A guide to telos – the economy of the future – telos.net

A guide to telos - the economy of the future

A high-level introduction to the Telos blockchain

Telos is a third-generation blockchain platform for building fast, scalable distributed applications with feeless transactions.

Since launching its mainnet in December 2018, the Telos network has been developed to power the economies of the future and provide human-scale solutions to global challenges. With these goals in mind, it includes innovative governance features that empower organizations to shift influence and decision-making to a more collaborative and transparent model.

The main features of the Telos ecosystem include:

Economic and geographic decentralization to ensure the security and safety of the chain.
Equitable pay structure to incentivize node operators.
Developer-friendly tools and low-cost deployment.
On-Chain Governance
Community support, including the Telos Works proposal system and grant making for new projects, from the independent Telos Foundation.

A truly decentralized network operated by visionaries, technologists, builders, trail blazers and active stakeholders
A team of more than 30 core developers, over 50 validator teams, dozens of apps complemented by 100s of active community contributors, is working to improve the Telos network on an open-source basis. The development process includes the Telos Works work proposal system to fund perpetual iteration of the network’s software, as well as Telos Decide voting tools which compile chain-level voting and committee management functions into a single service. Telos is an open network, where everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute and impact to the direction of the chain.

Professional stakeholder voted validator teams
Telos has 21 “active” validators who are voted in by TLOS holders. Those active validators take primary responsibility for maintaining the network, while a cohort of “standby” producers is paid and regularly tested to serve as a back-ups.

Any of the standby validators can be voted into the top 21 at any time by TLOS holders with continuous elections being tallied roughly every 2.5 minutes. Conversely, producers can be voted out of the top 21 at any time as well. The network also has standby validators automatically rotated into the top 21 periodically to give their operations a chance to produce blocks and prove their readiness.

A growing base
The broader Telos community includes more than 500,000 user accounts on the network, over 3,000 followers on our Telegram groups and other social channels, and 150 companies from over 180 countries,

Developers are working to build over 100 distributed applications on Telos as of early 2021, including the music rights-trading platform Zeptagram, gaming platform QUDO, Social media platform Appics, and the payments system Sesacash. A full list of dApps on Telos is available at https://telos.net/explore/

Telos Features

Proper economic decentralization to ensure the security and safety of the chain.
Developer-friendly tools, developer grants, and low-cost deployment.
dStor decentralized storage solution with an InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) in its stack.
Core dev team of 30+ members and an auxiliary team of 100+ developers.
A worker proposal system to fund perpetual development of the chain
Decide voting tools which compiles boilerplate voting functions in to a single chain-wide service
A chain focus on DACs, DOAs, and dBusinesses
TBNOA – Telos Blockchain Network Operating Agreement
Equitable pay structure for node operators (validators).
Telos EVM, allowing ethereum (solidity) contracts to be deployed on Telos

Advantages of Using Telos

Telos has many advantages over other platforms, it can be used as an full stack alternative or as a scaling solution depending on a projects needs.

For Developers

Low-cost DApp deployment.
Enhanced Security.
Public testnet operated by BPs.
EOSIO chain compatibility.
Utilizes C++, powered by EOSIO.
High performing, transparent infrastructure partners.
Built in Network Development Funding via Worker Proposal System.
More than 100 active Core Developers continually building and improving the network.
Ongoing Grants & Dev funding from 3 independent sources.
dStor – scalable, smart-contract controlled decentralized storage.
Industry-leading, platform-level governance tools for easy implementation by any dApp developer.
EVM for Solidity contracts

For Token Holders

Developer focus builds value.
No ICO and decentralized operation providing regulatory clarity in most jurisdictions.
High performing, transparent infrastructure partners.
Built in Network Development Funding through Worker Proposal System awarding 3.37M TLOS through 7.23.2019.
Affordable token price for entry + Resource Income Exchange with up to 30% rewards.
Built in arbitration system.
Governance tools and resources.
Multiple User tools.
Runs on EOSIO, fastest blockchain software on the market.
Easy on ramp via Moonpay.
Passive ownership of applications built on chain.
No dilution of the coin supply (zero percent inflation).
Tonnes of apps
REX rewards APR 15% for staking

How Network Effects are driving TLOS value

The telos based economy has boomed over the last 2 years, there are over 100 projects building on the network and already over 500,000 user accounts, this is driving higher utility demand for the native token in a number of ways, an effect that should only increase in the future.

Below are some of the key network effects driving demand for TLOS:

Projects lock up TLOS to pay for network resources
Projects lock-up (or stake) TLOS to use network capacity to pay for user transactions and activity. As even more active dapps like Appics and Qudo near deployment on the mainnet this is set to increase substantially.

Projects pay for storage in TLOS
Projects require purchase of RAM to hold smart contract data and user account balances. In early 2021 the release of dStor will drive the use of TLOS as payment for storage even further as it sets to compete against IPFS and Amazon S3 buckets.

