What is Aragon?
Aragon is a DApp (decentralized application) that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The DApp enables users to easily create and properly manage their Decentralized Organizations.
The project is led by the Aragon Foundation and runs as an open source platform. To make the entire platform complete, it also features a native token referred to as ANT. The token is used like other cryptocurrencies in the market such as sending value and granting voting rights to users in the network.
The ultimate goal of Aragon is to become a completely decentralized application and autonomous organization that all users can easily join and create their organizations in the blockchain.
The platform was created early in 2017 with its tokens going on sale shortly after, in May the same year. In just 15 minutes, the project had raised $24 million. This made it one of the most successful ICOs by then. This was a demonstration of the unique architecture and potential of the project.
In its early stages, most of the operations were spearheaded by the Aragon Foundation. The most notable person of the foundation, who is also a co-founder, is Luis Cuende. He is currently the project manager. However, the whole idea behind Aragon is to eventually dissolve the Aragon Foundation and let the community steer it to further growth. This implies that all the decisions will be subjected to vote by the community spread across the globe.
The price of ANT in the market has done relatively well but it is still vulnerable to the high market volatility. In May 2017, ANT was trading at around $1.49 before shooting to $3.57 in the subsequent month. In January 2018, ANT price grew by about 400% to hit the highest point in its history, $7.51. In six months through to mid-2018, the price took a downward shift, sinking to the figure it held when first introduced into the market.
What is the problem that Aragon Solves?
1. Friction in organization governance and operational difficulties
Aragon platform was created to help decentralize and improve company governance. A closer look at the traditional organizations reveals that they have huge budgetary overheads and a lot of administration activities.
The complexity of running organizations results in numerous costs, delays, middlemen, and fees. The effect of these is increased friction that can compromise the operation of the organization.
The primary goal of Aragon is helping to clear this friction and make organization management seamless.
Almost all companies have some common core administrative functions. They are required to allow shareholders vote on various governance decisions, provide equity, pay staff, raise funds, and follow the required accounting requirements. Aragon is designed with your organization in mind to help provide seamless operation of all activities. You can use Aragon to streamline operations in one section of the organization of plug the entire system.
2. Lack of expertise in blockchain technology slows down organizations’ commitment to joining the blockchain sector
Many companies are interested in joining and testing various blockchain solutions in their different areas such as payment, accounting, and governance.
However, they are held back by some factors including the lack of expertise. For example, many company managements do not have the staff to advise them on various aspects or even how to commence with decentralized operations such as smart contracts and DApps.
In most of the cases, the idea of an immutable public ledger that is so powerful is in itself very frightening.
Most of the organizations wonder what would happen if mistakes that cannot be easily corrected happen. In other blockchain based operations such as smart contracts, the centralized organizations worry what would happen if a bug is planted on the core code. These are the issues that Aragon has come to address.
How does Aragon Solve the problem?
To craft reliable and long-term solutions to the outlined problems, Aragon Core is created using Solidity DAO framework.
It started with the focus on capitalist organizations and then extended to other types of companies. Here is a demonstration of how Aragon works to help address organizational friction and enhance adoption of blockchain technology.
1. The Aragon’s out of the box applications
The design of Aragon provides many core features that allow organization managers to manage identity and implement modules for access, and ownership management. The focus at this point is packaging Applications for organizations that plug into Aragon to make their work seamless. Some of these modules include;
- Shareholder voting.
- Fundraising via token generation.
- Accounts receivable/ payable.
- Human resources onboarding and payroll.
From the demonstration, it is clear that Aragon core targets making the companies administrative functionalities that the modern organization needs. At this point, it is crucial to appreciate that the design of Aragon does not seek to take over your organization.
This implies you can easily turn on and of the preferred module in line with the organizational needs. Also, all the codes used to drive the modules are open source.
Therefore, they can be edited to better meet the company needs.
2. The Aragon DAO architecture
DAO is an organization created to self-update without losing its core identity. This implies that you can progressively improve some or all components of the organization functionality without altering the eternal overall identity. Here are other qualities of the DAO for the organization.
- DAO owns internal capital and owns property especially in digital assets such as tokens and cryptocurrency.
- DAO can take action towards itself or even outside world. These executions are run as smart contracts.
- While DAO follows the programmed actions, it can easily act on its own. For example, it can facilitate the transfer of tokens in the Aragon network. You only need to set the actions that should self-execute on the network. A good example is an e-commerce store that aims to automatically sell complete orders when clients pick orders and clear payments.
3. The Aragon network token (ANT)
The native Aragon token is designed to represent wealth in the same manner that fiat currencies operate in the conventional setting. The ANT tokens are Ethereum based digital assets which imply that users will be required to pay some GAS when sending value on a peer2peer basis. This also implies that you can hold the tokens in any ERC2O compliant wallet such as MyEtherWallet and Ledger Nano S.
