Thinkey: This Tsinghua project "has less financing, not on the big", but has landed dozens of applications | Babbitt Venture +

Today, Babbitt "Entrepreneurship +" takes everyone closer to the public chain project Thinkey. "Entrepreneurship +" is a section that explores quality projects and provides free coverage. When we evaluate a large number of projects, we often judge from the aspects of team, technology, landing, financing, and community. But Thinky showed fragmentation and contradiction in these dimensions.

The first is the team background , founder Dai Weiguo, Ph.D., Tsinghua University Institute of Interdisciplinary Information, has 20 years of global cybersecurity experience, won the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the national 863 major project leader. Most of Thinkey's early core developers came from Tsinghua University and now have an international technical team. Secondly, the technical strength , because the main network is not online, the engineering implementation ability is still difficult to assess, but the white paper is full of mathematical function proof, it looks very The feeling of not thinking about people is understandable; then it is the situation of landing , Thinkey has formed business cases in dozens of fields such as finance, e-commerce, logistics, government affairs, medical care, etc. The cooperative enterprises are not lacking in Kelan Software, Dahan Holdings, Haier Group, etc. Well-known enterprises.

What doesn't match is that there are almost no operations in the Thinkey community. There are only 8 fans on Weibo and only 27 fans on Twitter. It seems unreasonable for a project running for 2 years; the amount of Thinkkey financing is only 20 million RMB. And I can't see the big institutions; Thinkey's official propaganda performance data is 11,260 nodes, and the ultra-high TPS with a peak of 41,952 is alarming; and the positioning of the "new world core engine" and the "public chain of the public chain" Propaganda is also somewhat unknown.

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With curiosity, confusion and vigilance, I recently interviewed the founder of the Thinkkey, Dai Weiguo. I hope that this article will present the true picture of the Thinky project objectively from the perspectives of vision, technology and landing .

Vision: To be the core engine of the new world?

In Dai Weiguo's view, the old world of the traditional Internet, the biggest problem is instability and fragmentation, because it lacks "rules", and Thinkey is going to be the core engine of the new world. He believes that the blockchain should be a supercomputer, but a network, a trusted platform. Thinkey wants to build an ever-being trusted platform that carries the rules they define. So, what exactly is the new world? What is the core engine? What is the rule? I hope the following can give you the answer.

Babbitt: Thinkkey's positioning is "the core engine of the new world", what is the new world? What is the core engine?

Dai Weiguo: The new world we define is relative to the old world. The virtual world of the traditional Internet is actually a man-made space. We turn our understanding into a program. All rules are made by someone and an organization. The biggest problem in the world is instability and fragmentation. Some people may say that the Internet is not interconnected? How can you say that it is split?

First, each company controls a small portion of its production materials, and the rules here are up to it. If this company dies, then the life cycle of this small world will end. Second, our physical world has a unified law. The real human society also has various rules. Everyone recognizes each other and takes legal The form forces everyone to follow. But in the Internet world, rules are created by companies, and they are only established in a small area.

What causes this problem? First, it is very isolated, it is difficult to form a wider range of cooperation; the second is to limit the creativity of individuals. We hope that with the help of blockchain technology, the Internet will also have the underlying meta-rules that are universally applicable and will never disappear. Babbitt: What does the blockchain have to do with the rules you define?

Dai Weiguo: Our world can be divided into physical world and virtual world. Blockchain is a subset of virtual world, based on computer logic. There is a law in the physical world, which is conveyed by God, and the evolution of everything in the universe follows it. The rules are created by human beings. With these rules, human society is formed. But people are the most fickle, so they talk about credit. People are also the most selfish, so they talk about collaboration. We need some general rules to ensure credit and improve collaboration efficiency.

In theory, it should be that people collaborate through computers, and computers only represent rules of collaboration. But the reality is that big companies control supercomputers by which they control others. What we hope to achieve is that the rules run on a trusted platform, and the program calls rules to change the world. We believe that the blockchain should be a network, a trusted platform. Babbitt: The public chain is using code to define rules. Why do you call yourself "the public chain of the public chain"?

Dai Weiguo: I divide the public chain into two types, the bottom public chain and the industry public chain. These two things are not contradictory.

