Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬,
Please join me to welcome, āCHROMIA CEO & Co-founder, Henrik Hjelteā and ā CMO, Serge lubkinā
Oh, before we proceed, kindly introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about your roles at Chromia @sergelubkin & @henrik_hjelte.
Henrik Hjelte,
Ok, Iām Henrik, Iām CEO of ChromaWay that crated the Chromia project. My background is a bit mixed: developer for 30+ years (since 80: s), but I studied other things at university (economics, politics, social sciences philosophy). Life is more than computer you knowā¦ I worked with FInance/IT then started a web startup and got to know Alex Mizrahi who worked as a developerā¦.
Web startup didnāt fly, but Alex showed me bitcoin. When I finally read the whitepaper I was blown away, and joined Alex colored-coins project, the first open source protocol to issue tokens. in 2013.
So, we started with open-source tokens (that kickstarted the blockchain industry. Then started company together 2014.
That is a long intro, Iāll shut up nowā¦ Thanksā¦.
Serge,
Iām Serge, Iām assisting Henrik today and I work with Chromia marketing team as well as on some business development projects
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬, , Question No 1 :
Kindly describe the CHROMIA project and what it aims to achieve?
Henrik Hjelte,
Chromia is a new public blockchain based on the idea of integrating traditional databases, Relational databases with blockchain security. Chromia is a general purpose blockchain with full smart contract capabilities, just that it is a lot easier to code, even complex applications. You code with an easy to learn new programming language that combines the power of SQL and normal languages but makes it secure in a blockchain context. Up to 1/10 the code-lines vs other blockchains. There is a blog post about it, Iāll share later. On lines of code.
The aim of Chromia is to combine relational databases, which exist in every kind of organization, together using blockchains. We want to provide a platform for our users to develop totally decentralized apps securely. Our goal is for Chromia to be seen as the number one infrastructure for decentralized applications.
https://blog.chromia.com/reasons-for-rell-compactness/
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬,Question No 2:
What inspired the CHROMIA Core team to pick interest in CHROMIA project? what breakthrough have you achieved so far? what are the present challenges youāre facing and how are you planning to overcome them?
Henrik Hjelte,
We started with public blockchains, tokens in 2012, the worldās first stable coin with a bank 2015 (LHV). When coding that solution, peer to peer payments of Euro-tokens, we discovered we need performance reasons to store all data in a database. We needed to quickly know the ābalanceā of a user, and canāt loop through a blockchain. And slowly the idea grew that we can make the database INTO a blockchain, integrate completely with the transaction mechanism of a database. So, we did it as a private blockchain first (Postchain), used it for some projects, then came up with the idea to make a Public Blockchain based on it.
The motivation is that we felt we needed a better programming model for blockchains. Our CTO Alex has always been thinking of optimal solutions for blockchain technology and has lots of experiences thinking about it. Also: make real-world useful things. For example, we support free-to-play models since users do not need to own āourā token to USE apps, the application itself (often the developer) pays for hosting. And of course, great performance. Also: more knowledge of who runs nodes and risk level. So, it is more suitable for enterprises.
In Chromia the application (at the start the developer) decides Who should be allowed to run its own blockchain (every dapp has its own blockchain). You can also say on a higher level that we want to provide technology to create āPublic applicationsā, a tool
that enables us to create a fairer world.
https://blog.chromia.com/towards-publicly-hosted-applications/
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬, Question No 3 :
Why did you create your own blockchain instead of leveraging on existing and proven base layer protocol?
Henrik Hjelte,
None of the existing protocols are suitable to support large-scale, mainstream applications. We designed Chromia to give our users exactly what they want; fast support, useful features, with an affordable service cost. Other platforms do not have the ability to host data applications in a decentralized and secure way, as Chromia can. Chromia also has its own bespoke programming language that sets it apart from SQL-based platforms. Itās so easy to use, even non-developers can understand it!
The other big difference with Chromia concerns payments. Chromia gives its users freedom from having to pay for each transaction. With Chromia, you have the flexibility to decide how to set fees for your dapp
And when it comes to āproven base layer protocolsā: they are just a few years at max. Chromia is built on top of Postgresql, that has been used in enterprises for decades, a really proven technology. And the Java virtual machine on top of that. This is proven tech, at core.
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬, Question No 4 :
What is Postchain?
Henrik Hjelte,
Postchain is an open-source product of ChromaWay for enterprise clients and itās the core technology on which Chromia is built.
Postchain is a replicated blockchain and database that offers highly resilient distributed database management with distributed control.
