The character string “0bs” in 0bsnetwork stands for “Zero Bullshit”. The Vienna Blockchain startup wants to offer a faster, more financially easier to plan and easier to handle alternative to Ethereum. We talked to founder Srdjan Kupresanin.
“Our slogan ‘Zero Bullshit’ in the name is a clear reference to 95 percent of what is said in the blockchain field,” says Srdjan Kupresanin, founder of the Viennese startup 0bsnetwork. The Founder left a career in finance, including at Raiffeisen Investment and adviser to the Serbian Prime Minister, to try his luck in a highly competitive field. He wants to offer an alternative to the dominating Ethereum platform with 0bsnetwork, whose Mainnet went live in February. It is an announcement many have failed with – and behind them disproportionately often just the one thing: bullshit”.
No smart contracts
So what makes 0bsnetwork different? “When working with our solution, the most significant difference to Ethereum is that we do not rely on smart contracts,” Kupresanin explains. These would be possible on the platform, but not necessary to create an application. The standalone blockchain, which is based on open source components of the Waves Platform, is therefore the first much easier to use. “A senior developer from one of the common programming languages can be ready within an afternoon to build a simple application in 0bsnetwork. Less experienced coders may need a few days, “says Kupresanin. This simplicity reduces the susceptibility to errors on the other hand.
Proof of Stake concept
Even tokens that are created in 0bsnetwork do not run on smart contracts. “They can be created by our customers with a few clicks,” explains Kupresanin. Technically, however, they are equal to the platform’s own ZBS Coin – in contrast to ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum Blockchain. Only to pay the fees in the network you need ZBS Coins. Incidentally, the proof of stake concept is used for encryption. There is no classic mining in 0bsnetwork. Not only because of this, the fees to be paid are not volatile. They are simply fixed with a Euro amount – another difference to Ethereum. Customers would have a better financial predictability, says Kupresanin.
Fixed fees for customers – variable fees for end customers
A transaction over the network always costs 5 cents in ZBS Coins that flow to the Node Operator in the Proof of Stake mechanism. However, this is not necessarily the price for the end customer. “Another plus for our customers is the possibility of variable fees. They determine what fees their users have to pay, “explains Srdjan Kupresanin. For different use cases would offer different fee models. For example, if a retailer uses tokens for his loyalty program, he may want his customers to pay no fees at all. “On the other hand, for example, a marketplace running on 0bsnetwork can build its entire business model based on fees and set them accordingly”, says Kupresanin.
Decentralized exchange and self-regulation
For these transaction-intensive models, you want to provide more security with a decentralized Exchange. “Our exchange only mates buy and sell orders. The coins will never come to our servers. That means they can not be stolen from us – either by hackers or by ourselves, “says the founder. And yet another measure sets 0bsnetwork in self-control. “We use the Chainlock system of the Austrian State Printing House to keep a large part of the existing ZBS Coins safe and, secondly, to prevent direct access by the team,” explains Kupresanin. Incidentally, this team includes not only blockchain expert James Hitchcock, but also crypto-influencer Robert “Cryptorobby” Schwertner.
Flexibility for token creation in 0bsnetwork
0bsnetwork does not only want to offer customers a lot of flexibility through the variable fees. “You can design your token very individually according to your needs,” says Kupresanin. Between non-fungible tokens, ie individual, non-exchangeable coins for gaming purposes and security tokens, for example, coins that represent company shares, anything is possible. In the second one has implemented another security feature. “In many countries, only officially registered investors can trade in securities. We have implemented a corresponding filter with us”, says Kupresanin.
100 transactions per second
Incidentally, these and other trades should also be faster – as it should be otherwise – than with Ethereum. There are known only 20 transactions per second possible. “At Mainnet there are currently 100. In the Testnet we have already tested 1000 successfully. So we can increase the number if necessary, “says the founder. At the same time, it would be possible to settle up to 100 transactions in one via “mass transactions”. Incidentally, the fees there are reduced to 2.5 cents per individual transaction included.
By the way, developers will also be able to test the 0bsnetwork next week on the 1st and 2nd of April at the Blockchain Hackathon in the ÖBB Open Innovation Factory. The entire hackathon will take place on the network.
Also published on Medium.