As we celebrate four years of XDC mainnet, the XDC Network and its community of users, developers and ecosystem participants continuously stay ahead of the curve. 

Four years pass in the blink of an eye in some industries, but for blockchain communities, four years can feel like an eternity. Today marks exactly four years since XinFin Fintech launched the XDC Network mainnet. Since then, many individuals, entities, and organizations have emerged to serve and support the network.

Countless trends have taken the industry by storm. Some have found mainstream appeal, while others have faded. Blockchain-based businesses have built themselves up to become industry behemoths, only to then crumble from systemic failures.

The way one thinks about blockchain has even changed as creative and innovative people find new ways to use the technology, and different regulatory frameworks–though still inadequate on the whole–have emerged to provide guidelines for how it may be used across the world. 

From its inception, the XDC Network has been positioned to remain ahead of the curve, and its community has anticipated developments and industry demands before they happen.

Years 1 and 2

In the XDC Network’s first year, XinFin worked to prepare the network for enterprise usage, establishing proof points that showcased how blockchain can be utilized to streamline legacy financial processes while working in parallel to create on-ramps for community usage and adoption. XinFin has always prioritized decentralized participation, allowing the community to be the heartbeat of the network growth and usage.

To begin year two, the network became more involved in global trade finance. Notably, it was the first, and to date only, Layer 1 blockchain to join the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA). This move opened the door for financial institutions and fintechs to utilize the benefits of tokenization and digital assets for trade finance. To further support the enterprise use case, the network began work on a bridge to R3’s Corda Network that would be the start of many stages of interoperability within the entire DLT and blockchain industry.

Two years after the mainnet’s launch, XDC Foundation was formed to encourage development within the XDC ecosystem and foster awareness for the XDC Network as a blockchain technology solution. Around that time, one community member wrote:

“I am so privileged to be part of an ecosystem with a storied history, a track record of technological success, and an architecture that supports real world use cases. Yes, XDC is an enterprise-ready blockchain, but that is the product of founders who were forward-thinking and champions of the network who are well-connected. Today, the XDC Network is not just theirs, it is ours.”

Year 3

In year three, the XDC Network became the first blockchain selected as a member of the Trade Finance Distribution Initiative (TFDi), a consortium of trade originators, credit issuers, and institutional funders. As of today, it remains the only blockchain member. That same year, the network was invited to join the DNI Initiative, an ITFA project that aims to promote the digitization of negotiable instruments in trade finance. And through its infrastructure and interoperability, XDC Network supports implementation of the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR).

Notable builds on the network included Impel, which brought ISO 20022 financial messaging compliance and the interface for the R3 Corda bridge to XDC Network, both of which significantly benefit enterprise use cases. Tradeteq orchestrated and launched the world’s first trade finance NFT — representing a package of trade finance assets — on the XDC Network. At that time, XDC Foundation introduced Network Stats, improved aspects of the network’s Web3 tooling, and developed Origin, a unique tool allowing users to mint XRC20s on the XDC Network without writing a single line of code.

TRADA. With the launch of TRADA, Tradeteq also took the first step towards positioning a Tokenization-as-a-Service solution on the XDC Network. The successful deployment of a tokenized security on the XDC Network proved that the infrastructure exists to attract trade originators to build liquidity pools through their own regulated, XDC Network-based tokens. This will enable retail investors to allocate capital to trade finance, an attractive proposition to banks actively engaging with SMEs.

XDC Quote

Year 4

This past year saw a sharp increase in XDC Network adoption, both from projects built and from ecosystem integrations. The following is a sampling of projects and developments from year four that provide significant benefits to the XDC ecosystem:

Did we miss your contribution to the XDC ecosystem? Tag us on Twitter @XDCFoundation *

Also this year, a group of Foundation members and community contributors started an initiative to further decentralize the XDC Network, facilitate the growth and activity of the developer community, and empower the community to contribute to XDC Network’s usage.

XDC Community was officially established, and some members of the community introduced an XDC Network Improvement Proposal (XIP) process — allowing anyone to champion proposals for new network features, designs, processes, and environments. With that came new repositories for documentation, how-to tutorials, and procedures for developers to contribute to these resources. Through bounties, content, multiple successful hackathons, workshops, and the XDC Community discord server, the XDC Network developer community continued to grow.

Through the community, XinFin proposed the introduction of DAOFIN in an effort to fortify the network’s position as a decentralized network and improve their ability to execute community-driven decision making on chain. 

XDC Foundation launched a major revamp of xdc.org, meeting an on-going request by the community. In addition to providing essential resources and insights,the site serves as a hub for community activity and information. Its design paints the picture of a metaphor that we strongly believe in: blockchain technology is a digital river that tracks and facilitates exchange. And a blockchain’s community is a booming city built around that channel of trade. 

Piggybacking off that concept, XDC Foundation offered a motto for the XDC community to adopt: "Success depends on your network," suggesting success depends not only on network technology but also on the network of participants supporting adoption and interacting within the ecosystem.

We now observe how the XDC community has blossomed to the point where independent, community-driven events are taking center stage within the ecosystem, such as the first ever onXDC conference. Likewise, participants across diverse industries are leveraging the network for unique use cases. Some examples include Hall of Fame athletes deploying NFTs on XDC and faith-based blockchain projects choosing XDC Network as their home.

XDC Foundation’s premiere podcast, XDC The Stream, hosts distinguished guests to discuss blockchain broadly along with the challenges and opportunities the technology presents.

An announcement about XDC Network’s significant expansion into Japan via the SBI Group subsidiary, SBI VC Trade, rounded out the progress in year four of mainnet. This development further integrates the entire XDC ecosystem and its efficiency, transparency, and reduced costs to the Japanese market — a critical hub for international trade.

XDC stats

Looking forward: A new type of blockchain governance

Among other developments, year five is set to introduce perhaps the most forward-thinking innovation yet — XDC 2.0. This new protocol was developed by the team led by Dr. Fisher Yu and by Princeton University’s Professor Pramod Visawanath, both of whom serve as senior advisors to the network. XDC 2.0 will notably feature an unprecedented security upgrade - the likes of which cannot be found elsewhere - including in the production and design phases.

XDC

XDC 2.0 will identify malignant nodes, with proof, and slash them almost immediately — involving burning their 10 million XDC tokens and all rewards that come with being a node owner. Because of Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols, these individuals could be further prosecuted.

Private Subnets

Privacy can be a primary concern for enterprises, trade finance, or any organization wanting to benefit from blockchain technology but not wanting to compromise sensitive data on a public blockchain. To further enhance security, XDC 2.0 will offer turnkey private subnets that will allow enterprises and individuals to deploy their own permissioned blockchain on the network. They will benefit from all of the advantages of the XDC Network without ever transacting on the public mainnet. However, these subnets will still have the capability to communicate with the public mainnet and other private subnets, when needed. 

A Continued Commitment

Amid the uncertainty that defines this industry, XinFin, XDC Foundation and the many entities supporting the XDC Network have always valued steady progress, support and remaining ahead of the curve - sometimes changing course in anticipation of new developments in a rapidly evolving landscape - with the primary goal of encouraging blockchain usage. We remain committed to being strategic and nimble while ensuring the XDC Network is an accessible, safe and top-performing blockchain solution for any project.

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