What Is Fantom & FTM token? Why It Can Be A Dark Horse?
What Is Fantom crypto & How Does Fantom Works?
The real beauty of blockchain lies in the way their smart contracts are being used to build more advanced, secure, and reliable Decentralized apps & financial solutions. The more I read it the more I am fascinated and the more curious I am becoming. To manifest this curiosity today we will discuss Fantom & FTM tokens.
We will cover the following topics in the journey going forward:
- What Is Fantom & Why we should care about the same?
- What Is the underlying tech?
- How do Fantom works?
- Fantome use cases?
- What are some of the prominent projects hosted on the Fantom platform?
- Fantom Fundamentals & Tokenomics
- Summary & Way Forward
What Is Fantom & Why we should care about the same?
It is like a single platform that caters to multiple blockchain use cases and solutions. It boasts itself to:
“Be fast, highly perfromant & an open-source smart contract technology that can host multiple digital assets and Dapps”
What Is Fantom?
Fantom is a high-performance, scalable, secure & directed acyclic graph (DAG) smart contract platform, designed to overcome the limitations of old-generation blockchain platforms.
Fantom makes use of Lachesis, a revolutionary & bespoke aBFT consensus mechanism, that enables Fantom to be much faster and cheaper than older technologies.
Now that we have defined Fantom, it is imperative to understand: Why do we need fantom & What makes it special?
Why Fantom?
Our Topmost crypto project Bitcoin has not been built to scale and its proof-of-work consensus algorithm is limited by design, to support decentralization and security, thereby sacrificing speed
There is a popular term called blockchain trilemma, which speaks about the trade-off between scalability, security & decentralization. it says that it is impossible to attain all these three attributes together.
Bitcoin's main focus area is on decentralization and security by choice, thereby compromising the speed when it comes to transactions, so it is not naturally suited for day-to-day payments, data transfer, asset trading, or other transactions consumers and businesses rely on in everyday life.
But our modern-day blockchain platforms are looking to solve this blockchain trilemma, and fantom is one such platform, where the idea is to respect the decentralization by design and enabling bank-grade security, supporting the fast settlement of transactions.
In a nutshell Fantom :
Fantom’s aBFT consensus protocol delivers unparalleled
- Speed
- Security and
- Scalability.
Speed:
When it comes to speed, fantom relies on its high-speed consensus mechanism, Lachesis, which facilitates the tokens or digital assets to function at unprecedented speed
Security:
Fantom also offers exceptionally high levels of security by using a leaderless Proof-of-Stake protocol to secure the network. Unlike many other existing projects, Fantom does not sacrifice security and decentralization in favor of scalability.
Decentralization: (Lies at its core )
The Lachies:aBFT() consensus, algo, is capable of scaling to multiple nodes distributed across the globe in a permissionless, open environment, providing a good degree of decentralization.
What Is Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance (aBFT):
Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance is the highest standard of consensus algorithms. It solves the blockchain Scalability Trilemma, according to which only two of the following three components are possible at the same time: that is Decentralization,Security & Scalability
So if you are looking to have a platform that solves the blockchain trilemma issues, then yes, Fantom can be your true mate.
Now that we have understood the what & why of Fantom blockchain, it's time to deep dive and understands how does it really achieve the three attribute we discussed above and how does it actually work?
How Does Fantom Works?
As we discussed, Fantom is a one-stop solution that ticks all the required attributes of decentralization, security & scalability which helps it to differentiate among other competing blockchain platforms like Solana, ETH 2.0, Cardano, etc.
So its functionality can be understood around these 4 core key pillars
- Modularity
- Scalability
- Security
- Open-source
Let’s decode all these concepts one by one;
Modularity:
Any tech product to scale requires it to be strongly decoupled and follow modularity as a design principle. Fantom has adopted this principle of modularity, which is enabled by Lachesis, which is a modular consensus blockchain layer being used by Fantom. This layer is completely decoupled and flexible to be plugged into any distributed ledger.
