Is VeChain the AWS of Blockchain?

Is VeChain the AWS of Blockchain?

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VeChain’s strategic partner Jackson Fu (Cream) recently announced in his post on blockchain bottlenecks that he believed VeChain Toolchain was the “AWS of blockchain”. This comparison to AWS (Amazon Web Services) provoked a discussion with many people sharing the idea. So what’s behind the idea?

Cloud Storage v Blockchain

There’s an obvious comparison to these two emerging data storage technologies, as enterprise cloud storage was a tough sell in the beginning. The idea of uploading private internal and client data to third-party internet service providers wasn’t one that was well-received a decade ago. AWS, the clear leader, launched in 2006 and has maintained their market share ever since, despite later having fierce competition from major tech rivals like Microsoft, Google, and Oracle. As a whole, the cloud storage market has been rapidly exploding, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) that was already forecasted to be sky-high, even before COVID-19 forced many businesses to adopt a “cloud only” business model thanks to remote work and online business models.

Source: Statista

For VeChain to become “The AWS of Blockchain”, two things need to happen. First, VeChain needs to recreate the success of AWS in gaining market share by making their offering more innovative, secure, and easier to use than the competition. This seems likely considering VeChain’s increasingly strong position with corporate users such as DNV GL, Walmart China, and Sam’s Club China all becoming early adopters. Secondly, blockchain needs to prove itself to be nearly as valuable as cloud technology in the enterprise space. This is something that will take time to play out, as businesses continue to explore the use cases and functionality of the technology.

Breaking some misconceptions

The feedback to Cream’s article has sparked some confusion regarding how VeChain fits into the cloud computing industry. Twitter user @Martijncvv posted a thread that touched on some of these ideas.

https://twitter.com/Martijncvv/status/1282101739940872192

Martijn had some great points, but the image in the thread seems to imply that VeChain is a competitor to massive service providers like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. VeChain’s core product is ToolChain, which is not intended to be used as a cloud service, but as an application deployed on the VeChain mainnet with additional data stored on a cloud server. After all, for a client like Walmart China, it wouldn’t make sense to upload hundreds of thousands of logos, images, and videos to a public blockchain, when only key datasets are essential to the supply chain and need to be verified. That’s why ToolChain’s Developer & Partner versions require a cloud service such as AWS for data storage. (Note: VeChain manages cloud storage in Toolchain’s Standard version to simplify the onboarding process). It’s important to remember that VeChain is not trying to put giants like Amazon and Microsoft out of business. Instead, they are trying to build a valuable service that can be easily used within an existing corporate cloud account, working alongside the tech giants. The result is a partnership that makes AWS and Azure more valuable to their corporate clients, as clients store even more data on the cloud. That explains why last year, VeChain CTO Gu Jianliang was invited to speak at the AWS Summit, pictured below with the title “VeChain and AWS joint empowerment (1 + 1 > 2).” 

Source: VeChain101

Last November, VeChain and PwC were also invited to host a closed-doors meeting with Microsoft Azure’s clients to better explain the value proposition that blockchain can bring (Pictured below). Azure clearly sees the benefit in more enterprises deploying VeChain’s blockchain solutions on their cloud, leading to even more revenue for Microsoft. 

VeChain’s Toolchain is not an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform like AWS. IaaS is a more bare bones offering that companies can build web pages, mobile apps, databases, and their entire service offering on. ToolChain makes it easy to skip all that by being Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). That includes mobile apps like VeChain Work and VeChain Pro, web apps such as the ToolChain interface, existing VeChainThor blockchain source code (the mainnet), templates, APIs, and much more. 

Source: Adapted from azure.microsoft.com

The bad news is that VeChain wont be taking over the projected $623.3 billion dollar cloud market in 2023. Instead, they will be contributing to it, as a blockchain vertical that AWS and Azure can push to their existing clients. Companies wont have to ditch their existing cloud structures on AWS to migrate over to VeChain. Instead, they will just be adding additional services on to their existing cloud invoices. VeChain isn’t trying to take over the cloud service industry, they are just trying to make some of the zettabytes of data stored in the cloud more trusted and valuable. As more data is uploaded to the cloud, a growing volume of data will have the need to be verified. This makes VeChain’s goal of being the leading enterprise blockchain much more plausible. And with allies like AWS and Azure, why should you doubt them? 

