“In crypto, the competition is not each other, it is fiat. If any crypto does well, we all benefit.” – jl777
Disclaimer: I own stake on a variety of the financial technologies discussed in this article, including the Supernet.
Since the birth and growth of Bitcoin, many altcoins, copy cats and innovations have emerged. Today there are over 500 altcoins, all of them disconnected from each other as islands without bridges to bind them. Most of these crypto currencies compete for the loyalty and investment of anyone seeing their utility and promise at the loss of the next.
This disconnection between coin apps such as Darkcoin or Blackcoin means that users need to go through a fairly complex process if they want to benefit from the innovations each coin offers.
Let’s take the example of Amy, who, concerned with corporate espionage, wants to set up a smart contract with Joe, her new business partner. They both want to make this happen with optimal privacy and minimal cost.
JL777’s vision of the Supernet
To do this, Amy would have to convert her Euros to Bitcoin, likely through an exchange like Bitstamp, exposing her identity to be associated with her purchase. She would then need to convert her Bitcoin to Darkcoin at an exchange like Poloniex, exposing her to risks of centralized exchange failure like that of the recently bankrupted Mintpal.
She would continue by sending the Darkcoin to herself using a few rounds of Darksend+, go back to a centralized exchange, convert it to Blackcoin and finally deposit her funds on Black Halo, making the smart contract effective.
Black Halo secures smart trades like this one by requiring all parties involved to deposit a collateral on a shared account. If a party cheats it would lose its collateral, arguably getting rid of the incentives to do so.
To match Amy’s caution, Joe would have to go through a similar process.
Even though this would require far less trust than that of meeting someone and handing them a bag full of cash, or getting involved in a legal contract that might not be enforceable or too expensive to take to court, this is still a fairly cumbersome process and it exposes users to volatility and risk at multiple points, while requiring deep knowledge of the tools available to users.
What if instead of trying to navigate value across all these channels, Amy could simply download one app where she could in a few clicks have this transaction be done, perhaps even automatically, all on top of a decentralized platform?
This is a glimpse of what the Supernet could enable. This is what “The Internet of coins” could look like. This is part of what JL777, the anonymous superstar C developer also known as James, has been building for months.
The Supernet is not a coin, any more than the Internet is a website. The Supernet may be easily understood as new language which allows participating altcoins to communicate value amongst each other. Its GUI would allow users and wallet developers to access the Internet of coins.
Slide show of the Supernet GUI
Its aim is to enable coin communities to cross market their innovations to what previously were their competitors and easily leverage the best of emerging coin apps, like Darkcoin or Blackcoin.
Being presented as a decentralized and trustless platform, the Supernet is a shopping mall for altcoin innovations. If successful, it would allow altcoins to join their efforts, while allowing them to specialize on whatever they care about the most, instead of having to be a jack of all trades.
Detractors often claim that any innovations good enough to emerge from the altcoin space could be added to Bitcoin; however this has yet to happen. Demand for such 2.0 technologies has led to centralized solutions emerging, an alarming amount of which have been “hacked” as tends to happen with centralized coin storage solutions.
The Supernet has an amazing amount of decentralized tools and technologies currently being developed, far more than can be explained in one article. These are some of its most prominent features, though there is much more to come and be explored.
Multigateway, decentralized crypto to crypto exchange ontop of NXT AE. (Already running)
Teleport, anonymous crypto finance built on top of BitcoinDark.
Telepathy, private information transfer.
InstantDEX, home of crypto currency programmable trade bots, on top of decentralized and cheaper crypto to crypto exchange.
Coinomat, fiat to crypto currency exchange.
The Multigateway, an add on already available on top of NXT’s decentralized asset exchange, allows for trade between integrated altcoins on a decentralized platform. SecuraAE is a great way to access to decentralized asset exchange which according to Coinmarketcap is the market leader in most metrics.
As a privacy centric technology, the Supernet has at its core two innovations called Teleport and Telepathy, enabling anonymous transactions and private information flow, respectively. Take a look at Telepathy and Teleport’s white papers to learn more. Supporters claim this technology is better at financial anonymity than mixing approaches like those used by Darkcoin.
The Supernet team does not stop at a coin app mall only accessible to those who already own crypto.
Thanks to an official partnership with Coinomat, users may be able to enter into the Supernet through USD, Euro and Digital Gold wire transfers. Currently these can be exchanged for Bitcoin, but Coinomat has announced it is working on a multi-coin online wallet, which would enable exchange from fiat to altcoins directly.
Though not much information is available on this project yet, it is likely that the wallet will implement the Supernet’s Multigateway. Withdrawal from altcoins to Visa and Mastercard may also become available as this technology develops, since it is already possible with Bitcoin.
Almost every technology developed under the Supernet, including the Supernet itself, has a corresponding asset on top of NXT’s AE. Most of these assets, such as that of InstantDEX, are expected to pay dividends based on revenue generated. One of the best places to learn more about how, why and what to invest in, is to subscribe to the Supernet newsletters.