ArcBlock

As you know, Bitcoin is the first decentralized network built on blockchain. This technology has allowed people around the world to send money online anonymously. This blockchain was called 1.0. Then came the blockchain 2.0. – Ethereum, who presented the technology of intellectual (or smart) contracts.

But these blockchains are not capable of performing other functions, except transferring data and smart contracts. Practically, blockchains do not develop, so the developers don’t create more complex and multifunctional dApps.

The most common problems of blockchains 1.0 and 2.0:

1. The performance is very low. Bitcoin blockchain can transfer no more than 7 transactions per second, Ethereum – no more than a dozen. Even a single application can overload these networks – for example, CryptoKitties, released in December 2017, stalled the network of Ethereum and even raised gas prices. And modern user-focused applications should qualitatively handle the requests of thousands of active users.
2. High prices for the development of blockchain applications. Ideally, the development must be cheap or even free of charge, and also be publicly available to receive the status of mass technology. The services must be paid, but the blockchain and its tools – free.
3. Complicated technology. Only IT professionals can quickly figure out how the blockchain 1.0 and 2.0 work. Other users are afraid to apply this technology freely. It is not easy to become a cryptoinvestor, you need to know how to create a wallet, it’s safe to buy a cryptocurrency and transfer it to the account of another user or company. Blockchain applications should strive to simplify the technology in order to popularize it.
4. There is no a multiplatform support. Now the developers are forced to choose what blockchain to use in order to build their application, because it is impossible to simultaneously create an application that would work immediately in two different networks. But developers, like users, need applications that can easily “switch” between different blockchain networks. And the user interface is now very restricted due to these limits.
5. Fewer functions. Despite the big hype around blockchain, and Bitcoin in particular, the tech is catastrophically limited in its functionality, difficult for the daily use.

The project’s goal.

ArcBlock stands for a decentralized ecosystem, basically they present themselves blockchain 3.0. According to the idea of the developers, this platform will help create the multi-functional blockchain apps that will be understandable and accessible for all newcomers. In fact, ArcBlock will not provide the separate product or set of APIs, but will work as an wholesome blockchain platform on the “cloud” computing services.

How does ArcBlock differ from blockchains 1.0 and 2.0:

•         Innovative architecture;
•         Understandable interface and design;
•         Rewards. Miners of ArcBlock will be able to generate tokens not only by providing their computing powers, but also by developing and integrating new applications into ArcBlock system;
•         Open Chain Access Protocol allows apps to switch between the protocols of different blockchain networks;
•         ArcBlock will work as an independent ecosystem that will be self-developing thanks to the community of blockchain developers;
•         The applications on ArcBlock will no longer require a separate launch of third-party plugins or programs, since they will initially work through a web browser;
•         Blockchain templates that do not require the launch of local nodes;
•         Another plus is that ArcBlock platform can run both on PC, and in a “cloud” service. It is planned to use services such as Windows Azure and AWS, followed by Google Compute Engine;
•         Calculations without servers due to the Blocklet’s base, with the ability to implement any apps on any system and language;

·         The main advantage named by the team is the possibility to perform 100K operations per 1 second (!). Right now only decentralized services can handle such speed. For example, Visa provides only 45K operations per second.

Working product.

ArcBlock offers an innovative architecture due to 3 main components:

•         OPAC is an open-source protocol with an abstract access so the new programs can switch between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger, etc.;
•         Blocklet is the core of ArcBlock. It is able to work with different programs and apps, linking them to blockchains via the OCAP protocol. It can work from different sources of data in the “off-chain” and “on-chain” modes. It is suitable for the use with smart contracts, Oracle, various assets, etc .;
•         Pub/Sub gateways are distributed messages that act as API gateways for the platform. Due to their use, the applications in ArcBlock network will be able to work directly from an Internet browser, mobile device in real time with interactive features for users. By default, such gateways will support many network protocols (for example, HTTPS or MQTT).

How to do they plan to earn?

ArcBlock will also be a market supported by the economy of their own tokens. Miners who will implement new applications and components into the system will receive a reward in the form of internal tokens. According to their scheme, the commission will be paid by the application’s developers. Also, ArcBlock will require developers of the most important services/apps to buy some share of the platform tokens.

Competitors.

