Jack Levin, the founder of XEN Crypto, announced on January 23 that the X1 blockchain is going to unite the XEN communities of all 10 chains. This move is going to put Ethereum and others on a Layer 2 level relative to X1, making the XEN chain a Layer 1 for parallel transaction execution and 1 second block speed. Before the mainnet launch, the former Google engineer is going to create a mechanism where anyone burning XEN will get the X1 token for testing on the testnet, which will then become the X1 mainnet’s coin.
When is the X1 chain launch
Mr. Levin plans to roll out the X1 blockchain in the first quarter of 2024. He revealed that he has already started the tests, and the testnet will be open to the public in a few months.
The X1 release is going to be unusual because it will start as Ethereum’s testnet, where users will need to burn XEN tokens to get X1 testnet tokens. When the testing ends, the testnet will become the mainnet. The X1 testnet tokens will become the mainnet coins, and the rest of the allocation distribution will take place.
What is the X1 blockchain
X1 is a Layer 1 chain where users who have burned XEN tokens on other chains will be allocated the native X1 coin. Jack Levin described today’s web3 space as “dinosaur age” technology that is difficult to use and build on. This is why he decided to use Polygon Edge’s open source zero-knowledge proofs technology to achieve scalability and lower transaction fees.
With ZK proofs, the transactions have a higher throughput because they’re batched into groups and relayed to the Ethereum Network as a single, bulk transaction. This provides gas cost efficiency because the gas fee for the single transaction is split between all the participants involved in the batch. Mr. Levin also mentioned the use of some of the Aptos scaling features.
The tests run on the private testnet indicate that the transaction speed is 1000 times faster than on Ethereum. With a block time of one second and parallel processing, X1 is set to become the fastest blockchain to date.
When the chain is launched, atomic swaps with Stargate or Axelar solution and the Uniswap decentralized multichain system will be built to support token trading.
Cross chain relay system basic version is done. It listens to events on-chain and issues tokens to the same wallets on the new XEN L1, like an airdrop but thru reflective action. Example, burn XEN on Ethereum, receive set amount of Gas tokens on the XEN L1. pic.twitter.com/t8uoDpzbmD
— ⓧ Cyphereus Prime 🟧🦇🟦 (@mrJackLevin) January 20, 2023
The X1 testnet will become the mainnet
On January 26, it was announced that the X1 Devnet would be open for testing starting February 1st.
Announcement:
— ⓧ Cyphereus Prime 🟧🦇🟦 (@mrJackLevin) January 26, 2023
X1 Devnet will be open for testing starting Feb 1st. Official X1 Testnet will follow right after. The plan for Devnet is to test airdrop system (for XENFT minters), and allow community + developers kick the tires of the blockchain.
In April or May, a testnet for the larger community will be launched for people to help with network testing. The testnet, however, is going to be unlike others because the users will need to burn XEN on Ethereum and other chains to get an X1 testnet token that can be used as gas.
Usually, testnet tokens have no value and can be requested for free from different faucets. Mr. Levin takes another approach and wants the people to burn XEN for X1 and play with it in a sandbox. When the testing is done and the chain is deemed secure and ready, it will take a name change from testnet to mainnet to see the X1 blockchain.
Airdrop #XENFT allocation for X1 Chain Devnet below, if you are an XENFT minter, you are getting an airdrop. if you sold your XENFT you will still get an airdrop. pic.twitter.com/Z67ry3ALEK
— ⓧ Cyphereus Prime 🟧🦇🟦 (@mrJackLevin) January 27, 2023
X1 tokenomics
The X coin has a 1 billion total supply. The plan is to burn 50% of the total supply over time, making the coin deflationary. Initially, the other 50% of the supply was meant to be distributed between venture capitalists, the community, and the team, but later on, Jack Levin decided that the entire X1 coin allocation should belong to the community with no special groups receiving any part.
The initial distribution was meant to follow this model:
– 50% put up for auction, allowing users to participate in monthly rounds,
– 10-15% to accredited investors,
– and the rest to the founding team for chain and ecosystem development.
