VeChain, the popular decentralized smart-contract platform launched its mainnet on Saturday on Saturday.
The release brings with it a unique token, Vechain Thor, known as VET, which will now be the primary token of the new platform. Holders of VEN, VeChain’s Ethereum-based ERC-20 token will be able to swap to the new token with a 1:100 ratio.
VeChain has cut itself a niche as the business-ready blockchain, and has already attracted attention from both investors and companies. The project is actively working with automobile manufacturers BMW and Groupe Renault, with more deals set to land soon. The project has also hit headlines for their work with Chinese government officials to develop smart cities in the Gui’an region.
While progress steams ahead with the mainnet launch presenting a major rung on the road to full development, Vechain has drawn criticism from some in the sector. It has managed to appeal to businesses by presenting a compromise on decentralization that appeals to security-minded partners, but goes against the ethos of the second digital revolution to others. Decentralization makes an appearance in the form of voting and proof of stake, electing Steering Committee of seven seats, but to some this does not go far enough.
Wherever you stand on the issue of centralization, VeChain appears to have been successful in the constant juggling of centralization, security and scalability. With a Proof-of-Authority consensus algorithm VeChain has been able to speed up the mining process, providing a boost to the network that has businesses looking for a fast and adaptable blockchain lining up.
The positive news of the mainnet launch didn’t have a noticeable effect on the the project’s token price, however. The coin in fact dropped from 17th, to 18th position, with a market cap of $1.45b. With the project continuing to expand, it remains to be seen whether VeChain’s partnerships wil llead to wider adoption and success.
