Introducing Ontology 2.0: Layer 2 Enabled, Accessible, Business Ready

The Ontology Team
OntologyNetwork
Published in
7 min readJun 1, 2020

A faster, cheaper, leading enterprise platform

- Foreword

A new version of Ontology is being rolled out that is Layer 2 enabled, accessible, and business ready. For more detailed information and tech documentation, please check out our GitHub page.

- Introduction

Ontology 2.0 was made with both enterprises and developers in mind. We have included several key new features such as Wasm-JIT, Multi-VM, Layer 2, and ONT ID 2.0. With these advanced technologies, Ontology is even more capable of tackling issues surrounding scalability, performance, compatibility, and personal data security. This version also includes the Add-on Store, which will be particularly beneficial for developers who are not overly familiar with blockchain. The Add-on Store serves as an on-ramp for developers to quickly get up to speed with the world of blockchain.

Ontology also has the fastest Wasm-JIT implementation, with execution speeds reaching more than twice that of EOS Wasm. Ontology’s Multi-VM is the first to support seamless contract interactions among different environments, with Ontology Layer 2 contributing to a more comprehensive public chain platform.

The new version of ONT ID, ONT ID 2.0, fully complies with the definitions and requirements in the W3C draft standard Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0, supporting controller and recovery mechanisms.

- Upcoming Releases

  • Add-on Store: allows developers to craft custom blockchain based solutions for applications that may not necessarily be blockchain based or decentralized. Modules can be downloaded in the form of SDKs and can be used to integrate the necessary functionality to an application depending on the kind of functionality and business logic that one is trying to implement. The add-on store also allows developers to create customized add-ons apart from the pre-defined add-ons provided by Ontology.
  • SAGA: A decentralized data marketplace utilizing ONT ID 2.0, provides a space for users to store their data securely and safely.
  • New staking mode: The staking requirement will be lowered, as well as the requirements to become a node. Now, only users who stake ONT can receive ONG.
  • New governance mode: Applications will open up for anyone to become a node, which means there will be no need to pass KYC verification. The Ontology team will provide a series of operational services. Changes will be seen in how ONT holders receive ONG as rewards (more details to be released).
  • KG: Knowledge Graph use case

- Our goal

For enterprises, we provide comprehensive blockchain solutions for their businesses.

For partners, we explore and jointly develop new blockchain use cases.

For developers, we provide fast and easy-to-use development toolkits.

For users, we give them the ability to take back control of their data.

- Ontology 2.0 MainNet Components

The Ontology 2.0 MainNet will include the following four components:

Wasm-JIT is a Wasm operation that can translate Wasm bytecode into native machine code in advance, before executing the machine code directly. Compared to parsing and executing one by one, JIT operations can greatly improve execution speed.

The fast execution speed is a remarkable advantage of Ontology Wasm-JIT. Compared with previous versions, the performance of this version brings an improvement by an order of magnitude. Compared with the EOS public chain, which also utilizes high-speed Wasm, Ontology Wasm-JIT has reached higher performance speeds.

The table below shows the results of the same environment test on the Ontology and EOS open-source virtual machines. Since EOS has no gas fees, this test is based on a version of the Ontology Wasm-JIT without gas fees as well.

Compared with most public-chain projects that only support one specific virtual machine, such as Ethereum’s EVM or EOS’s Wasm, Ontology’s Multi-VM supports multiple virtual machines and effectively integrates the ecosystem behind each one. This way, developers have more choices to develop with the languages ​​and tools they are familiar with, thereby reducing the learning curve and greatly improving development efficiency.

The remarkable improvement of Wasm-JIT’s performance means that the actual energy consumption for the execution of a single contract instruction is lower, the cost of contract execution can also be reduced, and the user’s gas cost is also decreased. At the same time, Ontology provides a complete set of toolchains, one-stop solutions from contract writing and debugging to releases for developers to experience, including the NeoVM multilingual compiler, Wasm contract optimization tools, and SDK tools.

Overview of languages ​​and platforms currently supported by Ontology and other public chains

As the Ontology tech team has stated, “In the blockchain field, the goal of Virtual Machine (VM) technology is to provide a smart contract execution environment that applies to all businesses. However, from a technical perspective, the efficiency of contract execution, the supported business complexity, and the ability to collaborate across systems are all critical factors. In this process, different VM implementations have different scopes of application. Ontology Multi-VM is committed to meeting a wider range of business requirements, bringing higher execution, efficiency, and lower gas costs.”

As outlined in the Aristotle 2020 roadmap, coupled with Ontology’s cross-chain, Wasm-JIT, Multi-VM, and other cutting-edge core technologies, Ontology’s Layer 2 is now leading the way to an even faster Ontology public chain. This is reflected in our low storage costs, multi-language support, and full compatibility of parsing and execution versions, enabling deployment contracts to interact seamlessly, like running multiple virtual operating systems on the same computer, resulting in higher execution efficiency and lower processing fees.

Ontology Layer 2 can be broken up into three main parts: depositing from Ontology to Layer 2, withdrawing from Layer 2 to Ontology, and the Layer 2 transactions and security guarantee.

ONT ID is a decentralized identity framework created by Ontology and based on the W3C decentralized identity specifications using blockchain and cryptography technology. It can quickly identify and connect identities, assets, and data, with notable features such as decentralization, self-control, security, safety, and accessibility. ONT ID gives users the right to fully control their identities and data.

ONT ID is implemented through native smart contracts on the Ontology public chain. We recommend users and developers check the ONT ID specifications and related contract interface descriptions.

ONT ID 2.0 is a significant improvement to ONT ID 1.0. Here are a few of ONT ID 2.0’s most notable features:

1. The ONT ID 2.0 solution fully complies with the definitions and requirements in the W3C draft standard Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0. ONT ID 2.0 has a high degree of completeness in implementation, supports all operations defined by the W3C standard, and can communicate with DIDs that follow the same standard and are registered in different blockchains and other systems.

2. ONT ID 2.0 authentication and control. The “authentication” attribute exists in the DID Document corresponding to the ONT ID. This attribute defines the method for authenticating the ONT ID. At present, like most DIDs, ONT ID only supports authentication by the signature mechanism. In addition, an ONT ID can be controlled by another ONT ID proxy, which is done by setting the ONT ID’s “controller” attribute. The “controller” attribute can be an ONT ID or a group of ONT IDs, and a complex control mechanism is implemented through logical expressions to adapt to different application scenarios. For example, you can set the “controller” property of “ONT ID E” to [ONT ID A] or [ONT ID B] and [ONT ID C], which means either A can control E, or B and C can control E together.

3. Custom recovery mechanism. If the authentication key of the ONT ID is lost or stolen, users can reset their authentication key through an individual with set recovery rights. A recovery person can be set through the “recovery” attribute of the ONT ID. The “recovery” attribute can be set to an individual ONT ID or a group of ONT IDs, which allows for complex control mechanisms through logical expressions to suit different application scenarios.

4. Custom attributes. ONT ID supports the on-chain binding of custom attributes, which is completed by modifying the “attributes” of the ONT ID. Each “attribute” is a <key, type, value> item, and users can store information according to their needs. There are some restrictions on the number of entries that “attributes” can hold. Users can check the corresponding description in the ONT ID specifications.

- Contact Us

Stay tuned for more updates! If you have any questions or feedback, please email us via contact@ont.io.

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