0xcert (founded 2017) is an Open-source, permissionless protocol for validating the existence, authenticity and ownership of digital assets on the blockchain.^[3]

How it works?

The 0xcert protocol allows for seamless interaction between multiple parties. The Blockchain provides tamper-proof records holding and trustless verification. Once the issuer (e.g. University, company, KYC) wants to issue a decentralized proof of a digital asset (e.g. Certificate, Badge, ID), it interacts with the 0xcert protocol to generate a certificate imprint and place it into the holder’s wallet. A similar interaction with the 0xcert protocol takes place in order to verify the authenticity of an imprint by the sceptic.^[1]

0xcert API was purposely built to speed up adoption of blockchain technologies, since it provides the same versatile functionality as the 0xcert Framework, but is much easier to work with and requires much less development expertise.^[2]

0xcert Framework

The 0xcert Framework enables management of assets and values.

Assets are non-fungible tokens (NFTs), compliant with the @Ethereum's ERC-721 and ERC-2477 standards. Assets can represent a unique, either digital or real-life item with its unique metadata stored as a data imprint on a distributed ledger.

Management of values, on the other hand, deals with Cryptocurrency tokens that are compliant with the ERC-20 standard. Values represent fungible Token that share the same value as any other of their kind which makes them optimal to serve as a monetary value token.^[3]

The 0xcert Framework uses decentralized and distributed systems as a permanent storage. Assets and values are safely stored as immutable data and thus represent the data layer of trust. The 0xcert Framework represents an interoperable solution and thus supports multiple platforms.

What does it solve?

Due to the complexity of low-level decentralized technologies, blockchains and other distributed systems, the broad adoption of non-fungible tokes, in general, is slower than it could be. The lack of conventions prevents interoperability among applications. Developers trying to develop their own decentralized application using non-fungible tokens face long development time and huge risk in their development process and security, lowering the overall efficiency and adoption rate.^[1][4]

The resulting ecosystem of digital assets is under threat of being fragmented and of developing non-interoperable dapps for underlying data. The 0xcert Framework is a solution and provides libraries, conventions, and guides for fast and secure dapp development.^[4]

Features

The 0xcert Framework enables an effective and multi-function library for building decentralized applications. Its core features include:

Management of digital or real-world tangible items: The Framework provides a set of functions for deployment, management, certification, and verification of assets. These can hold a data imprint of an item they represent, meaning they store a cryptographic representation of data objects. Such assets can be selectively verified by any third parties to which the data are disclosed by the owner.^[1]

Management of digital currency: Besides non-fungible, unique assets, the Framework also supports the management of monetary value tokens or cryptocurrencies. They are handled through common functions known in blockchain operations, i.e. transfer and management of rights.^[1]

Many-to-many atomic orders: A single atomic transaction allows for creating and transferring tokens (both ERC-721 non-fungible tokens and ERC-20 fungible tokens) as many times as agreed, and among multiple participants involved. Many-to-many atomic orders allow multiple parties to participate simultaneously in a single transaction. This is one of the most potent and crucial features of the 0xcert Framework.^[2]

Unified experience for decentralized and distributed systems: The goal of the 0xcert Framework is to become blockchain/platform-agnostic, without discriminating among different blockchains or other distributed systems. The whole API of the Framework is identical when used with the Ethereum blockchain, Wanchain, or any other distributed system you choose for your application. The code of the API looks completely identical and provides the exact same functionality regardless of the blockchain or distributed system you employ. This enables you to quickly and seamlessly switch between systems.^[4]

Data conventions: We have set up the rules for interoperability between applications built on top of the 0xcert Framework. They are of crucial importance for adoption among businesses. Each asset data object is defined and managed by conventions that provide a unifying layer to the systems, which in turn enables different applications to communicate amongst themselves. Suggestions for new conventions are always welcome, and we invite anyone to support the development of the ecosystem. To participate, simply open a new issue on GitHub and invite the interested stakeholders to provide feedback and ultimately approve a new convention.

0xcert tokens

The 0xcert Ecosystem is made up of a variety of open-source tools, such as the widely used ERC721 specification and the 0xcert Framework, designed to make the process of building dapps as quick, painless, and streamlined as possible.

Utility tokens

The 0xcert Framework uses ERC-20 utility tokens to perform decentralised Blockchain transactions.

ZXC tokens are utility tokens used to pay for behind-the-scenes operations in dapps built using the 0xcert framework. You can think of ZXC as both a unit of value for 0xcert services and a bridge between blockchain and real-world use cases. ZXC tokens can be converted into dapp tokens.

Dapp tokens are credits users spend to buy products and services offered by individual dapps built on 0xcert. Each dapp has its own dapp token that it uses for its own purposes.^[4]

Tokenconimics

0xcert currently provides two services which both use ZXC and dapp tokens.

The first product built on the 0xcert infrastructure is 0xcert API, a decentralized gateway which packs the 0xcert Framework functions into a simple API service, where only dapp tokens are needed to perform blockchain transactions (no ETH).^[4]

The second product is Evidenspace, a platform built by the 0xcert team for issuing and managing non-fungible tokens, credentials, contracts, agreements, and more.^[1]

The introduction of dapp tokens allows us to update our products and services in a much more dynamic way than using ZXC directly. In turn, this allows us to streamline certain processes, offer a more dynamic infrastructure overall, and help dapp developers provide cutting-edge user experiences. Using dapp tokens instead of ZXC tokens also hides the complexity of blockchain for end users, vastly improving ease of use.^[4]