For the industry public chain , there are many project parties to come and cooperate with us recently. Some of them will entangle that if I use your underlying public chain, then I will not have a Gas fee to collect. I asked, is the purpose of doing your industry public chain is to collect the cost of Gas? What are the core competencies and resources of your industry's public chain? What pain points do you have to solve in the industry? The matter of defining rules is relatively simple in itself. Even people who don't understand the industry at all can define a rule. But the question is, is someone using yours? Do you have a charisma in this industry? Therefore, for the industry public chain, its social attributes are very strong.

For the underlying public chain , many projects are doing. I don't quite recognize the logic of the "world computer" that can be used in Taifang. If you want to become a computer in the world, it means super performance, super storage capacity, super computing power, superb network bandwidth… but we will I found that using decentralization to do this would sacrifice a lot of things. You use a decentralized approach to do a centralized thing that is self-contradictory.

Some people think that there should be a lot of underlying public chains, so both Polkadot and Cosmos are doing cross-linking to connect them, but I don't agree with this view. The industry public chain doesn't have to do it at the bottom, it can use a bottom layer. So what we have to do is a bottom-level public chain that carries many industry public chains and acts as a public chain.

Technology: Looking at the hierarchical structure of the public chain from TCP/IP

As the interview progressed, I gradually understood the logic of Dai Weiguo. He believes that the Internet's TCP/IP protocol unifies the world. The blockchain world is also waiting for such an agreement. Dai Weiguo said that the advantage of the TCP/IP protocol is hierarchical logic, which is very inclusive, compatible and scalable. Thinkey draws on experience and uses a layered design. He also compared the cross-chain and sidechain solutions and explained the differences between Thinkle.

Babbitt: I just talked a lot about "do not agree", then let's talk about the direction you agree with.

Dai Weiguo: I use the TCP/IP protocol of the Internet to explain. We all know that the TCP/IP protocol dominates the world, but why is it? From a technical point of view, I think that one of the main reasons is that its architecture design is very good, its inclusiveness, compatibility, and scalability are very good. It uses hierarchical logic to consider the whole thing.

We interpret its four-layer protocol from the scalability. The first layer is the network access protocol, which solves the problem of how the LAN is networked. The second layer is the IP layer or the network layer. It solves the problem between countless LANs. The problem of communication; the third layer is the transport layer, the transport layer is to solve the problem of how to communicate with other points concurrently at any point; the fourth layer is the application layer, which hopes that the communication efficiency can be greatly improved, so At this level, a standard application layer protocol such as the http protocol is constructed.

Each layer of it can be upgraded , network access protocols such as wired, Wifi, 4G, 5G, etc. can be. The IP layer can also use different routing protocols. As the network grows larger and the number of access devices increases, eventually everyone is connected to the framework, which is where it is invincible. Babbitt: So how does Thinkey design a layered architecture?

Dai Weiguo: Compared with TCP/IP protocol, we also designed a four-layer implementation framework. The first layer is the integration layer, which mainly solves the overall consensus of the whole system. The second layer is the processing layer, which mainly solves the single-chain consensus problem. The third layer It is the data layer, which mainly solves the consensus among multiple chains; the fourth layer is the network layer, which mainly solves the communication between different attributes and task nodes.

First, the whole is a POS consensus mechanism, and the assignment of nodes is random. Secondly, we are a multi-chain architecture. The function of each chain is different. The problem to be solved is different. Sometimes two chains solve the same problem. Sometimes, four chains or eight chains may be needed to solve the problem. This issue is related to the performance requirements and scale of the entire network. Moreover, the security proof between the chain and the chain is not a single-chain decision, and the entire network ensures its security. Finally, after these nodes are selected as nodes of a certain chain, how to achieve consensus among them efficiently, we have done a lot of design. Babbitt: At present, the consensus of the public chain is that a single public chain cannot carry all the rules. Therefore, some people adopt a cross-chain approach, while others adopt a sidechain approach. What do you think?

Dai Weiguo: If you use different protocols to build a public chain, you need a heterogeneous chain, but because the security is different, the chain and the chain can not really cross the chain. Currently cosmos and polkadot hope to link different chains through cross-chain. At the beginning, there were similar practices in the Internet, but later found that such efficiency is too low, the upgrade may not be synchronized, and those agreements gradually disappeared. I think cross-chain is a transitional state, and eventually everyone still has to go to a common value network.

