Last updated: March 31, 2018
Project Basics and Team Members
1. What is the IoT Chain Foundation and what are you trying to achieve?
We are building a secure, lite operating system for the Internet of Things that is ready to meet the demands of a connected, digital world. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term used to describe the interconnection of computer devices embedded in everyday objects enabling them to share data. IoT on Chain (also known as IoT Chain or ITC) looks to solve current IoT security and safety issues using distributed ledger technology. Using a hybrid approach of blockchain, Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), and blockless Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) architecture, we are able to create a decentralized IoT network with unparalleled speed and security that allows users to maintain their data sovereignty.
Protecting ownership and usage of data is of utmost importance to our team. The decentralized nature of our network ensures your information remains secure, while at the same time you can choose to provide your data, abstracted or not, to third parties who want it. This ensures your privacy is protected while allowing a data marketplace to emerge. Businesses can obtain the data they need but you are always in control of what is yours.
By 2025, IoT experts anticipate that most electronics will contain some level of smart technology enabling them to connect and share data. These devices will require an IoT operating system in order to interact with the network. By implementing our technology at the chip level, IoT Chain is positioned to become the go-to platform for such devices by providing manufacturers with simple access to a powerful IoT ecosystem.
2. Who are the core team members? What is their experience with IoT and distributed ledger technology? Are they devoted to the IoT Chain project full-time?
We have 11 full-time developers at the time of writing.
Xie Zhuopeng — CEO&Founder
Zhuopeng studied smart hardware and blockchain technology for several years, helping design and build smart lighting architecture for companies both at home and abroad. The IoT Chain project was born when he began work on security measures against botnet attacks in his own “Zhuoapp” IoT OS.
Lyu (Peter) Xinhao — Co-Founder
Co-founder of IoT Chain and blockchain technical expert, Xinhao translated the first Chinese blockchain book called “Mastering Bitcoin”. He established the blockchain team at Xiaomi to solve data isolation problems in digital marketing. Xinhao is a blockchain evangelist who continues to push the envelope for blockchain development and adoption worldwide.
Ding Ying — CTO
Ying holds a Master’s degree from Hangzhou Dianzi University and has over 12 years of experience as a firmware developer specializing in 3D modelling and compression algorithms. His expertise in chip design and implementation is a huge asset to the IoT Chain team.
Zhao Tan — CFO
Tan received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also carries the CPA certification in China and Singapore, and the FCCA certification in the UK. Previous to joining the IoT Chain team, Tan was APAC Treasurer for a large multinational corporation. He was admitted to the J.P. Morgan APAC Client Advisory Council in 2017.
3. How many developers are actively working on this project? Are you planning to expand the team?
Beyond the core team and advisory board, we have 11 full-time developers working on the project at the time of writing. We plan on expanding this team as needed throughout 2018 and beyond.
4. Who are the ITC investment partners?
FBG Capital
FBG Capital is a digital asset management firm. FBG Capital also incubates promising blockchain projects and companies and has invested in projects such as Riplo, Aelf, Stream Token, Zilliqa and MakerDAO. FBG founder Hitters Xu was also the founder of Antshares, now known as Neo.
Link Capital
Link Capital Finance are a high-performing team with over 40 years of experience in residential and commercial lending. Link Capital’s biggest advantage lies in the various skill sets held amongst their broking team. They are comprised of ex-bankers that specialise in most areas of finance from residential mortgages to large institutions.
#Hashed (formerly known as Blockchain Partners Korea)
Hashed is South Korea’s largest cryptofund which works to introduce innovative projects with strong potential to the Korean market. They host educational events where investors and blockchain developers given the opportunity to connect and boost awareness of their disruptive projects in the industry. Hashed has an impressive investment portfolio comprised of startups such as Quantstamp, Request Network, Enigma, Kyber Network, Red Pulse, Airswap, Icon, and many more.
ChainFunder
ChainFunder is a global investment firm which has invested in a number of successful projects such as IOTA, Delphy, and Aware.
RedNova
RedNova is a global team of experts including angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, legal experts, PR professionals and technical advisors.
5. What relationships does ITC currently have with IoT device manufacturers and related companies? Can we expect any new partnerships this year?
Our CEO Zhuopeng has many connections in the IoT industry and we are working to help several companies make their move to distributed ledger technology. Details on our existing partnerships can be found in our whitepaper. We recently met with Bosch (RBVC) to discuss collaboration opportunities. More details on this to come.
