Xunlei Makes Big Bet on Future of ThunderChain Open Platform

| Updated
by Maria Konash · 4 min read
Xunlei Makes Big Bet on Future of ThunderChain Open Platform
Photo: Xunlei

Through recent initiatives, China’s cloud service leader Xunlei is making a great push for the development of new solutions to make Blockchain technology more robust, ubiquitous and easier to employ.

China’s cloud service leader Xunlei is making a great push for the development of a new platform to make Blockchain technologies more robust, easier to employ and more ubiquitous through recent initiatives.

The company on May 16 disclosed plans recently to open up its own high-performance blockchain technology ThunderChain in bid to rapidly advance the use of distributed ledger technology across multiple industries.

While Blockchain technology is in its nascent stage, experts expect it will evolve and be adopted at a much faster rate than other information technologies. A 2017 study by analyst firm Juniper Research identifies that 6 out of every 10 large corporations with more than 20,000 employees are or will be developing strategies involving blockchain technology in order to meet the now global technological trend sweeping across industries.

However, a number of hurdles remain before Blockchain technology can be widely adopted. Some have expressed concern that the technology has become fragmented without a coherent direction, creating confusion in the marketplace and could slow adoption. Others question whether Blockchains can efficiently handle large transaction volumes.

Xunlei has set up to conquer these issues. The company’s new ThunderChain platform has proven faster than any other Blockchain platforms with its million-transactions-per-second feat. ThunderChain can realize confirmation and interaction among homogeneous chains with its patented technology and thus enable multiple transactions to be executed on different chains in parallel. It uses a consensus model that results in low latency, allowing the system to generate one block in the chain per second.

To help firms embrace and adopt Blockchains, Xunlei is offering a one-year cost-free support for startups around the country to merge Blockchain technology with their applications. As a greater incentive, developers and startups will receive 300 million LinkTokens, the amount initially reserved for the internal operational purposes at the creation of LinkToken. Now Xunlei has decided to give all back to developers starting from May 16 for a three-year period for the sole purpose of research and development in DApps built on the ThunderChain. For example, LinkTokens can be used by developers to exchange IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) and other shared cloud computing services. Startups and individual developers could also get investment and incubation to boost their operations. In return, developers and companies will create applications on ThunderChain that consumers can use LinkToken they get through sharing computing resources.

Though the platform was just launched, some organizations and firms are already taking advantages of ThunderChain and its supporting policies. Among them, a gene testing and research project HGBC has been working on ThunderChain to establish a database and information exchange platform. China’s first private charitable organization One Foundation shares their data through ThunderChain, where the donors can better track how their contribution is used for charitable services. IP Trade, a copyright and IP exchange system, intends to leverage ThunderChain in recording and managing IP related transactions, while protecting the rights of IP holders.

In fact, scalability is already a key appeal of the ThunderChain network. Its protocol relies on a consensus model that results in low latency, thus is capable of handling over 1 million transfers per second. ThunderChain is now seen as Blockchain 3.0, a stage when Blockchain technologies provide industries that benefit from traceability and transparency with a feasible alternative. Just like what Forbes described, the company is taking an interesting position in what could be seen as taking a lead even within converging the best minds currently within blockchain.

With the support and exposure to Xunlei’s huge use base, the ThunderChain developers have a significant advantage in developing C-end applications over other blockchain systems.

Case in point, a current lack of transparency in the world of giving is damaging the entire public’s trust in the sector, which in turn drives down donations even for highly efficient and effective nonprofits. ThunderChain, however, can establish a new norm for transparency in philanthropy. The open nature of the Blockchain-based system securely records transactions – giving donors the chance to see what their contributions have been spent on and quantify their impact on the world.

As part of commitment to nurture the Blockchain ecosystem and help overcome underlying issues in the industry, Xunlei has been actively cultivating talents and has hosted a Blockchain Applications Global Challenge 2018. USD 160,000 is offered to the final winners, in addition to opportunities to receive angle investment and mentorship with industry experts.

Blockchain News, News
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