The safety of the side chain is determined by itself, and it is safe and credible for the chain itself, but theoretically it is unsafe and untrustworthy for other side chains. The blockchain conveys a credible proof. If this side chain is something that some of you have already said, it is now provable to me, but the whole may be forged. So I think the bottom layer must have consistent security. Babbitt: How do you achieve consistent security? What is the confirmation node for each chain?

Dai Weiguo: Each of our chains is layered. It runs both the underlying POS and the single-chain consensus and runs a cross-chain consensus, such as TBFT. It's like a terminal node in the Internet running the same four-layer protocol of TCP/IP. The underlying infrastructure guarantees the security of all chains, and the chain and chain can also interact with each other. The rules are universal and assets can be transferred.

The number of nodes involves the definition of the security boundary of the entire chain. The consensus nodes are randomly selected to each chain. The industry public chain does not need to build a consensus node by itself. The number of nodes in each chain is selected according to the distribution of nodes in the whole network. And the security boundary to calculate, early will be controlled by the Foundation to ensure security. Babbitt: If my business needs to use a coalition chain, how do nodes confirm?

Dai Weiguo: When the public chain and the alliance chain are built, they are still separate. Although they all support it, the alliance chain is separate and can be integrated with the public chain. On the one hand, it does not belong to our public chain system, using TBFT and cross-chain agreements, can not directly transfer value with the public chain, because the security of the two is not the same. On the other hand, the proof data of the alliance chain can be put on the public chain. All nodes will know that this data comes from the alliance chain. Whoever believes its data meaning can use it to do business.

Babbitt: Does this mean that you are actually doing two things in the public chain and the alliance chain?

Dai Weiguo: Technically speaking, they are still the same protocol stack. This is like the Internet protocol can be used to do LAN, but also can do WAN, a reason. This is the benefit of the protocol stack. You don't need to design two sets, one set can solve.

We make a network, it must cover enough, the business may not be on the public chain at the beginning, but based on the alliance chain, because many business models start from the alliance chain, but it must have a wide range of circulation possibilities. Babbitt: How is the token of the bottom chain public chain and the industry public chain designed?

Dai Weiguo: There are many uses for the underlying public chain token. The first is to ensure the security of the public chain system; the second is that if the industry application does not issue coins, it can use the underlying Token for functional use; the third is that the industry public chain needs a certain Token for pledge; the fourth is in the DeFi scene, this Token can be used for financial business, such as stable currency; fifth is to become a margin between the alliance chain and the public chain. For the industry public chain, we allow everyone to issue their own tokens and let others do Dapp on your behalf. We will run a DEX on our public chain because it naturally has a variety of coins, and our wallet also supports trading, conversion, and circulation between these coins.

Application: The main network has not been online and has been applied to dozens of applications.

In the interview, Dai Weiguo gave a detailed introduction to the implementation of the Thinkey project. At present, there are more than 10 business cases, and there are many listed companies in the cooperative enterprises. As for the lack of financing, no business, and poor management, Dai Weiguo said that he is deliberately restraining, because he does not want to help investors to cut the leeks. As the main online line approached, Thinkey began a city partner recruitment program, hoping to attract real users.

Babbitt: Can you give an example of the situation of commercial landing?

Dai Weiguo: We started to land in the second half of 2018. It was a bit confused at the time, because I didn't want to send money easily, and I needed to face the C-end, which means that when there is no application and no sustainable path, you need to invest a lot of energy to do PR and market value management. Therefore, we spent our time to do the landing, which is roughly divided into the following directions.

First, the government's big data management. The difficulty of data sharing lies not in the technology itself, but in the sharing rules are not clear, the blockchain is a good solution to this problem, defining data ownership, access rights, collecting access fees, accessing records, and so on. We also made a network security solution because I have been working on the global network security for 20 years. Based on this, we have several government projects, we have also reached a strategic cooperation with the government and enterprise companies, and then the blockchain business around the partners will use our underlying public chain.