Notes: We thank @Martijncvv for being a good sport. His educational posts are well worth a follow! He later added in a comment:

I wasn’t talking about VeChain’s Toolchain but the VeChain blockchain itself. I do agree that ToolChain is a SaaS and not an IaaS. But that’s something built ON the blockchain (IaaS). Link

 

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VeChain Weekly Update (July 11th)

VeChain Weekly Update (July 11th)

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It was a euphoric week for long-term VET holders as the price soared briefly over $.02 for the first time in years. This dramatic increase in price was fueled by anticipation for Sunny’s appearance at the WAIC on Thursday and other news becoming more widely shared on social media. Exchanges like OceanEx benefited, with the VET price pushing daily trading volume over $100 million (pictured to the right). The OCE token had its own rally, giving investors a taste of what the ecosystem is capable of when investor sentiment is positive.

Sunny delivers keynote speech at WAIC 2020, Walmart China also shows off

On Friday July 10th, Sunny gave a presentation for the “Blockchain, AI and Future Industries” category in the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020. The event took place in Shanghai until 11th July and showcased the globalizing trend of AI technology, industry and applications. Guests include representatives from companies like Amazon, Intel, Tencent, Microsoft, IBM. The hybrid event featured pre-recorded presentations interspersed with some live commentary.

A recording of his speech (in Chinese) can be found here from minute (4:10:44). It provided an overview of blockchain for business and examples of how ToolChain is being used to helps companies solve key industry pain points.

Walmart China’s presentation was perhaps even more of a talking point, as Dr. Yan Zhinong explained to the audience how Walmart China was using VeChain’s technology to provide product traceability while also complying to government specifications across the many cities and provinces that Walmart China operates in. Walmart China has received a lot of praise for their platform, which speaks positively to the effectiveness of these types of track-and-trace blockchain solutions.

Top 10 entries of VeChain’s official video contest announced

After assessing all the videos submitted to the VeChain Community Video Contest 2020, the team announced the top 10 finalists. Node holders can now vote for their Top 3 submissions via VeVote before July 12, 23:59pm UTC+8.

The official announcement and video playlist can be found here.

VeChainDev account releases 3rd SDK written in C#

The VeChain core development team released the .Net Core library SDK written in C# on July 6 . The SDK supports cross-platform and Unity, and is the core code base of the third language released by VeChain. It aims to provide a more friendly development experience for community developers, data analysts and other technology enthusiasts.

A preview of the code can be found on GitHub.

Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus adds all of its lab tests to E-HCert

Following it’s pilot with COVID-19 tests, the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus has now extended its adoption of the E-HCert app by adding all of its lab tests to the app, besides just the COVID-19 tests that were used in the closed beta trial. This is a major vote of confidence for the application, which gives patients more control over their medical tests and data. 

 

Deadline for 8Hours Foundation’s “Limited Edition Voyager Treasure and VIM Giveaway” passes

On July 8th, a snapshot of all VeChainThor wallet address was taken. Addresses meeting the event criteria will receive exclusive VIM and EHrT rewards as soon as the special VIMs are minted. Owners can interact with their VIMs through both the VeChainThor Mobile Wallet or VeChain’s SYNC Desktop Browser. There was an unexpectedly high wallet distribution with over 1,000 eligible accounts.

Guangming Daily publishes an article about My Care

On July 9th, Chinese state media Guangming Daily covered a story about My Care and its importance to maintain public health protection by using health codes to verify the infection prevention measures of a location. The article included a detailed explanation of My Care, VeChain’s and DNV GL’s role in its development and sample venues that have passed the assessment such as the Shanghai InterContinental Hotel, Hongqiao State Guest Hotel or the Jiangsu Qingshan Conference Center.

The reporter also mentioned a signed Memorandum of Cooperation between Walmart and the Chinese Quality and Safety Supervision Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to coordinate the construction of a quality and safety traceability system for agricultural products.

The original article can be found here.

