VeChainThor: a blockchain spanning enterprise and dapps explained

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Blockchains

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DappRadar

Sep 27·7 min read

VeChain on its unique approach

Building its reputation as the most trusted source for dapp data, DappRadar has added support for dapps running on the VeChainThor blockchain.

Developed and operated by VeChain Foundation, VeChainThor is an enterprise-friendly public blockchain platform featuring a comprehensive governance structure, robust economic model, and IoT integration.

Thanks to its approach to onboarding and its active developer support program, it’s also building an ecosystem of dapps.

This includes interesting gaming projects including touchscreen console Playtable and esports platform Plair.

So to find out more about the company’s approach and to get its views on dapps we asked the following questions.

DappRadar: Lots of blockchains are live or in development. What’s different about VeChainThor?

VeChain: The VeChainThor blockchain was developed to be secure, balanced and scalable so as to be the suitable infrastructure of business applications.

The unique consensus model, transaction structure, governance and economic model is designed based on the feedback on enterprise solutions on public blockchain we collected from the various enterprise partners we have been working with since 2015.

VeChainThor blockchain is also the first blockchain protocol to implement native fee delegation feature.

Unlike most public blockchains on the market, VeChain put a great amount of effort into building an ecosystem that is driving value creation through established businesses.

VeChain is a Proof of Authority (PoA) based public blockchain protocol with a balanced governance model and economic model designed to boost adoption
VeChain is the enabler of a trust-free and distributed ecosystem where its members including enterprises, startups and community create business value with blockchain technologies
VeChain is a technology provider that makes development tools, supports, enterprise solutions, turnkey solutions available to empower ecosystem builders

The VeChain ecosystem encompasses both enterprise solutions and dapps, which is unique in the public blockchain space.

Most of the enterprise solutions are built on VeChain ToolChain which is a commercial grade Blockchain-as-a-Service platform running on the VeChainThor public blockchain.

What are the main things you’ve learned from the first year of running the VeChainThor mainnet?

Many blockchain protocols are live or in development. What this sector lacks is how to prove the value of the protocols. We believe this relates to the applications running on it and what value blockchain is adding.

The development in the blockchain space is mostly on the technical side, however often times it’s harder to achieve business consensus than technical consensus. We have been trying to figure out this question of how blockchain technology can help existing business increase revenue or lower cost; help blockchain developers create a sustainable business model not just for short term.

We have been working with industry experts, established business and startups to create real value by solving real world economic problems and pushing this technology beyond crypto users.

You’ve been very focused on enterprise customers such as supply chain, automotive, agriculture etc. How do you think sentiment about the potential for blockchain is changing in this sector?

We have received enormous interest in adopting blockchain technology from enterprises in the past few years and we have seen real projects implemented and used as part of their daily business since the launch of VeChainThor blockchain.

The gap in blockchain knowledge and development capability still exists in many enterprises. But we believe only with professional teams and enterprise level applications can we promote the development of blockchain technology and in turn, boost its mass adoption.

In April 2019, we launched the VeChain ToolChain?—?the one-stop Blockchain-as-a-Service platform on the VeChainThor blockchain.

Using this, businesses are no longer required to pay attention to the technical aspects of the underlying blockchain technology. All that they need to do is to use our platform to seamlessly integrate their businesses and products with the VeChainThor blockchain.

In addition, we are constantly standardizing VeChain ToolChain and adding more modules to it, helping different companies with application development and making it extremely simple for various enterprises to blockchainize their businesses.

Projects such as Walmart China’s food safety traceability platform and digital carbon ecosystem are the perfect example that public blockchain can be well accepted by enterprises if implemented in the right way and bring unique value to established businesses.

We hope that working with dapp information sites such as DappRadar lets more people see business applications running on the public blockchain protocol other than just dapps.

How quickly do you think blockchain can make a substantial impact in these real-world use cases?

The history of emerging technologies show that all great technology will go through a process that begins with the idea, infrastructure will be built, then business value will be tested, and finally we’ll arrive at commercialization.

The next critical challenge for the blockchain industry is to prove its business value. We believe the blockchain commercialization will come before 2022.

VeChain has developed a variety of VeChainThor blockchain-based solutions and applications with our partners. These solutions have also been integrated into the existing operating systems of various enterprises from different industries and added real economic value to their business.

Enterprises applications such as MyStory have already proven its value by significantly lowering the operational cost of DNV GL’s certification business and creating innovative business model to touch the end consumers.

In the long run, VeChain will continue enabling enterprises, startups and community developers to build applications with business value with our experiences in enterprise solutions, partner networks and other resources.

How do dapps fit into your vision for the widespread use of VeChainThor?

As a public blockchain dapp developers are always welcome to build on the VeChainThor blockchain. Our value proposition is to enable dapps developers to build applications with business value and find a sustainable business model besides funding support. We hope to use our resources in the partner network, providing professional services to help dapps thrive in a regulated way.

As an enabler, we hope to attract more dapp developers. We launched the VeChain Accelerator Program as well as various bounty programs to support projects with the resources, partnerships, and experience of VeChain as projects hit various milestones.

We also encourage dapp developers to leverage VeChainThor blockchain’s unique features such as fee delegation to lower the barrier of user onboarding.

Onboarding users is a big obstacle for most dapps at present. How can you help solve this?

The current experience of using blockchain applications or dapps is daunting?—?not only do users need to manage their addresses and private keys but also users have to purchase cryptocurrency before using any function in the application.

On the path to mass adoption blockchain applications will be used by a much broader user base, most of which are not cryptocurrency users, so the current model needs to be changed.

Since the launch, the VeChainThor blockchain has native fee delegation features implemented. It allows dapp users to call dapp functions without the need to hold any cryptocurrency. The transaction fee can be delegated to any thirdparty such as the dapp developer or thirdparty sponsors.

VeChain, as a key enabler, has launched bounty programs VeChain SuperCharger and VTHO subsidy program to boost dapps integrating the “Transaction (TX) Fee Delegation”.

Game developers are often early adopters of new technology so how are you encouraging them?

As an open-source blockchain protocol, VeChain welcomes all game developers to develop games on VeChainThor. And we support the games that could touch a wider user base beyond just crypto users.

A few games have been launched on VeChain blockchain such as Playtable, Plair and DecentBet.

All of them aim to get non-crypto game users by leveraging the unique features of the VeChainThor blockchain, and they have a heavy focus on regulatory compliance too.

You can find out more details about VeChain and the VeChainThor blockchain via its website.