This week, we covered the news on the asset and custom token blockchain platform Waves raising $16 million with its ICO. The crowdfund made history by becoming the sixth-largest right behind the cryptocurrency project Ethereum according to Wikipedia. Bitcoin.com decided to speak with the Waves CEO Sasha Ivanov to get the nitty gritty on this project.
Waves: A Blockchain Platform for the Masses
Ivanov tells us the Waves team are big fans of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the project was inspired by the NXT platform. The platform has big plans for the future and just recently partnered with Mycelium to offer fiat conversion to the company’s wallet.
“The Waves platform is an open blockchain platform focused on creation and usage of custom blockchain tokens, fiat transfers, crowdfunding, financial instruments trading and settlement. Our goal is to offer a stable open platform for payment systems, banks, crowdfunding projects, and create an ecosystem of community-based projects. We are focused on usability and the ease of use. We want to make the blockchain technology accessible for an average user, accustomed to normal online banking interfaces. Our lite client software can be installed in one click and runs directly in the browser, requiring no blockchain download,” Ivanov explained.
Inspiration from NXT, Relationship with Bitcoin and Ethereum
Ivanov notes that NXT was one of the first platforms allowing users to create their own blockchain tokens and trade them on-chain. NXT technology uses a colored coin approach, which is more direct and does not have scalability issues that running contracts on all network nodes encounters. Waves aims to take the colored coins approach to the maximum.
Regarding Bitcoin, the team considers it the major form of decentralized money and will support Bitcoin deposits and direct trading on Waves blockchain. Ivanov expressed excitement about the upcoming Lightning Network and plans to implement a similar approach later on Waves.
Concerning Ethereum, Ivanov stated: “Ethereum is amazing and absolutely inevitable. We’re not going to compete with Ethereum; we’re going to cooperate with it. We plan to implement a token transfer protocol which will allow transfer of tokens between Ethereum and Waves blockchains, enabling trading of Ethereum tokens on Waves decentralized token exchange, for example.”
Crowdfunding, Community Management, and Reputation System
By issuing a custom token, a user can start a crowdfunding campaign, participate in other campaigns, and vote for project directions. The reputation system is designed as a decentralized KYC/AML tool, calculating user karma based on network activity and feedback, helping to weed out bad actors.
Partnership with Mycelium and Future Plans
Ivanov highlighted the partnership with Mycelium, the largest mobile bitcoin wallet, as important. Integrating fiat transfers within Mycelium wallet can substantially increase the user base and disrupt international remittance. The ICO experience helped shape the team’s vision, and community feedback is crucial. The alpha mainnet will go live within days, with full node software available by the end of June. The overall mission is to make a blockchain platform for the masses and take the technology mainstream.