CryptoSlate recently had the opportunity to speak with George Connolly, CEO of OneLedger, a leading Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) solutions provider.

I have a diverse professional background starting in general knowledge after completing my first degree. I worked in Canada and throughout Africa in retail and organization before entering the tech business in 2001. Systems Consortium and ECM were the main focus back then. In 2008, after the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was held in Trinidad, I started an advocacy initiative across all English-speaking Commonwealth territories for the Commonwealth Business Council in the area of using ICT for development and providing guidance to member countries on setting up their national ICT strategies/platforms to drive rapid adoption and development. 

I got interested in blockchain about five years ago.  I quickly understood the potential of the technology to fundamentally transform business processes in ways not conceivable with traditional architectures and applications.  I believe blockchain will become as ubiquitous as mobile devices, the internet and cloud computing.  It is a highly disruptive innovation.  

I also believe blockchain adoption in the enterprise space has been very slow to develop.

The technology is very difficult for business executives to understand and there are many questions about it.  However, there is huge momentum building for blockchain.  Large public companies are now starting to embrace crypto assets and planning to accept them as payment.  This is also forcing traditionally conservative business firms to develop methods and tests to audit crypto assets, further demystifying blockchain and adding credibility.  We believe the future for blockchain technology is now, and our company is well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunity.

OneLedger's vision is to provide "a single source of truth".  Our mission is to help businesses, governments and people solve their most complex and critical challenges using blockchain and other disruptive technologies. 

OneLedger is a unique engine, not an extension of an existing protocol.  Unlike other blockchain projects, we built it from the ground up. Our protocol uses Tendermint as its consensus engine. We have modified it to enhance performance, making it one of the fastest platforms available. 

The OneLedger protocol is designed with an open, modular architecture, using plug-and-play components. It delivers robust interoperability features unique in the market.  This makes it an ideal foundation for developing enterprise-grade applications and business solutions across a broad range of use cases.   

The solution can be delivered as open, permissionless and private permissioned blockchain models.

With this in mind, we offer a consulting service to help clients who need customized solutions, we also offer a suite of customized off the shelf (COTS) applications in most industry segments, especially: supply chain management, finance, asset management and KYC.  One of our most innovative projects is the International Health Passport (IHP). It is a blockchain-based digital health passport.  The IHP enables secure access that certifies health status while protecting the user's privacy for a myriad of use cases related to access in this COVID-19 era.

Technology is just a tool; the real value of technology is the business value that can be derived from its use. Not only does OneLedger have a unique set of technical skills and capabilities that set us apart, but we also have three world-class executives who truly understand it's not about the technology, it's about solving business problems. 

We were the client and the systems integrators before.  We understand that – in some cases – C-Suite executives don't really need or want to understand the complexities of the blockchain.   This said, they are concerned about and need assurance the blockchain is compliant with relevant data privacy/security and other regulations and practices.  But what they really want is modern, transformative solutions to their most complex business challenges, reducing cost, shortening cycle times, improving customer satisfaction and increasing visibility and prominence.  

The business experience of our team allows them to translate "tech speak" into practical solutions for our customers…helping them unlock the potential of the blockchain.  

OLT is primarily a utility token and is used to interact with the protocol in a variety of ways: Interoperability, Staking, Delegation, Governance, DApps, Creation of Custom Tokens, and a Domain Name Service.

One of the main areas of focus for OneLedger is interoperability. OLT will be used as fees for all the interoperable transactions across chains. OneLedger's expertise is in connecting businesses to blockchains, keeping their centralized data consistent with the transfer of assets on the blockchain. 

OLT is also used for any transactions a private business blockchain makes on the public network. Considering the volume of transactions for businesses, this will be a significant boost to the utility of OLT.

A future capability of OneLedger is the ability to create Custom Tokens, similar to ERC-20 for Ethereum. Providing this service for businesses is critical when thinking about digitizing assets or creating a token system for loyalty programs.

Low cost of transaction fees, high speed of the network, interoperability with other chains, delegation and staking with rewards and the superior functionality of OneWallet.

Literally in the past few weeks Governments around the world have recognized the current paper-based approach to providing test/vaccine certificates is not adequate.  Paper is simply too easy to counterfeit with.  And the risks of allowing even a single infected person across the border are – well let's say – failure is not an option.  

