What is Ice Open Network (ION)? A Scalable and Decentralized Blockchain Solution

2024-07-03

Ice Open Network (ION) aims to democratize blockchain participation, allowing users to earn rewards without costly hardware or extensive crypto knowledge. Designed for speed, ION handles millions of transactions per second. It prioritizes privacy and content ownership, empowering users with control over personal data. ION also supports secure verification of transaction authenticity and strives for maximum decentralization.

Key Takeaways

Ice Open Network (ION) democratizes blockchain participation, allowing users to earn rewards without expensive hardware.
ION handles millions of transactions per second, emphasizing speed, privacy, and user control over personal data.
The network supports secure verification and aims for maximum decentralization, enhancing overall blockchain functionality.

What is Ice Open Network (ION)?

Ice Open Network (ION) is a Proof-of-Stake blockchain network from the Telegram Open Network (TON), aiming for high throughput, broad network participation, and decentralized financial operations. It builds on TON’s advancements with enhanced features like decentralized identity, storage, and database solutions.

ION employs POS for its agility, cost-efficiency, and environmental sustainability, promoting network decentralization through mobile mining. Launched in July 2023, the mobile tap-to-mine program has attracted approximately 9 million users, enabling them to earn tokens by running nodes.

Currently, in its testnet phase, ION aims to launch a decentralized, scalable, and secure blockchain network. Developed by Ice Labs, a subsidiary of Leftclick.io, the project is associated with various technology initiatives including Framey, Shifter, and Shapehost. Robert Preoteasa, CEO and co-founder of Framey leads the Ice Open Network team.

How ION Works

ION’s blockchain is designed to manage extensive transaction volumes across millions of users. Derived from TON, ION inherits key elements such as parallel transaction processing, the TON Virtual Machine (TVM), network sharding, and multiple blockchain operations. Its parallel processing model allows simultaneous validation of transactions across multiple threads, achieving consensus after each batch.

Similar to TON, ION comprises a Masterchain, multiple Workchains, and Shardchains. Shardchains, integral to the Workchain, are autonomous segments that process transactions independently, enhancing scalability by distributing network tasks. These chains execute smart contracts via TVM in parallel, with validators confirming and hashing transactions.

The Masterchain synchronizes network components, managing native consensus, stake management, and validator activities. This framework, according to ION developers, enables a dynamic network capable of processing millions of transactions per second.

Tap-to-Mine Program

Ice Network’s native token is obtained through a tap-to-mine program within the Ice Network app. Anyone can participate by installing the app, although an invitation code is required to start mining. Tap-to-mine simplifies cryptocurrency mining, making it accessible to more users and expanding network nodes. Participants earn rewards for supporting decentralized network security. Typically mobile-based, tap-to-mine involves timed interactions on various platforms, simulating network activities. Currently, over 9 million global smartphone users are mining Ice Network’s token via the tap-to-mine feature.

How to Mine ICE

To participate in Ice Network’s tap-to-mine program, users need to log into the app daily and tap the mining button to start earning ICE tokens. Ice Network also offers referral rewards. When mining with an invited friend simultaneously, both parties earn a 25% bonus on their base mining rate. Additionally, inviting friends who bring in more participants can result in an extra 5% bonus on the base mining rates of those friends. Additional bonuses can be earned for ongoing app activity, uninterrupted mining sessions, and staying updated with news and announcements. Bonuses must be claimed within one hour of notification, decreasing in value every 15 minutes thereafter.

Users who maintain daily activity for six consecutive days earn a Day Off, ensuring their online presence without logging in. Users mining for 30 consecutive days receive five Days Off. Inactive users face a reward reduction through a slashing algorithm. For users absent for seven consecutive days, account resurrection is available once to cancel slashing penalties. After 60 days of inactivity, all earned coins are lost, and resurrection is no longer an option. While the initial mining phase has concluded, Ice Network has introduced a new tap-to-mine project called Sunwaves.

Ice Open Network Features

Ice Network aims to foster global adoption through several strategic features beyond its high-throughput TON blockchain fork and mobile-based tap-to-mine program. Additional key features contributing to this goal include:

ION ID

ION proposes a decentralized, encrypted, and secure form of personal identity. The ION ID enables ION network users to create verifiable personal identities that allow them access to decentralized applications in the ION ecosystem. According to the project, this ID is stored off-chain and on the users’ devices, ensuring that the network doesn’t have direct access to the details.

However, decentralized applications on the Ion ecosystem can authenticate users using the ION ID without knowing the users’ ID through selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proofs. This way, it maintains the user’s privacy and also allows supported decentralized applications to verify their users. The ION ID hopes to solve the user verification challenges faced by blockchain as a tool for routine financial operations, and possibly even real-world applications like whether someone is old enough to drink without revealing their birth date or actual age.

Ice claims that the ION ID has the following attributes:

Sovereignty: ION ID allows users to control the authentication process and how their data is used over the network.
Privacy: Users can set the assurance level for their IDs, this ranges from low to high. The assurance level controls the availability of data in the ID to dApps.
Security: User data on the ION ID is stored off-chain and encrypted with cryptographic keys. Only ID owners can decrypt this data at the request of the dApp.
Interoperability: The ION ID can be used on applications in the Ice network ecosystem and beyond. It is compatible with other decentralized digital identity systems. This feature aids the integration of the ION network with other platforms and services and enhances the utility and reach of the ION ID service.

