Sometimes, when I come across crypto projects, I wonder how they chose their name.

But with Blockmason Link, we’re right on track.

Their name is super well chosen, super coherent… and shows the way, in my opinion, of the underlying trend that will guide future crypto-projects.

Which trend?

Looking back over previous years, several waves of ICO can be identified.

By analyzing them, we can observe the different stages of a market that is getting structured. And we can then imagine the content of future projects.

First, there was a wave of cryptocurrencies .

ETH, and the others. We challenged the BTC king, we imagined smart contracts, we improved or proposed alternatives.

. ETH, and the others. We challenged the BTC king, we imagined smart contracts, we improved or proposed alternatives. Then there was the Exchanges wave .

Because there were necessary to let us exchange the different currencies, associated with different blockchains. Binance, Bittrex… and those we have already forgotten because they have been hacked…

. Because there were necessary to let us exchange the different currencies, associated with different blockchains. Binance, Bittrex… and those we have already forgotten because they have been hacked… Next was the wave of the big bullshit.

Everyone tried to make money inventing projects with no real meaning but with a lot of buzzwords. Because when there is a bubble people buy without thinking. In short, poorly crafted projects, where tokens were created because scammers had to sell something, but with very weak integration for real use and low chance of success in the “real world”. Exactly like during the internet bubble where scammy projects raised millions before dying a few months later…

Everyone tried to make money inventing projects with no real meaning but with a lot of buzzwords. Because when there is a bubble people buy without thinking. In short, poorly crafted projects, where tokens were created because scammers had to sell something, but with very weak integration for real use and low chance of success in the “real world”. Exactly like during the internet bubble where scammy projects raised millions before dying a few months later… And now is the new (and healthier) wave of projects.

The one that seeks to be truly useful, adding real value. The one that uses the blockchain because it makes sense to use it, but that will not display it as a cool/trendy feature. On the contrary, those projects will start hiding the fact that they use blockchain. They will make it almost disappear. The blockchain is there, but if you don’t pay attention to it, you don’t realize it. Because no one really cares it is on the blockchain or not. It’s only a tool. Only the benefit matters.

It reminds me of the early days of the Internet.

Remember the old good time?

Years ago, when you wanted to connect to an instant messaging service, for example, you had to know the long number identifying your interlocutor. The pseudonyms had not yet been invented, and everyone shared their ICQ numbers on the forums or by email. #NotReallyEasy

Wait… long chain of numbers without any sens… Like wallet addresses you mean? ;)

A long time ago, Google did not exist. To find websites you had to go to directories, who gathered and classified websites addresses. With some luck and lot of work you would end up finiding what you were looking for.

Access was difficult and long

A long time ago, you had to fill in all the technical details of connecting to your emails (POP, SMTP, Port, etc). Now Thunderbird or others automatically retrieve his information, no need to worry about it.

Always loved looking for all these info and debug it for hours…

Before the iPhone, which really challenged the status quo, the only way to access internet was using a computer. You needed to own one (or go to cyber coffees), pay for an expensive access fee, be at home to use it, connect your modem (which disconnected you from people wanting to call you) waiting minutes the connection work… Now it’s anywhere, anytime, for cheaper than ever.

Low to start. Low to connect. Impossible to move. Almost as easy as getting into crypto :)

At that time, the Internet was a space for experts. Informed persons. Technical guys. Not for your mum.

Since then, a large number of technical, material and ergonomic evolutions have been carried out to make the Internet accessible to everyone, from children from the age of seven to 97. From the African peasant to the New York businessman.

now, internet is much more easy to access than years ago

We are in a decisive time for blockchain market

We are currently starting a new era in the blockchain after the vacuum cleaning carried out in 2018 by the great bursting of the speculative bubble (that we all experienced if you read to me today).

There are projects rising, that try to make basic actions, such as money transfers or mining, much easier. Merit tried it, by offering an alias system (to avoid endless addresses), a super user-friendly mining software.

Crypo easy to use… even for your mum!