But, despite the unique approach, the project has a lot of competitors. For example, the same problems are to be solved by the EOS platform, which has already finished its ICO, but they will not focus on creating an ecosystem for interaction with other blockchains. Almost at the same time, Bluzelle runs their crowdsale, who also improves current dApps.

Also there are more than a dozen projects with the same or similar goals. Here is a comparative table of the main competitors of ArcBlock:

Token:

ABT based on ERC20 is the official token of ArcBlock project. This utility token can be used for different functions. For example, within the platform in these tokens, a commission will be paid and rewards to the miners will also be given in ABT. The total number of tokens (fixed emission) is 186 million.

The hard cap for both stages of sales is 37.5K ETH (45 million USD).

The soft cap for both stages of sales is 12K ETH + 6 million Cybermiles Tokens (CMT).

The price of 1 token during the ICO is 0.00053 ETH, 0.57 USD or 0.00004562 BTC.

There is no inflation, all tokens were mined before the sale. During the crowdsale phase, they cannot be mined. Citizens of China, the United States, Canada and South Korea will not take part in ICO and private sales. During all stages of sales, the verification of KYC is necessary.

45% of the total number of tokens will be available for sale.

The remaining tokens will be distributed in such way: team – 15%; miners – 32%; 8% – for support and marketing (1% will go to the bounty pool).

Tokens will be distributed during a month after the end of ICO. There is no information whether the tokens will be frozen after the end of ICO, it doesn’t sound good for the team.

Pre-ICO (private sale).

Instead of the usual presale, the team decided to arrange a private safe for huge investors and to the whitelist’s participants (the recording to whitelist available from January 16, 2013 and will last until January 28, 2013). The sale itself will begin on 12.01.2018 and will last until 03.02.2018. There is available the bonus up to 8% to all investors of private sale.

The hard cap for this stage of sales is 25K ETH. All investments are accepted in ETH. Initially, the minimum personal investment was 150 ETH, later reduced to 100 ETH. The maximum personal investment is 1000 ETH. The rates during the pre-sale 1ETH = 2052 ABT. There is possible the speculative sale, since the limited number of investors from the whitelist will have 66% of all ABT tokens, which will give them a big advantage on the cryptoexchanges.

ICO.

It will start on 03.02.2018 and lasts until 10.02.2018. During public crowdsale 1 ETH = 1900 ABT. The hard cap is 12.5K ETH + 6 million CMT. The maximum personal investment is 50 ETH, the minimum is 0.1 ETH.

It will be possible to participate through the project partner CyberMiles and their CMT token sale, ABT rate towards CMT has not yet been named (before the rate is blocked). The minimum number of CMT tokens is 200, the maximum number is 150,000 CMT.

Bounty campaign.

Bounty campaign goes on from 06.01 to 03.02.2018. By promoting the project in different ways, participants will receive the awards in the form of stakes, with the pool of 1% of the total number of tokens – 200K stakes. If the bounty pool does not exceed this limit, then 1 stake will equal 1 ABT. If it exceeds, then less by the formula: (total pool / total number of all earned stakes) X number of stakes earned by a specific investor = number of tokens that this investor will receive.

There are 9 nine active campaigns for the bounty participants:

1. Signatures and referrals at Bitcointalk forum – 23% (46K stakes);
2. Publications in blogs and media – 16% (34K stakes);
3. Activity in Twitter – 14% (28K);
4. Activity in Facebook – 14% (28K);
5. Activity on Reddit – 8% (16K);
6. Activity in Instagram – 8% (16K);
7. Activity in Linkedin – 8% (16K);
8. Transfers – 7% (14K);
9. Moderators – 2% (4K).

Facts:

The working product is still in development. The system is aimed at the commercial activity and usage, therefore it is not available on the open-source code. In open access there are only individual components of the platform – open-source applications, smart contracts and other software projects in the form of code and prototypes are posted openly on GitHub. The project has several followers on GitHub, 19 stars in total and about 200 forks.

Whitepaper. There are 28 pages, a rather technical document that does not contain the detailed roadmap, business plan or investment risks. The focus is on the technical component (without infographics and visual elements), as well as on the advantages of the platform, the legal side of the project is also not described in details.

