ICON Network Enables Trustless & Interoperable Smart Contracts

• 1 ICON is a decentralized layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform.
• 2 It focuses on connecting unique blockchains and their respective communities.
• 3 ICON is a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus with its own cryptocurrency called ICX.

ICON Network is a layer 1 blockchain focused on building a multichain bridging solution that is scalable, chain-agnostic, and secure. It is a hub that connects partner blockchains with all other blockchains integrated via the Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP).

BTP is the main product of ICON. It is also an interoperability solution that supports cross-chain token swaps as well as more generic messaging features like cross-chain smart contract calls.

Blockchains that are connected to the ICON ecosystem are Binance Smart Chain, Near, Harmony, Moonriver, Polkadot, ICE/SNOW, Ethereum, and others. ICON is a growing ecosystem of dApps that include deFi protocols (Balanced, OMM), NFT platforms (Craft), games, and more.

Min Kim co-founded ICON Network. He is the former chief strategy officer at DAYLI Financial Group. It is Korea’s largest fintech holding company. He has also served as Chief Operating Officer at Tapas Media. It is a U.S. digital content distribution platform.

He is an alumnus of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He has also established ICONLOOP, a technical partner of ICON.

Components of the ICON Network

The ICON Network is composed of human participants and technology elements that interact with each other to create a trustless transactional system. Here are some of the components that ensure the integrity, transparency, and longevity of the ICON.

Public Representatives (P-Reps)

It is responsible for governance and block production in the ICON Network. ICON currently supports up to 100 P-Reps. The rank of each P-Rep is determined by the number of votes received from the coin holders where each ICX is equivalent to one vote.

ICONists

These are the voters who are responsible for electing P-Reps and are awarded for submitting a vote. It is particularly important because the voting process makes up a large part of the ICON blockchain’s delegated proof of stake contribution governance mechanism.

They are incentivized to vote for the P-Reps who contribute more to the ICON and whose policies they support.

Network Proposal System (NPS)

The P-Reps manage the NPS to create new or amend existing network policies. P-Reps have the opportunity to vote on and sponsor proposals. Sponsoring a proposal provides an additional reward to the P-Rep, but they must offer ICX collateral equivalent to 10% of the budget in the event the proposal is malicious or unsuccessful.

Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP)

The objective of ICON’s public blockchain is to be a hub of economic activity for both public and private networks through the use of BTP. It is a unique interoperability architecture that does not require trust, game theory, or consensus amongst Relayers or network operators. Smart contracts verify all the data on the connected blockchains.

Relayers

Relayers are responsible for passing messages between connected blockchains using the BTP. It plays an important role in interoperability, and they are rewarded by the network for their work.

Working Mechanism of the ICON Network

ICON operates on a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) network. In this way, a majority of stakeholders delegate their share of the network to registered validators that produce blocks and participate in governance.

It enables non-technical stakeholders to benefit from staking without having to set up a node or join a staking pool. On ICON, ICX holders can stake and delegate ICX to Public Representatives (P-Reps) entities and these entities have been registered to participate in governing the ICON blockchain.

This DPoS implementation seeks to offer a balance where stakeholders can passively receive compensation while technical individuals interested in setting up infrastructure and governing ICON can do so.

ICX

ICX is a cryptocurrency that powers the ICON ecosystem and blockchain. It has a variety of use cases, including staking, network governance, collateralization on DeFi platforms, and others.

It is a governance token. Since ICON is a DPoS blockchain, a user can satake and delegate ICX to a validator in exchange for a staking reward, which typically ranges between 6-8% per year.

The ICX token can be used for sending or receiving payments on the blockchain and pays for ICON transaction fees as well. ICX utilizes throughput from ICON’s suite of DeFi protocols, including Balanced, OMM, Optimus, and others. It also serves as the gas token for enterprise products like Zzeung and Broof.

Uniqueness and Security of ICON Network

Neither the base technology of the blockchain nor the existing number of connections limit the interoperability solution ICON presented. This differentiates it from other bridging solutions.

ICON is a hub that immediately connects all blockchains that are integrated with the ICON ecosystem. It is built using one of the ICON’s Goloop, Cosmos SDK, or Substrate.

The mission of the ICON is to build a multichain future through the integration of existing networks. It also facilitates the creation of new networks and connections via its interoperability solution, BTP.

Public Representatives (P-Reps) govern the ICON blockchain. To become a P-Rep, a team or individual would go through an on-chain registration process, which includes paying registration fees of 2000 ICX. Following registration, a P-Rep can start receiving delegations in the form of staked ICX.

Conclusion: Roadmap for the Future

There are several ICON 2.0 upgrades and revisions that are in the process and have been making their way through the Berlin and Lisbon testnets. After completion of testing, it will be pushed to ICON 2.0 Mainnet.

Some of the key changes are increasing the main P-Rep count from 22 to 25, funding the contribution proposal system (CPS) via ICX inflation, in accordance with IISS 3.1, and implementing the penalty for missing a network proposal vote.

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