Energy Web (founded June 2019), is the native token of the Energy Web Chain. Energy Web is an open-source, public, Proof-of-Authority on EthereumEthereum Virtual Machine blockchain particularly designed to support enterprise-grade applications in the energy sector. ^[4]

Energy Web Foundation

The Energy Web, founded in 2017 is a global, member-driven nonprofit, customer-centric foundation. Accelerating the energy transition with an open-source, decentralized blockchain platform, Energy Web launched its Web Chain in mid-2019. The organization's existential pursuit is to foster value creation in the energy sector by building and promoting an open, decentralized software infrastructure built around blockchain technology. It aims at :

• Developing an ecosystem of users, application developers, and infrastructure providers,

• And also to work jointly to identify and assess blockchain use cases in energy,

• Building an open-source IT infrastructure upon which these use cases can be implemented,

• Educating regulators and other stakeholders and to also provide input to standardization bodies. 

Overview

Energy Web Token was launched on the 16th of June 2019 and has been regarded as the token for renewable energy markets. EWT is the utility token of the Energy Web Chain. Energy Web Token is a tokenized feature of the Energy Web Decentralized Operating system (EW-DOS). This token protects the network against fault, it also compensates validators through transaction fees and block awards, and can be used to pay for services that streamline and enhances dApps.^[1]

EWT is the world’s first commercial-grade blockchain platform specifically tailored to the world's energy sector. Each of its design decision for the Energy Web Chain has been mindfully made to meet the energy sector’s unique regulatory, operational, and market needs. For example, the public, Proof-of-Authority chain paired with allowed validators, enables lean energy consumption for the network, it improves overall speed and scalability. It also fosters acceptance amongst regulators and policymakers.  ^[3]

Energy Web chain

The EW Chain is a public blockchain network, open to all utilities, users, and devices. With a virtual machine identical to public Ethereum, developers can begin writing smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) with little to no additional learning curve. The enterprise-grade EW Chain boasts high scalability, low transaction costs, and lean energy consumption.^[4]

How EWT works?

Common with most public blockchains, the EW Chain features a native first-layer utility token, the Energy Web Token (EWT). The EWT being a native token, intrinsic to its platform protocol, serves two main purposes: security and validator compensation. A total of 90 million EWT have been created to operate the EW Chain. Utility Tokens like EWT derive values from the fact that users of a network extract economic benefits from using it and are willing to pay for those benefits. By attaching economic value in the form of EWT to all transactions flowing across a public network, the network is also protected from various attack vectors.^[2]

Security: The token protects the network against misbehavior (intentional or not) of transaction execution (for example infinite loops) or undesirable behavior (e.g., spamming). The mechanism used is similar to Ethereum. Accounts that submit a transaction to the EW Chain are charged a transaction cost based on the computational effort of executing the transaction. That effort is estimated by a proxy of a computational effort called “gas.” The EW Chain gas fee estimation is the same as the Ethereum mainnet.

Validator compensation: EWT from transaction fees and block validation awards compensate validators for the costs of running a node (e.g., capital investment in servers, high-speed Internet connection, operational costs). Users and application developers are not required to use EWT for their applications beyond paying for transaction costs on the EW Chain. They can use cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies, as well as second-layer tokens native to their particular applications. The EW Chain supports all Ethereum smart contracts and therefore all second-layer application tokens deployable on Ethereum.^[2]

Trading with Energy Web Token

Trading with Energy Web Token requires a user to purchase the EWT token by first buying Bitcoin (or Ethereum) from any large exchanges and then transfer to the exchange (for example BitMart) that offers to trade this coin.^[4]

Buying Energy Web Token

To buy Energy Web Token, users should consider the following steps:

Trading on BitMartfor EWT

• STEP-I (Buying Coins with fiat money): Users will need to buy any of the major cryptocurrencies (BTC or ETH) from a secure platform that makes buying easy. Using coinbase for example (since this exchange platform accepts fiat currencies) you might need to register, after which you follow up with the Know-Your-Customers (KYC) process and consequently add a payment method (either a credit/debit card or use a bank transfer) and buy a cryptocurrency (either BTC or ETH).

• STEP-II (Transferring Cryptocurrencyto an Altchain): Having gotten cryptocurrency (Bitcoin/ Ethereum), the user already has the stage set for trading. Since EWT is an altcoin, users will need to transfer their coins (either BTC or ETH) to an exchange that EWT can be traded, e.g BitMart (since it is a common exchange for trading altcoins and it has tradeable altcoin pairs).

• STEP-III (Deposit Cryptocurrency to Exchange): Users are to deposit either of the major cryptocurrency (BTC/ ETH) on their exchange (e.g BitMart) after which a confirmation notification from BitMart will be received once the deposit is done. Then the user is finally ready to purchase EWT.

• STEP IV (Trading EWT) : Using Bitmart for example, users will need to go to 'Exchange' after which a page for trading the chosen cryptocurrency (either BTC or ETH) for the altcoin will appear. Users can select any pair (i.e BTC/EWT or ETH/EWT) and can see a price chart for the chosen pair. After selecting a pair, users can either type in any amount or choose what portion of BTC/ETH to deposit on buying, by clicking on the percentage buttons. After the complete confirmation, users can click on "Buy EWT" and they get the Energy Web Token. 

• STEP V (Store EWT securely in a hardware wallet): There are several available options that allow users to interact with the Energy Web Chain and store EWT, Some of these include- MyCrypto, Metamask, MEW (MyEtherWallet), and hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor. On the Energy Web Chain, a web-based custom wallet has been deployed-MyCrypto wallet (based on the open-source), and it is pre-configured to connect to the user's Volta test network and the production Energy Web Chain. It has been tested with hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor.

Supported Trading Exchange

Energy Web Token could be used to trade on the following trade exchange:

• KuCoin

• BitMart

• Liquid

Partnership

Certain organizations are in partnership with Energy Web, some of which are: Zytech Group (Zytech), Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Centrica plc, Elia, Engie, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Sempra Energy, SP Group, Statoil ASA, Stedin, and TWL (Technical Works Ludwigshafen AG). Their support is also focused on accelerating the commercial deployment of blockchain technology in the energy sector. This support provides EWF with its first round of funding amounting to $2.5 million. ^[2]

Future of Energy on Blockchain

The future of electricity rests on customer-centered, low-carbon solutions. Implying that renewable energy (especially solar and wind) and investment in customer-sited “grid edge” technologies like rooftop solar PV, electric vehicles, and smart thermostats.^[1]

Against that backdrop, blockchain technology – and especially the Energy Web Chain – provides a solution to multiple concurrent, competing paths to sector disruption. The chain has already experienced substantial global interest as evidenced by EWF’s Affiliate network. As EWF deploys commercial solutions on the live Energy Web Chain, the future is just a step closer to reality.