A Message From Our CEO — A Look Back On 2021
Dear GoChain Community,
Another year is winding down and what a year it has been … I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation for all of you who have supported us through all the highs and lows. This year is no different as we remained focused on growing the GoChain ecosystem while navigating the various challenges stemming from the ongoing pandemic, global market volatility, supply chain challenges, to economic and financial uncertainties. Nonetheless, 2021 was another big year for GoChain with increased adoption of its protocol, improved token utility and economics, further growth of our ecosystem and validation of our layer 1 blockchain protocol given its high scalability, low-carbon footprint, and “Proof of Reputation” consensus mechanism and governance framework, which continue to resonate well with enterprises and governments. The GoChain Foundation, GoChain, Inc. are alive and well and we continue to drive adoption and usage of blockchain and specifically of our protocol for the betterment of society and our environment.
Highlights
GO Protocol, Governance, & Network:
- Select stats (CYE2021):
- No of transactions: 22,092,395 (since inception)
- Circulation: 1,120,164,966 $GO
- Burned: 159,081 $GO
- $GO (low): $0.007 (1/1/2021)
- $GO (high): $0.076 (3/30/2021)
- $GO (CYE): $0.036 (12/31/2021) - New Staking Rewards program launched in June 2021:
- Staked: 30 million $GO
- Rewarded: 1,430,800 $GO - Darvaza Fork Upgrade — completed on March 17, 2021 (Block 17,900,000)
- Node Validators: New-1, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology); Retired-0
- New listing(s): SwapSpace and Swapzone
- Improvement Proposals (GIP): Five
- Passed/Implemented: GIP 29, GIP 30
- Passed/Pending: GIP 35
- Not Passed: GIP 34, GIP 36 - Steering Committee: Seven members
- New member: Cassandra Ferrara
Enterprise & Government:
- GoChain and Chainparency announced new first-of-a-kind work with the National Government of Colombia via its National Mining Agency of Colombia (Agencia Nacional de Mineria or ANM) to re-imagine and digitally transform Colombia’s minerals and mining sector; announcement was made at the Dubai World Expo 2021 in the UAE
- Colombia was the first globally to mint a mining contract not only on-chain but as a NFT on the GoChain blockchain
- Following its successful debut at the Spring Fever Festival in April 2021 with Sueco, the Zeromint NFT Marketplace was officially launched in Q2 2021 to offer artists and creators with ability to sustainably mint and transact premium NFTs; multiple premier drops (in a variety of sectors ranging from conservation, philanthropy, music, art, photography, to esports and gaming) were announced and successfully conducted throughout the year
- Chainparency officially launched in Q1 2021 to enable granular blockchain-based track and trace for transparent and responsible supply chains; the turnkey GoTrace application via a SaaS subscription empowers all stakeholders regardless of size or budget to participate in digital, blockchain traceability
- Chainparency received several accolades and achievements in 2021 including:
- selected as a finalist to pitch at the 23rd World Petroleum Congress in the Innovation Zone hosted by ConocoPhillips
- received the “Blockchain Innovator of the Year 2021” award at the Global Supply Chain Conference 2021 in Houston, TX
- one of five solution providers selected to participate in a Global Dialogue for Seafood Traceability (GDST) exercise for implementing interoperable seafood traceability - With markets opening up by Q4, I was able to get back on the road to spread the word on GoChain and its growing ecosystem at a variety of in-person events from Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando to Dubai; additionally, we were able to get coverage via multiple podcasts and virtual talks and interviews including a brief chat with Jane King at the Nasdaq
- GoChain, Chainparency, and Zeromint collectively continue to experience solid momentum and inroads in Latin America via multiple clients & partners ranging from ProNatura, Lexia Abogados, Artrade.co, Seguros Mundial to the government of Colombia
- We also continue to work closely with our node partners including the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and its Center for Supply Chain Research (CSCR), which in 2021 released an outstanding white paper on blockchain fundamentals & applications.
From Trilemma to Trifecta
In 2018, the GoChain mainnet was officially launched with the primary goal of tackling the blockchain scalability problem through a highly scalable and green blockchain protocol designed to drive mainstream and enterprise adoption. Anchored by a novel “Proof of Reputation” consensus mechanism, we’ve largely accomplished our goals by providing a highly scalable and ‘green’ layer 1 blockchain alternative to Ethereum, which continues to offer a no/low-scale and expensive experience for all users regardless of industry or use case. GoChain on the other hand, as increasingly validated by a growing number of organizations and institutions such as the Government of Colombia, NYSE-listed Enviva, ProNatura, Conservation International, the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), has increasingly been recognized as an ideal enterprise-grade protocol for addressing the Ethereum scalability problem or ‘blockchain trilemma’; we offer the right level of decentralization in order to ensure both high-security and -scalability as needed for enterprise and mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.
Building on this success and momentum, this year we launched Zeromint and Chainparency, which in addition to the GoChain Foundation and its protocol has resulted in the establishment of a GoChain ‘trifecta’ of complementary blockchain-based solution offerings for consumer retail, enterprise, and government purposes. As highlighted in my recent talks at the Sustainability Ag Summit 2021, Global Supply Chain Conference 2021, 23rd World Petroleum Congress and BTOES 2021, NFTs as uniquely identifiable assets will increasingly be utilized in enterprise transactions and supply chains. The harmonizing of our collective businesses and technologies further enables the efficient use and relative ease of deployment of GoChain-powered products and solutions such as NFTs across industries. With this ‘trifecta’ technology stack in place, we are well-positioned to capitalize on a multitude of new opportunities to include the use of blockchain, digital twins, smart contracts, etc. in a variety of cases ranging from the ‘first mile’ in supply chains, mixed realities, to the industrialized metaverse.
Looking Ahead to 2022
With strong tailwinds, we are optimistic about the prospects for 2022 and plan to further drive adoption and usage of the GoChain protocol in a variety of sectors and industries globally. Additionally, we also plan to focus on the following:
- Governance: Next year we’ll aim to onboard at least three new node validators in order to further improve our governance framework of our node validator network. With the onboarding of any new node, we’ll also re-assess and potentially phase out select nodes as warranted.
- Staking: We also plan to expand the staking program to enable increased opportunities for community participation, rewards, and engagement.
- Marketing: As markets increasingly open, we plan to build off of our recent Q3–4 2021 efforts and ramp up our participation in enterprise and blockchain events; additionally, to launch new marketing initiatives. We recognize more visibility is required to drive greater awareness of GoChain and its many innovations and benefits. Subject to evolving pandemic requirements, the first event identified for Q1 will be the Trust, Traceability, and Digital Trade event held in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. More details and announcements forthcoming.
- Enterprise Blockchain: We’ll of course continue with our ongoing traction and efforts to drive enterprise (and government) adoption of the GoChain blockchain protocol and standards particularly in the areas of agriculture, commodities, supply chain, digital media, and finance. We’re also working to support and onboard various new DApps built on GoChain. We’re doing a lot of great, real world and impactful work, which we look forward forward to highlighting as soon as feasible in the new year.
As always, we are keen to hear from you. Please do share your thoughts and keep the GIPs coming. Thanks again for continuing to believe in us and supporting the GoChain protocol and ecosystem. We are grateful for all of you and your ongoing support. We wish you all a happy holiday season and look forward to sharing more news in the new year!
Henry Ines, CEO and Steering Committee Member