Universal Protocol is also working to decompartmentalize blockchains, and to propose clever solutions to avoid the loss of cryptocurrency in the event of forgetting private keys or in the event of the death of the legitimate owner of the tokens…

All crypto easy to exchange but hard to loss… for your mum and your banker

Lot of new projects are popping around. Mostly with “real world” usecases focused on user needs and user habits, not based on blockchain functionalities or buzzwords.

Blockmason Link is one of this “new era” project

Blockmason Link is a project led by Blockmason company.

Their objective: to democratize the use of crypto.

Their observation:

“Blockchain has a high barrier to entry. From a development perspective, it requires learning Solidity, cryptography APIs, and the nuances of esoteric decentralized systems. From a user perspective, the hesitation is even simpler: decentralized applications are too damn tough to use! »

Their answer?

Offering software blocks to developers, enabling them to accelerate their development process in the blockchain.

In short, Blockmason Link is a kit of legos that any developer, even not specialized in the blockchain, can easily use and assemble to achieve what he/she wants.

Basically, you create a smart contract, you tell Blockmason Link its address… and then everything is done by itself! Blockmason link generates on the fly the necessary technical documentation… If wallets are required, they are automatically created and managed by Blockmason Link… If transactions are required they will be automatically created and supplied with gas by Blockmason Link…

In short, there is nothing left to do but devote your time to other more important things.

It resonates in me because I had a similar problem with a personal project. I have launched a platform to connect musicians and hosts, to enable them to organize concerts at home, directly in their homes.

Yeah, private gigs are cool :)

I’m not a developer… I’m more of a tinker… But I wanted to do the thing by myself. And I managed to do everything… until I got to the payment part. There, of course, I was quickly blocked. Especially for security reasons.

I used a service that offered a similar approach to Blockmason Link (but not related to the blockchain). A service in API mode, which takes care of everything for us: managing calls to banks, transfers and refunds, securing transactions, etc. Just a few lines of code to do and then, hop, everything is fine. Super powerful…

Real coders understand it instantly ;)

I was sure I had a project that worked well, and I could focus on something else. A must!

So when I saw the Blockmason Link project, it flashed!

And there’s a looooot of really smart stuff in their project.

1. Technical complexity is eliminated

As soon as you want to interface with a blockchain, you need to activate many skills. Language to know (Solidity for example). Process to know (how to communicate with the blockchain, how to manage transactions, etc.). Security to know. Node to be created, wallets too...

All these elements require a lot of time and expertise, without necessarily having much added value.

I find the diagrams presented in the project’s white paper very informative.

Here is a what you need to deal with if you develop by yourself:

ouch…

Here is the same thing dealt by Link:

only two things to deal for the dev!

Things are very easy.

You create your smart contract, send the adress to Blockmason Link and they automatically create and give you access to the following:

- Documentation & Sample Code

- Insights, Monitoring, & Data Visualization

- User Directory Integration

- Automated Ethereum Account Generation

They are in charge of the maintenance.

That means that you don’t need to stay up to date with all the news about the blockchain you are using and follow up all the updates. Blockmason Link does it for you.

And they are crypto agnostic.

That means that, while they will start on Ethereum, they will quickly open there services to other blockchain. That way developers can choose to work on any blockchain, depending on his needs.

Need fast and low cost? Start on Stellar! Need privacy. Choose another one :)

Here is a small sum up

2. They have a “web oriented” thinking, and not a “blockchain oriented” one.

By allowing developers to use the blockchain in API mode, they can keep their habits from the web. They can build customer journey the way everyone know them: with high ergonomic, simple processes, nice design, no change in interface…

I guess in a few years we will look back and laugh at the way everything was ridiculously complicated and not user friendly.

I’ll give you an example of the current complexity in crypto.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in an ISO.

I received instructions to participate.

I just copy/paste them here:

Investor Instructions:

Pre-requisite: You must have a MetaMask wallet (visit https://metamask.io/ ) funded with the appropriate amount of POLY you wish to invest and a small amount of ETH to pay gas fees. This MetaMask wallet must be whitelisted by the Token Issuer.