Sunny attends the Huangpu District Headquarters Salon as a surprise guest

Organised by the Shanghai Huangpu District Financial Office, PwC, Yuanhe Medical and two additional companies, the Huangpu District Headquarters Salon took place on July 9th. The event gives government officials in Shanghai and representatives of leading enterprises from various industries to share their development experience and discuss current affairs and new industry opportunities. As a surprise guest, Sunny was invited to give a speech about VeChain’s commercial application and the contribution of blockchain technology to the prevention and control of COVID-19.

VeChain is featured in Global Blockchain Applications report published by Shanghai government

During the WAIC 2020 conference, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization and the Shanghai Finance Information Association released a joint report entitled 2020 Global Blockchain Innovation Applications. The report analyzes existing blockchain applications and showcased several of VeChain’s working partnerships such as with Shanghai Gas, Walmart China and H&M.

Learn what the report had to say about VeChain here.

Binance.US explains VeChain and announces support for VET staking

On July 11th Binance.US published an introductory article about VeChain and confirmed that it will support the distribution of VTHO to VET holders. The official articles can be found here and here. 

The new Vulcan Forged marketplace goes live

Vulcan Forged announced its new fully functional marketplace that is currently being tested by the community. The official announcement and video tutorial can be found here.

CoinGecko integrates Hacken’s CyberSecurity Score to Rankings

CoinGecko has been rising in popularity recently as investors seek an unbiased ranking site for cryptocurrency metrics. Their Trust Score, created in May of 2019, is designed to rank exchanges based on their ethics and security.

Today we’re proud to announce that we have found the right partner – Hacken, to work on this initiative together to increase user awareness on the need for exchanges to improve their cybersecurity practices. 

Hacken is a cybersecurity firm established in Estonia that has been proactively tracking exchanges cybersecurity practices in the past 2 years through their work at CER.live. In particular, we looked at the CyberSecurity Scores for crypto exchanges as evaluated by the Hacken team. There are three main categories which were evaluated:

  1. Product & Infrastructure – This covers how well an exchanges’ frontend & web services are set up against external facing threats. Evaluates availability of features such as Server Security, DNS SEC, Firewalls, Spam Protection and more.
  1. User Accounts – This evaluates the ability of an exchange to protect its users against external threats, such as enforcement of 2-factor authentication (2FA), Password Policies, Captcha, Phishing protection and more.
  2. Others – No less important than the above – Hacken also considers any previous hack cases & the availability of bug bounty programmes which can help crowdsource vulnerability disclosures in a responsible and controlled manner.

To read the whole blog article, click here.

Hacken’s CEO Dyma Budorin then held a fireside chat with CoinGecko’s COO Bobby Lee, which you can read about on Medium.

Suzhou’s Qingshan Conference Center publishes article about My Care certification

On their official WeChat account, the conference center published an exhaustive list of preventative measures they took to ensure the safety of guests and staff. The hotel had been subject to a series of inspections and training led by DNV GL’s medical experts. The article also included a render of the certificate awarded to the hotel, which explained the validity of the certificate was subject to the requirements of regular and unannounced surveillance. This indicates that a My Care certification could contribute regular blockchain transactions as the business or facility is consistently inspected.

 

Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter.

Follow our new Twitter account for the latest in news, opinions, metrics, and other wholesome information on the world of VeChain. 

 

 

Don’t forget to check out the new community announcements channel on Telegram, where news, articles, and Tweets will be collected to keep subscribers informed. You can find it over at: https://t.me/VeChain_Eco_Announcements

 

 

 

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VeChain featured in Global Blockchain Applications report published by Shanghai government

VeChain featured in Global Blockchain Applications report published by Shanghai government

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At the start of the blockchain session during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization and the Shanghai Finance Information Association released a joint report entitled 2020 Global Blockchain Innovation Applications. The detailed report showed off a number of existing applications using blockchain technology, including VeChain’s Shanghai Gas project, Walmart China’s Food Safety Platform, and the H&M sustainable fashion deployment. The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization is an official government bureau under the Shanghai Municipal Government. 

The report screened applications based on four metrics: advancement and innovation, quantifiable economic and social benefits, reproducibility and demonstration, and compliance with application case results. It focused on projects across seven fields: Industrial Finance, Governance, Social Livelihood, Judicial deposit, Culture and Entertainment, Intelligent Manufacturing, and Financial services. VeChain was one of the only public blockchains represented, and with three use cases shown off, has further established a clear positional advantage in the Chinese blockchain space. 

