BLOCKNET — The Internet of Blockchains

An Interview with Hanni Abu — Project Coordinator

Blocknet is a 2nd layer blockchain interoperability protocol that enables communication, interaction, and exchange between different blockchains. This allows for the development of multi-chain applications and blockchain microservices, creating exponentially more capabilities and possibilities for the blockchain ecosystem. Blocknet is a self-funded and self-governed open source project with contributors around the world building an open and collaborative ecosystem.

Good day Hanni Abu, everyone has his own story on how he/she got into blockchain technology. What’s yours?

I was first introduced to the blockchain world after hearing about a little thing called Bitcoin and it’s meteoric rise in value. For me, this was back in 2013. I heard of it through a friend and just brushed it off as some type of nonsense without knowing much about it. Then, 2015 came around and I discovered Ethereum, which popped up in my news feed amid the hard fork contention. At that time I still didn’t read up on it, again brushing it off. Fast forward to early 2017, I heard about Morgan Stanley joining the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, which peaked my interest. At this point, I figured it deserved some looking into.

Just like anybody else new to the industry, there were a lot of terms I wasn’t aware of. Researching one topic required researching another, looking up what some word meant and discovering another new term in the process. Down the rabbit hole, I went learning about different terms, proofs, consensus mechanisms, etc. I was hooked.

The next step of the process to blockchain enlightenment was, of course, looking into various projects. Nearly all were doing the same thing and trying to be a currency, ie. cross-border payments, P2P transactions, etc. — all the basics. Then I stumbled across Blocknet. As an engineer, I instantly understood the purpose and the extreme need for such a project. Similar to how computers were before the internet, blockchains are useful but are data silos stuck in their own walled gardens. Once they can be connected it greatly increases the potential for what’s possible, just like the internet allowed for computers. This is where Blocknet fits in, creating an internet of blockchains.

I was also a huge fan of how Blocknet cherishes the original ethos this industry was born out of, maintaining an emphasis on decentralization from the organizational level to the network and protocol level. After frequenting the channels for some time I started contributing to the project, collaborating with others, and taking up more and more responsibility.

What is your role at Blocknet ?

I act as a project coordinator, but also wear a lot of hats as a strategic move. By assisting with creating task lists, testing/QA, documentation, tutorial videos, and offering community support, it all contributes to staying grounded with the project and having a good understanding of the state the project is in, what needs more attention, and where priorities should be. This helps at a product development level and an organizational level. I’m sure most people have had a boss at one point or another that is completely disconnected from the rest of the team and we all know how that story goes. To create a good product, you need to be at the ground level using it and understanding the issues and user experience.

Who is behind Blocknet ? What are the Backgrounds of the team member ?

Blocknet is an open source project with no company or foundation behind it. Given the nature of open source, we have contributors spanning the globe. The contributors have varying experiences, from contributing to Bitcoin core to various engineering fields to the finance industry to your average programmer wanting to help build out the ecosystem and tools for a project and cause they believe in.

How did the idea to develop Blocknet come about ?

The idea for Blocknet was born out of discussions that took place in XCurrency (XC) chats back in 2014. The Blocknet founders were part of an XC think tank exploring what a decentralized world would look like. This led to conversations about a decentralized internet that then evolved into the idea of inter-blockchain technology. From there, Blocknet was officially created October 20th, 2014.

What is Blocknet and how would you explain it to non-crypto speakers?

I touched on this in a previous question, but to put it simply, Blocknet is to blockchains what the internet is to computers. Blockchains need to be able to communicate and interact with each other for the ecosystem to mature, and without Blocknet that isn’t possible.

What are the main use cases you are looking to cover?

This is difficult to answer because just as with the internet it’s the main purpose is to enable interconnectivity, but what that interconnectivity allows you to create is limited only by imagination. A non-exhaustive list can be found within Blocknet’s whitepaper.

What makes Blocknet stand out when it comes to bridging different blockchains, how did you achieve this and how is the competition doing it ?

To explain this, it’s important to understand that blockchain interoperability comes in 2 parts: exchange (XBridge) and communication (XRouter). I’ll try to make this concise as it’s a rather large topic.

For exchange interoperability with Blocknet, every component is decentralized and users are in full control of their funds at every step of the process. Implementations of other project vary, but they all have a shortcoming. Some may use proxy tokens, which means that if you’re making a trade your token is exchanged into an intermediary (proxy) token and then into the final denomination. The issue with this is that for that portion of the exchange you’re neither holding your original token or the token you desire so if an issue occurs you’re left with a worthless IUO token. Others tend to have some type of centralized component, whether that’s the storage of funds, order book, order matching, or the actual exchange process. The last typical difference is a dependency on their chain for the exchange to occur which restricts throughput, whereas with Blocknet the exchange takes place on the respective blockchains of the tokens being exchanged.

For communication interoperability with Blocknet, there’s a TCP/IP networking layer that allows interfacing with any blockchain. Implementations of other projects either require custom ‘bridges’ to be specially built for each implementation or put their blockchain in the middle of the operation and either require using their blockchain to build ‘bridges’ on, require using their smart contracts, or have capabilities restricted to a single platform (such as Ethereum).

Thinking about the future, do you have any roadmap with relevant upgrades or partnerships?

Yes, we actually just released a new roadmap format. A lot of attention was put into designing this roadmap to provide an overview of the various product tracks, milestones for each product track, and the resulting culmination of these efforts. This helps those following the project to gain an understanding of the Blocknet’s broader goals and vision.

There are a lot of great milestones coming up that will yield the fruits of the project’s labor including an upgrade to XBridge (the exchange protocol), XRouter (the communication protocol), and XCloud (a decentralized microservice cloud powered by XRouter). These products will offer developers the tools needed to produce the next generation blockchains and applications that are needed for real-world adoption.

Another item listed on this roadmap is creating an Interchain Routing Standard that we would collaborate with others to submit to ISO and IEEE. For those unaware of these what organizations are, they set global standards and best practices. Our position would be to guide standards for communication between blockchains in order to help the ecosystem matures.

Any plans for exchanges?

We are always looking to be listed on exchanges. Luckily, Blocknet and other compatible blockchains will always be listed on Block DX, which is a true decentralized exchange powered by the Blocknet Protocol.

How much funds do the core team has in budget for development and marketing?

Blocknet is self-funded with a recurring ‘superblock’ every 30 days that can mint BLOCK through approval of nodes on the network (self-governed), as well as a reserve fund on the side. On top of this, the project is exploring various options for further funding that would not only secure Blocknet’s sustainability, but also future growth. The budgets are always in flux and adjust to react to market fluctuations and internal events such as milestone progress.

Conclusion

Blocknet is truly being a leader in the space as an interoperability protocol. I think that Blocknet will have a very successful future as this product tracks mature! I encourage anybody interested in the project to join Blocknet’s community on Discord (https://discord.gg/2e6s7H8) to take part in a discussion and discover the latest information and developments.

Thank you for your time. If you enjoyed the read feel free to follow me on Twitter. You can tip me BLOCK here: BdJdSkXFj8Y17c3fby2okn2apWbxnqnACE