Ontology is an open-source blockchain designed to foster trust, confidentiality, and security within the Web3 ecosystem for businesses and individual users alike.
In addition, third-party developers can harness Ontology to create proprietary distributed ledgers. These individual blockchains operate under their own rules, ensuring private data isn't exposed to risk. Ontology finds utility across a range of sectors including finance, healthcare, logistics, and energy, among others.
Ontology was initiated in 2017 by the Chinese company OnChain, which also developed the NEO smart-contract platform. The project's primary founder and current CEO is Jun Li. The other two co-founders are Da HongFei and Erik Zhang. In 2018, the Ontology blockchain underwent a rebranding to Open Network, later separating from its parent company OnChain.
Products launched on the Ontology blockchain
The Ontology blockchain hosts four products:
- ONT ID: a decentralized identity verification platform.
- ONTO: a Web3 wallet.
- SAGA: a decentralized data exchange protocol.
- Wing Finance: a multi-chain DeFi lending platform.
With ONT ID, users can generate a decentralized identifier (DID) for their identity or data. This digitized information is protected with cryptographic encryption, preventing unauthorized usage of personal data online. Operating a DID does not require any maintenance or checks.
The company has developed the ONTO Web3 wallet for storing decentralized IDs. In addition to storing IDs, this tool is essential for managing Ontology's native tokens — ONT and ONG. As the wallet serves as an inter-network solution, it can support assets from different blockchains. The ONTO Wallet is available in both mobile and web-based versions.
The SAGA protocol is employed by businesses using the Ontology blockchain for decentralized data exchanges.
Wing Finance is a multi-chain platform for decentralized financing, offering lending, borrowing, and insurance services. The underlying algorithm of this protocol is based on the reputation of users. The OScore feature, which can be activated in ONTO ID, is responsible for the reputation assessment system.
Ontology Blockchain Infrastructure
Reliable access to the Web3 space is provided by the Ontology network's infrastructure. The foundational elements of the blockchain include:
- VBFT (Virtual Byzantine Fault Tolerance) consensus algorithm: This is essential for network security and management. It also facilitates high transaction speeds and compatibility with other blockchains.
- Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM): This software system allows Ontology to interact with Ethereum.
- Optimistic Rollup (Layer2 solution): This technology enables the creation of corporate blockchains on top of Ontology.
- Cross-chain bridge: This facilitates the exchange of tokens from various decentralized ledgers.
ONT and ONG Tokens
ONT, Ontology's native token, plays a vital role in staking processes that maintain the network's operations. ONT owners delegate their tokens to key nodes, referred to as Triones. These node managers stake the tokens, participating in the blockchain's governance through voting procedures.
The ONT supply cap is set at 1 billion tokens. At the time of writing, the asset's market capitalization is $181.1 million with 875.2 million tokens in circulation.
Originally, ONT was created on the NEO blockchain as a NEP-5 standard token but was subsequently reissued on the Ontology blockchain. The token also has its contracts on Ethereum, BNB, and Polygon networks.
Instead of a traditional listing, the token was disseminated within a specific community in 2018.
ONT Distribution:
- 28% allocated to partners
- 25% reserved for ecosystem development
- 15% granted to the Ontology team
- 10% awarded to the NEO team
- 10% listed under the technical community
- 12% distributed via airdrops
Another native token of the Ontology blockchain, ONG, is used to pay transaction fees and deploy smart contracts. ONG is minted when new blocks are added to the chain and distributed among validators. Moreover, users who stake ONT tokens receive rewards in ONG tokens.
