If public blockchain is accessible for everyone and the private one usually services one enterprise, consortium blockchain is a hybrid of the previous two versions but closer to the private type of a distributed ledger. FIO – the Foundation for Interwallet Operability, is a decentralized consortium of blockchain organizations and community members supporting the ongoing development, integration, and promotion of the FIO Protocol.
We recently interviewed Luke Stokes, Managing Director, FIO, a decentralized blockchain protocol that aims to enable a better way of sending and receiving coins and tokens. FIO aims to make the user experience of interacting with all blockchains easier, less complicated and risky, and therefore reducing user friction.
The FIO Protocol is a decentralized service layer that bridges the gap between crypto endpoints such as wallets, exchanges, crypto payment processors, and any other application in which crypto assets are held and/or transferred.
FIO Protocol is not a wallet. Rather, it integrates into existing products as a usability layer that creates an improved, homogeneous user experience for all blockchain tokens and coins by providing a layer of data and confirmations about transactions on other blockchains. FIO does not compete with, integrate with nor interfere with any other blockchain. And it does not send transactions to or from other blockchains. Technically speaking, other blockchains are not aware of the FIO Protocol’s existence.
Let’s dive into the interview question and answers we had with Luke Stokes, Managing Director, FIO.
Tell us about yourself and your journey in the Crypto industry so far?
I have a background in technology with a computer science degree from UPENN. In 2007. I co-founded and developed FoxyCart, an eCommerce shopping cart platform which I helped run successfully for ten years before selling my half to my business partner to pursue blockchain consulting full time.
“My first purchase of Bitcoin was in January 2013 where I spent $50 and got 2.5 BTC. I’ve been passionate about the cryptocurrency space ever since.” – Luke Stokes, Managing Director, FIO.
I got involved with the Steem blockchain as I was very excited to see a cryptocurrency platform that was easy enough for everyday people to use. I later became a block producer there and helped with the community transition to Hive. I was also recruited to be a block producer on EOS via eosDAC, a DAC enabler. In October of 2018, I met the Dapix team and started consulting with them on the FIO Protocol and became the Managing Director for the Cayman non-profit Foundation for Interwallet Operability in December of 2019. FIO is organized as a DAC (Decentralized Autonomous Consortia), a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) similar to Hive and EOS which brings all my experience together.
What is FIO Protocol? Why do we need such a protocol?
The FIO Protocol is a decentralized service layer that bridges the gap between crypto endpoints such as wallets, exchanges, crypto payment processors, and any other application in which crypto assets are held and/or transferred.
The FIO Protocol is not a wallet. Rather, it integrates into existing products as a us ability layer that creates an improved, homogeneous user experience for all blockchain tokens and coins by providing a layer of data and confirmations about transactions on other blockchains. The FIO Protocol does not compete with, integrate with nor interfere with any other blockchain. And it does not send transactions to or from other blockchains. Technically speaking, other blockchains are not aware of the FIO Protocol’s existence.
The world is moving towards mass adoption of cryptocurrency. We believe it’s inevitable. We also believe the usability problems across the various tokens and chains is hindering this adoption. Just as the HTTP protocol brought about usability for the Internet (browsers, WWW, etc) after more than ten years which lead to massive growth in adoption, we believe a secure, decentralized, self-sovereign usability protocol like FIO will bring about the mass adoption of cryptocurrency.
What are the FIO Addresses?
FIO Addresses act as the human-readable wallet identifier for users on the FIO Protocol such as luke@stokes. They are necessary for users to utilize all the capabilities of the FIO Protocol but also serve as a replacement for complicated public addresses across all tokens and coins in the user’s wallet.
When you say that FIO Addresses are easy to use, and works with every token/coin automatically, what does the term ‘automatically’ mean here?
As a wallet layer solution, the FIO Protocol does not interact directly with any blockchain, it just handles data leading up to a blockchain transaction, prepopulating that information for the wallet. Because of this, any new blockchain or token that comes out tomorrow and is supported by an FIO enabled wallet will automatically work with FIO within that wallet.
How is FIO data used with other blockchains?
FIO Data is information such as a URL, structured data, or a memo about a transaction on another blockchain. For example, I could include the FIO Data “for lunch” connected to a bitcoin transaction and it would be encrypted and only viewable by myself and the other party to the transaction. Even more exciting is the new possibilities made available by an FIO Request which lets you request funds from someone without having to insecurely share public keys while including the exact amount and memo data for the requested funds.
