Blockchain development startups are joining forces to vitalize relevant ecosystems. Their plan is to lower entry barrier and provide blockchain services without fees by forming a technical development consortium.
4 startups such as K StarLive, Doongle, LegalBlock, and UnderPin announced that they have formed a blockchain development consortium called ‘Soblo (Society of Blockchain)’.
K StarLive is a global South Korean contents platform that has 8.57 million subscribers worldwide. Doongle is operating a foreign pen pal application service called ‘Doongle’ that connects users from 150 different countries. LegalBlock, which is composed of attorneys, solves legal battles by recording every data that occurs from contracts and transactions into blockchain. UnderPin is a startup that has its own technologies and patents in blockchain and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Many blockchain developers develop and operate their services by utilizing Ethereum, which acts as a platform, or EOS’ ‘Smart Contract’. Smart Contract is a development regulation provided by a blockchain platform and it is used by developers to create a platform-based blockchain service.
Blockchain developers have to continuously pay large amount of money if they want to utilize Ethereum as price is set for each development code. Depending on amount of percentages owned, one can use CPU power to operate EOS services. To operate services, it is necessary to secure percentages more than a certain level and there will be purchasing cost as a result. There is disutility when operating services with huge traffic variability as it is necessary to secure percentages at a maximum level.
‘Soblo’ lowers entry barriers towards blockchain technologies and costs of operation of services by sharing infrastructures. Blockchain developers can develop blockchain according to Smart Contract suggested by Soblo and they can only share their ‘nodes’.
While developers based on Ethereum participate in mining and are compensated for it, Soblo does not have separate compensation as it is a consortium purely based on technologies and without fundamental coin. Because there is no compensation, there is also no fee.
“We have decided to participate in Soblo from the fact that it breaks away from a structure of compensation and fees and focuses on blockchain infrastructures.” said CEO Kim Kyung-ho of UnderPin. “Amount of burdens on operation will be reduced as number of participating developers continues to increase and there will be more effects of decentralization.”
Soblo is also planning to drastically lower entry barrier towards blockchain technologies. It provides necessary functions such as token regulation that issues many types of tokens including stable coins, ‘hybrid engine’ that can be easily connected to current operational services, and ‘side-chain engine’ that is connected to Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain data that are actually needed by developers.
“While many companies are investing huge amount of money to develop their own services, ultimately cores of blockchain systems are all similar to each other.” said CTO Kim Tae-hyung of K StarLive. “Soblo will develop and share leading technologies and systems so that more companies can develop blockchain services more effectively.”
Staff Reporter Park, Jungeun | jepark@etnews.com