IN TEAM TALKS I MEET WITH THE TEAMS BEHIND THE PROJECTS — THIS TIME I MET WITH THE TEAM FROM THE KOMODO PLATFORM.

Recently i did a piece about privacy coins, and while researching the coins, i had good talks with some of the teams.
The Komodo team was one of the most eager to share knowledge about their project, and after having some good conversations with SM manager Ben O’Hanlon, we ended up having a nice talk with me, him and developer PTYX.

Here is an edited transcript of that interview:

INTRODUCTION:
Ben O’Hanlon: SM manager Komodo Platform.
PTYX: Komodo Platform support-manager, handles technical support and support documentation.
Flashy Gordy: Crypto/blockchain market researcher and journalist.

PRIVACY MECHANISM:
FlashyG: Does Zk-SNARKs have a scalability problem?
PTYX: I dont see a scalibility issue being there.
There is an update incoming to the protocol, and zaplin update is already implemented, which should make the transactions less heavy. Also the privacy layer is not being used extensively (less than 1%), why this is not a problem.
Komodo uses a different zero knowledge proof then ZCash, as they have a system called Jumblr.
Jumblr use zero knowledge proof in a more elaborate way, as you can set a secret address, that can hold the amount for some time before the transaction happens, whereby you both break the transaction link & the time link.
The more people use it, the more private and anonymous it becomes.
FlashyG: Is it also hiding the receiver?
PTYX: You can only see the transparent layer, so you can only see that an account receives a specific amount from the privacy layer.

KOMODO PLATFORM
FlashyG: Komodo seems to be a lot bigger project than just a privacy coin?
Ben O’Hanlon:
Komodo is a project that has already raised funds
Komodo is a privacy coin that gives you compound interest (5%), so you’re building your stack just by holding.
BarterDEX is a decentralized exchange, so you dont have to send your coins to a centralized exchange and pay fees.
And its a blockchain, so project can launch directly on the Komodo platform, and introduce their coins on BarterDEX directly.
Also projects that launch on Komodo, actually get their own blockchain, which solves some of the congestion problems, that we know from fx Ethereum — projects can even leave the Komodo ecosystem after they have launced, and bring their blockchain with them. There are so many parts in the Komodo ecosystem, that makes it so much bigger than a lot of these other projects.
PTYX: Exactly. The privacy layer, the tokenization mechanism and the BarterDEX all can be used and work together, and all fit together so well in this ecosystem.

THE KOMODO EDGE
FlashyG: Explain to me why the Komodo Platform is better than the others?
Komodo Platform will be one of the most independent and decentralized platforms, also introducing atomic swaps and smart simple contracts.
We are by far the leaders in atomic swaps.
We are the first ZCash fork with a tokenization mechanism — the projects are running independently but are also integrated into the Komodo ecosystem.
We like to see ourselves as the Linux of the crypto-world
And all the technology is ready, it is no longer a white paper project.

THE TEAM / COMMUNITY
FlashyG: Can you tell me a bit about how your structure is inside Komodo?
Ben O’Hanlon: The team and community are very integrated into each other, and Komodo hires from within — i was for example hired just from my passion for this project, in the start just being a fan, and the i got offered my current position.

THE ROADMAP / dICO => BLOCKNATION
FlashyG: Can you tell me a bit about your upcoming developments / next big announcements?
PTYX: I’ll go ahead and let Ben do that one.
Ben O’Hanlon: The most immediate thing happening, is that we have our first big decentralized ICO (dICO) coming up. Because we do decentralized ICO’s, whales can’t scoop up all the coins, as we can free the coins slowly bit by bit.
The first dICO coming up is called BlockNation.
BlockNation are focusing eventbased cashless payment systems, and the team behind that is PouchNation, who are the biggest southeastasian cashless payment system.
These guys are focusing on cashless payments with a wristband solution, and you will be able to use the wristbands in multiple festivals in different countries, so you will be able to be travelling across borders, going to festivals and events without needing cash.
PTYX: It’s actually an NFC chip that is implemented into the bracelet.

