Ontology Network: The Free ICO You Didn't Know About

If you were initially quite surprised at the notion of a free ICO, then you are not alone. Indeed, there seem to be many people in the cryptocurrency community who are not aware of the Ontology Network.

When it comes to blockchain technology, one of the most important aspects of it is that it is private and anonymous. However, this lack of identity on the blockchain limits the range of potential applications.

Ontology bills itself as being a "decentralised trust ecosystem" and aims to leverage the other main benefit of blockchains, trust.

Let’s take a deeper look into this ICO.

The Problem

One of the most notable problems that is facing people in the USA is their ability to obtain mortgage financing. Apart from the fact that obtaining credit is generally difficult, the administration required for a home mortgage is immense.

For example, not only will you require reams of personal identity documents but you also have to spend hundreds of dollars to obtain numerous financial documents. 

Furthermore, you need to get an appraisal that will cost about $400. This is nothing more than a rubberstamp where someone will glance over your house to make sure that it really does exist.

Then, once they have confirmed that the property does exist, they have to make sure that it is indeed in your name. This is where a title search comes in. This can cost over $200 for merely checking a few records.

However, you don't just want to complete any title search. These can sometimes have misleading results which could have negative consequences for you going forward. Hence, you will have to get insurance on the title search.

In the end, the amount of money that you must spend just to get the stage of properly applying is immense. While this cost is sometimes ridiculous, it is done in order to establish a level of trust between you and the bank.

The Ontology Network wants to build a solution where that trust can be established from the start.

What is the Ontology Network?

The Ontology Network was launched by OnChain on the 27th of November in 2017. Many may know OnChain as the company that was founded by DaHongFei and Erik Zhang, the founders of NEO.

OnChain was developed as a collaboration between Chinese businesses and government. This was a wise move as it would allow the developers to work on a product while actively receiving advice from those who craft the laws. Hence, there is no chance of regulatory resistance to the products released by OnChain.

The idea behind the Ontology Network would be to manage and connect to resources that help to identify individuals as well as financial records. It could be a combination of a traditional centralised system with newer blockchain technology. They will be able to link up the two systems using blockchain oracles.

The hope is that with this trusted information immediately available at their fingertips, the financial institutions would feel more comfortable with the applicant from the outset. Similarly, the applicant would not have to worry about a false report as it is completely verifiable.

The launch of Ontology in New York was celebrated by a number of people in the ecosystem. The Ontolgy road map and other important disclosures will be released by the end of Q1 in 2018 followed by a release of the testnet with a bug bounty program.

Airdrops on The Way

Unlike most traditional blockchain based start-ups, Ontolgy will release their tokens through a number reward events. These are "airdrops" which are effectively free tokens given to those who have signed up with an email address. These will be released in when they have launched their Mainnet later in the year.

Much like the NEO ecosystem with GAS and rewards, there will be a voting model in place for the Ontology Network where holders of the ONT tokens will have a say on decisions in the ecosystem.

In terms of the total supply of ONT tokens, there will be one billion that will be created on the genesis block. The tokens will also not be divisible which is an interesting concept that has been used by the likes of electroneum.

Then, there will be the token that is used for paying for computation and transactions is Ontology Gas (ONG). This will be divisible by up to one billion parts and will be earned over a period of 22 years. The ONG will be given as "interest" to the ONT holders over those 22 years.

This could also be a great opportunity for a form of passive income over the long term. For example, it is well known that some of the earliest backers of the NEO project are earning a stable income in the form of NEO gas from their extensive holdings in the NEO token.

How to Get Involved?

Given that there will be no presale, public sale or private sale, you have to be really careful of any scams that may crop up. This is an airdrop reward that will go to those who are registered on their email subscription list. Hence, you will have to join their community.

The team will keep them updated with their developments and will announce the airdrops when the mainnet goes live. You can also join their numerous social media channels in order to get the latest news and information on the project.

We have all seen the massive success that NEO has had and it seems that the Ontology Network has all the same recipes for success. Founded by the same team as NEO and built in a collaborative approach, this project is one to keep an eye on.