Postchain is the only product on the market that combines the immutable consensus of a blockchain and the properties of a real database management system (You know, the tech that built SAP, Facebook, Banksā¦) ā¦
Postchain allows you to share information between companies and/or individuals in a secure and transparent way.
That is the low-level base of Chromia you can say
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬,
Can you please name some of your clients that are using this service already?
Serge,
You mean products built on Postchain? Also, Stockholm Green Digital Finance, Green Assets Wallet thatās now functioning on Chromia Bootstrap Mainnet.
Big financial institutions
Itās only a beginning of course, but very promising one. https://greenassetswallet.org/news/2019/12/12/launch-of-the-green-assets-wallet
Henrik Hjelte,
We got a lot of attention with the Swedish Land registry; we did a joint project between them and banks and a telco etc on postchain as base.
Then, right now we do a large project with the Inter-American Development bank also about land-registration (processes) in South America.
We had a client, Stockholm Green Digital Finance, that did a system for green bonds (tracking environmental impact. Yes, as Sege says, it was later moved to Chromiaā¦
Which is cool. Also, another external development company did that phase of the project, proving that other can build on our tech,4irelabs from Ukraine is their name. Some companies using the GAW: Blackrock. SEB Bank etcā¦
Also, we have done more projects, in Australia, asia etc. Oh Daimler too (the Mercedes company) ā¦
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬,
Lots of enterprise clients youāve got. No wonder I do see the meme āCHR=ETH KILLERā
Serge,
Itās a meme from our supporters. But we believe we can coexist:)
For some niche things eth is good :)
So, no killing :D
Henrik Hjelte,
We want to work with partners too for this, we canāt do all projects ourselves. Also, for Chromia projects, ChromaWay company can help do support maintenance etc. So, it is not competing, it adds value to the ecosystem.
Yeah ETH is good too, for some applications. We are friends with them from colored-coin times.
And colored-coins inspired ETH, and ETH inspires us.
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬, Question No 5 :
Lastly, CHROMIA is already doing very well in terms of business. You just got listed on BINANCE JEX, you are on-boarding new clients and dishing out new features. But whatās next? Is there anything to be excited about?
Henrik Hjelte,
Plans for 2020 are to both release a series of dapps to showcase how fantastic Chromia is, as well as continue to develop the platform. And when it is secure and good enough, we will release the mainnet.
Dapps are now being made by us as well as others. We do a decentralized social network framework called Chromunity, now released to TestNet. It is really cool, users can vote over moderators, and in the future users might even govern the complete application, how it can be updated. This is a great showcase for Chromia and why we use the slogan Power to the Public.
https://testnet.chromunity.com/
Games coming are:
Mines of Dalarnia (by Workinman Interactive). An action game in a mine with blockchain rental of plots and stuff. Already on TestNet and you can take a peek on it at https://www.minesofdalarnia.com
more comingā¦
Krystopia 2, novas journey. A puzzle game done by Antler Interactive. Could only find trailer though:
However, we have even larger ambitions with blockchain gamingā¦
We are doing A secret demo-project that we do together with Antler to showcase the technical potential of Chromia platform.
Another exciting relase is an indie game Chain of Alliance, done by two external developers. It is a strategy game with full-logic on blockchain. Public release on TestNet on May 22!
More coming in 2020: Other dapps from other companies, one in impact-tech.
That is a serious app, Chromia also works outside gaming and social media for enterprises and startups
And I hope some of you will do something, we want to support dapps on the platform so reach out to usā¦
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬,
When can we be expecting the mainnet? Any approximate time? Iām sure the community will really excited to have that info
Serge,
Itās now in Bootstap phase, so itās technically already functioning. MVP will be very soon
Stay tuned;)
Twitter questions Vs answers
Ellkayy,
Whatās the unique thing in Chromia that no other blockchain has, that makes you the better option?
Henrik Hjelte,
Unique: Chromia is the only blockchain that also has a real, proper database built-in. And blockchain is about managing data in a shared context. How to best managed data was solved in computer science already. So far, it is the relational algebra model that is used in 100% of all enterprises, and has an 85% market share. Chromia is the only blockchain that use that model and that power.
Ellkayy,
Why Chromia use RELL and not SQL or JavaScript? Can developers with other language knowledge use Chromia?
Serge,
Rell is the only language on the blockchain side. You can combine with anything on client-side, although now client only exists for JS/TS, C# and Java/Kotlin. Rell is a language for relational blockchain programming. It combines the following features:
1 Relational data modeling and queries similar to SQL. People familiar with SQL should feel at home once they learn the new syntax.