ION Connect

While social media is an important part of our daily lives, most social media platforms are centralized and users have little control over their data. Issues like data breaches, poor handling of users’ data by platform administrators, and censorship of information have plagued centralized social media. As a fix, ION is developing a decentralized social media platform on the network.

ION Connect is integrated into the Ice network application and allows users to communicate with each other. It claims to offer data privacy, no censorship, and most importantly, return the control of social media platforms to the users. Using Garlic Routing, ION Connect encrypts users’ messages, preventing eavesdroppers from accessing the details of peer communications on the platform. ION connect also supports ION ID, which enables the platform to manage user data and verifications without breaching their privacy. ION Connect is protected by ION nodes.

ION Liberty

ION Liberty is similar to TON Proxy. It is an easy-access data-sourcing solution for applications that interact with the ION blockchain. As a content delivery network, ION Liberty caches data and multimedia on the ION blockchain, creating a readily available content network for applications. On their request, it easily releases the requested information to these applications. This enables CRUD applications to operate more efficiently with faster read and update requests.

As a decentralized proxy network, ION Liberty improves privacy and censorship resistance on applications like the ION Connect. It enables nodes on ION Connect to conceal their locations, protecting them from potential threats. ION Liberty is designed to simplify node operations and dApp development on the ION blockchain.

ION Vault

ION Vault is a decentralized data storage solution on the Ice network. It builds on the progress made on TON storage. Like TON storage, ION vault handles decentralized file storage via a torrent-based approach. Files stored on the network are split into shards and distributed across multiple storage nodes. These file shards are encrypted, ensuring file security and integrity as they transcend the network nodes. On request, the file shards are collated from the nodes and arranged accordingly. Through the process of file upload, sharding, and retrieval, the file remains intact. ION Vault integrates with the rest of the network, this allows applications on the network to leverage the vault for file storage. Users on the network can also access the vault using their ION ID.

ION Query

ION Query builds on the native structure of the blockchain as a database management tool. It takes a leaf from PostgreSQL and refines it for decentralization and high throughput. ION Query handles data on the network linearly, transactions are arranged in a deterministic order and processed serially. It combines this ordering model with the Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus algorithm to ensure that all validators in the network reach a uniform agreement on the state of the database after each transaction. This is also augmented with features like database hashing and checkpointing.

ION Query makes for data integrity, resilience, and seamless validator integration on the ION network. ION Query comes in handy for decentralized applications on the network; DeFi applications can easily scale their data management practices thanks to the design of the ION Query. ION Query can also be used in voting systems, healthcare data, and supply chain management.

ICE Token and Tokenomics

The ION team announced on February 28, 2024, that it has completed the distribution of the ICE token to participants of its mobile-mining program. This marked the token generation event for the ICE token. ICE is the native token of the ION blockchain. With the launch of the mainnet, fees for transactions on the ION blockchain will be paid in ICE.

Other use cases for ICE tokens include:

Network consensus: The ICE token will power the consensus system of the ION blockchain, contributing to the network’s security. As a POS network, validators will be required to stake an amount of ICE tokens to be able to run a node on the network. Rewards for this contribution will also be distributed in ICE tokens. Penalties for defaulting validators will also include slashing their staked ICE. Other holders can also join the consensus system by staking their ICE tokens with desired validators.
Governance: The ICE network’s governance is controlled by the community. Holders of ICE tokens make up the ICE DAO. DAO members decide on the direction of the project by voting on improvement proposals. The community will deliberate on proposed technological, financial, and administrative changes.
Network incentives: Nodes on the ION vault and the ION Query will be rewarded with ICE tokens. Other incentives, including promotional programs, will also be settled in ICE tokens.

Conclusion

Ice Open Network (ION) represents a robust advancement in blockchain technology, derived from TON with a focus on scalability and decentralization. With features like the mobile tap-to-mine program attracting over 9 million users, ION aims to democratize blockchain participation. The project’s innovative offerings such as ION ID for decentralized identity and ION Connect for private social media underscore its commitment to user empowerment and data privacy. As ION progresses towards its mainnet launch, it sets a precedent for scalable, secure, and community-driven blockchain solutions, poised to redefine decentralized applications and digital interactions globally.

FAQ

What is Ice Open Network (ION)?

Ice Open Network (ION) is a blockchain network that allows users to earn rewards without expensive hardware or deep crypto knowledge. It focuses on speed, privacy, and user control over personal data.

How does the ION tap-to-mine program work?

The ION tap-to-mine program lets users earn tokens by simply tapping a button in the Ice Network app daily. It’s a mobile-based program that makes cryptocurrency mining accessible to everyone.

What are the main features of Ice Open Network (ION)?

ION includes decentralized identity (ION ID), private social media (ION Connect), decentralized storage (ION Vault), and a high-throughput blockchain capable of millions of transactions per second.

Ice Open Network ION

Disclaimer: The content of this article does not constitute financial or investment advice.

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