IoTeX (IOTX)

1. What is IoTeX (IOTX)?

IoTeX is dedicated to building the trusted fabric of the Internet of Trusted Things, where all physical and virtual things can efficiently exchange information and value at a global scale. IoTeX's Research and Development team is comprised of Ph.Ds from University of Waterloo and National University of Singapore, and engineers in cryptography, artificial intelligence, and IoT who previously worked for Google, Facebook, Uber and Bosch.

IoTeX's mission is to "drive end-to-end trust throughout the entire information life cycle in an IOT network, including data collection, transport, storage, and utilization".

Some of its key features include:

• Roll-DPoS Consensus: the consensus mechanism IoTeX utilizes is a variant of Delegated Proof of Stake ("DPoS"), which is designed to deliver higher scalability with instant finality and without sacrificing decentralization or security. Roll-DPoS randomly selects 24 of the top 36 community-elected Delegates using Distributed Key Generation ("DKG") + Boneh–Lynn–Shacham ("BLS") signatures. New Delegates are randomly selected every epoch to ensure high security and hardware efficiency.
• Layer 2 chain as a service: leveraging the blockchain-in-blockchain architecture for heterogeneous computing, IoTeX provides an open architecture supporting customized and heterogeneous Layer 2 chains aiming for distinct use cases and applications powered by different underlying crypto economics. Layer 2 chains share the same pool of delegate resource which is the cornerstone of the collective trust. With that being provided, one can easily create a subchain as easy as an EC2 instance on AWS Cloud.
• Edge trusted computing: the edge trusted computing provided by Layer 2 chains will enable the sharing economy for trust computing and unlock many interesting trust and privacy centric dApps.
• Cross-network Interoperability: IoTeX rootchain supports cross-chain interactions with other public blockchains as well as all Layer 2 chains with IoTeX Network, which empowers new properties (e.g., privacy) for even classic crypto assets on other chains, and enables cross-chain governance (e.g., govern on one chain and operate on another one).

IOTX is the native asset of the IoTeX network. A few examples of the use cases of the IOTX token include:

• Decentralized governance: staking/voting for Delegates, Delegate rewards and slashing, and network-wide votes/referendums (i.e., changes to rules, parameters, protocols).
• Gas fees: running transactions and executing smart contracts on the IoTeX Network. One novelty is that gas fees are collected as a "tax" and then pooled/distributed to block producing Delegates.
• Bond/operation costs for Layer 2 chains: to provision a Layer 2 chain, one must stake tokens on the Root Chain as bond and pay for operational costs. Each Layer 2 chain may have its own crypto-economics and tokens, but will pay "registration costs" to leverage Root Chain resources.

2. IoTeX's products and technology

2.1 Key products

Staking and voting dApp

In March 2019, the project launched member.iotex.io, a dApp that runs on top of both IoTeX blockchain and Ethereum, as a pioneer for decentralized governance. The governance tasks (i.e., staking, voting, ranking) is running on Ethereum through smart contracts. With a decentralized trustless bridge between IoTeX and Ethereum developed, the status of staking, voting and delegate election on Ethereum contracts instruct the IoTeX blockchain to perform Delegate swaps based on live voting results after every epoch.

This dApp tracks around 10K users on a weekly basis and more than 70K users in total. Users come from 40+ countries all over the world. On average, each user spent about 7 minutes on this dApp. In addition to the web version, this dApp has been integrated Binance's trust wallet and cobo wallet.

IoTeX for smart homes

In October 2018, IoTeX launched a conceptual product demonstrating the possibilities of combining blockchain, trusted computing, and IoT. Particularly, This platform enables the fractional ownership of physical objects of value, e.g., houses, home facilities and smart devices, in addition to cryptocurrency-based settlement.

This conceptual product was demonstrated at CES 2019.

IoTeX is also working with French company SmartHab to push this concept product into a consumer product.

2.2 Blockchain technology

Blockchain-in-blockchain architecture

IoTeX is a network of many blockchains that are hierarchically arranged, where they run concurrently with one another while retaining interoperability. As the figure below illustrates, the root blockchain manages many independent blockchains, or subchains.

A subchain connects to and interacts with IoT devices that share something in common. They either have a similar functional purpose, operate in similar environments, or share the similar level of trust. When a subchain is attacked or experiencing software bugs, the rootchain remains completely unaffected. In addition, cross chain transactions are supported to transfer value and data from subchains to the rootchain or from one subchain to another via the rootchain.

The root blockchain is a public chain accessible by anyone, which has three main objectives:

1. Relay value and data across subchains in a privacy-preserving way to enable interoperability among subchains;
2. Supervision of subchains, e.g., penalize the bonded operators of subchain bybond confiscation;
3. Settlement and anchoring of payments and trust for subchains.
   
   

With these defined objectives, the rootchain specifically focuses on scalability, robustness, privacy-preserving functions and the ability to orchestrate subchains.