New $XEN Chain will be called X1 Chain with X1 gas native currency. We will have 1,000,000,000 deflationary supply.
— ⓧ Cyphereus Prime 🟧🦇🟦 (@mrJackLevin) January 23, 2023
Proposed Tokenomics:
1) 50% of all TX fees will be burned
2) 50% of Supply will be burned over a set period of time pic.twitter.com/zWSZ4nDHun
Public distribution will probably follow the NEX reflection token or DBXen auction model, but it will last 12 months with daily rounds and 12 full moon parties where XENFTs will be burned for the X1 coin airdrop.
The smart contract for burning XEN was initially meant to be deployed on all 10 chains, making it possible to burn XEN for X1. In his latest discussion in the X1 group on Telegram, Mr. Levin said that this will no longer be the case and that they’ll be looking at token distribution to decide which chains should be honored.
In his statement, he said that chains like OKX Chain or Dogechain have changed the rules of the chain. OKX Chain increased transaction fees for the XEN minters, making new rules for new minters and disadvantaging them. Dogechain banned batch minting from their chain, which changed the rules for the players and made it impossible to deploy XENFTs. The users of these two chains will probably need to move their tokens out of these chains to another chain to burn them for X1.
The burning of XEN will decrease the supply of XEN tokens, increasing their value by making them more scarce.
The X1 token distribution model was to be adopted from that of the BNB coin, which has been highly successful over the years. BNB started with an initial supply of 200 million. 40% went to the founding team, 10% went to angel investors, and 50% went to the community. 50% of the total supply is to be burned in quarterly burns. The BNB that is subject to burning comes from the fees. This kind of mechanism ensures that the value of the coin is strictly related to the on-chain activity and increases each time tokens are burned.
The above allocation is still subject to change. The team will release the X1 Litepaper with all the details regarding tokenomics.
XEN holders will get an X1 testnet token airdrop if they minted Apex or Limited XENFT, burned XEN for NEX, DBXen or FENIX tokens, or minted Staking XENFTs. Collector XENFTs will also be counted in the airdrop but at a lower rate.
In his first statement, Jack Levin announced that he was going to meet with venture capitalists to raise money for the X1 blockchain’s development. He mentioned Sequoia and other Silicon Valley-based VCs with whom he already collaborated when he raised money for his ImageShack and yFrog ventures. Mr. Levin declared that he’s going to look for accredited investors who follow first principles and are not going to sell on the community’s heads because their tokens will be vested likely over a 4-year time period.
This changed on April 15th, when he announced that there was going to be zero allocation for VCs or anyone else.
The X1 chain is going to be launched like Bitcoin, and the community will need to take on itself all the effort of creating it, building the entire ecosystem, and marketing it to the world. This kind of endevor where a chain launches in a completely decentralized way has been rare in the crypto space because of the difficulty of implementation in real life.
Jack Levin, though, comes from Google’s experience and believes in the possibility of building amazing things because they’re hard and no one is doing them.
X1 decentralization
The current private testnet run by Mr. Levin’s team is centralized, and the public testnet is also going to be centralized to ensure that potential bugs are being fixed promptly and the development is swift without the need for a burdensome governance process. As more validators join the network, the chain is going to become decentralized over time where anyone will be able to run a node.
The X1 holders will be able to earn fees from delegating their tokens to the validators and earn passive income and they will also be able to run a validator node themselves.
Conclusion
X1 chain is built to be at the technological forefront of the existing blockchain space. It will be not only the biggest consumer of the XEN token on all 10 chains but, thanks to the VCs involvement, will ensure a thriving environment for the developers. The XEN minters who have burned or who will choose to burn XEN are going to receive the biggest allocation of the X1 coin. Mr. Levin’s 30 year experience in open source software development and scaling solutions creation for his ImageShack, yFrog, and Imagizer companies, as well as for Google, constitutes the right kind of pedigree for the founder of a chain like X1.
A draft of the X1 Litepaper was released and you can view in the video below the entire mechanics of the X1 chain and the larger ecosystem.
