Block42 wants to give European ICONists a voice.
The Austria-based blockchain company and P-Rep candidate is a founding member of the ICON Europe initiative, which aims to make Europe’s presence in ICON’s ecosystem stronger through a bit of unity. As ICON Europe’s website reads, “Our ambition is to unite all European P-Reps in one community and to spread the word about ICON in this region. Together we are stronger!”
“When we applied as a P-Rep candidate, we saw one big issue regarding decentralization, which was that there was a huge focus on Asia and the United States,” says block42 managing director Lukas Götz. “Our contribution can be to represent Europe much more. That was the starting point for us to build the ICON Europe initiative, bringing all the European P-Rep candidates into one community for making ICON better known in Europe and coordinating European activities.”
No bullshit bingo
Block42 launched in 2014 to contribute to the growth of the blockchain ecosystem. Focusing exclusively on blockchain technology, the firm develops blockchain applications on a variety of blockchain platforms and offers blockchain consultancy services to companies large and small. For instance, they introduced a P2P energy trading platform with an Austrian energy retailer and developed a blockchain platform for two manufacturers that enables industrial tools to be exchanged through blockchain. They even developed a way to put wedding contracts on the blockchain, something Götz and his wife did when they got married last year.
Block42 also invests in blockchain ventures. They are always looking for blockchain platforms and applications they think can be successful.
In fact, this is what brought them to ICON. Block42 has been involved with ICON since their ICO. Impressed by the progress the project has made, they jumped into the P-Rep race in August. Götz says, “It is one of the very few platforms that can be around in five to ten years.”
The block42 team likes ICON’s consensus algorithm, praising its goal of incentivizing people who actually contribute to the platform. They also like how ICON doesn’t play “bullshit bingo.” “Lots of platforms out there are really good at doing marketing, but if you look a little bit deeper, you see there’s nothing behind them,” says Götz. “Those platforms won’t make it. I’m happy that cryptocurrency prices are going down right now because all those platforms and applications that do not really provide value to the ecosystem will just go away. That’s good for all of us.”
ICON Europe
As a P-Rep, block42’s main task would be to secure the network and run a stable node. They currently run nodes on Wabi/Tael and Fusion, and the firm’s parent company has plenty of experience running high-traffic applications.
But beyond that, they seek to strengthen Europe in ICON and ICON in Europe. The aforementioned ICON Europe community, of which block42 is a founder, would coordinate the activities of European P-Reps. They would also produce materials on ICON in major European languages, host events, conduct polls and other activities.
Perhaps most noteworthy, though, is the plan to create a decentralized treasury into which block42 and other European P-Reps would contribute 15% of their rewards. The treasury would fund projects by European ICONists.
Why would Europeans be interested in a Korean blockchain platform when there are plenty of better known alternatives? Götz points to the things that set ICON apart. “Things like Fee 2.0 is making it really easy for developers and users to use applications based on ICON,” he says. “I can’t imagine a scenario where a user of an app would have to go to an exchange to use an app. That would never work.”
He adds, “I expect more things like this are coming from the ICON core development team that will make it easier for any startup or corporate to adopt ICON.”
A comprehensive pitch
The block42 teams also plans to develop applications for ICON, introduce corporations to the platform, do community work and invest in the ecosystem. Götz says, “Our offer is pretty comprehensive.”
The block42 team encourages voters to look at not only them, but some of the other European P-Rep candidates as well. And as some other P-Rep candidates have counselled, the team encourages ICONists to spread their votes. Götz says, “I think it’s really important that voters are distributing their votes not just on the first three P-Rep candidates because they give back some rewards to them, that they think about who really cares about and will contribute to the ecosystem.”
