In a nutshell TomoChain aims to be a salable infrastructure layer for dApps and token issuance. It will be a permissioned blockchain with masternode operation for network stability. In the current plan it will be pegged to the Ethereum network allowing lots of cool interoperability functions such as cross chain atomic swaps and use of all Ethereum smart contracts. TomoChain will act on it's own chain which you could say will be a side chain of Ethereum, sharing data and value when necessary. In the future it will also allow for any number of side chains to be developed on their infrastructure. This would essentially allow any business user to deploy their own side chain within the TomoChain infrastrucutre with their own token and dApp for unclogged transaction speed and latency.
As a starting point TomoChain will launch it's infrastructure with 2 base dApps:
The blockchain itself will be based off the Ethereum codebase thus allowing interoperability between functions of the two chains including tokens and smart contracts. Ethereum being the far leader of VM blockchains is a safe bet for the future although in theory TomoChain could also add support for other blockchains as well. The main benefit of the TomoChain is obviously scalability. TomoChain will have fast >2s block times with near zero fees thus actually allowing use cases where blockchains can work well in the future such as micro transactions such as continual streaming transactions.
TomoChain will be supported by a number of permissioned nodes which TomoChain will setup and operate, these will act as masternodes and sevicenodes securing the system and processing transactions at high availability and speed. This permissioned masternode system is what will allow for the fast block times, near zero fees and security at the cost of full decentralisation. Consensus will be based on Proof of Authority algorithm that the Ethereum Kovan test network runs. PoA allows trusted validators within the network to ensure valid transactions are added to blocks and processed, in TomoChain masternodes will act as these trusted validators. One nice feature in PoA is the inbuilt antispam mechanism which comes from its permissioned nature. In the future TomoChain will open up to allow others ie businesses to operate their own nodes.
The test network is up and running and status can be viewed here:
https://stats.tomocoin.io/
TomoChain will launch with a nice wallet for it's users to store TomoCoin and all supported ethereum tokens (ERC20). As tokens are launched on TomoChain these can also be stored within the wallet. The obvious mechanism for the wallet will allow users to send and receive these tokens as well as send/receive messages between friends. APIs are to be developed allowing further integrations of 3rd party apps.
Wallet demo is here:
https://wallet.tomocoin.io/
The initial app to be launched will act as a sort of knowledge sharing, Q&A social media network with rewards incentive similar but not the same as Steemit. The app aims to connect experts and celebrities with anyone else in a rewards incentive structure for creating good content. Users are able to post questions and receive answers from experts, they can also watch short videos from experts/celebrities and friends, send gifts and visa versa. Secure private messaging is also included. All good content is rewarded and these rewards in the form of TomoCoins can be used for services from other apps within the TomoChain network or within the app itself to boost your posts/videos, pay for access to private channels, buy items on the marketplace and give gifts to streamers.
The app is available in the following forms
Google play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vn.cityme.tomoapp
iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tomo/id1228483510?ls=1&mt=8
Web:
https://tomoapp.com/
The team behind TomoChain is one of the main reasons it caught my eye out of the hundreds of ICOs that fly by every month. When grading ICOs a strong team almost trumps most other requirements due to the brand emerging nature of this industry, a team you know can get things done is worth a lot. TomoChain is led by Long Vuong who is no stranger to blockchain becoming involved in development of the NXT framework (If you don't know NXT where have you been?) and was also co creator of NEM which should need no introduction even to newcomers in the space. The rest of the team are also strong technologists, however the only issue I have here is that there is only 4 people on the team.
While this may be enough to get the job done and they have already released several prototypes so they are more than capable but it is always nice to have a safety net of a larger team behind the project. One thing that is definitely needed is a strong marketing/business relationship manager to really drive adoption with other businesses as this is the whole point of the network. However maybe they are focused on development for the time being and will hire further marketing managers when they have launched their product fully.
We're seeing more and more 2nd layer solutions developing into the market with the hopes of solving the clogged network, high fees and poor usability that were always lingering under existing blockchains but were never fully brought to light until 2017s massive increase in use. We see lone apps like cryptokitties clogging, driving up fees and slowing down confirmations. If one app causes this much havoc to the network while in essence being a simple game with relatively low users compared to other blockbuster games then how will the Ethereum network support the future of transactions. This is a whole other debate and granted Vitalik and others are working on their own solutions to this problem.
TomoChain is one such solution to the scalability problem, essentially a sidechain of ethereum which operates on it's own yet references the Ethereum network when necessary. This then allows complete interopability with Ethereum, a smart move at current as the vast majority of activity is there. TomoChain fits in nicely as it not only offers a solution to scalability it also offers opportunity to leverage Ethereums network features such as unified turing complete contracts with that of a TomoChains community, their sidechains speed, flexibility and reliability due to the masternode system. I'm looking forward to seeing what apps deploy on TomoChain and their related sidechains.
While wallets and social media networks have been done on blockchain before tying it all together with a flexible and scalable infrastructure layer is where the uniqueness and main selling point for TomoChain is.
There will be 100 million tokens in total of which 50% will be available in a token sale. 35% will be used for the reward system and the further 15% will be used for the development and team with a 4 year vesting schedule. Any unsold tokens will be kept by the company and locked for one year, although I doubt any tokens will not be sold due to the very low cap. Total hard cap is $8.5 million however it appears of that a maximum of $7.5 million was available in a private pre sale (Not sure if all was sold in private presale). They will be opening the final sale to the public sometime in late Feb or early March where a minimum of $1 million will be available. In all the hard cap is a very reasonable amount however I am concerned over the vast majority being sold to private contributors, it would put ease in my mind if the details of said sale were made public.
I am bullish on TomoChain long term, as with all blockchain projects their time will come in the next 2yrs+ when businesses and more end users are comfortable with the industry and when it comes to the point where most don't know they are even interacting with a blockchain. TomoChain does just that and will launch with several apps already which is a bonus for adoption. Prototypes are already there, the team is well known but could be bigger, the solution solves a real problem in an innovative way, hard cap is very reasonable, official release Q4 2018 and mostly the fact that it's not just an app it's also infrastructure which is ultimately more valuable.
If I had any gripes with TomoChain it would be the fact the the network itself is not completely decentralised meaning masternodes will need to be adequately protected from attack and users would have to trust TomoChain's masternodes completely. However a permissioned masternode backed system would in turn be better suited to established businesses which do not take to decentralisation as tech start ups or end users may do. This then puts TomoChain into the market line of other permissioned blockchain infrastructure such as Hyperledger and funnily enough NEM, although I believe TomoChain slides in the middle between full permissioned systems and completely permissionless systems as it offers both in the one network.
What's your opinion of TomoChain? Leave a comment below