This Fantom’s modular allows Developers to port their existing Ethereum-based Decentralized apps on Fantom Opera mainnet in a matter of minutes, substantially upgrading the performance and lowering the costs.
What is Fantom Opera mainnet?
It is the secure and fast environment that allows developers to build decentralized applications on top of it. It is fully permissionless and open-source. Powered by Fantom’s aBFT consensus algorithm.
It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and provides full smart contracts support through Solidity.
Scalability:
Fantome ensures that each of the blockchain-powered networks is working independently of each other, which helps to scale these networks for performance independently without being too much worried about the congestion.
Network congestion has been the biggest reason why Ethereum is not able to scale which leads to high Gas fee for any transactrion which happens on its Ethereum 1.0 platform currenlty. Now the ETH 2.0 is being revamped to overcome this issue of scalability, which is in-bult already in Fantom
Dapps hosted on Ethereum are affected by slow network speed and high gas fees, Fantom solves this scalability issue by giving each Dapps its own independent blockchain, which is like each app has got its own individual computers which happen to be an integral part of the same network.
This modularity and independent network layer make the Dapps lying on the fantom platform have their own custom tokens, tokenomics, and governance protocols. All of these apps networks are interconnected into Lachesis, Fantom’s uber-fast aBFT consensus, helping each of those apps to benefit from the speed and security of the underlying technology.
To sum-up,
Fantom is a network of potentially infinite number of decentralized computers(networks), that even though share the same software logic, behave completely completely independent from one another.
Security: Proof-of-Stake Security mechanism:
There has been quite a big debate and fuss around Bitcoin’s so-called energy-intensive mining. This is largely due to its underlying Proof-Of-Work mechanism to validate and approve any transactions. Fantom unlike bitcoin and Ethereum 1.0 PoW, relies on PoS consensus mechanism, so we can consider fantom to be environment-friendly in its approach of securing the transactions happening over its network.
Lachesis follows leaderless Proof-of-stake consensus that ensures a higher level of security, by removing any trusted leaders.
What Is Leaderless Proof-of-Stake?
Fantom opera mainnet behaves differently when it comes to validating the transaction using PoS, Unlike some other traditional Proof-of-Stake systems, where some validators have a say on the validity of the transactions, opera mainnet is completely leaderless thereby removing any chance for the set of validators to have a significant say.
Removing leaders increases network security substantially.
Fantom is completely Open-sourced and community-driven:
Like most of the blockchain platforms Fantom too is open-source, they envision creating modular building blocks for anyone to use and customize to their needs.
You can contribute and adapt their tech by visiting their Github account to access their code here:
Also, Fantom being permissionless, allows anyone to become a validator by running their node.
As per their official doc,
On Fantom’s Opera Chain, a virtually unlimited number of validator nodes can participate in securing the network, as long as they keep a minimum of 3,175,000 FTM at stake. FTM is their native token which can be traded over centralized exchanges and only Defi platforms.
You can also become a delegator if you don’t have the required FTM token to the stake, you just need 1 FTM to do so.
Enough of the tech discussion, for now, it's time to move forward and see what are some of the popular Defi, Dapps projects are leveraging Fantom to power themselves.
What Projects Are Leveraging Fantom?
Travala: Blockchain-based travel booking platform
Travala is leveraging Fantom’s blockchain platform to help travel freaks book over 3,000,000 travel products worldwide, including hotels, homes, flights, tours, and activities, this will be a huge boost to Fantom’s adoption.
DABS. Innovative energy solutions.
Fantom has already signed an MoU with DABS
DABS is Afghanistan’s national, fast-growing electricity company. It manages electricity production, import, transmission, and distribution across the country.
where they have agreed to cooperate on the digitalization and implementation of advanced audit software within DABS’s operations. This a huge partnership to support smart energy in Afghanistan, which can help more adoption & validation of the Fantom platform.
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment:
Fantom has also cracked one more collaboration with the Afghanistan government’s, ACCI. They will be working with them to enhance their current software, incorporating cryptographic and blockchain tools, including the authentication of documentation for Certificates of Origin and Certificates of Quality.