A subchain, on the other hand, could potentially be a private blockchain and relies on the rootchain as relay to interact with other subchains. A subchain desires flexibility and extensibility to adapt diversified requirements of different IoT applications, and is very likely to be run by operators whose role is contingent upon a sufficiently high bond being deposited on the rootchain. Optionally, the system allows operators to nominate one or more operators to act for it with or without extra bond. The operator acts as a light client on the rootchain, and a full node on the subchain to seal new blocks.

Roll-DPoS consensus

IoTeX aims to utilize Roll-DPoS consensus to deliver higher scalability with instant finality, without sacrificing decentralization or security. Below is a visualization of the Roll-DPoS consensus algorithm:

In Roll-DPoS, any node can self-nominate and register to become a block producer, and community members can cast their vote for their favorate self-nominated node.

Roll-DPoS runs in periods, or "epochs". At the beginning of each epoch (every 360 blocks), the highest-backed set of candidates is selected to form a "pool of candidates". Out of this pool, block producers are then randomly selected using Deterministic Random Bit Generator ("DRBG").

Block Producers take turns poposing and validating blocks, using pBFT to reach consensus. At the end of each epoch, the protocol adjusts the size of the pool, based on the numnber of subchains running simultaneously.

The blockchain nodes in the candidate pool have an option to become the block producers for subchains if they are not being selected as the block producers for the root chain at the current epoch. As a result, the candidate pool is divided into multiple subgroups, one of which acts as block producers for the root chain and others for different subchains. Whenever the number of idle nodes (i.e., those nodes are not block producers for either root chain or sidechains) is larger than a predefined threshold, a certain number of blockchain nodes will be evicted from the candidate pool.

For the alpha test, the network throughput had been capped at around 200 transactions per second (TPS). However, the team claims the mainnet should be able to achieve 2,000+ TPS. Meanwhile, for the mainnet beta, Layer-2-chain-as-a-service will be provided, enabling developers and users to easily spin up an Layer 2 chain for specific use cases such as supply chain management. At the same time, the root chain will support cross-chain communication for all Layer 2 chains. While the root chain acts like an orchestrator (of all Layer 2 chains) with EVM-compatible smart contract, IoTeX aims to provide a Layer 2 chain in-house with trusted computing compatibility to enable privacy-preserving applications especially in the context of IoT, e.g., trusted data oracle, device identity management and sharing economics.

3. Economics and supply

The token supply distribution was as follows:

• Private sale tokens make up 24% of total supply. It was conducted in February 2018 at a rate of 96,000 IOTX = 1 ETH and raised a total of 25,000 ETH (~$20M) at ~$0.0083 per token, selling 24% of the total token supply.
• Community Development tokens make up 6% of token supply.
• Team is allocated 15% of the total token supply.
• Ecosystem Development is allocated 18% of total supply.
• Roll-DPoS Mining tokens make up 12% of total supply.
• Foundation received 25% of total supply.

IOTX token supply distribution

As of Apr 2019, IoTeX has used approximately 25% of TGE funds according to the allocations below:

• 70% on Key Partnerships.
• 10% on Marketing/PR.
• 10% on Business Development.
• 10% on Legal/HR/Others.

IoTeX holds its funds in a cold wallet with multisig protection (at least 2 signatures are needed to unlock it, the keys of which are held by three co-founders). The wallet itself is protected by password and has 4 exact copies which are securely stored at different geo-locations.

IoTeX token release schedule

The following chart represents the number and breakdown of all IOTX tokens that are to be released into circulation on a monthly basis.

4. Roadmap, updates, and business development

4.1 Initial roadmap

4.2 Updated roadmap

Q1 2019

• Launch staking/voting and election program (member.iotex.io).
• Onboard global delegates/candidates and voters.
• Mainnet alpha launch.
• Launch member portal, growing users and applications.
• Research and Proof-of-Concept on edge trusted computing.

Q2 2019

• Enroll 12-24th delegates.
• DApp developer program.
• Launch wallet and dApp for asset management and decentralized governance.
• Member portal with more applications focused on smart devices.
• Enable cross-chain (Ethereum->IoTeX) assets transfer.
• Start token swap.

Q3 2019

• Mainnet beta launch with 25-36th delegates enrolled.
• First Layer 2 chain focused on trusted computing and privacy.
• Migrate staking/voting from Ethereum to IoTeX network.
• Finish token swap.

Q4 2019

• Gravity chain and decentralized governance.
• IoTeX execution unit with novel virtual machine/interpreter.
• Privacy-preserving smart contracts and transfers.
• Trusted-computing and privacy-centric dApps.