Uniswap like AMM pools on Telos
In 2020 Telos released its first major liquidity pool called Telos Swaps. These liquidity pools allow users to swap between one token to another instantly. Since launch we have seen steady growth in usage of the platform. Telos swaps uses TLOS as the primary asset for projects to lock up value against. Any project wishing to list on tswaps.com must therefore purchase significant amounts of TLOS to be part of the fast growing Telos economy.

With over 100 projects on Telos and more coming each day, it is not hard to see a continuing increase in demand for projects to use TLOS for automated market making,

Increasing use of TLOS as a currency
There are already 100s of individuals accepting TLOS for work either via our Telos Works system, as validators or other community run initiatives. Use of the Telos Decide governance engine is also paid for in TLOS. In 2021 we will start to see more dapps accepting the native asset as a form of payment. One such example is Area X NFT platform using Telos’ Marble asset standard. Area X NFT is a platform for users to create and sell digital art/collectables along with the networks unique fundraising technology T-bonds.

Advantages of Telos DPOS

To the extent that performance is always a priority for developers, the Delegated Proof of Stake consensus method utilized by Telos is worth particular attention here. DPOS carries some big pluses for developers, including:

# 1 Transactional Speed and Validator Accountability
Telos has 21 “active” validators that are voted in by Telos token holders and are charged with maintaining the network. Other validators are called “stand-by” validators and are paid to serve as a back-up to the top 21. Any of the standby validators can be voted into the top 21 at any time by Telos token holders with elections taking place roughly every 2.5 minutes. Conversely, the top 21 can be voted out of the top 21 at any time as well. Telos has standby validators automatically rotated into the top 21 periodically to give their operation a chance to produce blocks and prove their readiness.

Telos has 0.5 second block times (24x faster than Ethereum)
The Telos blockchain automatically rotates in standby validators to test their readiness
Telos validator elections take place roughly every two and a half minutes.

The additional validator accountability on the telos blockchain measures include:

Automatic kicks from the schedule for failing to produce blocks handled by smart-contract.
Consensus-driven kicks for failing to comply with validator minimum requirements and the validator registration agreement.

#2 No transaction fees incentivizes user adoption
On proof-of-work (PoW) chains, such as Ethereum, users must pay a transaction or “gas” fee for every action on the network. So for example, if a user was to ‘like’ or ‘share’ a post for example on a dApp which was built on a POW network a ‘gas fee’ would charge for that single action on the blockchain to the user. With the internet offering free access to many resources this gas fee hinders widespread adoption as users are used to using centralized applications which usually do not charge users for doing basic tasks or transactions.

The Telos Blockchain Network solves this problem for dApp developers by allowing applications to stake resources (in this case, TLOS) for their users. Thus, an application can purchase or rent the amount of TLOS that their users need and remove the burden of transactional fees from their particular application. This allows for a free and frictions experience for the application users. If application developers do not want to stake resources for their users, users can stake resources themselves, allowing them to use applications without a per-use cost. No transaction fees – coupled with fast transaction speeds – mean that users will not even know they are using an application built on top of a blockchain.

#3 Unparalleled Speed and Scalability
Delegated proof of stake allows Telos superior scalability when compared to traditional proof-of-work networks. Currently, the Telos blockchain can process over 4,000 transactions per second, and that capacity grows with code updates, sidechains, and other growth mechanisms. This kind of transactional speed puts Telos on par with centralized entities such as Visa and Mastercard and their ability to process thousands of transactions.

One of the consequences of such speed and scalability on telos has been rapid adoption and usage resulting in telos being the 2nd most utilized blockchain in the world throughout most of 2019 and 2020.

#4 Low impact energy usage compared to traditional POW models

The EOSIO software, that the Telos Network is based on, is roughly 17,000 times more energy efficient than networks such as Ethereum. Proof-of-work models are time-intensive and require excessive amounts of computing power to solve complex puzzles. This allows these computers to “mine” the coins on the network that pays them. In POW the node operators are competing against one another to be the first to solve a complex puzzle with their reward being the newly minted token.

In contrast, the Telos Blockchain Network just requires the coordination of validators using the same software to verify transactions. The Telos token holders elect the node operators, with the top 50 dividing the rewards. The tokens are sold on participating exchanges, allowing anyone to own the TLOS tokens and stake them for resources. This system makes the mining process virtual. Since no real-world resources are being exploited and energy is not being wasted on massive server farms needed to solve the complex puzzles, this method is infinitely more environmentally friendly.

Conclusion

There is a shift happening in the leadership paradigm of the internet. Users and developers want a more collaborative decision-making model that empowers everyone, rather than just a select few.

Telos is designed to help bring about this change and enable human flourishing by building the economy of the future. Over time, the vibrant Telos community is building its network as a place for purpose-driven startups, individual developers, and more. Join us!