2 Normal programming constructs: variables, loops, functions, collections, etc.
3 Constructs which specifically target application backends and, in particular, blockchain-style programming including request routing, authorization, etc.
Rell aims to make programming as convenient and simple as possible. It minimizes boilerplate and repetition. At the same time, as a static type system it can detect and prevent many kinds of defects prior to run-time.
Roshan DV,
I have been monitoring your project for a while but some concerns about it: Your project will build your own core network, so you have more visibility than Ethereum and NEO. These are projects that were born before and which also have a very large community. And what can assure you that your project will guarantee the functionalities that you have defined?
Henrik Hjelte,
What came first? I want to remind that Vitalik was in the colored-coins project, led by our CTO and we had blockchain in production before ETH and NEO etc existed. We are the old dogsā¦
Large community: We are part of the same community. When developers are fustrated and want to try new tech, they go to us from other blockchains.
Also, we have a large potential: SQL (close to Rell and our tech) is the world top 3 language. Bigger than Java. Bigger than PHP. Only beaten bny HTML and javascript. Soliditiy is not on top 20 list. THere are millions of developers that know SQL. That is potential for communityā¦ (source is Stackoverflow annual programming survey).
Paul (Via Manage),
What are the utilities of Chromia and what purpose does the Chromia coin serve?
Serge,
Chromia meta-token called Chroma (CHR). It is used in Chromia to compensate block-producing nodes by fees. In Chromia, fees are paid by dapps, which can in their turn collect fees from users. Chromia provides mechanisms which balance the interests of developers and users. Dapp tokens can be automatically backed with Chroma, providing liquidity and value which is independent of investment into the dapp. Dapp investors can be compensated in Chroma through a profit-sharing contract. For developers, Chromia offers the opportunity to derive income from dapps. This incentivises the creation and maintenance of high quality dapps because better dapps generate more income and create more demand for tokens owned by the developer. The Chromia model is designed to support sustainable circular economies and foster a mutually beneficial relationship between developers, users, and investors.
Idemudia Isaac,
Thank you very much @henrik_hjelte @sergelubkin
You stated your plans for 2020 is to release series of dApps. What kind of large scale, mainstream decentralized application and $Chromia products do you think is suitable for the Nigerian environment?
Henrik Hjelte,
Actually, this is why we want to work with partners. We cannot know everything, For African market we have seen of course payments/remittances (but it has fallen out of trend). We would love to do real-estate /land-registration but we understand we need a strong local partner (more than a single person, a real company or organization driving).
āCCā | Elrond šµš,
What plans do you have to building a vibrant global community around Rell? And how would you go about encouraging/incentivising such āRellistsā around the world to build dApps on Chromia? @henrik_hjelte @sergelubkin
Henrik Hjelte,
For developers (I am one too, or used to be) you normally need to prove a few things:
That the tech is productive (can I do apps faster?)
That it is better (less bugs, more maintainable?)
Then the community will come. We see that all the time. Look at web development. React.js came, and developers flooded to it. Not because of marketing on Superbowl, but because it was BETTER. Fewer bugs and easier to do complex webapps.
So, at core: people will come when we showcase the productivity gains, and that is what we need to focus on.
āCCā | Elrond šµš,
Why do you choose to build Chromia token on ERC20 instead of other blockchain such as BEP2, TRC20ā¦or your own chain while ERC20 platform is very slow and have a case of fee? @henrik_hjelte @sergelubkin
Serge,
So far Ethereum has the best infrastructure, itās the oldest and most reliable network for tokens. It also became the industry standard which exchanges utilize. We will transfer 80% of all erc20 tokens to our Chromia blockchain when itās ready for that.
Koh,
In your whitepaper it says in the upcoming version of ChromiaWallet that it will be able to function as a Dapp browser for public use. Q) Will it be similar to the Dapp browser on Trust Wallet?
Serge,
Itās live already try it http://vault-testnet.chromia.com/
Itās the wallet and a dapp browser
CHROMIA is SOLID,
Your metamorphosis is a laudable one,surviving different FUD, how have you been able to survive this longest bear market and continue building and developing cos many projects have died out in this time period!
Henrik Hjelte,
You need to know we started a company before ETH existed. There was 0 money in blockchain when we started. I did it becuase it was fun, exciting tech and MAYBE someone would be interested in the thing we made āTokensāā¦
We were never in the crazy bull-market, manly observed the crazies from the side. We fundraised for CHR in a dip (they called it bear market). ChromaWay the company also make money from enterprises.
ŠŠ»ŠµŠŗŃ,
What is SSO?