4.3 Commercial and business development progress

• XYO Network: XYO is the world's first decentralized geolocation oracle powered by a human-powered P2P network. The partnership is intended to sync XYO's geolocation capabilities with the IoTeX blockchain, allowing IoTeX developers to leverage XYO's geolocation network. By mid-2019, IoTeX targets to be able to settle geolocation transactions from XYO's network on the IoTeX blockchain, enabling new "geolocation-as-a-service" capabilities in the IoTeX network.
• Lineable: Lineable is a hardware company that builds smart wearable devices to keep families safe and connected. Lineable plans to connect 1,000,000+ Lineable devices to the IoTeX blockchain to securely share verifiable user data with third parties, while ensuring full privacy of user data (e.g., geolocation, health).
• Weeve: Weeve is a Berlin-based blockchain company building a decentralized platform to transform IoT data into tradeable digital assets. Weeve will use IoTeX's infrastructure in its tech stack as a privacy-preserving blockchain layer for the transmission and storage of IoT data.
• SmartHab: SmartHab is an end-to-end smart building solutions provider, connecting various types of smart devices to automate building operations and add transparency for residents and building owners. SmartHab is currently building the HAB platform, a blockchain-based registry that records critical data from smart buildings and cities. SmartHab will leverage IoTeX's privacy-centric blockchain infrastructure to build the HAB platform, most notably to ensure the privacy of sensitive data.
• NKN: NKN is a connectivity protocol and ecosystem focused on providing an open, decentralized, and shared Internet. NKN and IoTeX have completed a blockchain proof of concept centered around blockchain-powered smart home control and authorization to sharing economy renters. NKN and IoTeX are working together on R&D, along with other partners across the various infrastructure pillars with the goal of driving holistic decentralized use cases.
• CertiK: CertiK is a blockchain and smart contract verification platform, whose services are used by many top blockchain projects, including Ontology, Qtum, ICON, and VeChain. IoTeX will work with CertiK to ensure the security of the IoTeX ecosystem, as well as the various dApps built on top of the IoTeX blockchain. In the future, Certik and IoTeX look to collaborate on smart contract security research and the development of privacy-preserving computations that can operate within smart contracts and be formally verified autonomously.
• The Giving Block: The Giving Block helps nonprofits leverage cryptocurrency and blockchain to elevate their impact. The Giving Block introduces nonprofits to the transformative nature of cryptocurrency, providing education, equipping them to fundraise crypto and matching them with top projects in the industry to explore innovative use cases.
• IoTeX joined Trusted IoT Alliance, China Mobile IoT Alliance, IIC, Draper Network for enterprise business development;
• IoTeX hosted an exhibition at the Consumer Electronics Show ("CES") and met with over 200 IoT companies, featured as one of the most innovative blockchain companies at CES;

Besides the above disclosed partnerships, IoTeX is working with enterprises on the below use cases: Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance, Private rating/score; Trust Computing Hardwares, Decentralized Commerce, etc.

5. Project team

6. IoTeX's activity and community overview

6.1 Development activity

6.2 Social and community data

Social community overview and strategy

The team lists the following strategies for future community development:

• More product lines: in addition to the wallet and staking apps, IoTeX is developing new products on top of its Network. These new products are focusing on end users directly and are solving problems around interacting with people and machines in a privacy-preserving manner.
• Better market penetration:
  • Co-organize events and co-brand with fellow blockchain projects/local partners/delegates/media in various regions to grow local community and educate community supporters;
  • Brand ambassador program in over 20 countries to drive local community growth.
  • Will bundling products with platforms such as exchanges, wallets and dApp browsers to grow user base.
  • Online campaign events to grow users.
• Diversification:
  • Partner with IoT developer community.
  • Promote products among IoT hobbyists and people who are interested in smart devices, smart homes and more.
  • Hackathon organizers and industry alliance to drive developer adoption and brand awareness in tech community.

Community and social channels

Reddit (English)
Medium (English)
Medium (English)
Telegram (English)
Announcement Channel (English)
Trading Channel (English)
Telegram (Russian)
Telegram (Chinese)
Telegram (Korean)
Youtube (English)
Bitcointalk Forum

7. Appendix

Advisors

• Prof. Guang Gong (Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, Cryptography and Network Security, University of Waterloo)
• Fan Zhang (Director of DFJ ePlanet Ventures' China practice)
• Michael Cho (Board Member, Kakao Corp)

References

• IoTeX White Paper
• DKSAP - IoT
• pBFT
• Roll - DPoS
• Mainnet Chain Dashboard
• Testnet Chain Dashboard

Media mentions

• Tim Draper-Backed Blockchain Unveils "Trust Scores for Everything" (CCN)
• IoTeX Announces Security and Privacy-Focused Blockchain Purpose-Built for IoT (MarketWatch)
• IoTeX Scales Up: Privacy-Focused IoT Mainnet Within Weeks (CryptoBriefing)
• Leading Blockchain Integration With IoT Devices for Enhanced Security (Forbes)
• Identity Crisis: How Can Blockchain Protect Our Identity? (Forbes)
• The Demand For Blockchain Engineers Is Skyrocketing, But Blockchain Itself Is Redefining How They're Employed (Forbes)
• IoTeX Presents Innovative IoT Privacy Technology at CES (Yahoo Finance)