"We Simply Solve Problems That No One Has Solved" – Developer Of The OTON Ecosystem

Today, it’s already difficult to surprise anyone with cryptocurrency projects. Though the ICO boom is long over, they’re still popping up like mushrooms after a rain. As a rule, developers try to attract users with income schemes related to the generation of tokens, but not all projects are like this. Rare ones stand out from the general mass of financial offerings because they automate real business processes.

Among these genuine pearls is OTON, which provides an entire ecosystem for digitalizing and monetizing user pools. Sellers and manufacturers of goods, suppliers of training platforms, and bloggers and influencers live and work in this system on an equal basis. Any online service can potentially be connected to OTON.

We’d like to bring your attention to an interview with Anton Elston, OTON’S director of technology, who also works on developing the project’s ecosystem.

Anton, please tell us what role OTON plays in your life? What does it mean to you?

This is my most significant project at the moment. It’s what I find the most interesting and devote most of my time to. It allows me not only to earn income, but also to help many people. I really like doing something new and being at the cutting-edge of innovation, and OTON makes it possible to test a lot of ideas. I don’t know of any other project where it would be possible to implement ideas so freely.

So, you find it interesting?

If you’re looking for a monosyllabic answer, then ‘YES’, it’s very interesting for me.

I’ve noticed that people tend to perceive OTON from the angle they’re coming from. For affiliate marketing specialists, the ecosystem seems to be an affiliate network. Manufacturers see it as an online store – something like Amazon. For bloggers, OTON looks like another social network.  What is the OTON ecosystem from your point of view and why?

We are really very versatile. We try to find offerings for the widest possible audience in order to build a closed, self-sufficient environment. That is, we want to create a solution that will be a complete mechanism. If you come to OTON, you should be able to cover nearly all of your needs and not need to look elsewhere. For example, the goal of any affiliate marketing specialist is income and self-realization. A seller can find (and will definitely find) a product here that they are comfortable working with but may find it difficult to promote their own product. But they will definitely find a team here that will appreciate it if it shows potential.

The first thing we created was a sales department, and we try to give the sales department the products and communications they need. This is how new services emerge around us. All services are created for the sales department. Our task is to sell, and we are ready to sell anything to anyone if it’s ethical. Therefore, we are building services around this core of 150,000 sellers.

The marketplace was created to give the sales department products to sell and, as a result, it became a separate business. Then another category of user appeared on the same marketplace – producers. We were looking for a way to convey the concept of what we do to new users and, as a result, bloggers appeared, for whom we are now developing new features. We assume that our sales department will be able to expand their partner networks with the help of the audience formed by these bloggers and their clients.

We have so many services because we create various offers for our sellers.

“Our strength is not in our technical innovations – people want to work with us because we know how to sell.”

It is difficult for any business to find a sales partner. Most businesses fold not because they can’t produce a product, but because they can’t sell it.

Do I understand correctly that, from your point of view, the OTON ecosystem is mainly a sales system that can be used with any target audience?

At the moment, yes, but now, when we are launching blockchain, we are becoming a provider of solutions for the sales market. Initially, we created solutions for the convenience of our sales department, but now we can scale the same solutions and extend them to other companies. The long and short of it is, though we were obviously built around sales, we’ve now developed so many new innovations that they themselves have become a separate business that can be monetized.

I’ve had a look at the project’s White Paper. Why has it become necessary to create your own blockchain? How did this idea arise, what is it based on, and what does it have in common with the Cosmos cryptocurrency platform?

You probably know that affiliate networks and sales are based on the payment of rewards and bonuses. This is called a ‘commission scheme’, a model for distributing funds between the participants in a transaction. These systems are complex and contain incentives for different types of network participants. There are participants engaged in direct sales who are interested in personal commissions. There are participants that create small teams who sell with their help. For example, if a person recruits two to four people who go out and close deals, that person is interested in a commission scheme, according to which they will receive a cut of the income of the partners whom they’ve personally recruited. And there are also participants who are ready to act as representatives in a large market and build large sales teams. They are interested in career bonuses. They receive income from all the sales of all the partners whom they have recruited, trained, and support. Therefore, a commission scheme is a complex system, and, in order to pay all the rewards, you need to find up to a thousand participants in this chain.