What makes it important for chromias ecosystem?
Why should we users be attracted to it?ā
Serge,
Chromia SSO is perhaps the most important UX improvement that Chromia offers the decentralized world. It revolutionizes the way users interact with dapps. Any dapp requires users to sign transactions, that means they need a private key. Control of the private key is control of any and all dapps or assets associated with it. This means that private keys have an especially stringent set of security requirements in a blockchain context ā they control real value, and there is no recourse if they are compromised or lost. https://blog.chromia.com/chromia-sso-the-whys-and-the-whats/
Olufemi Joel,
How do you see the Chromia project developing in 3 to 5 years, both on the commercial level and on the evolution of the company? What are the plans for expansion in different regions? Are you going to outsource the team/skills or keep it centralized and set up offices?
Henrik Hjelte,
I take part of the question. On outsource: we were a distributed team from day one, with co-founders from 3 countries (still living there). We are distributed now, Ukraine, Sweden, Vietnam, Croatia, China are āhubsā then we have individuals too. No big plan, just where we found great developersā¦
Park Lee, @henrik_hjelte
You claim CHOROMIA have fast support, useful features with an affordable service cost. That fast and the fees are cheap but can you guarantee stability?
Whatās the Algorithms which are used by CHROMIA for that fast? And Can you explain it?
Serge,
We use PBFT protocol with some features of DPOS, this plus sidechains parallelism offers almost unlimited speed and scalability. We also use the feature called anchoring to secure all transactions in batches on Bitcoin blockchain.
Mario Boy,
What are you guys trying to achieve as an end goal? The next Ethereum? Or the next enterprise version of Ethereum? Or something different?
Henrik Hjelte,
The end goalā¦ good question. When we started in 2014 there were no other blockchain companies, so we wanted to do the best blockchain technology in order to enable a decentralized world with more fair applications. And that is what we still do. Technology/software that can enable people to make a fairer world
Erven James Sato,
āSTAKINGā is one of the STRATEGIES to ATTRACT USERS and ACHIEVE MASS ADOPTION
Does your GREAT PROJECT have plan about Staking?
Serge,
Yes, we announced our staking plans couple of months ago https://blog.chromia.com/on-providers-and-stakes/
We are working with our current partners to make it accessible for general public.
Chizoba,
I often see Chromia and ChromaWay being used interchangeably, what is the relationship between the two?
Henrik Hjelte,
ChromaWay the company started Chromia from code done as postchain. This is normal in open-source development, a company that leads development. But Chromia will be a decentalized network, so ChromaWay will not make direct money out of it more than if we have a role as a Provider (and get payed for hosting). ChromaWay can indirectly make money from optional support and maintenance etc. Also, this, perfectly normal in open-source world.
And it also benefits Chromia that there is a market for support.
A market open for competition.
No special treatment for āChromaWayā
Enajite,
How to start coding on Chromia?
Henrik Hjelte,
Go to https://rell.chromia.com and follow the tutorial. Enjoy the free time you get compared to other blockchain languagesā¦
āCCā | Elrond šµš,
Chromia process 500 TPS, these is slow compare to other Blockchains, where we can see now 60K TPS if more capacity require, how can that be? @henrik_hjelte @sergelubkin
Serge,
Yes, if you need faster speed you can use parallelism by having multiple blockchains for your dapp. Also, by optimization and better architecture sky is the limit.
Delphino.eth ā ,
Can we consider Chromia an hybrid? For its mixing of Blockchain and a Database?
Henrik Hjelte,
Yes and no. I want to stress that Chromia is a FULL blockchain. It is not only āinspiredā. It is a blockchain AND a database.
I tend to think about Hybrid more in the usecases that you might have as a customer. For example, a bank might want to have some data/transactions private (as a private blockchain) and have another half of the application with public data (on Chromia). So that is a hybrid solution, and Chromia ROCKS in that segment since it is the only blockchain that is complete relational database (what the normal world uses anyway for 85% of all applications)
Example area: āopen bankingā
Steve bush,
How will Chromia I have any empower Investors, Companies, Developers, Platform Users to
deliver impactful solutions and bring value to people all over the world?
Henrik Hjelte,
In order to make blockchain go big, we need to have users. Users need to be able to use apps with ease. Chromia have features like single-sign on (ease of use), but importantly do not require owning tokens to USE apps.
Also, it needs to be easy to make applications. For example, if you are a student in US and came up with an idea, you want to make an application for your school. Letās call it āthefacebookā. You code something in PHP and MySQL. DID YOU SEE THAT. SQL. SQL.SQL. It is the same tech that Chromia has but no one else in the blockchain business. SQL rules the world if you look outside the crypto bubble. Google the Oracle head-officeā¦ 100% of all enterprises use itā¦ Because it is easy and powerful.
