What To Expect from IoTeX in 2020 IoTeX Follow Jan 3 · 6 min read

Mainnet GA v1.0. Multi-layered Economics. “Powered by IoTeX” Products.

After two years of building, our vision is even more ambitious as when our quest just began in 2017. This upcoming year for IoTeX represents an important transition from theoretical to practical. In 2020, our primary goal is to launch the initial class of “Powered by IoTeX” products and establish a strong foundation/community for the Internet of Trusted Things. The three primary IoTeX initiatives in 2020 — Mainnet GA v1.0, multi-layered economics, and real “Powered by IoTeX” ” products — are described below.

Mainnet GA v1.0 — Protocol & Platform

The IoTeX protocol was built from scratch starting mid-2017. Two years later, the IoTeX Mainnet is live and we have consistently added new features and fine-tuned the protocol for Delegates, developers, and users. With the framework of the protocol almost finalized, we are marching towards the final Mainnet GA v1.0 in Q1/Q2 2020.

IoTeX Mainnet GA will launch in early 2020

Major improvements to the IoTeX protocol in 2020 include:

Further improvement of Roll-DPoS: Delegate accountability, including slashing/rewarding policy; Migrate to pure Native IOTX staking/voting

Delegate accountability, including slashing/rewarding policy; Migrate to pure Native IOTX staking/voting Future-proofing of the protocol: Embrace off-chain techniques (i.e., off-chain DAG, off-chain endorsements of txs); Quantum resistance via cryptographic agility; Support of new middleware components

Embrace off-chain techniques (i.e., off-chain DAG, off-chain endorsements of txs); Quantum resistance via cryptographic agility; Support of new middleware components Developer & Enterprise-ready Toolkits: Enhanced dev docs, Integrated Developer Environment (IDE); C/C++/Rust Embedded SDK; Hardware dev kits; Sandboxes & testing frameworks, and more!

We will continuously upgrade the protocol to steadily progress towards Mainnet v1.0. Expect IOTX-E (ERC20 IOTX) tokens to be completely migrated to the native IoTeX blockchain in Q1 2020, where a re-genesis will activate the Mainnet GA v1.0 version of the IoTeX blockchain.

Multi-layered Economics

A blockchain network is composed of three layers — protocol, middleware, and applications — each of which have unique goals, design, and crypto-economics. The protocol layer is the foundation employing generic and sustainable crypto-economics, on top of which various middleware components (e.g., identity, off-chain storage/compute/network) are built to ultimately expand the capabilities of applications.

In 2020, IoTeX will introduce multi-layered economics to govern the network in a decentralized and trusted fashion. More specifically, we will formalize the independent crypto-economics of each layer, as well as the holistic crypto-economics of the IoTeX Network.

Multi-layered Economics: Protocol, Middleware, Applications

In blockchain-based networks, one way of generating trust is by staking tokens or physical resources (e.g., bandwidth) to facilitate various network operations, such as governance and block production. One innovative idea that IoTeX will pursue in 2020 is stake-at-rest, where IOTX tokens are staked to generate utility and benefits (e.g., qualification for services). This concept expands the current IoTeX staking model (i.e., stake to vote) as well as the utility of IOTX. While the majority of IOTX will be staked to secure the protocol as part of Roll-DPoS, smaller denominations of IOTX may be used to to register decentralized identities (DID), subscribe to middleware services, and enjoy other network-wide benefits. Token holders will enjoy multiple benefits from staking and may rebalance their stakes across the protocol, middleware, application layers at any time.

Overall, IoTeX plans to formalize economics across all layers in 2020:

Protocol Layer: Incentivize full nodes to join and protect the network even if they are not block producers (e.g., IoT devices lending bandwidth to strengthen the network), as well as flexible billing/gas mechanism to ease the pain of onboarding new users and applications.

Incentivize full nodes to join and protect the network even if they are not block producers (e.g., IoT devices lending bandwidth to strengthen the network), as well as flexible billing/gas mechanism to ease the pain of onboarding new users and applications. Middleware Layer: Derive stake from the protocol layer and employ unique economics for middleware capabilities, as needed. For instance, identity (e.g., DID/DID-auth) and off-chain storage/compute/network will have their own respective economic designs when introduced.

Derive stake from the protocol layer and employ unique economics for middleware capabilities, as needed. For instance, identity (e.g., DID/DID-auth) and off-chain storage/compute/network will have their own respective economic designs when introduced. Application Layer: Extend staking to DApps, where users can receive unique services/perks/privileges in exchange for “lending” stake to DApp operators or other users for middleware or protocol-level resources

Go-To-Market with “Powered by IoTeX” Products

Guaranteeing trust in the future machine economy will not come from Terms & Conditions or regulations. Rather, new technologies that prioritize trust and privacy by design will drive a safe transition into this next technological revolution. IoTeX will empower the Internet of Trusted Things (IoTT) and you will see the very first “Powered by IoTeX” products in 2020.

Our first product was announced in Q4 2019 — Ucam, the fully private and blockchain-powered security camera. The response so far has been amazing and we are overjoyed that Ucam has won the prestigious CES Innovation Award. But we have even bigger plans for “Powered by IoTeX” in 2020!

Throughout the first half of 2020, IoTeX will launch two exciting blockchain-powered IoT products — UCam & Pebble Tracker —that for the first time will give full data freedom to users. The ability for consumers to freely decide whether to keep their data fully private, share it securely with trusted parties, or authorize its use to service providers is a paradigm shifting concept, and IoTeX is proud to lead this effort with “Powered by IoTeX” products.

While Ucam is a consumer-facing product, IoTeX is also excited to launch developer-facing hardware products (e.g., Pebble Tracker, AvoBoard) that will allow builders of all skill levels to experience blockchain & IoT in a real way. Overall, we aim to have hundreds of thousands of Ucams, Pebble Trackers, and other devices running on the IoTeX blockchain by the end of 2020.

In the second half of 2020, we will selectively onboard more promising “Powered by IoTeX” products to form the first small ecosystem of Internet of Trusted Things. Using this foundation, we will explore decentralized automation, M2M economics, and more. By the end of 2020, we will make the Internet of Trusted Things a new standard that is accepted and familiarized by normal people — together, we will bring blockchain, IoT, and privacy to the mainstream!

Get Onboard with IoTeX!

Whether you are a new or existing community member, there are so many ways to get involved with IoTeX. From protocol-level contributions to crypto-economic design to evangelizing “Powered by IoTeX” products, there has never been a more exciting time to be part of the IoTeX community.

IoTeX is an extremely ambitious project which has made incredible progress in just two short years. With every passing month, we feel more and more driven to fulfill our mission, especially given the challenges IoTeX aims to solve are becoming more relevant by the day — data breaches are dominating media headlines, our devices are increasingly vulnerable to hackers, and corporations continue to treat us as data points instead of human beings. As IoTeX shifts from theoretical to practical in 2020, we can now address some of the world’s greatest privacy and trust-related issues. Join us!

From all of us at IoTeX, Happy New Year! Let’s build the future together.