Facebook’s new crypto project is creating a lot of headlines. It is an early stage digital payments system called ‘Libra’, and it aims to be a ‘Bitcoin Killer’. SonicX may have beat Facebook into the marketplace, and its platform has some major advantages over whatever Facebook is cooking up in its crypto kitchen.
SonicX created a blockchain platform that is based on Tron’s architecture. In addition to all the great features that Tron has, SonicX boosted the number of transactions that the platform can handle and introduced a community structure that will give users a say in how things work.
It is easy to see that there is substantial interest in blockchain technology. The monetary aspect of blockchain has become especially popular with larger companies. Facebook may think that it can enter a growing marketplace and use its existing infrastructure for leverage.
Unfortunately for tech majors like Facebook, smaller companies may have the upper hand in the world of blockchain payment systems.
SonicX and The Big Tech Dilemma
Massive tech companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook have become stock market sensations, but the business that backs up high valuations isn’t going to help them in the FinTech space.
In fact, success could be a big problem for any tech major that wants to enter the payments space.
It took less than a month for Democrats in the US House of Representatives to officially ask Facebook to drop their plans for both the Libra cryptocurrency and its planned digital wallet, called “Calibra”.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote that:
“If products and services like these are left improperly regulated and without sufficient oversight, they could pose systemic risks that endanger U.S. and global financial stability,” and that, “These vulnerabilities could be exploited and obscured by bad actors, as other cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and wallets have been in the past.”
Any company that is worth hundreds of billions of US dollars is going to be taken seriously, which will likely elicit this kind of blowback from both the established banking system, and lawmakers.
SonicX Follows in Nakamoto’s Footsteps
It is worth noting that Facebook’s ‘crypto’ would be based on a very different idea than the one that drove Bitcoin into the mainstream.
As Colin Harper points out in a recent piece published in Venture Beat:
“…unlike Bitcoin, which is an open system, Libra is closed and will be highly gatekept. Facebook announced the currency in partnership with 27 other major corporations, firms, and non-profits, including Visa, Mastercard, Spotify, Lyft, Uber and Ebay. These Founding Members make up the Libra Association, which will be in charge of processing transactions for the network and maintaining its version of the blockchain.”
SonicX created a system that is in-line with the foundational philosophy of Bitcoin and makes it a viable global payment system. Let’s be honest, Bitcoin is an amazing piece of software, but it isn’t going to topple Visa anytime soon.
In order to give the established financial system a run for their money, a payments system has to be both secure, and able to handle loads of transactions every second. Bitcoin got the first part right, and now SonicX is working on the second challenge.
Making the Jump to Cryptocurrencies
SonicX is a fork of the Tron blockchain that addresses some of the bigger issues that cryptos face. One of the biggest problems that early cryptocurrencies have is that they can’t be scaled up to the level that would allow them to be adopted for large scale transaction networks.
The SonicX Consensus Mechanism (SXCM) digital governance system allows the Tron network to increase the number of transactions that are possible in a given timeframe, and it adds an architecture that allows for Supernodes.
Supernodes on SXCM are chosen to produce new blocks, while ordinary nodes validate transactions. The net result is a network that can process around 5,000 transaction per second, which is probably adequate to compete with a platform like Visa.
SonicX has been able to create its platform without any static from the established financial system, or any government. It also has a solid decentralized platform to work with, which Facebook might struggle to compete with.
Bigger isn’t Always Better
Big tech firms like Microsoft and Facebook get a lot of money from investors, but their development teams are far from perfect.
According to David B. Black, a software developer, and Forbes contributor:
“People who write code make mistakes. Lots of them. All the time. There are a host of methods in varying degrees of use to prevent or catch such mistakes, things ranging from test-driven-development to extensive code reviews. None of them work. No, they don’t work for Facebook either.”
Black is driving at the point that just because Facebook is a massive tech company, they aren’t going to be able to roll out a new global payments network with a brand new body of code quickly.
Companies like SonicX not only enjoy the advantage of flying under the radar of the government, they also have open-source code they can rely on. Facebook isn’t into blockchain to further the goals of social change and decentralization, instead, they are probably looking to take an early-mover advantage in the retail blockchain payments space.
The Community Question
SonicX appears to understand that when it comes to decentralization, community is key.
The idea that a company like Facebook will be able to gain the same kind of widespread support that open-source cryptos did is highly questionable. Bitcoin and blockchain have been able to grow so quickly because of a dedicated community (especially on the development side), which Facebook will have a hard time matching.
Then, there is the question of credibility.
Companies like SonicX are founded on the idea of transparency, which is one of the most important things about cryptos. Public ledgers make sure that the transaction record is freely available, which is why so many people trust open-source blockchain platforms.
Big tech takes the opposite development approach and hides its mistakes.
Again, from Black’s Forbes piece on the failings of Libra (italics mine):
“…the internet giants have an unbroken track record of releasing code that’s riddled with errors. Yes, Facebook is partnering with lots of corporate giants – and those giants are equally accomplished at releasing an unbroken stream of software horror shows.”
Facebook ignores the issue of its inability to produce software that works and satisfies users, much less have a solution for it that it will apply to Libra.”
Facebook has a terrible history of violating the trust of its users, and selling highly personal information to shadowy parties. Financial information may be the most valuable information there is, which makes Facebook a very unlikely candidate for widespread public trust.
SonicX is Worth Watching
SonicX is sitting on some pretty impressive code that could have a big impact on how payments happen globally. The platform allows users to have a say in how it works and will process a huge number of transactions every second.
Bitcoin was clearly the birth of something big.
SonicX may be the next step in the movement away from centralized power structures, toward more transparency, and global financial unity. If you want to learn more about what SonicX does, and the features that its platform offers, just click here.
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The post SonicX: Fast & Efficient Blockchain Platform for Gaming & Payments appeared first on Blockonomi.
July 05, 2019 at 07:48AM https://blockonomi.com from Blockonomi https://ift.tt/2Xqsogv
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