Universal Labs / Ubbey Box review
World’s first decentralized global cloud storage network built on the blockchain
by Future Blockchain
Overview
Universal Labs (or ULABS) is a Hong-Kong based blockchain company on a mission to create the first decentralized global cloud storage network and bring the asset ownership to a whole new level. The goal is to connect physical with the virtual world in one ecosystem for peer-to-peer transactions of all types of assets. This ecosystem is known as the Ubbey network and is all driven by the company’s Ownership (OWP) protocol.
The two main components of the Ubbey network are the Ownership (OWP) protocol and the Ubbey Box:
· The OWP protocol enables P2P ownership exchange on the Ubbey network and facilitates the exchange of assets between the physical and virtual world. It is also used for creating decentralized applications (dApps) on the Ubbey network.
· The Ubbey Box is the world’s first personal cloud storage built on the blockchain. It’s a physical drive acting as a full node — connection point to the Ubbey network blockchain. It can also be used for a process very similar to Proof of Work mining thanks to the storage sharing concept developed by the company.
The Ubbey Box
The Ubbey Box is the company’s flagship — a unique combination of private cloud computing, storage services and blockchain technologies. And I must admit — very stylish piece of hardware. The device works as a blockchain node (like a miner or validator in standard Proof of Work/Stake protocols) and an entry point to the Ubbey network. The network block creator is randomly selected from Ubbey box nodes based on Proof of Storage consensus algorithm.
The Box provides end users with personal cloud space that is secured and decentralized. It allows them to backup or store in one place and access the files from anywhere and anytime. The device can also be used to “mine” by sharing personal storage space with the network users and thus receive YOU tokens as a reward.
The main advantage over the competition in cloud storage industry (iCloud, AWS and Dropbox to mention a few) is security. The device is a way for Ubbey users to keep their private files safe and at the same time be connected with others in the network through the blockchain. As we all know very well now— blockchain is extremely difficult to hack directly.
The Ubbey box is available in two sizes — 1TB and 2TB ($199 and $245 the respective price for pre-order). The shipment of the first generation of Ubbey Box with mobile app in place was performed in June this year.
You can check first Ubbey box promotional video on YouTube:
Intro video: https://youtu.be/LAB1l-Cl0zQ
OWP Protocol/ YOU token
As I already mentioned, the YOU token can be used to receive rewards for sharing storage space on the Ubbey network. It can also serve end users as a mean to buy more cloud space, share digital assets, convert it to fiat or crypto and most importantly — create and execute smart contracts and use dApps built on the Ubbey Network.
These decentralized applications are powered by the Ubbey’s open-source Ownership (OWP) protocol. According to the website statement:
OWP protocol sets the universal standard for digital data ownership & exchange allowing for the monetization of intellectual property.
The protocol is using the Proof of Storage consensus and Ubbey are encouraging users to build their own dApps and join the network. The unit of “Yo” is used to pay the fees for all computations in the Ubbey network (very similar to GAS). Yo can be purchased with YOU tokens.
The technical whitepaper is quite detailed and full of information in regards to the OWP protocol and the cloud deployment systems and storage. It’s a 41 pager you can review on the official website of the company.
Roadmap
One of the things that I personally did not like on the ULABS website is the lack of detailed roadmap for the project. The key past events are marked, but there is no overall direction mentioned (or at least it is not visible on the presented roadmap). I believe this will be corrected in time since the project is promising and the technical whitepaper is really impressive.
Additionally the team is regularly issuing Universal Labs Development update letters on their Medium page.
Team
The team behind Universal Labs is full of developers with in-deep blockchain background and experience in serial entrepreneurship.
ULABS founder Keda Che graduated at Harvard with Master’s degree in Computer Software Engineering and Information system and has a long list of software and blockchain related projects in his resume. He also appeared on Fox Business TV program during Consesus this year to present the Ubbey box, so I think this guys is pretty serious in his intentions to change the cloud storage game.
We also have Harvard and Stanford graduates as co-founder and chief scientist for the project.
Tokenomics and Token Utility
Token pre-sale took place in June. Public sale is still ongoing and approximately 4 billion of YOU tokens (40% of all tokens) will be distributed in total during private and public crowd sale on xbrick.io.
For the rest of the tokens — 20% will be mined using the Ubbey network storage sharing, 20% will stay for the Foundation and 15% will be left for the team. The last 5% that remain will be distributed to partners and advisors of the project.
One thing I like about this project is that unlike most of the ICOs here we have a really big portion of the proceeds (more than half) going for research and development (40%), Hardware development (10%) and Operational expenses (10%). This is a good sign and means the Ubbey is interested in growing and expanding and they are willing to invest in their project’s future. 40% will go to Marketing and Partnerships (20% each).
Strengths
· Actual case with real product that is already out for the public
· Strong leadership and experienced team of developers
· Unique product with key components that users can benefit from
· Few directions to expad from here — dApps based on OWP, Ubbey box and YOU token-driven network to share and digitalize assets.
Weaknesses
· Highly competitive industry
· Unknown roadmap
· Lack of own blockchain network
· Company is based in currently anti-crypto China
Summary
Personally, I find the project quite interesting mainly due to the fact they have a working product and few use cases in their pocket for the Ubbey ecosystem. The box is offering a real solution to the users, it is not only an alternative to the current cloud storage services, but a potential market share leader. ULABs are using blockchain to solve the main problem cloud storage is facing — security. They have developed their own network (although still on Ethereum blockchain) and have a clear vision for it — build a marketplace for storage space using the YOU token and facilitate P2P ownership exchange asset digitalization via the OWP protocol.
I highly recommend to check the project on social media:
Twitter: @ulabstechnology
Telegram: https://t.me/universallabs
Website: https://ulabs.tech
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