We believe IoT Chain will have a big impact on the sharing economy and we are currently in negotiations with a company in Singapore to develop an umbrella sharing service. We are also in talks with another innovative company focused on bicycle sharing.
6. What were the reasons that led to IoT Chain receiving an award at the World Economic Forum in Davos?
As you may have heard, IoT Chain was a recipient of the Blockchain Excellence Award at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The award was presented by the China Blockchain Research Center whose goal is to highlight projects that have made great progress in the application of blockchain technology. There are two main criteria for this award. The first is that the project has to solve real world problems using blockchain technology. The second is that they must have made measurable progress towards achieving this goal. IoT Chain’s progress in using blockchain and blockless DAG technology to solve speed and security issues in IoT led to the receipt of this prestigious award.
7. Why is ITC open source? Is there a risk that a competitor could replicate your network?
We believe that all real decentralized blockchain solutions should be open source. Having the the code available helps improve our security and accountability which are some of the guiding principles of IoT Chain. That said, we do not use a public repository for our work-in-progress. This helps us maintain our competitive advantage while we refine our product. As each stage of our project is ready, we will open the source code.
8. How do Chinese cryptocurrency regulations affect ITC?
Regulations out of China have not affected our project. The IoT Chain Foundation is registered in Singapore, a country notoriously open and accepting of cryptocurrencies. Despite reports from mainstream media, distributed ledger technology continues to gain momentum in China.
Many decentralized blockchain projects have international roots and each country has its own regulatory approach. The biggest controversy at the moment is around the issuance of tokens and how they are being used. Some projects are ultimately not suitable or qualified for the blockchain approach. In the end, regulation is necessary and eventually governments will relax their stance and embrace the new technology, just like with the development of the Internet in China.
9. What is your view of the future of IoT? Do you believe there will be a single, prevailing standard?
IoT is the next big mainstream industry after the mobile Internet. We believe there will be enormous data generation and break out opportunities in the IoT space in the coming years. As such, we feel that a variety of mainstream standards will emerge instead of a single prevailing solution. We are confident that IoT Chain will be one of these standards.
Token Sale, Utility, and Distribution
10. Was there an ICO? If so, what was the ICO price?
There was no public Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for IoT Chain. A private sale took place in November 2017 where 50 million ITC tokens were sold at a rate of 1,000 ITC per 1 ETH. This private placement was the foundation of the initial circulating supply.
11. What is the current token distribution? Which portions are currently locked up and when will they be released?
The total supply of ITC tokens (ERC20) is 100 million of which approximately 48 million are in circulation at the time of writing. The distribution is as follows:
Private Placement (50% — 50,000,000 ITC):
Used to cover typical start-up costs such as recruiting team members, advertising, and public relations. These tokens were sold privately to investors in November 2017 at a rate of 1,000 ITC per 1 ETH. Portions of these tokens are locked and will be released over time:
- ~31.5M were released December 1, 2017 which formed the basis of the initial circulating supply
- ~9.6M were locked until March 1, 2018
- The remaining ~8.9M tokens are locked until June 1, 2018 and will enter circulation then
Community Fund (30% — 30,000,000 ITC):
Used for building the ITC ecosystem and growing the community. A portion of these tokens (~3.1M) are currently circulating. Tokens in this fund will be released into circulation slowly over time as necessary to support the ecosystem.
Founding Team (15% — 15,000,000 ITC):
Reserved for the founding team members to compensate for the time and resources devoted to the early stages of IoT Chain’s development. 25% of these tokens entered circulation on December 1, 2017. Every six months from that point onward, another 25% will be released (June 1, December 1, and June 1, 2019). All 15M will be in circulation by June 1, 2019.
Consultants and Early Supporters (5% — 5,000,000 ITC):
Provided to our legal, financial and marketing consultants and early supporters.
12. Why do we need the ITC token? What utility does it have and where does it get its value?
In the IoT Chain ecosystem, the ITC token acts as a carrier of value and ownership, exchanged among intelligent devices. Once an ITC-enabled device is connected to the network, users can obtain the right to use that device through the payment of tokens (think sharing economy like Ofo, a popular Chinese bicycle sharing service). These connected devices generate large amounts of data that can be used for AI, machine learning, business analytics and more. Those who want access to the data can purchase it from the users with ITC tokens. As more devices join the network, the demand for ITC tokens grows as people need tokens to facilitate transactions. This is compounded by the demand for the additional data generated. Companies who wish to test and use the IoT Chain network will need to purchase ITC tokens OTC which adds to the demand as well.
