Chris Chris 22.03.2022

Ergo has The First Non-Custodial Token Mixer that can be Implemented Into Wallets and Other dApps — Interview with a Ergo Platform Team

This time around we are talking to a Ergo Platform Team.

Chris: So, Ergo is based on years of research in cryptocurrency and its markets. What are the advanced features on the offer with Ergo tokens?

Team: Ergo is the future of Proof of Work blockchains and the next step in the evolution of the UTXO model pioneered by Bitcoin. It is a decentralized, permissionless, open-source, and highly secure platform for contractual money designed for everyday use by individuals, businesses and government entities. 

The native language, ErgoScript, comes packed with features such as Sigma Protocols (efficient zero-knowledge proofs) and Multi-Stage smart-contracts. 

These features allow Ergo to provide uncompromising security and the ability to tailor and adapt various products to the privacy needs of each entity. Keeping all this in mind, we expect ErgoScript and Ergo's design to be uniquely useful as Contractual Money with countless possible applications.

With Ergo, TPS (transaction per second) is not an issue that needs to be addressed in the way other chains do. The extended UTXO model on Ergo allows the execution of thousands of transactions from a single input at a fraction of the cost it would take on other blockchains.

Ergo also has NIPoPoW’s, which allow for the implementation of light-clients and side chains, enabling a much higher degree of functionality and interoperability. Extended support of light nodes makes Ergo friendly for end-users, allowing them to run contracts on common devices such as mobile phones without centralised intermediaries.

Chris: Ergo has solid foundations backed by a well-experienced team onboard. Please introduce your core working group to the readers. How does each member add to the world of Ergo tokens?

Team: Ergo is built by some of the leading minds in cryptography who have numerous research papers to their names. The two founding developers, Alex Chepurnoy and Dmitry Meshkov have previously worked in developing cryptocurrencies for NXT, Scorex, Cardano, Waves, and smartcontract.com (what is now known as Chainlink). 

Their work is unparalleled in innovation and their whitepaper research has been adopted by other blockchains, such as Cardano. It is worth noting that other crypto technologists recognize the incredible work of the Ergo team. Charles Hoskinson has been quoted as saying “Ergo is the spiritual successor to Bitcoin” and that the team has “some of his favorite technologists.”

For those who are curious to see some of the innovations, SigUSD is an excellent example. SigUSD is an over-collateralized, crypto-backed algorithmic stablecoin. Due to the way the collateral has been set with reserve tokens, this token is always pegged to the value of USD (1 SigUSD = 1 USD).

Chris: Why did you pick the PoW blockchain? How does it help with your aim of decentralization?

Team: hardware. The proof of work consensus is the same consensus for Bitcoin and that protocol continues to be a proven standard for the security and integrity of blockchain.

The protocol was designed to be ASIC resistant and to allow miners to use consumer-grade GPU hardware, thereby making the blockchain much more accessible to that average person.

With Ergo’s eUTXO model, the blockchain evolves beyond Bitcoin’s UTXO model by enabling smart contract functionality. Ergo is an efficient and secure decentralized finance platform that has recently witnessed several innovations that will forever change the way Satoshi envisioned UTXO. With Ergo, miners hold the power of democracy. They can propose changes to various aspects of the protocol and then vote on those proposals. Those who are familiar with mining pools may ask how this is possible? 

It is possible through the power of smart contracts. One Ergo mining pool, GetBlok, has developed smart pool mining and a system empowering their miners to vote directly on  the EIP27 proposal.

Chris: Ergo tokens support a DeFi platform. How do you address the security and privacy of investors and users of Ergo platforms?

Team: The security of proof of work was addressed in the previous answer but it is worth mentioning privacy in Ergo’s blockchain. Ergo has the first non-custodial token mixer that can be implemented into wallets and other dApps. Ergo also believes that privacy is necessary to protect the individual. At the same time, the designers of Ergo also know that there are aspects of finance that need to be transparent.

With Ergo, users can design products that protect numerous privacies while maintaining the transparency needed to legally operate within respective jurisdictions.

Ergo has support for formal verification of contracts, bringing improved security guarantees (Ergo Platform deployed its first formally verified p2p crowdfunding contract just three months after the network launched). Ergo has also successfully passed a security audit of certain (most critical) parts of the code.

Chris: Additionally, How can one mint Ergo tokens? How much is the minting fee?

Team: Minting tokens on Ergo is a very simple process. Users simply need an Ergo wallet and then can access the following website where they input all the parameters for their token: https://tokenminter.ergo.ga/.

Users can use this website to view any particular token on the blockchain.

The fee for minting is 0.003 ERG.

Chris: Potential investors always want the latest news. How can investors get updates on what’s new at Ergo?

Team: Anyone who is interested in Ergo may access all of our information at ergoplatform. Everyone is also welcome to join all of our social media channels: Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Reddit, Github, Youtube.  

Chris: In the end, please highlight key milestones you want to achieve in the next 2 years. What are the most important deliverables for team Ergo?

Team: Currently, you can access the entire ecosystem at sigmaverse but users can expect to see a lot of development from Ergo over the next few years.  ErgoDEX and the NFT Auction House have already launched to great success and the team behind ErgoDEX is preparing their DEX for deployment on Cardano within the year. Following this, they will establish full cross-chain interoperability between Ergo and Cardano. ErgoPad has just established an IDO platform with a toolset for DAO’s and has several dApps in the pipeline. Ergo users can also access a metaverse (SigmaValley) and numerous other dApps at Sigmaverse.

The Ergo Foundation’s strategic advisor, Dan Friedman, has recently announced a project that will attract at least 1 million commercial users to Ergo in the next two years. Additionally, the Foundation is expecting new Tier 1 exchange listings and deployment on prominent DEXs. There are several partnerships in negotiation, including education partners that will produce and market curriculum at a European accredited university. Other partnerships include business ventures that will increase the use case for small and mid-sized commercial enterprises.

In terms of ecosystem development, Ergo hosts several hackathons (ErgoHack) per year that have been producing some of the most popular dApps in the ecosystem. At the latest ErgoHack, developers worked on wallet security (including Ledger integration), wrapped Bitcoin on Ergo, Oracle pools, a decentralized smart contract casino, and much more. The Ergo Foundation has multiple grants available to community dApp developers.