Starting August 26th, ICONists will be able to vote for P-Reps and earn $ICX rewards. More details are coming closer to launch.

‘Fee 2.0’, the new transaction fee system of the ICON Network, has been published on the ICON Mainnet. Users can now access ICON DApp services more conveniently without paying transaction fees.

Previously, all DApp users were required to pay cryptocurrency fees starting from their first uses of services. That meant that DApps could only be used by those holding a certain amount of cryptocurrency, and therefore presented a challenge in the sense that customers had to solely bear the burden of creating a wallet and buying cryptocurrency.

To solve this issue, ICON has designed the Fee 2.0 system to resolve this inconvenience and dramatically reduce the fees incurred in using and operating DApps. Fee 2.0 consists of two main components: ‘Fee Sharing’ and ‘Virtual Step’.

The Fee Sharing feature enables DApp service operators to have the choice to pay transaction fees on behalf of the service users. The Virtual Step feature enables DApp service operators to pay fees with the ‘Virtual Steps’ generated through an ICX staking process.

By using Fee 2.0 features (Fee Sharing and Virtual Step), the burden that transaction fees imposed for both ICON DApp service users and operators are reduced significantly. Details of each feature are laid out in more detail down below.

Fee Sharing

Fee Sharing is a feature that enables DApp service operators to have the choice to pay transaction fees on behalf of the service users. That gives users access to ICON DApp services without any transaction fees.

In terms of User Experience (UX), the burden of creating wallets and purchasing cryptocurrencies to pay fees has been a significant hurdle for those who want to use DApps. DApp operators have also often faced difficulties in attracting more users into their services and expanding due to such factors. The lack of improvements in user experience has often been pointed to as the biggest hurdle for mass adoption of DApps.

As a response, ICON created the Fee Sharing function to allow the service operators, not the users, to pay the transaction fees as is done in the web application market. That dramatically improves user convenience by allowing DApp operators who create ‘SCORE (Smart Contract on Reliable Environment)’ to pay the transaction fees incurred in using the services. With Fee Sharing, users can use blockchain services without paying fees, and DApp operators will be able to expand their business free from the existing hurdles mentioned above.

Virtual Step

ICON is also implementing Virtual Step in line with Fee Sharing to reduce the burden of DApp operators who need to pay fees on behalf of the service users. The Virtual Step feature enables DApp service operators to pay fees with the ‘Virtual Steps’ generated through an ICX staking process instead of actual ICX.

While Fee Sharing allows users to use the services for free, DApp operators will face a higher fee as the usage frequency of their SCOREs increases. Excessive fees could affect the stability of service operations and thereby presenting another hurdle for the DApp operators.

ICON has designed Virtual Step as a means of reasonably offsetting the fee burden on DApp operators. If DApp operators deposit ICX to their SCOREs for a certain period, this deposit action will generate Virtual Steps that can be used to pay transaction fees. Virtual Step is generated every month in proportion with the quantity of ICX deposited and the duration of the deposit period. The deposit period ranges from a minimum of 1 month to a maximum of 24 months, and the deposit amount ranges from a minimum of 5,000 ICX to a maximum of 100,000 ICX.

By paying fees with Virtual Step, DApp operators will be able to save DApp operating costs and operate more reliably. >> Check out ‘How to Use Fee 2.0’

ICON is a DApp-friendly blockchain, providing a wide range of support to help developers create convenient and innovative DApps in an optimal environment.

After P-Reps are elected in the 3Q through the ongoing <ICONSENSUS: P-Rep Election Campaign>, ICON DApps will be able to benefit directly from ‘DApp Booster Programs (DBP)’. DApps on the network will receive a portion of the block rewards based on their ranking. ICON DApps can also benefit indirectly from ‘Ecosystem Expansion Project (EEP)’, in which any ICONists will be incentivised to contribute to network development through open source activities and other contributory acts. DApp support will also come in forms such as the ‘ICON TX CHALLENGE: ICON’s Got Talent’, etc.

ICONLOOP has announced the launch of ‘DPASS’, a blockchain-based self-sovereign identity authentication service. (iOS version only, Android version to be released later.)

‘DPASS’ is the acronym of Decentralized Passport, a mobile application supporting blockchain-based identity authentication and cryptocurrency wallets regardless of borders. DPASS is a self-sovereign identity authentication service, utilising the DID (Decentralized Identifiers) protocol based on ICON’s public blockchain.

DPASS users can store private information on the DPASS application and log in various services without entering their secret information repeatedly. DPASS is designed to prevent the private information users store in DPASS from being taken by a third party without permission, giving users the authority to manage their private information and data by themselves. Also, DPASS complies with the DID standards of W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), allowing for greater possibilities of service expansion. Enhanced security is also guaranteed as all private information, including private keys for cryptocurrency wallets are stored in a decentralized manner.