Website. The site, like all documents, is available only in English, although the team plans multiple language translations. The design of the site is standard, at the top there are several links to the sections FAQ, Bounty Campaign, Whitepaper. There is the warning sign that the residents of China, the United States, Canada and South Korea cannot participate in the private stage of sales and ICO. There is a countdown timer of the public crowdsale. The road map is written in details. The links to social networks are located at the very bottom of the site, all links are working properly. There are standard sections of ToS and Privacy Policy.

The legal address is not specified in the whitepaper or on the website.

Social media hype.

Twitter – 8373 followers, Facebook – 4542, Telegram – 29 620, Reddit – 546, LinkedIn – 353, Instagram – 605.

Also the team actively chats at BitcoinTalk forum, answering the questions received from users and investors. The project is often highlighted positively in the mass media like HuffPost, TechCrunch, etc.

Roadmap:

The team has developed a 5-year plan for its development, but it is rather blurry. For example, the full introduction of the platform is planned only at the end of 2018, although ICO will end during the early February. This plan looks in such way:

•         2018 – launch of the first dApps from a few huge clients; introduction of OCAP; support of the multiplatform for Ethereum, Hyperledger and others;
•         2019 – the public launch of the platform; launch of blockchain templates, support in the mass media; the development of applications on the blockchain and the Internet of things; MQTT, AWS and IOTA protocols; decentralized market;
•         2020 – the launch of smart applications; support for technologies like Linux Foundation and “cloud” services;
•         2021 – implementation of blockchain protocols in OS at the level of ArcBlock platform;
•         2022 – DAO/DAC.

The financial plan is not registered in the technical document or on the website.

Team:

According to the site, the main team consists of only 4 people, 10 advisors and investors. Links to personal profiles in LinkedIn are indicated. The team has a lot of experience as founders and CEOs of large IT companies, but they did not deal with blockchain projects, moreover, few successfully implemented projects.

1) Robert Mao – during 3 years he worked as an engineer and an experienced programmer at Microsoft.

2) Flavien Charlon – also worked for Microsoft for 4 years, including, with their “cloud” service Azure, was the founder of Coinprism – one of the first blockchain projects.

3) Jean Chen – an experienced marketer, worked with Chinese markets, with projects idriver.media and cyzone.cn.

4) Joe Wallin – an experienced corporate lawyer, from Seattle, for legal support.

Advisors:

1) Ding Lei – the founder and CEO of Netease;

2) Justin Tomboulian – Vice President of LiquidHub;

3) Maggie Wu – the CEO and founder of Krypital Group.

Partners of ArcBlock: The Linux Foundation, Guojin Capital, IBM, W3C, CyberMiles, Hyperledger, SAP, etc. There is no official confirmation of partnership with IBM.

Pros:

•         self-developing ecosystem;
•         a large community;
•         big hype in social networks;
•         simple and intuitive interface;
•         support for a blockchain with “cloud-based” projects;
•         many advisors and partners;
•         rewards for miners;
•         unique protocols, the codes of which are partially accessible on Github;
•         high speed and number of transactions (100K per 1 second);
•         a lot of advantages in comparison with 1.0 and 2.0 blockchains.

Possible risks:

•         speculation with tokens on stock exchanges after ICO is possible;
•         whitepaper and roadmap are not described in details;
•         all documents and website in English only;
•         platform will not be on the source code;
•         team does not have a successful experience in implementing blockchain-startups;
•         there is no a detailed financial plan;
•         there will not be the “freeze” of tokens that brings to mind the team’s frivolous approach;
•         team is rather small;
•         goal is to raise about 45 million USD in the absence of a working product.

Potential growth:

The project is very ambitious and can take its place in the top 10 of cryptocurrencies around the world. It is a self-developing platform that will respond to the needs of the blockchain community. Among the main advantages there are high speed and the number of transactions per second, multiplatform and multifunctional applications.

Conclusion:

Our attitude to the project is rather positive. Despite a number of controversial points listed in the Risks, almost all important and experienced cryptoinvestors believe in the ambitious plan of ArcBlock, because blockchain 3.0 is too good idea to miss it. The project, of course, compete for its “place under the sun”, because there are enough competing “pioneers” in this field, and many have already gone beyond ArcBlock team. According to most experts, ArcBlock is of special interest for investing in the long term (the expected return is 10-15 times), although the profit promises to be solid for short-term investments as well (especially for fans of flip – when selling tokens immediately after they go to the stock exchanges).

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