Wanchain aims to create a distributed financial infrastructure featuring cross-chain smart contracts that will power the future digital economy. Wanchain operates on the expectation and vision that the world is moving toward a digital economy. It is not a stretch to say that thousands of natively digital assets have followed Bitcoin, making this a very real possibility. As the digital economy continues to expand, it seems reasonable to assume that at some point, the economy will be entirely digital, or at least almost completely digital.
Who Is Behind Wanchain?
Jack Lu is the founder of Wanchain and a graduate of Peking University and Ohio State University. He is a technical expert and blockchain entrepreneur who also co-founded Factom and founded Wanglutech. Other members of the team include entrepreneurs in blockchain space; senior developers and engineers; and experts in cryptographic algorithms, high-performance computing, software development, and elliptic curve cryptography.
Many team members have well over a decade of experience in such areas as Silicon Valley or software development, contributing years of talent. The team also includes marketing and public relations specialists, plus developers who are familiar with a long list of programming languages. They also have experience with multiple other startups, providing a good experience base.
The Wanchain Foundation is based and registered in Singapore in the form of a nonprofit that serves Wanchain’s open-source community. The foundation raises capital and supports everyone involved in promoting the open-source projects.
What Other Trends Is Wanchain Based on?
In addition to the idea of a completely digital economy, Wanchain is based on the idea of digitization of assets. The perfect example is turning historical photos into digital images. This same trend is coming to assets like money, and Wanchain will make it easier for people to use these digital assets.
Why Aren’t Today’s Digital Assets Good Enough?
The team behind Wanchain sees digital assets as the future but also recognizes the problems with the current versions. At the moment, all digital assets are isolated within their own chains. This is where the cross-chain smart contracts of Wanchain come into play, allowing the platform to connect the assets. All blockchain networks can integrate with Wanchain to create connections between various ledgers as well as perform inter-ledger asset transfers at a low cost. Additionally, Wanchain lets developers create banking applications that can guide the flows on the chain so there is no counterparty risk associated with centralization.
What Is the Basic Idea of Wanchain?
When you think of Wanchain as a bank, each institution (or person) can set up a virtual “teller window.” In this way, they can provide services traditionally reserved for banks, such as asset exchanges, loan origination, transaction settlements, and credit payments, all based on digital assets.
Wanchain is more than just its function as a cross-chain platform. In addition to connecting assets and conducting cross-chain transactions, this blockchain platform can operate independently. It has its own native coin and supports intelligent contracts. It also has privacy protection for transactions. With the application guidelines, anyone can develop their own financial applications on Wanchain.
What Should You Know about Wanchain’s Cross-Chain Functionality?
The cross-chain smart contracts of Wanchain are one of the major features that set it apart and make it so useful, but this is not necessarily simple to understand. Locked accounts featuring Secure Multi-Party Compute can convert digital assets from other blockchains to proxy assets on the Wanchain blockchain thanks to complex algebra. This results in the ability to create distributed cross-chain dApps without the centralized counterparty risk.
How Does Wanchain Deliver Privacy?
Instead of limiting itself to one method of delivering privacy, Wanchain includes multiple methods. The ring signature allows for anonymity for the signer of the transaction while still making it possible for the transaction recipient to verify the signature. The private send feature breaks down transactions into set standard denominations, so the transaction amount is hidden. Wanchain also offers one-time addresses so a receiver of any transaction can get complete anonymity.
What Are Some Applications for Wanchain?
Wanchain can be used in the same way you would use any other bank. Individuals and institutions can take advantage of Wanchain to borrow or lend money, make payments, settle money, conduct transactions, perform digital currency exchanges, invest, and finance. There are also more advanced applications that expand on these basic functions, such as multi-currency credit cards with a basis in digital currency, peer-to-peer lending companies that are based on digital currency, and crowdfunding.
Keep in mind that when traditional banks first arrived, they had limited functions, such as converting and storing currencies. Later, they added the other services, such as investments, financial planning, and savings accounts. Wanchain will expand in a similar manner over time as the types and quantities of digital currency in the world increase.
What Is the WAN Wallet?
The WAN wallet is designed to help users manage their various assets, whether they are WAN or other tokens. This management occurs on Wanchain and offers the ability to transfer assets with a public or private transaction. In the future, it will support cryptocurrencies. You can already download the wallet if you are interested.
What Does the Wanchain Roadmap Look Like?
Wanchain 1.0 went live in January 2018, including privacy protection, the wallet, the blockchain explorer, and the WANCoin. In June, Wanchain 2.0 will be launched, including the multi-coin wallet and Ethereum integration. In December, Wanchain 3.0 will be released with a multi-coin wallet and Bitcoin integration. Version 4.0 will launch in December of 2019, including integration with private chains and further updates to the multi-coin wallet.
Final Word
The premise behind Wanchain is certainly sound as the world of digital assets continues to grow, and it seems as if they will be the way of the future. The platform should help with the problems it intends to overcome, specifically allowing for interactions between assets on various blockchains. It has a great deal of potential and seems to tackle a genuine issue in the world of cryptocurrency and digital assets.