We looked at the existing solutions and found that, in order to perform the necessary calculations and distribute transactions to a thousand addresses, it is necessary to pay high commissions because the architecture of the available solutions was not made to perform these types of operations. We are talking about so-called ‘recursive searches’, which are performed until the result is achieved, though it is not known in advance how much computing power will ultimately be needed for this. Neither Ethereum nor any of the other existing systems with smart contracts are suitable for us because they would not allow us to perform the necessary calculations with reasonable resources.

We have written our own blockchain, which includes functions for calculating rewards for each type of bonus. Now we know for sure that there will be no waste of resources, processor time, or memory – all functions will work correctly without overloading our network. We can make the complex calculations we need, and they will all be of the same type. This is why we created our own blockchain. With all other blockchains, transactions would have cost us too much. For example, with Ethereum, it worked out that you would have had to pay out $10 in commission on a charge of less than one dollar!

It’s clear about the commissions, but you didn’t write your blockchain from scratch, did you? It must be a fork of something existing, right?

— No, we wrote it from scratch, but we took a framework – a set of typical functions that exist in every blockchain, for example, making transfers between users, as well as finding and creating addresses. We took the Tendermint framework, which is used by the Cosmos cryptocurrency, and wrote a lot of our own code to facilitate affiliate sales business processes. In theory, we are compatible with Cosmos, but we are not the same. It’s definitely not a fork. We have our own formulation.

What do you mean by ‘compatible’?

— It means we share the same architecture and, if desired, small improvements will allow us to implement cross-platform solutions.

Let’s talk about the OTON token. What is it good for? What is the character of its emission? Which consensus protocol is used for transactions?

— OTON is an infrastructure token that solves the problem of network transparency. One of the problems with affiliate sales markets is a lack of transparency. A partner can’t see whether a reward was paid correctly because, when it comes time to check, so many sales have accumulated, a heap of transactions, that it is already impossible to figure it out on your own. Companies never release information on transactions and do not issue reports, so we decided to make it possible for any of our partners to track all calculations for all transactions. Therefore, we included all of the functions that perform the necessary calculations when writing our blockchain.

But in order for all of these functions to work, you need to have your own token.

“Our token is what we transfer as rewards. This token is the life blood that runs through the veins of our circulatory system – our set of smart contracts.”

Using our token, we make our blockchain operational and all the calculations for our partner commissions transparent.

Our consensus algorithm consists of two parts: DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) and PoS (Proof of Stake). Delegates release blocks, and the system validates the blocks issued by the delegates. Our goal is to achieve DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), that is, to move towards decentralized management over time, so that the entire system eventually works independently, without our participation. And on the other hand, we have validators on PoS that can earn money by checking and confirming transactions.

Of course, you’ve heard the criticism heaped on Bitcoin from an environmental perspective. Where is OTON in terms of the hot topic of energy efficiency?

We are maximally energy efficient. We have already achieved what Ethereum is striving towards. Why does Bitcoin use a lot of energy? Because the energy used is the price of making it unprofitable to cheat. The problem of double-spending is solved in Bitcoin by the large quantity of resources, the huge amount of electricity, that are required to pull it off.

It becomes unprofitable for people to cheat the blockchain because the cost of the resources needed to do it is several times higher than the profit from double-spending. We solve this issue by rechecking all transactions, but we are not engaged in calculating any cryptographic functions that require large quantities of resources. We just make comparisons and recheck. There is no mining.

The blocks are released by delegates, but in order to become a delegate, you need to leave a significant deposit in the system. If a delegate releases an invalid block, it will not get into the blockchain until it is rechecked by validators. If they see that a delegate has issued a block incorrectly, the delegate is fined the amount of their deposit. They lose their money, and the block still won’t enter the chain. Our delegates are, therefore, completely uninterested in issuing invalid blocks.