Unlike other tokens such as Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash that are fixed and cannot be increased, the Aragon tokens will be released continuously. This targets helping to cater for the natural attrition such as permanent loss of private keys and death of holders. It will also ensure that more users can access and use the tokens.
The initial tokens were released during the Aragon ICO held in May 2017. The tokens are released through minting. Miners spread in the Aragon network are rewarded with new ANT. The reward is determined through voting by those who already have some ANT.
What makes Aragon better than its competitors?
From the beginning, Aragon was crafted with the primary goal of getting centralized organizations to operate more efficiently.
Here are the main things that make it better than competitors:
- Aragon has been in the market for a long time. This is a great attribute because many people consider its features to have been tested and proven reliable. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people and organizations have been trooping to the network to enjoy its services.
- The organization has a continuous model of releasing new tokens. This is better compared to others that have a fixed token such as Bitcoin. What this implies is that the core goal is not to simply get the native token’s price to skyrocket. Rather, it aims at ensuring all organizations can join the network and smoothen their operations.
- By creating a reliable method of managing decentralized organizations, Aragon has become the better option in the cryptocurrency world. For example, though Bitcoin is a very strong cryptocurrency in the market, its functionalities are limited. However, Aragon allows people to plug their entire organizations into the blockchain and run all concepts from HR to accounting in a professional way.
- The Aragon development team comprises of some of the top minds in the blockchain industry. Their focus from the beginning demonstrated they have the capability to steer the platform and the entire blockchain industry to the next level. Indeed, they are not interested in clinging to managing the network. Rather, they have indicated they will relinquish the Aragon Foundation and leave the network management to the community.
- The Aragon system has greatly simplified the blockchain system to ensure that even those with little knowledge about cryptographic solutions can still enjoy the advanced technology in their organizations.
How can Aragon be categorized?
Aragon can be classified as one of the truly decentralized and open source projects targeted at helping the industry grow to the next level. Its architecture and roadmap are carefully designed to ensure that no one is left behind. Whether you have a small organization that only requires a few applications via the blockchain operations or a complex company that targets to cut inventory with a huge margin, Aragon is there for you.
Their commitment to regularly update the network and give companies the option of customizing key modules after joining the network has made it very appealing. Many experts and even the cryptocurrency community is in agreement that this is the blockchain that will no doubt take the industry to the next level.
What’s Aragon’s vision on Security?
When Aragon development team set working on the platform, they appreciated that one of the main issues that stood in the way of faster adoption of blockchain technology was the concern for security. Therefore, they decided to craft a platform that would help organizations securely join the blockchain network and optimize their operations. Here are some of the core components of Aragon that are also helping to advance the security vision.
- Advanced encryption that helps to conceal all user information from third parties.
- The Argon native tokens are based on the Ethereum system to provide an additional layer of security.
- Most of the operations in the Aragon system are implemented through Smart Contracts. This implies that only those that meet the set rules can join.
- To reduce the threat of bugs and malicious attacks directed at the network, the Aragon development team progressively works on improving the core code. This is expected to get even better when Aragon team finally relinquishes the leadership of the Aragon Foundation.
Examples of Aragon’s use cases/applications.
The fact that Aragon was created with the target of helping organizations streamline their managements implies that its applications are very diverse. Here are some of the use cases.
- You can use the Aragon to run smart contracts to sell the products of your organization. This is a great method of automating operations by setting standards that must be met by your business and the targeted clients. You can apply the smart contracts in areas such as capital management portfolios.
- Many organizations can opt to use the Aragon system to raise funds by issuing native tokens. This is becoming a reliable method of generating funds fast for specific project development.
- Like other cryptocurrency networks, Aragon’s native tokens, ANT, can be used to help send value on a peer2peer basis. The process is simpler, faster, and cheaper compared to the conventional networks and even other decentralized organizations.
- Most organizations prefer using Aragon to simplify the processes of payroll, accounting, and even capital management. By automating these operations, it implies that organizations can easily cut on associated costs and increase the overall productivity.
- The Aragon system has become a highly reliable option for prediction markets. Because it employs highly automated smart contracts, companies are finding it easy to create markets and sell the predictions to their clients.
- Like other cryptocurrencies, ANT can be used for direct purchases. You only need to look for the stores and service providers that accept ANT for direct payment. Note that you can still make purchases even from stores that only accept other tokens by first converting to the accepted tokens.
- The native tokens provide a reliable way of investing or hiding savings away from the public eye. It is better because all the details are encrypted and no third party can easily know about the balances or even respective transactions.
https://coincheckup.com/coins/Aragon
https://wiki.aragon.one/nest/faqs/
https://wiki.aragon.one/documentation/whitepaper/