Second, supply chain finance. This may be a trillions of dollars in China, but when you actually do it, it will not be easy to find because the solutions for each industry are different. At first we intend to do it ourselves, but we are black on the business system, we need to recruit a team to do the business system, recruit a bunch of JAVA engineers, front-end engineers, product managers… You will find that this is not feasible. So we decided that by means of cooperation, we only do the things related to the underlying and blockchain, and the business is handed over to the partner company. Therefore, we are working with Kelan Software to do this. Kelan Software is a 20-year listed company. It has more than 200 banks in the field of deep-rooted financial technology. The company has a scale of 5,000 people and has done various financial systems. Of course, we will also cooperate with some partners to do some business, such as Haier's Industrial Internet COSMO platform, Haier Real Estate Company, Yi Yatong and other companies, they hope to have a good underlying technology platform.

Third, the industrial supply chain. We are working with Hunan Dahan Holding Group, a Chinese top 500 company that has been in business for many years. They have three business segments, one is steel trade, the second is education, and the third is architecture. We mainly do two things in the early stage. The first is steel trade supply chain finance; the second is to use blockchain to manage construction workers. The talent market is the biggest problem in the construction industry. The personnel are following the contractor. There are many risks in the quality, assessment, and fund transfer. We build a system that integrates the data of all departments and companies across the group, so that the efficiency of collaboration within the group will be greatly improved. But overall, the efficiency of progress is not as fast as imagined, but the business path has proven to be universal.

Fourth, traceability to the deposit. This thing is relatively simple, we make a low-level interface to others, they do the traceability system themselves, run on our chain. Because this technology is not difficult, but if you don't accumulate in the industry, you can't do it, and it's hard to make money. In addition, we also cooperate with some companies that do Internet courts to provide them with the underlying functions of depositing, and we have not touched the specific business.

Fifth, cross-border e-commerce. We are working with another city in Fujian, the largest e-commerce service company. Yet another city is serving various e-commerce platforms. In 2013, Ali became a shareholder. In fact, it is difficult for small and medium-sized e-commerce companies to cooperate. They are neither willing to share data nor have the ability to open up the supply chain. So we help them build a collaborative platform, the rules are open and transparent, and the B end is connected. Many products are produced from the manufacturer 60 pieces, and when they are in the mall, they become 600 pieces. This is a brand premium. If the C-end is directly connected to the manufacturer and the quality can be guaranteed, the people are willing to buy, and the brand premium can be directly attributed to the user; On the other hand, designer street cards can form new pricing models in this way. We are still working on a small scale, and the next step will be to bring them to our public chain.

Babbitt: What is the project financing situation?

Dai Weiguo: In June last year, we took a traditional investment fund of 20 million yuan , and recently privately raised a sum of money, but did not go to the big institutions and Token fund.

Babbitt: When is the Thinkkey main network going online?

Dai Weiguo: It is planned to run the election of the founding node and the recruitment of city partners in Q4 this year.

Babbitt: Not yet on the exchange?

Dai Weiguo: At the beginning of September, I will go to an exchange. The name is not easy to disclose. The exchange is upright, never on the air; the second is that technology and security are doing well.

Babbitt: From the perspective of landing, you are very good, why is financing and not very optimistic?

Dai Weiguo: There is a logic that is to privately raise tens of millions of dollars in the early stage, and then go to a big exchange, so that early investors can cash out, only big and large capacity. But we have been very restrained, not so much money. Last year we had the opportunity to get more money, the contract was written, but in the end, as long as a "small money", the second "big money" did not.

Because I took so much money, it is equivalent to selling myself at one time. On the one hand, it will make you feel too easy, and then rushing fast, but it is likely to run wildly on an incorrect road. Second, when making major decisions, it will tend to the interests of investors, so many projects are followed by It is exactly the same waterfall trend.

This is not the way we need it. We don't want to do things in this way. We hope that people who truly believe in us will go with us. What we need now is to work together and hope that everyone can become a business creator. Babbitt: You don't seem to be doing a good job in terms of operations? There are only 8 fans on Weibo, and there are only 27 fans on Twitter. Is it too little for a project that runs for 2 years?

Dai Weiguo: A month ago, we basically had no operations team. Because we tried to do it last year, there were 50,000 or 60,000 users at once. But when everyone talks about the issue of when to issue coins, prices, etc., we stopped this matter. It was not until last month that the community was rebuilt. By technology, 100,000 people are in the community every day, but it is useless because they have no knowledge of you. These people are not users of our ecology at all.

In addition, our global market is also a relatively slow pace, business models have not come out, so let users recognize you? By telling a story? Therefore, the main energy is still in the business, and after the business is done, it will force the market.

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