Hello everyone.
Here are answers to questions proposed by Coin Interview:
WhitepaperSource:
http://www.sphre.co/cs/downloads/Air_Platform_Whitepaper.pdf"At its core, an Air-based digital identity facilitates the ability to digitally sign and verify an action or transaction,
thereby enabling a variety of potential use cases" -pg 13
1.Can you give some examples of potential use cases?For sure, some examples are initially as follows:
I am an end-consumer, using a cell/mobile phone or PC, and I want to buy an item from a popular online retailer. I select the item from the retailer’s website; I confirm that I want to “pay” for the item; the Air platform is engaged in the background; my identity is checked and confirmed, and the transfer of funds is made directly from my bank. My order is then successfully concluded in the usual manner (logistics etc.) without the need for a password (or other form of authorisation).
I am a consumer of government services, and want to confirm my identity to receive a new passport. Now, the process for passport replacement is unnecessarily extended due to the need for the given individual to supply supporting evidence of identity (which then needs to be manually verified). However, with the product in place, the individual will be able to authenticate directly with the relevant government departments (or indeed multiple government departments), and I can receive my new passport faster. Several discussions in this regard have been held with representatives of New Zealand’s RealMe program, for possible technology refresh requirements.
I am a consumer of medical services, and want to share my patient record with a third-party insurer, I can authorise this engagement via direct identity authorisation in a single transactional step, with the records shared simply and efficiently. My patient records may either be maintained via my usage of the Sphre EON product (that builds on top of the Air Platform), or can be maintained via existing medical systems, where Air API interconnectivity is implemented.
For the end-consumer application, for each transaction using Air I will receive a micropayment, and a targeted advertisement based on my selected content of interest. In this way, I build token value that can be exchanged and/or used for onward purchase of goods and services. It is our plan to work with content providers of all types, whether large agencies or small publishers, and our approaches towards these agencies is currently ongoing.
2. How will the network application interface with the omni layer? Can anyone from the Omni layer comment on this thread and explain how their technology will interface with SPHRE?From Adam (
adam@omni.foundation):
The Air Platform will leverage Remote Procedure Call (RPC) functionality to a local running version of Omni-core and create a 'Fulfilment' address (much the same way as we create a new address in bitcoin-core). We will then fund that address with XID. Upon a qualifying event (an identity authentication for instance), we will then send an RPC call to Omni-core to send amount Y of XID to the users address Z (XID wallet).
"To support the operation and user adoption of the Air Platform, a mobile/cellphone application (initially for Apple iOS/Google Android, with other platforms to follow on an incremental basis) will be created for individual use. The application will secure and maintain an individual’s digital identity, and is expected to be as ‘lightweight’ and as implicit to use for the individual as possible during operation" pg.17
3. Do you have a prototype or proof of concept? Yes, we currently have a proof of concept for the core system, and some additional ‘stubs’ for other components in readiness for final project development once the Crowdsale is completed. These components will be made available via open source licensing/bug bounty commencement as-of phase 2 of the Air Platform project.
4. If one's phone is lost or stolen, how does one recover their identity? Are you controlling private keys on the phone? Are you going to provide an additional service to secure customer's private keys in the event of theft or loss of that key?The newly registered user will receive an additional identifier, which will be similar in structure to a UUID, but will be unique to the Air Platform in structure. This UUID provided has no special cryptographic properties, and can therefore be shared amongst user designated parties (to a total of 4 parties), and cell/mobile numbers for these parties will be gathered during the registration process. Upon loss, the designated parties will be contacted via cell/mobile SMS and asked for a component of the affected users UUID (they will not be asked to supply the entire code), upon completion the user's cell/mobile Air app will be revoked. A new set of keys can then be issued for the user to use on a new device, once available.
4. Will there be an investor deck to explain these points?We are releasing more content over the next few weeks overviewing the sale.
Consumer Level:What applications will run on the Air Platform? Our aim is to encourage the use of the protocol by as many organisations as possible, to develop applications that put the consumer first, and where a consumer can receive fair value for their attention, that they can then take forward to engagement within the digital economy.
What is the target audience?Our initial consumer audience will be the millennial generation, for the following reasons:
They are ‘digital natives’.
They have the concept of the ‘personal brand’.
They are more willing than others to engage in the ‘digital economy’.
For Enterprise, of course our product is aimed at companies and corporations that are interested in streamlining their existing internal processes and customer relations.
Our audience is anyone from 8-80, as our aim is to deliver almost an implicit use product, in fact we are working from the target use group backwards to deliver as simple and as useful user interface/experience as possible.
Can a 16-year-old use it or is this development heavy?Yes, although our initial target consumer audience is the millennial generation, I think any 16-year-old person will be able to operate the Air consumer app.
What is your target for this raise? 1-2 million USD or more?We would like to raise about $3 million USD, however this is dependent on a number of factors, such as BTC pricing at the time of the Crowdsale etc.