And we even improve on SQL with Rellā¦.
So, compare that with a hacky virtual machine that have a few yearsā¦. š
August,
āMines of Dalarniaā is a game that has caught my attention a lot, due to its simplicity and quality. But in the time that I have used it I have not been able to differentiate between the Chromia blockchain of this game and that of the competition? What other games do you have next to develop? I would like to give ideas in those games like a Gamers!
Henrik Hjelte,
We thought about in corona time sports club might want to engage more with their fans digitally. And of course, E-Sports is getting a real momentum as the young generation grows up. Now a bit sad that all games are centralized. My daughter will be sad when (at some day?) they will close down robloxā¦ it happens to all centralized apps eventuallyā¦ that is what we fix. Power to the Public to control apps and their future. Iāll repost again Alex post. Sorry I like it a lotā¦ https://blog.chromia.com/towards-publicly-hosted-applications/
Bisolar,
Good day Chromia team from a Chromia fan
Can you tell us Chromiaās geographical focus at the moment and the proces it follows for it BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT?
What factors do you consider before identifying NEW MARKETS to enter?
Serge,
Chromia will initially focus on community building in China, Korea, US and Europe. The focus of community growth will gradually expand to other markets as the project gains popularity.
Current community growth strategies of Chromia include:
Chromia blockchain incubator creation to welcome more projects to the Chromia blockchain
Host blockchain gaming conferences, workshops, and meetups to engage with potential users.
Provide online and face-to-face tutorials to engage with dapps developers.
Attract blockchain developers through direct and indirect approach via specialized platforms and communities.
Develop our relations with existing and previous corporate clients, and their partnership networks to participate in their blockchain ventures
Launch Node program to encourage system providers to run nodes on the Chromia blockchain.
Staking program for Chroma (CHR) tokens
Active community engagement via social channels.
Future community growth strategies of Chromia after Mainnet launch include:
Partner with more gaming studios, startups and enterprises
Build local communities with Ambassador Programs.
Partner with external incubator and accelerators to provide blockchain expertise and introduce projects to Chromia ecosystem
Continue organizing hackathons around the world to attract more developers.
Emmanuel,
I want to know the current structure of your roadmap? What is the future roadmap of CHROMIA? Is there any key milestone coming???
Henrik Hjelte,
It is easy to do a roadmap; anyone can make a pape plan. But I think they are used in the wrong way. Software is hard, blockchain is even harder because it NEEDS TO BE SECURE. No MVP releases. We cannot even have roadmap deadlines and skimp on quality. Where we are now though is: Rell language finished so much that developers can write apps and see its magic. We have external devs doing dapps. We have the first phase of mainnet. We have a series of releases coming up. We will release mainnet when it is secure enough, and gradual roll out. I think quite soon, development is going great at the moment, a bit quicker than we though.
Ellkayy,
Why doesnāt Chromia transactions use gas? How do you power transactions then?
Serge,
Main feature of gas in Ethereum is to pay for transactions for miners get rewards. In our scenario Providers get rewards from dapp owners. So dapp owner pays for storing their dapp. Itās like Amazon Web Service model. Then dapp owner can monetize it in its own way.
Ellkayy,
Many developers donāt know RELL, just Solidity and SQL. Is this a barrier or threat to Chromia? Why RELL is better?
Henrik Hjelte,
Very few developers know Solidity. Do a search on github. I referred previously to stackoverflow programming language survey results. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology
If you know SQL, you learn Rell in a day.
SQL is the top 3 language here. Iād say there are millions that can easily jump to Rell.
Soldity or other blockchains, not on top 20 list even.
Rell is a hipper, nicer version of SQL that is also a ānormalā programming language.
Developers like to learn new things, new languages. Otherwise we would be stuck with PHP, the DOMINANT language. Well, is it still? Seems javascript and react.js and node etc is taking overā¦
Moh (Binance Angel)š³š¬,
This brings us to the end of the AMA. Itās been a pleasure being with all of you, THANK YOU. Special shout out to @sergelubkin and @henrik_hjelte for honouring us with their presence todayā¤ļø
Kindly follow CHROMIA on twitter and join the conversation with their community on Telegram
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chromia
Telegram: https://t.me/hellochromia
Official Chromia Nigeria Community Channel š³š¬ : https://t.me/ChromiaNigeria
Website: www.chromia.com