The report was launched in a large ceremony during WAIC featuring Liu Shanquan of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Xing Bo, President of the Shanghai Finance Information Industry Association, and Wu Jun, Secretary-General of the Blockchain Technology Application Alliance

Featured Project #1: Shanghai Gas

Shanghai Gas’s Energy as a service platform was featured prominently on page 11 of the report, with an explanation of how VeChain’s technology allowed the company to create the world’s first liquified natural gas (LNG) information digitization platform. The platform helped to link upstream and downstream businesses in the LNG industry, allowing the secure sharing of data between operations, sales, receiving stations, as well as insurance and finance services. Information acquired included LNG storage tank data from the Wuhaogou site (pictured below), LNG quality data, LNG order information (including delivery order number, delivery volume, logistics carrier vehicle and crew information, etc.) and loading information. This helped to remove the data silo effect between the Wuhaogou site, logistics carriers, and downstream customers. 

The report explained how VeChain provided blockchain infrastructure and application architecture support, while partners PriceWaterhouseCoopers gave consulting services on project strategy, research and implementation. Included was a look at the Shanghai Gas project roadmap, which included real-time resource trading, innovation finance services, and logistics operations management services. 

Featured Project #2: Walmart China Blockchain Traceability Platform

The second project featured shared how Walmart China, who also presented later in the day at WAIC, are using VeChain’s technology to help meet shopper demand for higher requirements on quality and food safety. The platform shares product data between the suppliers, Walmart distribution centers and  consumers.

Consumers can scan the QR code to view the information of products uploaded to VeChain’s ToolChain platform, such as the source of goods, the geographic location information when it was received by Wal-Mart, logistics processing time, product inspection reports and other detailed information. While not featured in the report, it is well-known that after the success of the platform, it has expanded to include premium products in membership-only Sam’s Club China stores as well.

Featured Project #3: H&M and Arket

This section featured a look at one of VeChain’s earlier projects where they implemented NFC tags into Arket beanies. They discussed how H&M Group is continuously exploring blockchain application scenarios with VeChain in the field of sustainable fashion. 

By working with VeChain and third-party verifiers DNV GL, H&M Group is able to track product life data from raw textile materials, processing plants, garment production logistics, stores, and finally to the customers. The project used smart devices and IoT sensors and allowed supply chain participants to record and view data using either a web app or a mobile app, making integration more flexible.

The full 125 page report is available in Chinese here.

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VeChain Weekly Update (July 3rd)

VeChain Weekly Update (July 3rd)

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After last week got shortened by the Dragon Boat Festival, the VeChain team was back at it again. The first week in Q3 saw VeChain celebrate the two year anniversary of launching the mainnet and gave us a chance to reflect on how far the project has come. It coincided with the release of the latest executive report and we also saw some community projects announce major breakthroughs and progress.

VeChain Financial Executive Report #11 Published, Buyback re-started

The quarterly financial report was published, and with it contained some interesting news. Added to the usual token supply overview was the Ecosystem Reserves, which signifies the restart of the token buyback plan. The buyback was originally announced last year, and shows the VeChain Foundation has faith in the longterm value of the VET token. The Ecosystem Reserve already holds 445 million tokens, or about $4.5 million USD at current prices.

**The ecosystem reserve was acquired by the VeChain Foundation on the open markets. This reserve will be used to facilitate the long term growth of the VeChain ecosystem. VeChain Foundation is evaluating institution level custody service, and the reserve will be deposited into the custody and disclosed when the custody service is available.

The full report can be read here.

VeChain’s official video contest deadline passes

After nearly a month of submissions, the window finally shut to submit new videos. There were over 80 different videos received, including dozens of well-made, professional explainers and introductions to the technology. The team must now pick between all of them and will announce 10 finalists on July 5th.

CEO Sunny Lu set to join the China-Singapore Dialogue

The event is hosted by Wanxiang Blockchain Labs and the Singapore Blockchain Association. The event will take place on June 4th at 9:30 am (UTC +8) and will be streamed live on Singapore University of Social Science’s YouTube Channel.

