two-coin system works similarly to the one created by NEO. The NEO coin is the main cryptocurrency of the NEO ecosystem while the GAS token is used to pay for network fees. NEO coins are always more valuable than GAS, and both digital assets can be purchased or sold in different exchanges.

It is too early to consider whether a two-coin system is an effective way of running a blockchain network. NEO has been performing weakly during the last two years, with the exception of the bull market in 2017. Both Ontology and NEO will have to show that they are able to expand their offer and their services, considering many other projects are moving forward and releasing new features.

For example, Travala has recently announced that it will be moving from the NEO network to the Binance Chain. Its digital currency AVA, which is now a NEP5 currency will become a BEP5 digital asset in the near future. The goal is to search for improved solutions and increase the usability and performance of the AVA digital asset, something that cannot be achieved through NEO – in this particular case – but through other platforms.

Ontology’s Current And Future Developments

The works in progress include service partnerships, ecosystem applications, ecosystem cooperation, and community expansion among others.

Before the end of this year, the Ontology team seeks to expand its focus from just optimizing the recently launched main chain to also focus on the ONT ID-based trust application system. The system aims to help individuals and businesses to create a digital identity on the ONT blockchain.

In conclusion, the ONT token can be purchased on popular cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, OKEx, Bibox, and others. However, the ONT token cannot be purchased with fiat and you have to convert fiat to a known crypto coin before exchanging it with ONT.

Also, the Ontology project has some great real-world use cases that may see businesses embracing blockchain technology in their day to day operations.

Ontology has also been working with NEO in order to create an open cross-chain platform for the next generation internet. Since July 2018 they have been working on this project that would allow them to introduce an efficient and inclusive interoperability protocol that is based on both parties’ leading positions in the market.

Some of the key features of this partnership include creating an eco-friendly approach to member chains, a low barrier of entry, transactional atomicity, and provide participants with enhanced security.

The Founder of NEO and the CEO and Founder of Onchain, commented:

“This partnership represents the next step for not only NEO and Ontology but also the future of the blockchain industry as we pioneer a collaborative approach to solving tough problems. By building the foundation for a global cross-chain platform, we look forward to delivering real-life solutions and uses for blockchain by surmounting challenges and issues together.”

Li Jun, the Founder of Ontology, explained that with the creation of an open and global cross-chain system, both NEO and Ontology will promote cross-chain value exchange. This is clearly going to help to establish the foundational infrastructure for the next-gen internet around the world.

Where Can I Buy ONT?

There are different cryptocurrency exchanges that would allow you to purchase ONT coins. However, one of the most popular exchanges to buy this digital currency is Bibox. This platform has three different trading pairs, including ONT/USDT, ONT/BTC and ONT/ETH that account for over 25% of the total ONT trading volume around the world.

That means that Bibox has the necessary liquidity to offer users the best trading experience at the time of purchasing ONT. In order to deal with this platform, users will have to send USDT, BTC or ETH to their accounts and exchange them for ONT.

Another recognized cryptocurrency exchange that is currently allowing users to buy ONT coins is Binance. Binance is one of the largest exchanges in the market and it represents 2.76% of the total trading volume of ONT. Binance offers six different trading pairs, including ONT/USDT, ONT/BTC, ONT/ETH, ONT/BNB, ONT/PAX and ONT/USDC.

The main advantage of having Binance as a trading platform is the fact that the exchange is recognized for being one of the leaders in altcoins. There are several virtual currencies that have their largest liquidity in Binance. Although the traditional way to purchase digital assets on Binance requires you to send funds (USDT, BTC, ETH, BNB, PAX or USDC) to the exchange, there is a new system that would help you make this process much simpler.

Interested users can simply make a purchase with a credit card and buy BTC, ETH or BNB coins. After it, it is possible to exchange them for ONT in the market as soon as the funds are deposited. This is one of the fastest ways to acquire ONT through cryptocurrency exchanges.

After purchasing ONT, the best thing to do is to extract the funds to a cryptocurrency wallet from which you have the private keys.

Where Can I Store ONT?

Cryptocurrency exchanges are not the best place to store funds. These platforms can be hacked or affected by different issues, including attacks. This could have a negative impact on the funds that users stored on these exchanges. For example, Binance lost 7,000 BTC earlier in 2019 and Coincheck was hacked by $500 million in early 2018. Although Binance was able to refund users, Coincheck had to close its operations.

The golden rule in the cryptocurrency market is “not your keys, not your coins.” This makes reference to the private keys that are related to the cryptocurrencies a user owns. The best way to store digital assets is by using a hardware wallet such as the Ledger Nano S or Trezor. However, not all virtual currencies are supported by these two hardware wallets.

According to The Ontology Team, there are several wallets that would allow you to store ONT and ONG, including Anypay, AToken, Atomic Wallet, Banko Wallet, BitKeep, Buntoy, Clay, Cobo, Cloudwallet, Cyano, Exodus Wallet, Guarda Wallet, Huobi Wallet, infinito, Math, Onion, OWallet and many others.

Many of these wallets were developed to work as desktop wallets or on mobile devices, which may be easier for users to handle their funds but not ideal in terms of security, despite the fact they are more secure than traditional exchanges.

Ledger Nano S allows users to store their ONT and ONG tokens on this device using the OWallet application developed by the Ontology community. This is the best solution for users that want to store their digital assets for the long term and know they will always be protected and ready to be used. If you want to know more about Ledger Nano S and how to store ONT and ONG coins, you can visit Ledger’s official site.

ONT Price

ONT has a similar price pattern as many other cryptocurrencies in the market. The virtual currency surged to above $10.5 in May 2018. Since that moment, the digital currency entered a bear market that remains until now. For example, at the end of December 2018, the virtual currency fell to $0.45 per coin, registering a price decrease of 95%.

Nowadays, the virtual currency is being traded around $0.724 with a market capitalization of $386 million. This shows that the virtual currency grew over 60% in the last months, in line with many other altcoins, but far from the 200% registered by Bitcoin (BTC).

In terms of Bitcoin, ONT reached its highest price in June 2018 when it was traded around 0.00115634 BTC. Finally, ONT fell to 0.00006769 a few hours ago, the lowest point ever. This shows that Bitcoin remains strong and that ONT is following the same trend as other altcoins in the market. Currently, Ontology is the 26th largest digital asset in the market.

Guide To Ontology Extra Readings

Want to learn more? Check out the Ontology Price Prediction and Technical Analysis to see how the ONT coin might perform in 2019. For those looking for news on adoption, then read the guide on ontology’s decentralized applications.