AFTER THIS THE INTERVIEW BECAME A BIT MORE LOOSE AND CHATTY, WITH THESE STATEMENTS FROM THE KOMODO TEAM IN NO CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:

ATOMIC SWAPS
We’re the world leaders in atomic swaps.
E.g. Litecoin is just testing out atomic swaps, while Komodo is not testing, it’s a working product (no disrespect to Litecoin just for comparison).
Transaction level will be above 10.000 tx/s (information from private channel inside the team) (the goal I understand should be 20.000 tx/s).
You would be able to do atomic swaps between bitcoin based protocols as well as support for ERC20 tokens.
Atomic swaps are basically like smart contracts, that has a series of transactions registered, and make sure that the atomic swap transactions are caried out regularly.

SEGREGATED CHAINS
It would allow someone to create segregated chains on Komodo, where you can send tokens in between the chains, without having to swap, and the tokens would keep their value.

WALLET
You can download the wallet from the website, we’re calling it a white paper wallet, and any coin would be able to go into the wallet.

BARTERDEX
Another interesting thing about BarterDEX, is that on a normal exchange you would need 5 Bitcoins to set 5 buy orders of 1 Bitcoin, but on BarterDEX you can set 5 buy orders of 1 Bitcoin with only 1 Bitcoin, and the first one to get fulfilled would could the others. That means you get leverage and increased liquidity on your money.
It’s all sorts of features that will be worked out into the BarterDEX — the core is ready which is the basic atomic swaps, with the distributed order books, the order matching and we will be adding more features as we go, and the technology evolves.
A BarterDEX version 2 will also be coming in Q3, and will look more like the centralized exchanges, with transaction speeds higher than what currently exists. We will publish technical details on that soon.
(link to see the stats on BarterDEX here: dexstats.info/dexcap.php)

GUI’s
There’s a few GUI’s in the works, one of them is called HyperDEX, and is being worked by a 3rd party team. Another one is a very simplified version for the dICO solution, that we will be seeing with BlockNation. There’s also more in the works, and there will be multiple GUI’s coming.
DEVELOPING PROJECTS ON THE KOMODO PLATFORM
There are a few projects other than BlockNation than will be launching independently, one of them is called “Utrum (?)”, that is launching a scoresystem for ICO’s, to try to eliminate some of the scamming. Another one launching is called “Pearlpay”.
Currently we’re not putting much focus on developing together with the projects, but are focusing on developing the platform, to make it as automated and as easy as possible. Then when the projects come on the platform, they can get a very detailed package, and that gives the projects more autonomi, and us more time to do our thing.

HOW TO LAUNCH A PROJECT ON THE KOMODO PLATFORM
If a project wants to get listed on BarterDEX, they should go to support.komodoplatform.com and write a ticket, and then that ticket will get forwarded to me (PTYX), and i will get back to them about what information we need from them, and how to move forward.
The plan is to have a website, where people can fill in all the information, and then we will verify — but that will come.
People will also be able to bring projects from other platforms, and migrate them to the Komodo Platform.
We have decided to sponsor the first 7 projects that will migrate, but have not yet decided how we will pick these projects.
You can actually launch an asset chain on Komodo, and you could atomically swap them for your Ethereum tokens, and you could do a trustless migration, or you could just do a normal swap.
There has been a lot if interest for the Komodo Platform, from TenX but and others.
Approximately 95% of all coins and tokens in existence are supported by BarterDEX.

THE GAP BETWEEN DEVELOPING AND MARKETING
It’s actually crazy that not more people or projects are picking up on our platform, and we’re not making more waves in the community, since we’re putting in so much work, and already have so much working technology.
Sometimes it’s difficult when developers are making amazing things, to actually explain them properly to the marketing people, so they can communicate it properly to the crypto community.
Recently our graphics department have been working on simple graphics, that explain things like atomic swaps, since these things can be difficult to understand for people who are not developers.

END OF INTERVIEW
PTYX: Sorry to cut this short guys, but I have to get back to swapping atomically.

THANKS TO TEAM KOMODO FOR TAKING THE TIME, AND SHARING INFO ON THEIR PROJECT.
MUCH OBLIGED, FLASHY G