13. Are there masternodes in the IoT Chain ecosystem? Can ITC tokens be staked to validate the network? How is consensus achieved on the main chain?
IoT Chain uses what are called witness nodes, which is different from the concept of masternodes because they do not have any special rights which give them the ability to change the transaction order. Witness nodes simply “witness” the transactions and achieve consensus of the total order of the complete transactions. Consensus between witness nodes is achieved using the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) algorithm. There is no staking of tokens on our network; witness nodes receive a reward for helping to maintain the total transaction order. More details on the node system will be provided prior to the main net release.
14. Why is ITC currently an ERC20 token? When will it be swapped for the native ITC network token and how will we complete the swap?
The ITC token was created initially on the Ethereum blockchain to facilitate fundraising activities and fuel development of the native IoT Chain network. These tokens will be swapped for native ITC tokens once the main net is released. The token swap will likely be carried out by our exchange partners; you will transfer in your ERC20 ITC tokens and be credited an equivalent value amount of native ITC tokens. More details on the token swap will be announced as the date approaches. Rest assured, you will be provided with plenty of notice to complete the exchange.
15. When the token swap occurs, will there be a split? If so, what will that look like?
The token swap will happen once the main net is completed. The total amount of ITC token available will be more than 100 million tokens to help support a global ecosystem of IoT devices. The exact amount will be determined closer to the date. Rest assured, the swap process will not devalue or dilute your ITC holdings. The swap will function like a stock split similar to what Apple did back in 2014 with favourable results.
16. Can I store and send ITC tokens using MyEtherWallet?
Yes. As stated above, once the main network is released, the ERC20 ITC tokens will be swapped for native ITC tokens and accessed using a purpose-built IoT Chain wallet. In the meantime, the ITC ERC20 tokens can be stored on the Ethereum blockchain and accessed or transferred using MyEtherWallet. ITC is now included in the default list of tokens in MyEtherWallet so there is no need to add a custom token.
17. Will every transaction on the IoT Chain network require a fee? Will I have to pay in ITC to control my ITC-enabled smart devices?
The IoT Chain network supports both value and zero-value transactions. For example, you would not pay a fee to turn off your ITC-connected smart lights.
18. Why does the ITC network charge fees for some transactions when similar projects are fee-less?
The IoT Chain network requires a fee for value transactions for security purposes. In fee-less networks, it is difficult to avoid interference such as DDoS attacks as there is no deterrent for bad actors. The fees on the ITC network are computed solely based on the size of the transaction in bytes. The cost does not vary the same way that it does on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks where transactions are confirmed by miners. The ITC network fees will always be predictable and cheap and not depend on the current transaction volume.
19. Can you provide an example of an average user’s experience with IoT chain?
We believe a major application of our technology will be in the sharing economy. We are currently designing a business model with a company in Singapore for umbrella sharing. In this scenario, you could purchase ITC tokens to buy the right to use the smart device for a length of time (in this case, an umbrella). Your use of this device generates data which, together with the data of others, becomes valuable to businesses.
Another example is a smart speaker. You could use ITC tokens to purchase digital content on on the speaker. At the same time, your use of the speaker could help train its AI. The manufacturer wants this data to help improve the product and can buy the rights to your data via ITC microtransactions on the network.
20. What sort of data can everyday IoT devices generate? Why is it valuable?
Data is the oil of the digital economy. It is used in countless ways to help drive better business decisions. This data has caused the prosperity of the Internet and although data is generated by every user, big corporations who profit from this data do not share it with its true owner. The IoT Chain project is so important because it returns data sovereignty to the user.
21. Does the data generated have to be abstracted and private? Can users opt-in to provide their identity with the data for additional compensation?
Not all data on the IoT Chain network is required to be abstract and private. Some sensitive data would always have to be removed but the advertising space benefits from being able to tie an identity to data (think targeted advertising). Users will be able choose to provide their identity with their data in some situations for additional compensation.
22. What makes ITC stand out from similar projects in the IoT space?
We understand what blockchain technology really means for the Internet of Things. It provides a new level of safety and essentially restructures the whole business model. With IoT Chain, we value both performance and decentralization which is why we combine blockless DAG technology with PBFT. We also focus on how our product affects the average user and design around them first. Our dedication to promoting and protecting user data is unique, and this is really what distinguishes us from other projects in this space.
