Long Vuong, the founder and CEO of TomoChain, a blockchain network that uses a “150-node architecture [to implement a] proof-of- stake voting (POSV)” consensus mechanism, recently said that distributed ledger technology (DLT) may not only transform the financial industry, but it also has the potential to streamline various other business processes in the tech industry.
Uses Cases Outside Of Cryptocurrency
Vuong noted that he first learned about blockchain technology in 2013, when he was completing his doctorate degree in economics at the University of Massachusetts. The former project lead and cofounder of the NEM blockchain project thinks there are potentially numerous applications, or use cases, for DLT outside of cryptocurrency.
Commenting on how cryptographic tokens are able to assist in the deployment of useful applications on blockchain platforms, Vuong said:
I have a very different way of looking at blockchain and cryptocurrency. The model allows people to use tokens and create applications on the blockchain, which is more interesting than just having cryptocurrency like bitcoin.
He added: “We support a global economy that everyone can join and [has] a fair playing field. So it’s not just people in Silicon Valley building tech for the world anymore, but people in Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam building something for the global market.”
Going on to criticize the Ethereum network for its slow transaction processing times and relatively high usage fees, Vuong said:
Making a transaction has to feel like sending a message – it has to be very fast and have a very low fee. Ethereum didn’t have that capacity back in 2017, and it still doesn’t now.
Ethereum’s Scalability Issues, EOS & Tron Governance Problems
As covered on CryptoGlobe, Ethereum’s hard fork upgrade (Constantinople) had been tentatively scheduled for November of 2018. However, due to technical issues and its full-node operators not updating their client software (Parity, Geth) on time, the Constantinople upgrade has now been postponed until end of January 2019.
Many in the crypto community have criticized the Ethereum network for becoming too congested – due to the numerous decentralized applications (DApps) and initial coin offerings (ICOs) deployed on its blockchain.
There are also many other alternatives to Ethereum such as EOS and the Tron (TRX) network – which also offer support for programming smart contracts and developing DApps. Both the EOS and Tron mainnets were launched this summer, and in this short period, they have already experienced potentially serious governance issues.
Steep Learning Curve, Importance Of Clearly Defined Objectives
Acknowledging that the initial stages of software development require a lot of trial-and-error, Vuong said:
[Implementing blockchain networks] is very much a process of trying a lot of things at the beginning, We actually went a different direction until early 2018, when we found what we really want to do.
He continued by explaining that there is a big learning curve because some TomoChain investors “don’t have a good idea of what or how blockchain will be in the next five to 10 years.”
Despite these challenges, Vuong believes that to launch a successful blockchain project:
You need to have a very clear idea of what kind of platform you want to build and how it creates value for other people…Is it for having a cryptocurrency or is it an open platform for building financial products?
