Building A Novel on-chain Data Storage System: An Interview with Norbert Goffa

Norbert Goffa is the Co-Founder and Executive Manager of ILCoin Blockchain Project, whose mission is to prepare blockchain technology for mass adoption and create the first fully scalable on-chain data storage solution. 

With the help of their unique approach, the ILCoin Development team managed to solve the scalability issue. In this interview, we discussed the state of the RIFT protocol 2020 as well as the future of the dApp market. 

It’s been five years since Ethereum first launched, and since that time the dApp world has come and gone. But the core blockchain technology is still lacking in many aspects; Ethereum isn’t moving fast, and EOS still has numerous security flaws. But this does provide an opportunity for new next-gen solutions, and I know that ILCoin is one such solution. Could you tell us a little bit more about what stage you are currently in with your blockchain right now?

Our development strategy has basically been built differently. Most projects – and I would refrain from generalizing – follow an approach where they make huge promises about the widespread utilization of the technology, while they fail to solve the problems required for efficient and fast block generation.

Without solving the scalability problem there is no way for mass adoption. It's simple. Data needs space in the block. Otherwise, it is not enough for creating a big block size. Technology is needed to synchronize the blocks simultaneously, and it is the RIFT protocol.

As our road map suggests, our primary goals for this year are the modular smart contract system, dApps, and the DCB platform. We’re doing our best to make extensive use of the technological know-how that we’ve accumulated over the past few years. ILCoin is ready to take on the challenges, which can be best proven by C2P and RIFT – two pieces of technology that have been recognized by the Palo Alto Networks brand.

DApps weren’t widely adopted as we had initially believed. One of main reasons is because most blockchains were engineered with “gas” in-mind, so dApp developers need to find a way to tell their users that they need to pay for each transaction, which isn’t easy. What do you think we can do to make the dApp market take off?

It must be seen that one of the main reasons for the lack of dApps is the shortage that characterizes the blockchain developer market. Most of the larger companies tend to suck up the best developers, leaving only a few in the so-called “decentralized market”. How many blockchain developers are available? Only a few... That's the main reason why Tron bought Steemit. Everybody needs developers.

One even more significant reason is the fact that most blockchains either lack a secure basis or have high transaction costs. Going back to the previous question, this is exactly why we solved these two problems.

Tell me about ILCoin dApps; how many dApps do you already have on your platform, and how big is the developer community around your blockchain?

Currently, we have several available dApps and we, just like others, are working on many more. Age of ILCoin was created by the ILCoin development team, and we also have made further VR game developments that are also managed by the ILCoin development team in partnership with other companies. DApps are available on the following website: https://ilcointools.com/

The number of independent developers is continuously changing, so I would refrain from giving you an exact number; however, it is indisputable that the developments on ILCoinTools are the result of the past few months. I am personally convinced that this list will be a very long one by the end of the year, but once again I do not like making predictions.

One of the advantages of moving data on-chain is its security. But at the same time, we lose in scalability and cost of resources. It’s always a compromise. And the dApp developers will always choose blockchain technology based on their needs: game developers need scalability over security, while fintech products require the opposite. How do you see the market for ILCoin - which segment is most important to you?

I can answer this question fairly easily: we are able to cover every market. We are fast and secure at the same time. As you can see in the road map, we also put significant emphasis on games, but it is not for entertainment purposes only. We gather information through the games that will contribute to the advancement of blockchain technology.

The most important aspect to me is that dApps create value, not what segments happen to use ILCoin. Of course, the higher the utilization level, the greater the business value the project will have. Therefore, I am looking for partners who seek long-term business success rather than aimless profit-making.

You recently passed the cybersecurity audit of your C2P protocol. Could you tell us a bit more about that? How hard was it? How many blockchain projects have such a certificate in 2020?

Regarding the last question, as far as I’m concerned, the Palo Alto brand has not appeared at any other project yet. There are all sorts of different audit companies that are actually not known on the global market at all. Honestly, we cannot take these companies seriously. We have decided to opt for Palo Alto because their authenticity is unquestionable.

Since our concept is to produce technology that is viable and works in practice, establishing this co-operation was not that difficult. Our developers obviously had many discussions about the audit, but the end result could happen because C2P is, in fact, capable of what we claim. This, however, is not only proven by this test, but also by the tremendous amount of hacking attacks that we continuously need to fend off of our network. I’m sure that many would like to know the secret behind C2P or RIFT. Well, good luck with that, but they won’t find out any extra secrets, since the system works exactly as we claim.

One of the major projects that all of us are waiting for is TON, which offers an on-chain storage system as well as secure and scalable architecture. Do you think it will be a competitor to your project? How will you be different?

The interpretation of competitors is an important matter here. Many make huge promises on the market, but I suggest that we rely on facts. We do have a 5GB block, which certainly proves that we have solved the scalability problem on an on-chain basis.

As for me, I only regard projects as competitors if they are able to demonstrate the capabilities of their technology in practice.

An on-chain system requires technology that is similar to RIFT. As long as you fail to have that, you are only at the level of promises.

Public networks didn’t gain a lot of traction since the hype first started. The approach is more about customizing Ethereum or any other solution within a corporation. Why do you think organizations will select your system as opposed to any other private blockchain solution?

This is a great question. Needless to say, we have thought about this matter as well. The road map suggests that we are building our smart contract system with the Solidity programming language. In other words, our technology will be extremely adaptive for the current market players.

We are developing a better system than what Ethereum is capable of; our foundations are far superior. However, it is only natural that we cannot compete with Ethereum in terms of popularity, but we much rather consider ourselves as a long-distance runner than a sprinter. But time will reveal everything – this contest just cannot be won right now.

One last question: When do you think decentralized storage systems will replace the current centralized cloud storage solutions?

Instead of promises, we need fundamental breakthroughs. I often read other projects’ white papers and I ask myself “How do you wish to make that happen in practice?” We still have a lot of idealists on the blockchain market who fail to see the real challenges associated with the technology.

A decentralized system has several vulnerabilities, especially until it gets to a certain level of growth that its size can ensure some sort of security. However, we do have a counterexample for this right at Ethereum. If you take a look at Ethereum, you’ll see that growth is their biggest challenge.

In fact, it’s not only about the blockchain, since running large amounts of data on-chain in a decentralized way comes with costs that will not be able to compete with centralized cloud-based services.

However, I am certain that, in a few decades, decentralized data storage will gain ascendancy over centralized solutions. My reasoning is primarily based on Moore’s Law and the studies that substantiate this statement.

You can find more about the ILCoin project by following these links:

• https://t.me/ILCoinDevelopmentTeam
• https://ilcointools.com (https://ilcointools.com/)/
• https://ilcoincrypto.com (https://ilcoincrypto.com/)/