23. What advantages does IoT Chain have over other chip-based solutions?
Our architecture is open and transparent. We will set the standard in terms of hardware design and we are confident others will simply follow our work to join the IoT Chain ecosystem. In other words, we encourage and expect collaboration over a common IoT Chain architecture.
Development and Progress
24. I heard the development is ahead of schedule. Will there be an update coming to the roadmap to reflect this?
We are happy to announce that our development team ahead of schedule based on our initial roadmap. We expect the main network testing to begin October 2018 and conclude before the end of the year. We have now posted the updated roadmap to our website.
25. How do you plan on increasing the network capacity before the main net release?
We chose a DAG technology for its superior performance and capacity. Our initial implementation of the DAG structure is complete though there are still opportunities to improve our code and the performance of the network. This technology is fairly new and there is much to be learned on how to properly measure the performance of a decentralized peer-to-peer network.
26. Can you explain the basics of how the various technologies and concepts (PBFT, DAG, SPV, and CPS) function together in the IoT Chain network?
Our various use of these technologies is best explained in our yellowpaper. We will be putting together an infographic in the near future to help explain the token economy and architecture of the network.
27. What platforms will the IoT Chain wallet be available for?
Our team is currently developing wallets for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OS.
28. Can you explain how the IoT Chain will be integrated by hardware chip manufacturers?
Our architecture can be divided into two parts. The first is the distributed blockchain network which provides efficient and secure transmission of value. The second is the hardware client chip. The hardware chip uses a mature IoT communication technology and provides each device with a unique ID. This ID is similar to that of a Bitcoin address, combined with public and private key technology to ensure security and safety. We will be working directly with chip manufacturers to create this hardware. Smart device companies will simply use this existing chip solution to connect their product to the IoT Chain network.
29. How long do you think it will be before you can purchase or interact with a device that contains the IoT OS built-in?
Based on our current progress and pace, we expect IoT devices with our OS to be available sometime in Q3 2019.
Exchanges
30. What exchanges is ITC currently listed on? What is the best way to acquire and store the token today?
The ERC20 ITC token is currently listed on Huobi Pro, Bibox, OKex, KuCoin, CEX, Tokencan, CEO Exchange, and Coinrail. You can acquire tokens on any of these exchanges today.
For security, we recommend that you store your ERC20 ITC tokens in your own wallet (e.g. MyEtherWallet or MetaMask) until the main network is released.
31. Due to the lengthy process of becoming listed on new exchanges organically, has the team considered paying for listing on additional exchanges?
We are working with new exchanges, including those that require a listing fee. It is important that we balance the desire for additional exchanges with the existing and future financial needs of the project. Due to non-disclosure agreements, we cannot reveal any details on listing progress prior to an official announcement.
Community and Public Relations
32. How can a community member contribute to the project?
We are always grateful for support from our community. The simple act of engaging in conversation and educating others about the IoT Chain project is one of the greatest contributions you can make. If you have suggestions or special skill sets that you feel would benefit our project, we encourage you to reach out to our team members in the official communication channels.
33. What markets are you targeting first and where do you plan on expanding next?
Our first target is China where we are already cooperating with companies such as Adzar Energy, who are are helping build an ecosystem for the distributed photovoltaic market. We are also working with Acute Angle Cloud to explore and practice the application of our IoT operating system in various industries.
Our next focus is Singapore and Australia though the Internet of Things is truly a global market.
34. What is IoT Chain’s plan for Western marketing and public relations? Will you be hiring a professional firm?
We have begun working with professional agencies and partners to promote the IoT Chain project in Western markets. We also have specialists on our team responsible for overseas markets including Korea, Japan, and more.
35. What are your official communication channels?
Our official communication channels are listed below.
Medium: https://medium.com/@IoT_Chain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IoT_Chain
Telegram: https://t.me/IoTChain
QQ: http://qm.qq.com/cgi-bin/qm/qr?k=CjS_9da0Uj5SfXX8Wm1PIDuL_Nbjzmc3
Beechat: Download the app and search “ITC” to find us!
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/iotchain
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IoTChain/
GitHub: https://github.com/iot-block/iotchain
WeChat (QR code below):
Kakaotalk group: https://open.kakao.com/o/gOZK2gY
36. I can’t find the answer to my question here. Who can I talk to?
We do our best to answer all questions from our community. If you have further questions, we encourage you to reach out to one of our moderators on Telegram (https://t.me/IoTChain) or Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/iotchain).
