What Is Holo (HOT)?

Holo is a peer-to-peer distributed platform for hosting decentralized applications built using Holochain, a framework for developing DApps that does not require the use of blockchain technology. The goal of Holo is to serve as a bridge between the broader internet and apps built using Holochain, offering an ecosystem and marketplace in which DApps are easily accessible, as they are hosted on the internet by Holo network participants.

The Holo network will be facilitated using a token called HoloFuel, which is actively being tested and will act as an accounting system to pay hosts for their services. In 2018, the project minted an ERC-20 token, HOT — also known as HoloToken — as an "IOU" that will be redeemable for HoloFuel upon launch.

Holo is still in development and is expected to launch for open alpha and beta testing by 2021.

Who Are the Founders of Holo?

Holo was founded by Arthur Brock and Eric Harris-Braun, both of whom are experienced contract coders. The two first started working on the project in December 2016 as a part of the MetaCurrency Project, a developer of tools and technology designed to power a future P2P economy. Holo was partially modeled after Ceptr, a cooperative P2P framework for DApps that the two had previously worked on.

Brock has prior experience coding alternative currency systems as the founder of Geek Gene, a company that developed community-building tools, including more than 100 alternative currency solutions. He also co-founded social-enterprise incubator Emerging Leader Labs and founded open-source education "starter kit" Agile Learning Centers. In March 2019, Brock was named a fellow of the New Zealand-based Edmond Hillary Fellowship.

Harris-Braun started programming full time in 1988 and is the founder of Glass Bead Software, a developer of peer-to-peer communication software, as well as co-founder of Emerging Leader Labs alongside Brock. In 2003, he co-founded Harris-Braun Enterprises, a freelance software development and consulting firm. He has also served on the advisory board of the Schumacher Center For New Economics.

What Makes Holo Unique?

According to its "green paper," Holo is designed to act as a bridge between Holochain, which represents the world of crypto technology, and everyday users. The project highlights several innovations that it says will "enable a large shift in the landscape of crypto applications and currencies," including the ability to host P2P apps on the internet for mainstream users.

The Holo network relies on a series of hosts that provide storage and processing power for DApps built using Holochain. Hosts either install software on their computer that runs in the background and automatically allocates extra processing power to Holochain-based DApps, or they operate a dedicated machine such as a HoloPort. In exchange, hosts are paid in HoloFuel, a token that is specifically designed for microtransactions. The design of HoloFuel is expected to allow the Holo network to process billions of simultaneous transactions.

The project's business plan centers on building a P2P ecosystem of hosts and applications, comparing its intended effect on app hosting to that of Uber and Airbnb on the taxi and hotel industries, respectively. Holo charges a fee on HoloFuel transactions, so its revenue model is directly tied to growing the number of applications and hosts on the network.

Related Pages:

Learn about Ethereum, the most popular platform used by DApps.

Learn about Siacoin, the token powering the decentralized cloud storage platform Sia.

Want to test out a DApp? Learn how to easily access one from your mobile phone with an in-depth guide on Alexandria, CoinMarketCap's online educational resource.

Stay up to date on the latest decentralized platforms and applications with the CoinMarketCap blog.

How Many Holo (HOT) Coins Are There in Circulation?

Holo held an "initial community offering" from March 2018 through April 2018. Ultimately, 177.6 billion HOT was minted through a demand-determined process, with 133.2 billion HOT (75%) allocated for public sale and 44.4 billion HOT (25%) reserved for the team and company. Team tokens were not subject to vesting or lock-up periods.

Once HoloFuel is launched, HOT tokens will be able to be swapped at a one-to-one ratio for HoloFuel tokens. In January 2019, Holo stated that instead of being immediately burned, the swapped HOT will instead be kept as a reserve currency to provide liquidity to HoloFuel holders.

HoloFuel will have no supply limit. Rather, it is designed to be dynamic and incorporate a credit system, allowing users to have negative balances. The supply will be controlled algorithmically, contracting and expanding in response to demand and as the relationships between users with negative and positive balances change. Holo intends for this to cause the price of its tokens to remain relatively stable from moment to moment, rather than be subject to wild, speculative price swings.

How Is the Holo Network Secured?

The Holo network acts as a bridge between the centralized internet and Holochain, which does not rely on traditional blockchain technology. As such, it does not rely on global consensus to secure its networks. Rather, each DApp has its own set of validation rules and a local hash chain on which it can store cryptographically signed records. When data is transmitted across multiple nodes, random peers act as validators, receiving data and verifying that it follows the correct rules. Validators use a gossip protocol to share good data among one another and warn of bad data or blacklist bad actors.

According to its development team, Holo is designed to be as decentralized as possible in order to reduce the risks associated with giving any one entity too much power. The connection between hosts and applications is end-to-end encrypted, and Holo uses a globally distributed network of servers.

Where Can You Buy Holo (HOT)?

HOT can be purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Bitrue, ProBit Exchange and MXC.COM, among others. It can be traded on spot markets against fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the euro, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) and the stablecoin Tether (USDT).

Are you interested in buying HOT or other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin? CoinMarketCap has a simple, step-by-step guide to teach you all about crypto and how to buy your first coins.

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