Cointelegraph Consulting & VeChain publish a joint food safety report

This report, entitled When Blockchain Meets IoT: Ensuring Food Safety in the 2020s, discusses how better food traceability has a lot to offer an industry plagued by a low rate of digitalization. According to the report, the benefits of IoT and blockchain are spread across three value drivers: cost reduction, revenue enhancement, and risk mitigation. Cointelegraph Consulting estimates that these savings can add up to $155 billion per year globally.

The report identifies five areas which will undergo tumultuous changes in the next ten years, including supply chain, global trade, food processing, stakeholder mindset, and food production. Blockchain and IoT are the keys to increasing transparency, trust and collaboration within the industry, empowering producers and retailers to deliver safer products for consumption around the world.

Check out the report here.

 

Sunny Lu interviewed by Digital Asset Investor (YouTube)

This week well-known cryptocurrency influencer known as Digital Asset Investor spent an hour chatting with Sunny Lu about the development of the platform. The pair touched on a few key topics including:

  • Why VeChain doesn’t use the Proof of Work consensus algorithm
  • The importance of the combining business mindsets and technical mindsets. Enterprises care about solutions, rather than just technology.
  • The misunderstandings about China “banning” blockchain and how VeChain is working on upscaling the business development in North America.
  • The busy travel life of Sunny and the importance of spending time with his family.
  • The implementation of the My Care solution in the biggest hotel from Intercontinental Group in Shanghai which is a dedicated hotel for the China International Import Expo (CIIE).

At the time of writing, the video had nearly 17k views.

DNV GL announces ArcelorMittal verified with MyCare

This massive steel conglomerate is now using MyCare to verify a UK office is compliant with infection risk management standards. DNV GL uses the blockchain to create a transparent record of their testing processes. ArcelorMittal is a global company with 191,248 employees in 18 different countries. They are one of the biggest steel companies in the world and supplies industries such as construction, automotive, energy, and transportation.

VeChainStats.com plans new site upgrades

Trusted community website vechainstats.com is planning to re-launch with a complete new website in fall 2020. According to their  Twitter post, they plan to partner with Zoomcharts to give even more visualizations and interactive analytics to the community.

Sunny Lu scheduled to speak at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) on July 10th

We reported this previously, but this is a reminder that the event will happen next weekend. The event is hosted by a group of government agencies including the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economics and Information Technology alongside strategic partners like Microsoft, AWS, China Mobile, and ICBC.

Third-Party Progress & Community Progress

OceanEx performs Q2 token burn

156,137,147 OCE were removed from the total market supply for this quarter. Each quarter, OCE tokens used to pay transaction and withdrawal fees are collected and burned. In total, over a billion have been burned since the beginning of this program four quarters ago. That’s over $2 million USD at today’s prices. Link

8 Hours announces upcoming VIMworld launch

The VIMworld gaming ecosystem is set to kick off soon, and early participants are eligible for rewards, tokens, and playable VIM characters. Read more about this here.

Jur completes upgrade and Connex integration

Legaltech solution Jur launched a new blog, and took the opportunity to announce they had upgraded their Jur Beta Platform to support Connex integration. The benefit is that the platform now runs smoothly in VeChain Sync. If you haven’t tried it, jump in and make your first legal contract today on the blockchain.

Safe Haven deploy Digital Inheritance smart contracts

Long-time VeChain project Safe Haven appears close to deploying a solution that would let users split their private key among appointed beneficiaries should they pass away. Their solution, called Inheriti, should make it easier for people to justify holding large sums of cryptocurrency without risking their family’s financial future.

Real Items holding webinar

On July 8th, Real Items will be sharing how they verify PPE products during this COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar will be held with Penrose Partners

Sign up for this free event here.

There wasn’t any announcement, but it seems Real Items has been updating their website

The VThorium rocket is here

A simple dApp that burns VTHO on the way to the moon is now collecting prizes from the community. Anyone can add a prize, which so far includes things like Veriarti tokens, NFTs, and other digital assets. Find out more or just try it out at vthorium.com

Reminder: DApps on the VeChain platform are eligible for subsidies

COO Kevin Feng tweeted this week about the VTHO subsidy program.

