Mainstream adoption of blockchains has been limited because of scalability, privacy, and interoperability challenges. Aion is the first multi-tier blockchain network designed to address these challenges.
– AION whitepaper
Aion, a multi-tier blockchain network designed to address the world’s biggest blockchain adoption issues, has been gaining a lot of popularity recently, and for good reason.
On April 25, 2018, the Aion network launched their mainnet to the public. This could potentially have huge implications for blockchain technology and the projects that use it.
How Aion Works
New blockchain projects are getting developed at an alarming rate. It’s a great thing to witness the technology being adopted and utilized in a plethora of ways, but it comes with a big problem: How do all these blockchain projects work with one another?
At the moment, the answer is: They mostly can’t.
This huge interoperability issue is exactly what Aion is working to solve. They wish to connect all of these blockchain entities so they can easily work together. This will allow adoption of the technology to truly become mainstream. In a decentralized world where there are many separate blockchain platforms across all industries, having an interoperable ecosystem will be crucial so all these different blockchains can communicate and do business with one another.
The Aion multi-tier blockchain network is like a computer network that allows computers around the world to effortlessly communicate with one another, even if they are running on different systems. Once these different blockchains are connected through Aion’s network, they can conduct interchain transactions, create interchain applications, provide decentralized accountability, and more.
Matthew Spoke, CEO and co-founder of Aion recently told TechCrunch:
The core design of [the] network we have been building is to connect various networks, and route data and transactions through a public network. It allows you to build bridges to other blockchain networks. That public network acts as relayer between blockchains.
Aion released their whitepaper on July 31, 2017. 9 months of hard work later, the Aion team was ready to release their network to the public.
The Aion Network Mainnet Launch
During a livestream event on April 25, the Aion team publicly launched their mainnet. It’s called Kilimanjaro, and it’s available for download here.
There’s still a long way to go before this technology can be mass adopted, of course. But this is the first huge step forward for Aion to bring blockchain interoperability to the world.
As Spoke explained to TechCrunch:
We still need a few years of pure focus on infrastructure to make sure we are getting these layers right. Every time you move data of any kind there are security vulnerabilities, and we need to make sure there are good specs and comfort in using it.
Aion is still very young, and it will be a while before it gets on its feet. But if you are interested in being one of the first users of the project, you can start playing with their cutting-edge technology right away. They even wrote an Owner’s Manual to get you started.
What The Future Holds for Aion
The second half of 2018 is going to be a really exciting time for Aion and its community as they roll out tons of features on the Kilimanjaro mainnet and users begin to adopt their technology.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see a rise in value of their native token (AION) now that they have a real working product. AION is currently available to trade on several popular exchanges, including Binance, Liqui, EtherDelta, and KuCoin, among others. AION is an ERC-20 token, so it can be stored on wallets that support Ethereum-based tokens. It can also be stored on Ledger and Trezor hardware wallets, if you prefer cold storage.
Looking long-term, if the team can pull off their goal of blockchain interoperability, they could end up being a huge player in the blockchain world, completely transforming the technology as we currently know it.
If you’re interested in getting involved with Aion, there are a few ways you can join the community, from in-person meetups to joining their Telegram. Check out your options here.