Can we have more details on your team?We currently have one core developer in India, that worked on the initial core system development. Post the completion of the Crowdsale we will engage with Blockchain Labs New Zealand (
http://blockchainlabs.nz/) to build out the team for final Air Platform and consumer application delivery. Post completion of the project (and as finances allow, we will build our own internal team to continue with the development of the Air Platform.
In specific terms, what is the function of your token on your network?The XID token will act as fuel for all identity based transactions for all functions within the Air applications domain (authorization/authentication etc.).
The XID token will be used to power our micropayment system (based on Omnilayer), that will enable us to revenue share directly with users. It is very important to us that we share value with our users, and our token is a great way to achieve this for us to reach our goal of delivering a fairer internet.
Community:Why are you using Omni and Hyperledger instead of Ethereum?Hyperledger
The first connector Sphre's products (like AIR) will work with. There is no reason connectors to Ethereum and other blockchains cannot be built in the future, if we find the demand for such connectors.
Omni-Layer
They have the best track record - there is over $200m worth of omni-layer assets now. MaidSafe, Tether, Synereo, etc- Omni Layer is embracing Lightning network and micro payment solutions so we feel they are much more future proof for what we need our asset to do, than say an Ethereum based token. Also Bitcoin is used as a currency more than Ether is. With Omni - the Air platform can have a wallet where XID's address is the same address as their bitcoin wallet. This paves way to a lot of function opportunities.
.How are you running smart contracts without Ethereum? (If you’re running them on Hyperledger can you explain in simple terms how this will work and what resources one would need to get started with the technology)For users, the use of blockchain and smart contract technology will be implicit, there will be no requirement to understand the internal workings of the Air Platform to interact with the system, everything will be managed via the mobile/cell phone based Air app.
Are the GitHub repos open? Is this an open source project?This is not an open source project right now. We are keeping our IP under wraps until phase 2. There's a natural tendency in the blockchain space to open-source everything. This takes strategic consideration - look at Hyperledger for example. It took time to open-source it. We will share when the time is right.
How can one get involved with the bug bounties?The bug bounty program will be separately announced right here on bitcointalk to the timeline in the detailed plan, and we are looking forward to having direct engagement with the development community during this key period for the project.
If there are big bounties for promotion can you please provide the community with a press kit that will ideally contain the investor deck, logos and documentation about the project?https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fH54MqD6yqb3BHdlFPOXpPajg/view?usp=sharing
When will the token be available on exchanges? Are there any exchanges underwriting your token sale?We are in discussions with various crypto exchanges to discuss partnership opportunities with our platform.
Future Plans:What will you do after you raise the money?Our full focus will be on project completion, and bringing to market of Air, with the continued ongoing strong engagement of the community. The Air Platform technical implementation work will be completed in cooperation with BLNZ, and some travel will be required to facilitate discussions and final planning. There will be no requirement for an office in the initial stage.
Do you have developers lined up?Yes, as above, we will work in cooperation with Blockchain Labs New Zealand (BLNZ), and discussions are already ongoing in terms of technical deliverables and team engagement.
What is your go to market strategy?Our plan is for a sustained and engaging campaign beginning immediately at the end of the Crowdsale until project launch across all marketing channels. We will also commence engagements with potential initial customers of the Air Platform, and this will include content delivery agencies in such industries as Advertising and Publishing, and enterprises for the possible use of the enterprise layer of the Air Platform.
Will there be room for the community to get involved after the Crowdsale?Yes, we very much want and respect the engagement of the community during the Air project, and beyond. It would be great to hear from the community for instance as-to how the full potential of Air can be obtained and potential further use cases. It is our plan is to open a further channel to receive ideas and bug bounty reports as we go forward, and this will be announced here on bitcointalk.
When do you estimate there will be a MVP?Our plan is to release major version 1.0 of Air, for both core (blockchain and services) and consumer (cell/mobile) app by end of September 2017.
Are there plans for institutional investment later down the road? Like any company, we would like to grow for us to continue our mission objectives, a primary one of which is the building of a fairer internet via value sharing, and this may include institutional investment in the future.
How will the company turn a profit? What is the role of the company if the project is open source?Our aim is to sell short content space to content delivery companies, that we can then forward to relevant users based on their stated interests (in-line with attention economic principles), and then share this revenue directly with our users via XID token payments. We are currently working on estimated revenue for this functionality, and this will be published here in bitcointalk once finalised.
In the future, we will continue to build further products on-top of the Air Platform with two products scoped and designed called EON (in collaboration with D-Wave Systems), and CTRL). In this way, we will continue to grow our portfolio of products towards the market, and continue to return value to our users based on the principles established by the Air protocol.
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Please share your thoughts about these answers! Thanks for great questions Coin Interview.
