What is Energy Web Token (EWT)?

Energy Web Chain, is a blockchain focused on energy efficiency while offering powerful smart contract functionalities focused on integrating dApps focused on energy management, the blockchain is powered by the Energy Web Token.

Ehe Energy Web Chain (EWC) project is a blockchain project that seeks to create a huge blockchain network on which to deploy dApps focused on the energy sector, and whose currency is the Energy Web Token (EWT).

The idea is that this network allows companies and other services related to the energy sector to interconnect and operate in a decentralized manner and without permissions, to carry out all their tasks of production, distribution and administration of energy goods throughout the world.

Origin of the Project

Energy Web Chain is a project co-founded by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Grid Singularity (GSy), who in 2017 started the Energy Web Foundation (EWF). The main objective of EWF was the development of a high-speed blockchain, low commissions and smart contract capacity, which will focus its operation on the energy sector. The launch of this blockchain was expected for the second quarter of 2019 and would be known as the Energy Web Chain (EWC) and its token (Energy Web Token).

Along with this development, the EWF would develop a set of development tools (SDKs) that would allow third parties to integrate their infrastructures into the blockchain. With this, EWF took strong steps towards what would be the first blockchain network for energy management in the world. The idea with this was to digitize and automate energy networks by integrating blockchain technology. Thus, they could create everything from energy attribute certificates, electric vehicle charging solutions and network flexibility management platforms.

The development of these ideas materialized in June 2019 with the launch of the Energy Web Chain. This high-speed blockchain features a powerful Ethereum-compatible virtual machine and is therefore compatible with networks like Ethereum and derivatives. Along with the launch of the blockchain, the launch of the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS) was also announced, a decentralized operating system that allows users to control and manage their electrical systems online, all within the EWC network.

Project objectives

Now, why do we need a blockchain to manage our energy? What are the objectives of the project? Well, the Energy Web Foundation seeks with this project to accelerate the global transition towards a decentralized, democratized, decarbonized and digitized energy. In this sense, its main objectives are:

1. Decarbonization. The center of this objective revolves around community solar energy, a type of energy production self-managed by the communities that benefit from its production. For example, the one that occurs in buildings and is divided among its tenants. With EWC you can control this type of services and manage the costs of these operations.
2. Decentralization. Another major objective of the EWC is to decentralize the production and management of energy production and distribution networks. With ideas like self-generation and self-management, it is clear that decentralizing networks is vital and EWC provides tools for this.
3. Digitization. This in order to reduce the cost of managing the entire network, especially when it becomes increasingly complex, as in the case of managing car recharging points, or energy management points in our homes.

How does Energy Web Token and its blockchain work?

Energy Web Chain (EWC) the chain on which the Energy Web Token (EWT) works is a chain derived from Ethereum, which works under the Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus protocol. This means that EWC works just like Ethereum does (at the cryptographic, address and virtual machine level) with the exception that its consensus protocol is different (PoW in Ethereum and PoA in EWC).

Thanks to these changes, EWC is able to provide a high-speed network operation, where each block is generated by validators every 5 seconds, and where the gas limit of each block is 80 million Gas (compared to the usual 8 million Ethereum). This means that EWC is much faster and more scalable than Ethereum, having the same smart contract capabilities and being much cheaper to use.

Beyond this, at the on-chain level EWC and Ethereum are identical, something that we can observe in the block explorer of this network and seeing the addresses that participate in operations:

However, this change is vital to EWC's goals. For example, controlling hundreds of charging points in a region with high demand using the Ethereum network would be extremely expensive, but with EWC the costs are minimal. At the same time, using an infrastructure like Ethereum ensures that there are developers for your dApps. In fact, an Ethereum dApp will work as-is on EWC without making any changes because both networks use Solidity for their smart contracts, and the virtual machine is the same (the EVM).

Energy Web Token, one token, two networks

Energy Web Token (EWT), began its history as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. The intention with the creation of this token is to allow, on the one hand, the initial capitalization of the project and then allow the creation of bridges that connect Ethereum with the EWC. Both functions are fulfilled with the token since within the EWC the token exercises all its functions as a utility token, and at the same time, there are the means to make bridges with Ethereum and BNB Chain.

But beyond these functions of the EWT token, this token has clear characteristics that we will mention:

1. Issuance of a maximum of 100 million tokens.
2. Its main use within the EWC network is the payment of commissions (Gas), deployment of smart contracts, interaction with dApps, network security and compensation for network PoA validators.

network governance

EWC is a PoA network, so each validator within it can only work within the network after prior recognition of the person or institution behind said node. This means that each node is a publicly known authority in the network, and to be part of it it must be accepted by the majority of the network nodes.

This fact indicates that the governance of the network is exercised only by the participating nodes in the consensus, which limits the total decentralization of the network. The choice of this model responds to the following reasons:

1. The initial selection for eligibility will be objectively determined (i.e., it is a binary decision based on membership status), which will reduce potential conflicts of interest, anti-competitive behavior, and decision-making complexity. decisions for existing validators.
2. Becoming an affiliate of the EWF requires organizations to make a financial contribution to the EWF; this acts as an indirect form of staking.
3. The affiliate onboarding process includes a know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) process, so all validators can be sure that the organizations hosting the affiliate nodes the validators are legal entities in order. This is vital because the energy market is a strictly regulated market.

All organizations hosting a validator node will be participants in a common consortium and will get to know each other through various channels and events, increasing trust between the set of validators. In particular, the EWF cannot unilaterally impose this eligibility requirement, which could be subject to change over time through a governance decision.

Projects using the Energy Web Chain

There are currently several projects that use the infrastructure deployed by the Energy Web Chain and its EWT token, among which we can mention:

1. SolarCoin: a cryptocurrency project in which solar energy producers are rewarded for each megawatt of energy they produce using this energy source. The idea is to encourage the production of solar energy, rewarding those who bet on this form of green energy by giving them SolarCoin tokens for the production they carry out and that is verified on the network.
2. CarbonSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) that seeks to unite EWC's DeFi space with that of Ethereum.
3. DAI, has a tokenized representation of its token within the EWC network.
4. OCEAN, the well-known blockchain data protocol, also has participation within the EWC network.

Links of interest