We anticipated the need for a modern approach and began working on our blockchain-based International Health Passport several months ago.  We were one of the first companies with a working system.  We are now actively educating governments on the power of the solution and gaining the required approvals to sell the system.  We are in ongoing and advanced discussions with several governments in the Caribbean, as well as Canada, the US, Ghana and Nigeria.  

These discussions are most advanced in the Caribbean where we are working through approvals and signoffs from key ministries and Statutory organizations that will either pass legislation or will be using the app as part of its regulatory framework. 

We are now having a discussion with Port and Border Authorities in key markets to obtain written confirmation that they will accept the data on the app once presented on entry. The Health Authority is crafting a resolution to use it as the official vaccination certificate and a verified health status document for travel. 

So, the process is complex and fluid. 

Organizations and individuals now have the capability to launch the OneLedger Full Node or Validator Node, on our Kratos Mainnet. By launching the full node, you can gain access to the OneLedger blockchain network, where they can connect directly to the OneLedger Kratos Mainnet. Once your Full Node is launched and has caught up, you can optionally stake OneLedger Token (OLT) and turn this node into a Validator. As a Validator, you will earn Staking Rewards as a return on investment for staking your OLT

In August 2019, after a huge amount of work we launched our Chronos Testnet in partnership with the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Developers now have the capability to launch the OneLedger full node in a matter of seconds. 

By launching the full node, developers get access to the OneLedger blockchain network where they have the ability to create decentralized applications. In addition, any user can simply launch a OneLedger full node to support the Chronos Network.

Google Cloud Platform provides cloud computing services that support an on-demand environment for developing, testing, deploying, and managing software applications. It has a broad range of enterprises from diverse industries currently using its platform. 

By utilizing OneLedger's full suite of developer tools, businesses and developers will obtain access to the OneLedger protocol, and be able to run the node within seconds. 

Being on the Google Cloud Platform serves two important functions, firstly, it exposes OneLedger to a wide user base which Google already has, and secondly, it helps developers get started smoothly.

Our soon to be launched DEX will be an industry-leading, multi-chain, multi-asset crypto decentralized exchange developed by OneLedger. It will allow trading of native tokens with no intermediaries; effectively eliminating the middleman.

The OneLedger team has developed and researched this DEX offering over the past two years and created a concept that is operationally faster, more inclusive and with an enhanced user experience, compared to the existing decentralized exchanges. Our goal is to improve significantly on what already exists in the space.

The DEX will use a proof of stake based consensus mechanism which can produce a throughput of about 10000 tps, which is a lot more than what any proof of work chain can offer. Built on OneLedger the gas fees required for the DEX protocol is stable and much less than the fees required on the Ethereum blockchain.

OneLedger has also built custom DeFi products for private clients, covering areas such as the tokenization of assets for the real estate industry, and a fully integrated cross-border p2p (person-to-person) protocol using blockchain technology where investors can directly provide loans to micro, small and medium-sized businesses. 

We believe the future of doing business will be through tokens and smart contracts, with a keen focus on maintaining individual data privacy and operating across interconnected blockchain networks enabling seamless autonomous user interactions. Cryptocurrency is now too big for Central Banks to ignore. This is both a good and bad thing. Good because growth is always a way to build trust, strength and influence – bad – because the real fight for financial innovation will start in earnest soon.

I'm not sure if it's controversial or not, but we are preparing for a world of open and private permissioned digital currencies. We see various governments taking more control of their financial systems, with global financial institutions leaving or consolidating into national platforms. 

Today, there is almost one trillion USD market cap in cryptocurrencies, imagine when that expands five times to the size of the African economy, the fourth-largest in the world. Will the global financial community continue to look at it as an annoying anomaly, or will they take steps to bring it under control. We expect the latter, but digital currencies are here to stay.  

We see a world where digital currencies dominate, payments are borderless and all this movement of correspondent banking systems and 2-3 day settlement on FX wires will end. The downside for the digital assets is that they will become nationalized or consolidate into a few major tokens, with KYC and AML restrictions in place. Digital wallets though not held at commercial banks will have to be part of a national wallet database, as 'free', instant and anonymous movement of assets is filtered through a few global networks. 

Blockchain has and will continue to change the world forever.