Komodo is consistently recognized as one of the world’s most innovative blockchain projects. It’s a fascinating environment and the Komodo community is currently growing at an unprecedented rate.
There are many different aspects to Komodo. To help get you familiar with the ecosystem, we’ll answer some common questions in this post and give you a basic overview of Komodo Platform.
When was the Komodo project started?
The foundational idea for Komodo Platform was born on February 21, 2016, when James ‘jl777’ Lee published his Declaration of Independence:
We the asset holders hereby declare our independence from any single blockchain.
An open and jointly developed specification on cross-chain atomic asset transfers will be developed. Any current or future blockchain is invited to join.
Each blockchain will need to not only promise protections for asset holder interests, they need to live up to them. Otherwise, all the assets will simply move to blockchains that do.….
This is an interop standards effort and it needs to be blockchain agnostic and asset centric.
— James ‘jl777’ Lee
Later that year, Komodo held its initial coin offering to make this remarkable vision a reality.
Did Komodo have an ICO?
Yes. Komodo held an ICO that lasted just over one month, from Oct 15 to Nov 20 of 2016. KMD was sold a rate of 0.00012908222 BTC per coin, or 7747 KMD for 1 BTC.
One-hundred million KMD coins were issued, with 90% of them sold to investors and the remaining 10% held as working capital for Komodo’s development and marketing.
Over the course of the ICO, Komodo Platform raised a total of 2,639 BTC. The closing price of BTC on November 20, 2016 was $731.03. At that price, we see that Komodo raised a total of $1,929,188 USD.
The BTC raised in the ICO is used almost exclusively to pay BTC transaction fees necessary for the delayed Proof of Work security mechanism to function.
What has Komodo accomplished since the ICO?
Since the Komodo mainnet went live in January 2017, Komodo has consistently made enormous development after enormous development. There are really too many achievements to list them all here, but to highlight a few:
Learn more about Komodo’s development and achievements here.
What is Komodo all about?
Komodo’s technology is driven by these 4 Pillars of Blockchain Technology:
- Security - Komodo’s innovative delayed-Proof-of-Work (dPoW) security mechanism protects the entire ecosystem with the power of the Bitcoin network. To compromise a protected chain, an attacker would need to overpower both the KMD network and the BTC network— at the same time.
- Scalability - Komodo gives each project the autonomy to control their own independent infrastructure and dedicated blockchain. On top of that, every project has the freedom to scale out at any point in time by adding additional blockchains to linearly increase performance as needed.
- Interoperability - With blockchain federation tech, Komodo enables seamless cross-chain interoperability among federated chains. Every Komodo-based blockchain is connected to chains outside the federation via atomic swaps. Komodo has already linked 95% of all blockchains in existence.
- Adaptability - Komodo is an open-source project that is constantly innovating and developing. All new features are pushed to every project in the ecosystem. With a future-proof blockchain architecture, Komodo gives every project the ability to create modular, customized solutions for any situation.
With these 4 pillars in mind, Komodo is working towards its mission of accelerating the global adoption of blockchain technology by innovating cutting-edge features that remove barriers to entry for developers, blockchain startups, and existing businesses alike with simple, end-to-end blockchain solutions.
What makes Komodo unique?
The underlying architecture of Komodo is what sets it apart from other blockchain platforms.
Other blockchain platforms are a single blockchain with support for smart contracts and decentralized applications. Accordingly, all projects that build on one of these platforms are forced to share the same infrastructure.
This single, shared blockchain architecture is a recipe for crippling congestion. It’s also a huge barrier for the growth of the individual projects that build on these platforms as well as an obstacle to the mass adoption of blockchain technology.
Komodo has a unique multi-chain architecture that gives every project their very own dedicated blockchain with independent infrastructure. If one chain isn’t providing adequate performance, additional chains can be added to scale out and increase performance linearly.