If you run a dapp on the VeChainThor blockchain, don’t forget to apply for our ongoing VTHO subsidy program. It helps you reduce the operational cost, acquire more users and more tx. vechain.org/bounty-program/

Kevin Feng’s Twitter

Follow our new Twitter account for the latest in news, opinions, metrics, and other wholesome information on the world of VeChain. Special thanks to @VeChainStats and @Martijncvv for help in compiling this summary.

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VIMworld launching a new world of digital collectibles

VIMworld launching a new world of digital collectibles

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  • 8 Hours announces bonus rewards and giveaways for early adopters
  • Users can earn these by moving EHrT off Bitrue 
  • Users can earn more multiple times by creating multiple wallets
Evolution of digital collectibles 

The 1990’s was an era of massive growth for digital pets. Giga pets, Tamagotchi, and Furbies were among the must have toys for people in that era. Still, these toys were limited by the technology of the time, and their respective crazes faded quickly from the mainstream, to the point where people born after the 90’s might not have even heard of them.

Fast forward to 2020, where Playtable and 8 Hours are recreating this toy genre. They are doing that by using the latest in internet, IoT, and blockchain technology, and calling it VIM-world. The internet makes them playable from all over the world, IoT lets you attach them to physical toys, and blockchain gives them value.  

These 90’s toys sparked a buying frenzy

Instead of being cased in plastic with black-and-white LCD screens, the VIMs will be a cryptocurrency “wallet” on the VeChain mainnet with a digital appearance. Owners logging into the VIM world website will be able to feed, care for, and battle their VIMs against other VIM owners. Owners can keep them in their digital-only form or order physical toy representations off the website, which can then be bonded to the VIM using an NFC chip. Users with a DIY attitude will be able to bond an NFC chip to their own creation, like a hand-carved statue, a 3D printed figure, or an old sock. There’s really no limits to what you could do. 

But regardless of what the VIM looks like, the question remains: will users be attracted to this style of toy? Nintendo’s Amiibo figurines and cards were successful, and sold between 15-20 million a year while they were being produced, despite being restricted to consoles such as the Wii U and suffering major shortages of popular characters. 8 Hours is hoping to build the same relationship with their Playtable gaming consoles, while unlike Nintendo, also making their VIMs playable without the hardware. VIMworld will be accessible from any computer (via Vechain Sync) or mobile device (through the VeChain Thor App) making it easy to get started. This opens up VIM ownership to wide swaths of gaming fans, blockchain fans, and fans of digital toys and collectibles. And while VIM might not be launching with popular IPs like Mario and Zelda, the 8 Hours Foundation has long hinted that certain mainstream IPs would be coming to VIMworld. That in itself is something to look forward to as the prospect of battling characters from different game universes has always been appealing. If VIMworld is able to attract some major IPs, combined with community and in-house models, the ecosystem could be an eclectic mixture of popular and unusual digital characters. 

VIMs: Giving value to dedicated gamers 

A key feature of VIMs are their ability to record character progression on the blockchain. VIMs can be progressed by playing, or by storing the EHrT token within the VIM itself. Naturally, higher level VIMs will be more difficult to defeat in battle, making them more valuable on the secondhand market. 

Blok Party is the company behind the Playtable and 8 Hours. Their Co-founder Shane Zhu has a lot of excitement when talking about the upcoming launch of VIMworld, and believes that once players begin to understand the rules behind leveling up the different tiers and types of VIM, they will also be incentivized to take part. He told VeChain101 that the VIM was unique by being not just playable and usable, but also tradable. Once players put that much time and energy into building up a gaming character, they deserve to be able to sell it. 

In their latest announcement on Medium, 8 Hours explained how users could earn rewards for getting involved early. The announcement was far from straightforward, and newcomers might be confused by the constant use of terminology and abbreviations. Here’s a quick rundown:

  • VIMs – The digital character itself, existing on the blockchain
  • VIMworld – The game itself, including a dashboard, marketplace, and battle arena
  • EHrTs – The digital currency used in the 8 Hours gaming ecosystem
  • EGGs – A reward for highest level VIMs, such as companions or other rewards
  • Treasures – A  reward for early adopters, that will be used in future events

The main idea is that by staking or “feeding” EHrT tokens into VIMs, these digital pets will increase in rank and be harder to defeat in battle (and have higher resale value). High-ranking VIMs will hatch EGGs, which can give the VIM owner more rewards or simply distinguish the VIM from other lower-ranked VIMs. Treasures seem to be a form of consumable reward that can be used to enter events, presumably such as tournaments or other activities. 

