The China-based non-profit blockchain community, NEO Foundation has today announced that they are co-founding a Joint Task Force in collaboration with Ontology Foundation, another China-based firm best known for providing a network of blockchains rather than a single blockchain.
In this endeavor, they have contributed RMB 4 million (USD 625,000) and have built a team of 10 delegates, most of whom are core developers, who will work together on the development of API standardization, along with focusing on building an ecosystem of smart contract, building open standards for the smart contract, and cross-chain technology innovation.
From the official announcement –
“The Joint Task Force is made up of over 10 people, most of whom are core developers from NEO Global Development [NGD] and Ontology, along with some selected community members. Senior blockchain developers at NEO like Weng Junjie, Tan Yuan, and Peter Lin will also be joining.
NEO and Ontology together provide compliance-ready, regulatable protocols to global developers. In the following six months, the Joint Task Force will be dedicated to the following tasks:
1. API Standardization
1) To standardize the data APIs and network protocols on the NEO & Ontology protocol layers, in order to build the cornerstone of a shared mega ecosystem;
2) To provide standardized APIs and to share some part of SDKs and development tools on both networks to make the development environment more user-friendly for app developers;
3) To explore and realize multiple use-cases of crypto-algorithms on blockchain;
4) To standardize address encoding and to make Neo & Ontology networks more friendly to end-users.
2. A Shared Ecosystem of Smart Contract
1) To adopt NeoVM as the only platform to run smart contract;
2) To propose a standardized SYSCALL rule for namespace, enabling the cross-chain deployment of smart contracts;
3) R&D on highly-efficient Native contract mechanism;
4) To develop a GO compiler and its development environment applicable to NeoVM.”
Both the parties had signed an MoU on May 14, 2018, concerning the strategy and technology integration for one common goal, i.e., development and promotion of blockchain technology. This collaboration, however, seems a smart step, especially for NEO Foundation since it will help the organization strengthen their falling cryptocurrency.