We’ve decided to launch a new Coin of the Week series, where each week we’ll showcase a high-quality project that you can easily add to your portfolio using Faast.

We’re going to start things off with Aion (AION), a project which aims to build the inter-chain infrastructure necessary for blockchain tech to reach its full potential from a technical standpoint, and in terms of mainstream adoption. If successful, this could prove to be one of the most significant blockchain advancements since the launch of Ethereum.

What is Aion, and what does it do?

It is common for people to compare blockchain technology today to the early days of the internet. When people were sending the first emails and loading the first clunky websites on their computers, few could have imagined all the things this new technology would be used for one day.

A similar evolution has unfolded with blockchain tech. It is generally accepted that so far, there have been 2 “generations” blockchain protocols:

1st Generation: Encrypted P2P payments over a decentralized global network, and recorded on a public, tamper-proof ledger. Examples: BTC, Dash, Litecoin, etc…

2nd Generation: Application-specific logic on blockchain networks. This allows for smart contracts to be stored and executed, as well as decentralized applications (Dapps) to be built on blockchains. Examples: Ethereum, NEO, etc…

The second generation represented a quantum leap forward in terms of blockchain capability, but there are still serious issues that continue to hinder this technology’s adoption for widespread enterprise use.

In addition to scalability challenges, there is the problem of interoperability. More and more blockchains are being built in isolation for specific purposes, and are basically all speaking different languages.

There are so many cool blockchain projects out there in not only finance, but other industries ranging from healthcare, logistics, real estate and more. However, these different blockchains are very siloed networks. How are these various blockchains, built with different users and regulatory requirements in mind, eventually going to communicate? In order for these projects to reach their full potential, the infrastructure that allows these different protocols to talk to each other must be in place. Right now, it’s just not there yet.

Now to many individual cryptocurrency users, this might not be something they notice or even think about, but for enterprise use, this is kind of a big deal. For blockchains to ever be as beneficial and integral for public and private sector use as the internet, different blockchains must be able to easily communicate. This is where Aion comes in.

Aion (pronounced ay-on) is a “3rd Generation” project which is essentially aiming to serve as the blockchain version of TCP/IP by building “bridges” between different blockchains, allowing them to exchange data and communicate with each other.

With Aion, seperate blockchains can be united in a connected fabric — an inter-chain network, similar in principle to the internet we have today.

From the white paper:

“Aion is a third-generation blockchain network that will enable any private or public sector organization to: • Federate: Send data and value between any Aion-compliant blockchain and Ethereum. • Scale: Provide fast transaction processing and increased data capacity to all Aion blockchains. • Spoke: Allow the creation of customized public or private blockchains that maintain interoperability with other blockchains, but allow publishers to choose governance, consensus mechanisms, issuance, and participation. At the root of the Aion network is a purpose-built, public, third-generation blockchain called Aion-1. Designed to connect other blockchains and manage its own robust applications, Aion-1 also provides the economic system that incentivizes interoperability in the ecosystem. AION tokens are the fuel used to create new blockchains, monetize inter-chain bridges, and secure the overall network.”

It’s a bold vision, but can they deliver? Let’s take a look at the team, partnerships, and how Aion has performed so far.

The Team & Partnerships

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Aion is led by Matthew Spoke, a CPA and former Consultant and Blockchain Specialist at Deliotte. Spoke went on to join the Board of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, and the Ontario Securities Commission as a Fintech Advisor in 2017 before launching Aion. The team has talent in 4 countries working to bring their vision of blockchain interoperability to life.

Aion also boasts an impressive list of partnerships ranging from world-renowned brands like Deliotte, to big names in the crypto space such as Wanchain, Jaxx, ICON, and more.

Performance

Aion hit the exchanges at $0.61 last October before reaching an all-time high of $11.10 during the peak of the bull market in January 2018. Currently, it is hovering around $2.00 as of this writing (5/28/18).

In a recent interview, Spoke announced the team’s goal to become a Top 10 protocol by market cap, and a Top 10 mined network for GPU networks by hash power — both within the next 12 months, adding that their longer-term goal is to become a top 5 platform for building dapps.

Will they make it? If AION keeps up the momentum and delivers on their vision of true cross-chain interoperability, there is a good chance they will.

Aion one of the most exciting projects we’ve come across in a while, and we think it has a bright future. That’s why it’s our very first Faast Coin of the Week— but you won’t find it on Kyber, Changelly or Shapeshift.io.