Got it all? This might be one of those things that are easier understood once the VIMworld game goes online later this summer.

So what should we do now?

People looking to get a head start on the competition can earn the first batch of VIMs by putting EHrT tokens into a VeChain wallet, such as the official mobile wallet, the Sync wallet, or via a Ledger hardware device. The key here is not which wallet you use, just as long as it’s not on an exchange or a centralized custodial service, because then they’d be getting the VIM, not you. Sync is my personal recommendation, because users will eventually be able to access the VIMworld game directly in the Sync browser. 

As you can see from the chart above, holding 10,000 EHrT in a wallet is enough to earn the lowest tier VIM as well as some Treasures. As the rewards go up, it’s also possible to earn free EHrT, giving users even more incentive to take part. However, each wallet can only get 1 VIM, so if someone held 20,000 EHrT, they’d be better off creating a second VeChain wallet (in Sync, for example) and splitting the EHrT equally between them. Anyone holding over 500,000 EHrT should definitely look into splitting up their funds into additional wallets, so as to maximize their rewards.

The deadline to create these wallets is on July 8, when the snapshot will take place.

So will the future be bright for VIMworld? Shane from Blok Party thinks it will be. He recognizes that the community is anxious to get started, but said that he wants everything to be perfect. “We just want to show people what we can do. I don’t want a substandard product, so we are going to get it right.” For the VeChain community and blockchain gaming fans in general,  we hope that you do, Shane. 

Be sure to share your opinions on our official VeChain101 Twitter.

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VeChain X Footwear – Shoes on the blockchain [in photos]

VeChain X Footwear – Shoes on the blockchain [in photos]

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VeChain’s ToolChain is quickly making a name for itself in the fashion industry, with big partners such as H&M’s COS, Arket, LVMH, and Givenchy. However, ToolChain goes far beyond just being a platform for major fashion houses. Custom designers and independent artists can take advantage of ToolChain’s IoT chips to make their creations come to life in the digital world while simultaneously verifying the authenticity of the product. Here’s a quick rundown:

Chase Shiel X The Kickz Stand – Air Max 1 ‘Cherry’ 

Well, it’s only fair that we start with this one. Announced this week, the limited custom design will drop on Chaseshiel.com on Sunday, 29th of June at 12AM (Singapore). Check out this article from The Kickz Stand to get the full scoop.

Custom shoe Designs Air Max 1 ‘Cherry

Air Max 1 ‘Cherry

Chase Shiel X The Kickz Stand X Street Superior – AM1 Travis Scott

The original Chase Shiel design on ToolChain – this was released in November of 2019 at Street Superior in Singapore. You can read more here.

Chase Shiel X The Kickstand Custom Shoe Design authentication

Chase Shiel X The Kickstand Shoe design

Grailcrew Customs – Legends of Hip Hop

Another shoe that was on display at Street Superior in November of 2019, you can follow more from Australian designer Jeffrey Martinez here on his Instagram.

Grailcrew Customs

Grailcrew Custom shoe Design

CLOT X Air Jordan 13 Low – “Terracotta”

This special edition release was the focus of 2018 INNERSECT exhibition in Shanghai. They were tagged for the event in collaboration with VeChain partner Swell. 

Air Jordan 13 Low

Air Jordan 13 Low Shoe design

SBTG X VECHAIN – Golden Tiger

The original ToolChain custom shoe design – These debuted at the 2018 Street Superior exhibition in Singapore. Local artist Mark Ong AKA Sabotage was at the VeChain summit a year later to talk about the collaboration. The official VeChain announcement is here.

Golden Tiger

Golden Tiger

SBTG X HBO ASIA X Game of Thrones – Adidas

We wrap up this rundown with a hard to find gem. In celebration of the eighth and final season of Game Of Thrones, HBO Asia commissioned Singaporean designer Mark Ong and his home-grown label SBTG to create four sneaker designs paying homage to the series. The designs were quite stark, but are probably remembered much more fondly than that season finale. 

Game of Thrones - Adidas

Game of Thrones - Adidas

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