Royal Star Pharma Partnership:
Royal Star is one of the biggest pharmaceutical distributors in Afghanistan has collaborated with Fantom to solve the counterfeit drugs problem prevalent in their region.
For more partnerships & integration which fantom has cracked, refer to their official site here:
https://fantom.foundation/partners/
Decentralized Finance With Fantom :
Fantom is one of the few integrated platforms which also has strong support for the Defi ecosystem.
Fantom’s DeFi stack is built on an aBFT consensus. It’s much faster, cheaper, and more reliable and secure than its predecessors.
On Fantom, you can access Defi and trade directly from your wallet, using the following simple steps
- Deposit FTM to your wallet(fWallet)
- Mint fUSD with your fMint
- Use fUSD to trade, lend, and borrow on fLend
For more details visit:
https://fantom.foundation/defi/
Market Stats, Fundamentals & Tokenomics:
What is FTM Token?
FTM is the primary token on the Fantom network. FTM is used for
- Securing the network through staking
- For governance
- For payments, and for Network fees.
Market Stats:
As per coinmarketplace
The live Fantom price today is ₹157.50 INR with a 24-hour trading volume of ₹56,676,101,178 INR. We update our FTM to INR price in real-time. Fantom is down 1.26% in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #29, with a live market cap of ₹400,844,571,337 INR. It has a circulating supply of 2,545,006,273 FTM coins and a max. supply of 3,175,000,000 FTM coins.
Current price:
- The live Fantom price today (at the time of writing )is ₹157.50 INR with a 24-hour trading volume of ₹56,676,101,178 INR.
Market Rank is: 29
Total MarketCap: ₹400,844,571,337 INR
Total Circulating Supply is: 2,545,006,273 FTM coins
Max Supply Is: 3,175,000,000 FTM coins.
Fantom’s Founders & Team
When it comes to analyzing the fundamentals of any crypto, it is imperative to understand who are the founders and core team members behind the project. The Fantom Foundation was established by South Korean computer scientist
- Dr. Ahn Byung Ik.
- Currently, the platform’s CEO is Michael Kong.
Fantom also has a strong team supporting their strong open-source vision and comprises engineers, scientists, researchers, designers, and entrepreneurs.
Refer to the image below which has been sourced from their official site :
Where Can You Trade FTM Token?
FTM has been listed on some of the major centralized exchanges like
- Coinbase
- Binance
- Gate.io
- OKEx Korea.
Fantom Tokenomics:
There are a total of 3.175 Bn FTM tokens, and their proposed distribution strategy that was proposed at the time of their ICO was
- 40 % Token sale to start with
- 30 % Market Development
- 15 % Advisors / contributors
- 15 % Fantom team & Founders
Fantom Roadmap :
Another deciding factor that one should look for when picking any crypto projects that make a part of their investment portfolio is the RoadMap. It gives a clear indication of what has been delivered and what is yet to be achieved against all the promises they laid down. This also helps one to analyze how capable their team is in meeting their own commitments.
So with this idea let’s see how Fantom’s journey has been so far, this roadmap was proposed in 2018, at the time of the ICO
As per the Roadmap:
The Fantom Opera Chain did went live on 27 December 2019.
Summary & The Road Ahead:
I Feel :
Fantom is one of those crypto gems whose fundamentals look very promising. They have cracked some really promising deals with the Afghanistan govt, the Pak government, and also have some cool collaborations in the pharma and food traceability domain. Their technology and team look rock solid and their ecosystem looks all posied to flourish in 2021 and thereafter.
All in all, I feel one should keep a hawk-eye on FTM if they are looking to pick a crypto gem that can outperform their current price tag in long term. Fantom due to its strong fundamentals and partnership that can come to fruition largely in 2021–22, still looks undervalued. It has all the ingredients to become a successful Defi-enabled blockchain ecosystem, empowering the thriving Defi & Dapps space.
For more technical details about Fantom, Do visit:
Disclaimer!
Opinions expressed here at CryptoWise are not investment advice and are only for educational purposes. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility
