Project Overview
What does the company/project do?
DxChain is developing a decentralized big data and machine learning network.
The project is based on the premise that data is valuable and data creators should be able to own and benefit from their own data. The team aims to tackle major big data issues such as privacy, ownership, and security while supporting business intelligence and machine learning applications.
With DxChain’s decentralized data exchange platform, users would be able to own and control their own data, and securely trade and analyze data. Utilizing blockchain technology featuring multi-nodes and distributed storage, the costs of data retrieval and storage would also be reduced significantly.
DxChain is based on a chains-on-chain architecture which includes one master chain and two side chains. The structure was designed as such in order to solve multiple issues related to data computation, storage, and privacy issues; this would otherwise be difficult to do simultaneously with only one chain.
The idea for the structure was inspired by Lightning Network, which features a second layer payment protocol on top of a blockchain. It was also inspired by Hadoop, a centralized big data platform that was developed by The Apache Software Foundation (where one of the team members worked previously).
The three chains on DxChain’s platform are each responsible for storing different information:
Master Chain: Stores asset information and events such as states, transactions, receipts, and contracts. The master chain uses proof-of-work (PoW) to provide the highest level of security and stability.
Data Side Chain (DSC): Stores non-asset information, or metadata, which is a set of data that provides information on other data and serves as a method of storage retrieval.
Computation Side Chain (CSC): Stores specific computing tasks performed on the DxChain platform and is responsible for recording matching processes of computation, such as whether a certain task can be completed or not.
Key features of the platform:
Verification game: Enables any computational task to be performed securely while minimizing the number of network node computations required.
Provable Data Computation (PDC): Allows the network to verify the accuracy of computation results. This is used by the computation chain to verify the authenticity of results and reduces the prevalence of false information.
Proof of Spacetime (PoSt) & Provable Data Possession (PDP): Used as the consensus protocol of storage. The data chain uses PoSt and PDP to verify processes and to prevent various types of attacks that might bring down the network.
Data Model Enables Privacy Preserving: Enables flexibility in retrieving files at a more granular scale.
This diagram illustrates the key components and features of DxChain’s chains-on-chain architecture:
How advanced is the project?
DxChain Network is still in working process with the MVP currently set to launch sometime in July. According to the CTO, Wei Wang, a test chain could be launched in the next few months and its official network could be released early next year.
Trustlook, which is the AI-based security firm founded by one of the co-founders, will be the first application in DxChain.
The project’s historical milestones and future development roadmap is as follows:
Q2 2018
MVP network launch (update: MVP release has been delayed to July 2018)
Q3 2018
Master/DSC test network beta launch
Q4 2018
Master/DSC test network launch
API/SDK/library beta launch
Wallet alpha preview
Q1 2019
Master/Data main network launch
API/SDK/library publish
Wallet launch
Q2 2019
Data model for DSC launch
DVM preview launch
Q3 2019
DVM beta
CSC preview launch
Q4 2019
Master/CSC/DSC main network launch
What are the tokens used for and how can token value appreciate?
The DX token is the network’s native protocol token. The token will initially be issued as ERC-20 tokens after the crowdsale and will be migrated to the DxChain mainnet after it is launched. There are several uses for the tokens:
DX tokens will serve as a secure and primary method of payment between participants in the network.
Providers of computational and storage resources that are required for running various apps and transactions will be rewarded with DX tokens.
Miners will be rewarded with DX tokens based on the usefulness of work that they passively provide.
DX tokens should appreciate in value as more users join and use the network. This is driven by numerous factors, including the number and type of applications available on the platform, user experience, data storage capacity and processing speed, etc.
Team
The team is currently comprised of 10 people based in San Francisco. The biographies of the key team members are summarized below.
Allan Zhang, Co-Founder – Over 10 years of experience in security, particularly in mobile security, network application protocol detection and network based vulnerability detection assessment. Founder and CEO of Trustlook, which develops AI-based cybersecurity products. Previous roles include senior vulnerability research engineer at Palo Alto Networks and TELUS Security Solution, senior security engineer at nCircle Network Security, and software engineer at Lucent Technology.
Wei Wang, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist – Experience in various fields including blockchain research and development, big data, and distributed systems. Previously the principal scientist of blockchain research at AT&T and the principal scientist of big data & parallel computing at Hortonworks. Prior positions include data scientist at Apixio and various research positions at Columbia University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University.
James Li, Co-Founder – Experienced in blockchain systems design and architecture. Over 10 years of working experience in network security. Previously the manager of the mobile department at Trustlook, the principal security engineer at nCircle Network Security, and a senior software developer at Lucent Technologies.
Taosheng Shi, Blockchain Engineer – Over 10 years of experience in distributed system research and development. Previously worked at NOKIA as innovation manager for 5 years conducting R&D in data warehousing and radio cloud platforms providing expertise in big data integration, data warehouse architecture, etc.
Li Lu, Blockchain Researcher – Over 10 years of experience in distributed systems and big data. Previously the Director of Engineering at LaiOffer, an Internet-based education platform. Previously worked in various positions at The Apache Software Foundation, Hortonworks, Google, and Microsoft. Obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Rochester in 2014.
The project is also hiring multiple positions on their Career page.
Advisors of the project include Yan Gong, Professor of CEIBS; Kevin Hsu, Founder of BlockVC; Leo Wang, Founding partner of PreAngel; and Fan Zhang, Partner of Vancoin and former Founding Partner of Sequoia Capital China.
Investors of the project include PreAngel, Fenbushi Digital, BlockVC, Node Capital, Signum Capital, JRR Crypto, Fission Capital, and more.
Opportunities
Concerns over data ownership and privacy is becoming more and more prevalent around the world. The recent enactment of the GDPR in the European Union shows how serious the issue has become for both individuals and governments on legitimate collection and use of personal data.
If the team is successful in decentralizing Hadoop, a distributed file storage and computation solution, we believe it provides a substantial potential.
The team has a strong technical background and relevant working experience in the fields of big data, distributed systems, blockchain research, network security, and so on.
Concerns
Proof of Spacetime is a new concept and no established blockchain is currently using it. It is unclear whether this concept will ultimately work.
While PoST doesn’t require expensive mining hardware, there is still the concern that a rich player, such as a nation state or a manufacturer that enjoys cost advantage, could employ a large amount of storage and get to sign most blocks.
Conclusion
Overall, we like the flipping potential of the ICO and are neutral about its long-term potential. Our thoughts on buying the tokens for flipping and investing for the long term are as follows:
For flipping
Good. The project has average market awareness but with strong team, good idea and token metrics. With the backing of the numerous investors, we believe the project will be able to get listed on a decent exchange.
Note that the project is allocating 44% of the hard cap to crowdsale, which is relatively high among recent ICOs. It is refreshing to see that the public can have a wider participation of the project.
For long-term holding
Neutral. The project is very ambitious that focuses on both data storage and computation, as well as the migration of Hadoop to a decentralized environment. It also aims to provide the world’s largest storage space.
If the project can achieve its vision, the potential can be massive and lots of dApps can benefit from DxChain.
On the other hand, while the team is impressive, there is not much work that is released publicly yet. We will look closely to the MVP that is set to launch in the near future.
For more information about the ICO, please visit the following links:
Website: https://www.dxchain.com
Whitepaper: https://docsend.com/view/8w3fman
Blog: https://medium.com/dxchainnetwork
Telegram: https://t.me/dxchain
Telegram (crowdsale details): https://t.me/dxchainchannel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DxChainNetwork
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DxChain-179719632741800
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNIWZiYjMKVjF1LIY9uIslg
Referral link (https://t.me/DxChainBot?start=gk2knt-gk2knt)
DxChain’s website (https://www.dxchain.com/)