Approve the POLY Spend

Step 1. Go to the POLY token Contract on Etherscan.

https://etherscan.io/token/0x9992ec3cf(…)8d1ec#writeContract

Step 2. Select the Write Contract tab

Step 3. Login to your MetaMask account and ensure “Main Ethereum Network” is selected as the blockchain.

Step 4. Click Connect with Metamask and confirm the connection in the metamask popup. The circle next to “Write Contract” will turn green when successfully connected.

Step 5. The next step is to approve the STO contract to spend your tokens. In the approve function enter the STO contract address, 0x153Db318a(…)FC01A33272D as the “_spender (address)” and the amount of POLY you wish to invest in the “_value” field. Note the amount of POLY must be entered with 18 zeros after the number of POLY you wish to invest. (i.e. 1 POLY = 100000000000000000 or 1E+18). Click the “Write” button and confirm the transaction in the MetaMask Popup. This transaction requires a small amount of ETH to pay the gas fee.

Step 6. After the transaction is successfully mined the STO contract will now be approved to withdraw up to the amount you entered from your wallet and you are ready to proceed to make your investment. Make an Investment

Step 7. Go to the XXX Security Token Offering Smart Contract on Etherscan

https://etherscan.io/address/0x153db318a29(…)01a33272d#writeContract

Step 8. Ensure you are still logged into MetaMask and again on the Write Contract tab click “Connect with Metamask” and confirm the connection in the Metamask popup. The circle next to “Write Contract” will turn green when successfully connected.

Step 9. Scroll down to function number 7. “buyTokensWithPOLY” And Enter the number of POLY tokens you want to invest.

Step 10. Click the “Write” button and confirm the transaction in the MetaMask Popup. This transaction requires an ETH gas fee to be paid to mine the transaction. The token contract will automatically calculate the correct number of Security tokens to send. After the transaction is successfully mined the new security tokens will be minted and sent to your wallet address. Confirm Tokens have been received

Step 11. Click on the metamask browser extension to open your metaMask Wallet.

Step 12. Click on the menu icon and then on “ADD TOKEN”

Step 13. Click on the menu icon and then on “ADD TOKEN”

Step 14. Select the Custom Token tab and enter the Token Address, 0x20c4(…)3fe323499ed70fF the token details should automatically populate.

Step 15. Click “Next” and then “Add Tokens”. Your new token balance should now be displayed.

REALLY?????!!!!

How many non-technical people who are not used to crypto will go through with this process? None! None!

We all need things to get much simpler.

We need to have the technology hidden.

Blockmason Link knows it well.

They did the same statement.

Here is their vision of the current blockchain journey for a user:

Here is what they want to create for the users tomorrow:

By managing all the blockchain interactions via APIs, everyone will be able to use services based on it without any flaw in the journey.

And the best part?

No one will realize it’s on the blockchain.

And that’s the coolest thing than could happen.

When technology is so well handled that you don’t realize it’s there!

3. They will create an App Library

Another clever thing they imagine is to make a smart contract and associated application libraries available to developers.

Basically, it’s the lego package I was talking about earlier.

With a whole bunch of blocks already designed, optimized, functional, all you have to do is choose the right ones and arrange them properly so that your project can be completed in a few hours.

The advantage is that by relying on their developer community, they will be able to identify the most frequent needs and build the right bricks.

By listening to their feedbacks, they will be able to optimize and develop them.

In short, an excellent way to offer a super quality service.

The token

I don’t do investment consulting, so I’m going to go quickly on this part.

Basically, the token will be necessary to use the services. Probably in the form of a monthly subscription + a per-use cost.

If it will be possible to pay by credit card, doing so using LINK tokens will allow you to obtain a discount (a rather traditional process).

An interesting point to note: all tokens spent in this way will be locked after use (if the person decides to pay by credit card, tokens will be purchased with the fiat so that they can be locked too). The number of tokens available will therefore gradually decrease.

Once 70% of the tokens are locked, the system will change, and the tokens will have to be staked (instead of spent) to access the service.

An excellent way to reduce the velocity of the token and encourage people to keep them rather than sell them.

I share here a cool video about the velocity problem

For those who want more information, it’s all in their white paper, which I find very clear and well done:

Any question?

Please, feel free to comment :)

@ericbal