On top of that, ICONLOOP aligns DPASS with ‘broof’, a blockchain-based certificate issuing service developed by ICONLOOP, enabling DPASS to store various blockchain-based certificates immune to fraud and counterfeit. Moreover, broof would not be the only case — DPASS will align with many online and offline services aiming to enhance the usability of blockchain services. ICONLOOP has been continuing conversation with ICON’s partner companies so that many DApps operating on the public network of ICON can also use DPASS.

Update Overview

The new incentives model includes more details on the penalty system, a new ICX issuance system that creates a situation where ICX can be burned during high network activity, and a change in the transaction fee policy.

Penalty System

ICON’s penalty system now has a token burning component. There are 3 types of penalties outlined in the IISS paper: Validation Penalty, Low Productivity Penalty, and Disqualification Penalty.

If a P-Rep suffers a Low Productivity Penalty or a Disqualification Penalty, 6% of the delegation toward such a P-Rep will be burned. That makes it extremely important for ICONists to delegate towards reliable and quality P-Reps.

We encourage ICONists to delegate across multiple P-Reps to diversify the risk of having their tokens burned.

ICX Issuance System

IISS has introduced a system that burns tokens during high network activity and mitigates the amount of inflation on the ICON Network. When a block is produced, there will always be a certain amount of ICX required to reward the four different contributors in the ICON ecosystem: Voters, Representatives, DApps, and EEPs. With the new system in place, transaction fees will now be used to reward these four parties rather than being used as an additional incentive for P-Reps.

Additionally, if the amount of transaction fees within a block exceeds the amount of ICX necessary to reward all four parties, that excess ICX will be burned.

As an example, assume that 10 ICX would be necessary to reward all four parties. If there were 3 ICX worth of transaction fees in the block, only 7 ICX would be minted. If there were 15 ICX worth of transaction fees in the block, then 5 ICX would be burnt, and no ICX would be minted. That creates a deflationary environment in the situation of high network utilization.

Transaction Fee Policy

Finally, Step Price — the base transaction fee on the ICON Network, is now easily adjustable via consensus of P-Reps on a Network Proposal(Specifically, a Step Price Proposal). We have included a specific proposal type into the ICON core service, allowing P-Reps to vote to change the transaction fee, and the network will automatically implement the change once agreed upon. Previously, this would have required a hard fork.

Additional Changes

Representative Term: A Representative Term on the ICON Network is 43,120 blocks. Governance variables, P-Rep ranking, and more minor details are fixed during a block cycle.

Maximum Inflation: The maximum combined annualized inflation from governance variables (i_rep, i_eep, and i_dapp) is 14%. P-Rep submissions that violate this rule will be ignored.

Governance Variable:

i_rep submission by P-Reps: Must be in the range of +/- 20% from the i_rep from the previous Representative Term.

i_rep starting value: The ICON Network will start with an i_rep of 50,000 ICX.

Network Proposal:

Proposal Voting: To pass a proposal, at least 66% of Top 22 P-Reps must vote to pass, and at least 66% of the stake-weighted vote must vote to pass.

Malicious SCORE Proposal: The ability for Top 22 P-Reps to automatically freeze a malicious SCORE contract via an on-chain vote.

P-Rep Disqualification Proposal: The ability for Top 22 P-Reps to automatically disqualify a malicious P-Rep via an on-chain vote.

Text Proposal: A text proposal can be just about anything regarding upgrading the ICON Network. If a text proposal is passed; however, text proposals are not automatically executed by the network, the changes must be manually developed.

Revision Proposal: The ability for Top 22 P-Reps to automatically activate updated features via an on-chain vote.

StepPrice Proposal: The ability for Top 22 P-Reps to automatically decide a StepPrice via an on-chain vote.

We encourage you to read the updated IISS paper to familiarize yourself with the finer details before staking begins. The ICON Team is excited about these changes, and we look forward to the launch of IISS in September.

See also:

The purpose of this new utility token is to streamline the entire betting process for customers within the ZenSports mobile app and to create a rewards and loyalty program for ZenSports’ top tier customers. The latter will be done via a new “SPORTS Rewards Program”, whereby customers will be able to pay discounted betting fees, get cashback for reaching specific betting volumes, and earn bonuses for performing other actions within the ZenSports app (such as making infrequent withdrawals).

SPORTS utility token is built on the protocol ICON, a blockchain-based in Korea. ICON also runs an accelerator for decentralized apps called ICX Station, which is located near ZenSports’ headquarters in San Francisco. ZenSports went through ICX Station and received an investment from ICON back in 2018.