All the blockchains in the Komodo ecosystem are secured with the power of the Bitcoin network and seamlessly interoperable with every other chain. And, on top of all that, each blockchain launched with Komodo can support smart contracts, including the ability to tokenize at a ratio of one native to as many as 100 Million tokens. The possibilities are endless.
What is Komodo working on now?
Development at Komodo happens at breakneck speed so it can change on a week-to-week basis, but here are a few things that the Komodo Team is currently focusing on:
- Constantly improving and adding coins to Agama, the ecosystem’s native multi-coin crypto wallet.
- Developing v2 of BarterDEX, Komodo’s atomic-swap-powered decentralized exchange.
- Bridging the gap between Ethereum and Komodo in order to allow seamless migration of ERC20 tokens to Komodo Platform.
- Building up Komodo’s UTXO-based smart contract library in order to provide external projects with out-of-the-box solutions.
- Fine-tuning Federated Multi-Chain Syncing scalability feature in order to verifiably process more than 1 Million transactions per second.
- Integrating more external blockchains to Komodo’s delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) security service network.
- Working on a full rebrand, updated messaging, improved user journeys, a brand-new website, and product strategy with Ideas By Nature, an industry-leading agency.
This is only a partial list but it includes most of the major developments currently taking place at Komodo Platform.
Where can I learn more?
If you’d like to dive deeper, the Komodo White Paper is a great place to start. You can also read through these three blog posts to gain a better understanding of Komodo:
You can join Komodo on social media to learn more and get frequent updates:
If you’d like to chat with Komodo team members personally, you can join the Komodo community on Discord. Team members are available around the clock.
What are the primary use cases of KMD?
KMD is the native currency in the Komodo ecosystem. It has a number of important uses.
- Those who hold 10 KMD or more can easily earn 5% active user rewards.
- KMD can be used to make instant, zero-confirmation swaps on Komodo’s DEX.
- KMD is the most widely-traded coin on BarterDEX, so KMD can act as a go-between for two other tokens that do not yet have a direct market between them.
- KMD is the method of payment for Komodo’s Blockchain Security Service.
- KMD is the fuel for UTXO-Based Smart Contracts.
- KMD can be used to buy into dICOs launched on Komodo Platform, often early and at a discounted price.
- KMD is the only coin compatible with Komodo’s Jumblr privacy feature.
Where can I buy KMD?
KMD can be purchased with fiat currencies through the following third-party services:
The following crypto exchanges support and allow trading of KMD coins:
Is KMD mineable?
Yes, KMD is a mineable coin. The KMD chain uses the Equihash algorithm. Here are some helpful resources for those interested in mining:
You can also ask for help in the #mining-room on Komodo’s Discord community.
Where can I find support documentation?
If you need assistance, you can find Komodo’s support documentation here.
If the docs don’t solve your issue or if you’d prefer to communicate directly with a member of the Komodo support team, you can:
The Komodo support team is always available and quick to respond.
Where can I find developer docs?
All of Komodo’s tech is open-source and anyone can start building with Komodo’s tech whenever they please.
If you’d like to start using Komodo’s technology, please see Komodo’s developer docs here. You may also find it useful to look through Komodo’s GitHub repos.
If you’re a developer who’s interested in blockchain technology, we highly encourage you to join the Komodo community on Discord. We have one of the most active and perhaps the most innovative blockchain developer community on the planet. All of our devs are open to answering questions, helping newcomers, and generally sharing knowledge about blockchain tech.
Anything else?
If you haven’t already, go ahead and download Agama wallet now. This makes it easy to hold KMD, as well as a number of other coins and tokens. Agama also allows you to collect your 5% active user rewards with the click of a button.
You can also sign up for Komodo's 5 Bullet Fridays newsletter, which is a weekly email that will tell you about the 5 most important events in the Komodo ecosystem from the previous week.
Thanks for reading and welcome again to the Komodo community.
Cheers,
The Komodo Team