Universal Protocol … HTTP for the blockchain world.
In the beginning of the internet boom, multiple companies competed with each other to become the preeminent provider of information … until someone realized that they would all benefit if they chose to work together.
Metcalfe's law states that
the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2).The pioneers of the internet boom realized this, and decided to work together to make it easier to share information. That led to the invention and adoption of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). This allowed different groups to share information quickly and efficiently, regardless of the programming language they were wrote with.
Universal Protocol (read their whitepaper here), an effort spearheaded by multiple giants of the cryptocurrency space (Brave, Blockchain at Berkeley, Cred and Uphold) is doing just that for the Blockchain world.
Sounds like a pretty ambitious goal, eh? Well it is … but it is also necessary to increase the user adoption of Blockchain technologies around the world.
Currently the cryptocurrency space is the wild west of investment products, with new ICO’s being launched every few minutes and shitcoins dominating the space. With every new ICO comes promises of the crypto holy grail, another moon shot that will turn your .0037 BTC into a million overnight… Ya …
Universal Protocol is working to solve some of the key issues facing the cryptocurrency space:
Lack of Interoperability
Vitalik and friends (ie: Ethereum) taught the world about smart contracts: ie self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. With the birth of this concept came the subsequent birth of dApps and a multitude of ICO’s (initial coin offerings), most of which exist as ERC-20 tokens.
This was a huge step forward for the world of blockchain technology, but as Ethereum competitors began to pop up we began to be deluged with clone tokens, projects that were hamstrung by the limitations of the platform they launched on and end users suffering a serious lack of functional projects that would add value to their experience.
Ripple and Stellar aimed to solve this problem in the financial market by acting as a trustless intermediary between financial organizations. In the past the SWIFT network provided this service, albeit in a slow and costly manner. Stellar and others have, in essence, made SWIFT obsolete (to the great frustration of individuals heavily invested in this network).
Universal Protocol is this third party, but they are serving the whole cryptocurrency space. They have created what they call a "Universal Token Proxy" which acts as an ERC20 token pegged to an underlying asset. For example, a user could purchase a Bitcoin proxy token which would then cause the purchase of an actual Bitcoin token; however, while holding the proxy token the end user can convert his/her value into any other “proxied” token without having to use an exchange. This form of transaction, also known as atomic swaps, first began in 2017 and revolutionized how value could be transacted across platforms.
In addition to allowing for increased liquidity of value, UP will allow individuals to program smart contracts on various platforms while continuing to write using Solidity, the native language of the Ethereum blockchain. This will make it much easier for users to write smart contracts. Ethereum is wonderful, but is currently limited by a bloated blockchain (I know Vitalik, you are working on it). Being able to leverage other blockchains for processing capacity while still working with Solidity will allow individuals the ability to launch new tokens/projects without having to pay expensive gas fees.
Universal Protocol is the Moses of the cryptocurrency world. With multiple dApp and STO platforms competing to gain market share, UP is parting the waters, breaking bread and bringing us all into the future, one smart contract at a time. With a goal of increasing user adoption of Blockchain technology for all, every existing project benefits from the existence of the UP and it’s sustained success. I for one am excited about this project (even though I am not a dev) due to its promise of increased usability and functionality of Blockchain projects.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized the world as we know it. While they are not yet near market saturation, thought leaders and market movers have grown to respect this relatively new technology even if it is inherently disruptive to their own projects. Universal Protocol is a well thought out, and well funded attempt to bring cryptocurrency to the masses and I would be foolish not to support that ambition.