How secure is it to use FIO Protocol?
FIO is secure, decentralized, and self-sovereign. Built using the EOSIO technology powering the multi-billion dollar EOS Mainnet chain, FIO is completely open-source and run by many of the top block producers in the industry. It underwent multiple code reviews prior to mainnet launch in March of 2020 and all updates to the chain are reviewed and approved by at least 15 of 21 token-elected block producers.
How do we know if a wallet is FIO enabled?
We constantly update the FIO Protocol website ecosystem page with FIO enabled products and services: https://fioprotocol.io/ecosystem/
We plan to roll out a FIO Enabled logo campaign in the future.
The referral contest is back on – we're running it until Oct 18th with one modification: you and your referral must hold a small amount of FIO Tokens to be eligible for the daily and weekly drawings – details below:https://t.co/Vlhuj1LfOR — Interwallet Operability (@joinFIO) September 18, 2020
Are FIO Addresses free to register and how do we get custom domains?
The foundation is currently running some free address giveaway campaigns with some of our wallet partners as listed here: https://fioprotocol.io/free-fio-addresses/ Normally they cost around $2 per year, with the fees set by the block producers. Custom domains can also be obtained through these partners which support custom domain registration. They cost around $40 a year and can be paid for via popular cryptocurrencies, not just FIO.
What is the main role of FIO token in the FIO ecosystem as other cryptos can also be used in the ecosystem?
FIO is the only token on the FIO Chain. It is required for paying fees on chain such as a registered FIO Address or a FIO Domain. When you register a FIO Address, you also get bundled transactions which are essentially prepaid interactions with the blockchain so things like creating a FIO request, approving or rejecting a FIO request, or mapping your public address to your FIO Address don’t require the user to pay an additional fee. The total number of FIO tokens that will ever exist is fixed so as cryptocurrency reaches mass adoption and more products and services use FIO to support a better user experience for their customers, they will require more FIO tokens.
Attention: @EdgeWallet now supports the importing of FIO private keys/seed phrases – this is especially relevant to presale users who used a wallet that hasn't finished their FIO integration yet. Try it out at https://t.co/jqp2I9GZSx. — Interwallet Operability (@joinFIO) October 8, 2020
How big is the FIO ecosystem right now? Where do you see the same in the next 3 years?
We’re just getting started, but we already have a number of great wallets including Scatter, Anchor (by Greymass), Midas Protocol, Guarda Wallet, Infinito Wallet, and Edge Wallet with partial integrations from wallets like Trust and more coming as listed here: https://fioprotocol.io/ecosystem/
In addition, we have our first exchange integration with BitMax enabling their users to deposit and withdraw without ever using a confusing public address: https://cryptonews.com/news/bitmax-io-moves-to-eliminate-public-address-usage-with-fio-p-7686.htm
In the next three years, we expect a huge growth in wallets, exchanges, payment gateways, and crypto enabled endpoints to integrate the FIO Protocol to greatly increase their user experience and provide them with valuable benefits as described here: https://kb.fioprotocol.io/benefits-for-wallets
What are the future plans of the organization?
We are continually adding performance updates and new features to the protocol through an open process which includes FIO Improvement Proposals: https://github.com/fioprotocol/fips and an open community of opportunities, initiatives, and worker proposals: https://fioprotocol.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FC/overview
We will continue to engage more of the community as a Decentralied Autonomous Consortia (DAC) with protocol improvements to include secure multi-signature routing, private key recovery, verified FIO addresses, and more.
The last question will be, what do you think about the future of Blockchain Technology and where do you see FIO in it?
I see cryptocurrency and blockchain technology being the standard way humans interact with value in the future. It’s the best ledger ever invented making it the best form of money ever invented. Mass adoption of cryptocurrency is inevitable. It can not happen until we make cryptocurrency easier to use. FIO is that usability solution.
Check out the following links for more details on FIO:
Website: https://fio.foundation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@joinFIO
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialFIO
Discord: https://discord.gg/pHBmJCc
Telegram: https://t.me/joinFIO
If you’d like to follow Luke’s blog on the blockchain, you can find him on any platform powered by Steem as lukestokes (Steemit, Busy, Steempeak)
DECODING MINDS – a brand new series of interviews by Digital Notice to give you an insight into the projects straight from the Founders and the Team. Each article explores the real-world experiences and expertise of our guests to discuss their unique perspective on the project use cases, its challenges, its changes, and its prospects in the fiercely competitive world of Crypto and Blockchain.