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Interview with Ethereum Express CEO, Vlad Miller: Why Community Plays an Essential Role in any Blockchain Project?
Bitcoinist | Dec 17, 2019 | 13:09
Recently Bitcoinist caught up with Vlad Miller, CEO of Ethereum Express (EEX), the ‘world’s first community-driven ecosystem on the blockchain’. We discussed the differentiating factors of the project and features which could drive traction for Ethereum Express, as a sustainable blockchain-based platform.
- Hi Vlad, nice to meet you. Before delving deep into the nitty-gritties of EEX, we would like to know something about your background, and what actually inspired you to enter the crypto and blockchain space?
Ethereum is really attractive when it comes to technologically mature solutions. Its flexibility and versatility allowed it to take a strong place among all the existing blockchain solutions, despite its significant shortcomings such as low bandwidth.
At Ethereum Express, we have reached 200 transactions per second which became possible due to the use of the Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus algorithm instead of the classic Proof of Work (PoW). We had to be very precise about choosing the base for our technology. Taking into consideration all the pros and cons we stopped our choice on the Proof of Authority Сonsensus. We had to sacrifice decentralization for increasing transaction speed and scalability of the system. And we believe that this approach works for business solutions we deliver as well as it meets our needs for EEX system performance. We also gave up the anonymity of validators and thus urge our business partners to play fair. At the same time community members save their privacy.
However, we respect the Ethereum team and Vitalik Buterin in particular for their contribution to the development and popularization of blockchain technologies and consider them colleagues and partners with whom we strive to change the world for the better rather than competitors.
- How exactly is a Proof-of-Authority consensus model different from other blockchain protocols?
Some people think that PoA is a modified Proof of Stake (PoS) that uses identity instead of coins. Due to the decentralized nature of most blockchain networks, PoS is not always suitable for certain enterprises and corporations. In contrast, PoA systems may represent the best solution for private blockchains, since their performance is significantly higher.
The Proof of Authority model itself is based on a limited number of block validators, and this is what makes it a scalable system. Blocks and transactions are validated by pre-approved participants who act as moderators of the system.
By the way, the idea of the algorithm was suggested in 2017 by Gavin Wood, co-founder and former technical specialist of Ethereum, that once again emphasizes the connection between PoA and the Ethereum blockchain. Now we can already talk not only about the future application but about the real use of the PoA algorithm in such large corporations as Microsoft and Walmart. At Ethereum Express, we take this experience into account and closely monitor the development of third-party projects in order to offer our community the most advanced solutions.
- Who are EEX’s target customers?
We work for people and businesses. At the moment the solutions we developed are being tested by a number of companies, such as Mining Express and representatives of the iGaming industry. Unfortunately, I can’t name specific names – large structures from the world of gambling rarely disclose their partnerships and this is just our case.
In November, we presented our project to the global community of Mining Express, one of our first clients, in Dubai, and got amazing response from them. The product and the community are real values for us. What we have now being tested under pilot projects allows us to integrate Ethereum Express into any financial models and business institutions in the future.
If speaking about the use of blockchain solutions to increase the transparency of the gambling business in 2019, this is one of the areas of our business today. Much has been said about this in 2017-2018, but has anything been done? Our competencies and the results achieved allow us to say that we are able to change the situation in the gaming market.
- From the point-of-view of a regular user, how will the ‘community-driven’ feature drive customer experience and usability?
There are many advantages. We know each member of our community, we know their personal goals, respect their interests, and consider them an integral part of our ecosystem. Thus, we are able to provide our users with what they really need.
We are as open and transparent for our community as possible and we practice “open door” methods making it possible for everyone to contact us on any question and receive an informative answer, rather than a symbolic reply. Thus, we prepare the product for specific needs and specific people – in our opinion, this is the best marketing strategy of the coming years.
- What about businesses? How will EEX it in an organization’s corporate or financial structure? Are any specific USPs worth looking out for (from a B2B perspective)?
We have already mentioned the above companies who actively use Ethereum Express solutions. Our PoA technology is ideal for deploying private and corporate blockchains. Implementing EEX technology into a company’s business solution allows us to shape it as a community-driven organization with a high stake in customer engagement into project operations, both social and financial.
This way, companies establish a stronger connection with the community. And benefit from getting feedback on their services or products. On the other hand, EEX technology allows us to decrease service costs and ameliorate basic operation processes, such as transaction speed for example.
- Sorry about that! Answering 3 questions in a single shot is too much to ask for…
That’s ok. I understand that you are pretty much stoked about knowing EEX in and out
- That’s right and thanks for indulging us! Moving on. How will EEX contribute to the online gaming space?
Ethereum Express will make online gambling more transparent, safer, faster and more reliable. We have described in detail the mechanisms offered and tested by partners in our WhitePaper.
- How does EEX’s security compare with other blockchains or blockchain-based platforms?
Our project is based on an improved version of Ethereum – its security speaks for itself. Hacking in 2016 relates more to the DAO than to the ETH blockchain itself. After that, no events occurred that could cast a shadow on the safety of this technology.
Moreover, our network is protected against manipulation by the owners of richer nodes. Our largest business partners will own at least 2 validator nodes. This way we deliver viability of the framework even in case if 99% will leave. Voting for accepting new validators is held according to the rule of 50%+1. This way we provide certain decentralization in decision making.
- Ok, so what about token listing? Do you have any specific crypto exchange in mind where EEX could be traded as an asset?
Unfortunately, we cannot name specific exchanges, since many of them prohibit disclosure of any details prior to the token listing. We can only say that we scheduled cryptocurrency exchange listing for the first quarter of 2020 and plan to list the token on several exchanges of different levels.
- Lastly, please tell what’s in it for the miners.
In the mining case, the EEX platform acts as a link between the end-user and the mining facilities for hire. For the convenience of calculations, our client, the fifth largest farm in Europe, uses the format of pre-installed interest plans corresponding to different leased capacities. At first, you can choose and purchase one of the investment plans for fiat, Bitcoin, or Ethereum using the Ethereum Express internal exchange or buy the required amount of coins on one of the external exchanges directly. At the moment we are integrating our coin into the Mining Express system, so all payments will be processed within it and its community will be able to use the platform.
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