Earlier this month, 0x project reached a major milestone with the launch of 0x Protocol 2.0. The upgraded version of the protocol includes a redesigned smart contract architecture that will make it easy to add new Ethereum token standards to 0x as they become popular.
With attention focused heavily on 0x this week, the project’s team took the opportunity to do a reddit AMA and answer questions about v2 of the protocol as well as the direction of the project in general.
This article will summarize some of the important highlights from the AMA, and what we can expect from 0x in the near future.
Update on Governance
Governance is one of the areas that’s really lacking throughout the crypto space. Although there are exceptions, such as Decred, the majority of projects employ basic and untested governance models with the primary purpose seeming to be that they can be used to justify creating new blockchain tokens.
As 0x co-founder and CEO Will Warren aptly put it:
As it stands, I believe the crypto governance space lacks the rigor you find in basically every other field of research, which isn’t acceptable if we are supposed to be building the power structures underlying a new economy.
0x is one of the rare projects that takes governance seriously, as it must with the Ethereum ecosystem evolving and growing so rapidly.
In fact, 0x now employs a couple of highly qualified research fellows, Peter Zeitz and Weijie Wu, who are focused specifically on governance. Zeitz stated in the AMA that an essay will be released within a week, explaining what’s changed since the last governance update in March 2018.
Actually, Zeitz delivered on that promise rather quickly, with the essay being published just a day after the AMA on September 27th.
With relayers, market makers and takers, dapp developers, and users all participating in governance for the protocol, finding a system that best serves each group is critical to 0x’s future success. Taking a page out of Cardano’s playbook by bringing in academically trained talent is a nice move, and it will certainly be exciting to see what they can come up with!
Developing a “Shopify” Experience for 0x
Reddit user u/pcastonguay asked the question:
When will we have a ‘shopify’ like experience for 0x? Build your relayer UI via drag and drop features!
For anybody who isn’t familiar with Shopify, it’s a software platform that enables people to effortlessly launch new ecommerce businesses, handling all of the nitty-gritty work such as marketing, facilitating payments, secure checkout, and shipping.
The 0x version of this would be something along the lines of a super easy-to-implement relayer service that enables new blockchain startups to add exchange functionality to their projects. The example that 0x Product Manager Tom Schmidt gave for a potential user of such a service is a ‘game that wants an in-game marketplace’, but there are tons of possibilities beyond that.
Austin Roberts of OpenRelay also chimed in that they are currently developing some widgets that people can embed in their sites, with the long-term goal of having a “drag and drop token shop.”
Moreover, there is another project called Hydro Swap that’s building a highly customizable Relayer UI that can be embedded in any website with just a few lines of JavaScript.
All of this development really highlights the strength of open-source software and allowing independent parties to build their own solutions with it. Now not only is 0x improving quickly, but so are dozens of other projects in the greater 0x and Ethereum communities.
0x Brings on David Sacks as an Advisor
Earlier this September, 0x made a high-profile addition to their Advisory Board by bringing on David Sacks.
Among other noteworthy past experiences, Sacks was the original COO for PayPal and later the Founder and CEO of Yammer, a freemium enterprise social networking service that was acquired by Microsoft for $1.2 billion back in 2012.
More recently, Sacks was the Founding Chairman of Harbor Inc., a company focused on regulatory compliance on the blockchain for tokenized securities. This equips him with the expertise to help 0x navigate the tokenized security space and establish themselves as the exchange layer in the emerging security token technology stack.
Add to that the fact that Sacks has gone through the process of scaling numerous tech companies before, and it’s clear that he’s the right person to bring on as an advisor. His guidance will without a doubt be invaluable to the 0x team as they aim to grow the project to a massive scale in the coming years.
Now That ERC-721 Tokens Are Supported, What’s Next?
0x Protocol 2.0 allows for ERC-721 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be traded, and it also enables the 0x team to easily add support for more token standards in the future. So what might those token standards be?
A question about this got some interesting speculation from Austin of Open Relay, but no direct answer from anybody on the 0x team. As Austin explained, there are several proposals for new Ethereum token standards beyond ERC-721 and ERC-20, but none of them have achieved any real adoption yet to warrant being added in the near future.
If you’re curious about some of the other standards that have been proposed, you can check out this article explaining ERC-20, ERC-223, ERC-721, and ERC-777 tokens.
Student Internships
Cryptocurrency has captured the hearts and minds of many college-aged kids around the world. If you’re one of them and you’d like the chance to work at a legit blockchain company, 0x will consider hosting a select few Software Engineering interns in their San Francisco office in the future.
You can email your resume to [email protected] if you’re interested and qualified. No guarantees, but it’s worth a shot!
Conclusion
The accessibility of project leaders and developers throughout the blockchain space is a unique and awesome feature for those of us who closely follow cryptocurrencies.
The 0x AMA perhaps didn’t get the attention it deserved, but it was nonetheless worthwhile in terms of keeping the project’s community engaged and excited about the future. And there is plenty to be excited about as 0x continues to work towards their mission of creating a tokenized world where all value can flow freely.
0x has been weathering the bear market better than most projects, bolstered significantly by the news that it was 1 of 5 cryptocurrencies that Coinbase would explore adding in the near future. It will be interesting to see the short and long-term impact that launching v2 has both for 0x’s usage rate and its performance in the market.
Make sure you check back soon for that upcoming essay on the 0x governance plan for the future!