How many delegates do you already have and how many could there be in the future?

There are currently 50. In the future, there could be any number. The number of delegates is not so much an issue for facilitating transactions and releasing blocks, as for managing the ecosystem. We are currently testing different options in order to most effectively achieve decentralized management.

As I understand, the more delegates you have, the greater the decentralization?

No, the more validators, the greater the decentralization. Delegates, whether there are 50 or even 100, can come to agreements on things among themselves.

And the number of validators is unlimited?

There’s no limit

In fact, we want to enlist as many as possible. That’s why we’re preparing a special innovation for the launch of the validator node – a box that simply plugs into an outlet.  There will be no need to configure anything, no need to monitor the software. It is enough to connect this box to Wi-Fi through a mobile application and authorize your address in the blockchain. With this turnkey solution, we expect to have a lot of validators. Our community has positively embraced the idea of using a boxed solution like this, and we have more than 150,000 people in the community.

And this box is some kind of hardware node? Does it already exist in some form?

Yes, it’s a hardware node, and it is currently under development. Anyone who buys a hardware node will receive commissions for rechecking transactions, which means passive income.

The economy of the OTON token depends on sales within our infrastructure. The more sales, the greater the demand for the token needed to pay partner rewards. And the demand for the token is met on the exchange. During each sale, our robot goes to the exchange and buys tokens with a value equal to the amount of the commissions that need to be paid and then distributes them among the participants.

As far as I understand, OTON’s main network has not been launched yet. How does it work, if not on blockchain?

We have a token that we’ve issued on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which was listed on the exchange where sales take place. Partner rewards are currently calculated centrally – I’ve been developing solutions that calculate partner rewards for loyalty programs more than 10 years. We don’t see a problem in executing transactions through the blockchain, but we want to be sure there will be transactions on the blockchain after we launch it.

If there are no sales, why do we need blockchain? First of all, we are testing the economy. That’s why we’ve now issued a token on BSC, conducted a listing on the exchange, and are testing a system that makes sure that tokens in an amount necessary for each reward are automatically redeemed on the exchange.

It’s not enough just to launch the blockchain. It’s necessary to ensure that the system’s economy can successfully operate based on the token.

All internal OTON operations will be performed through smart contracts that guarantee the impartiality of the system. Please tell us how these smart contracts work and why they are interesting.

On the one hand, we are building a blockchain in order to launch our projects on it. On the other, this is just a pilot solution that any company can use if it wants to launch a new partner project.

Companies that specialize in sales don’t usually have a technical partner, and so technical implementation is a big problem for them. They may look for quality solutions on the market and find there are none. As a result, more than 70% of companies go under because they couldn’t implement a technical solution correctly. Errors in calculations, something doesn’t work properly… If sellers see they are not awarded their partner rewards correctly, they stop working. That is, they stop selling.

We are creating a boxed solution that will allow trading companies to launch on our blockchain. This solution will include a simple interface for building commission structures.

A commission scheme is the heart of a trading company. Partner rewards are paid out according to it, taking into account different types of bonuses.  We make this very easy by creating accounts for companies that use partner programs, where they can build their own remuneration schemes. This will be a simple visual interface that will allow users to select a set of bonuses for distribution and set the necessary parameters. Then it will be possible to add a deposit in tokens and put a smart contract into operation with this deposit.

The deposit will be placed on the smart contract, and when the company makes a sale, it will send a request to the smart contract asking it to distribute the partner remuneration. This request includes information, including who sold what product, when the product will be delivered, and when it is necessary to unfreeze the accrued tokens. Then the smart contract will take tokens, in accordance with the rules that are set in it before making the deposit, find all the partners who should receive something, and accurately distribute the commissions among them.

That’s what’s interesting about smart contracts like this. It usually takes three to six months and €14,000 to €70,000 to launch a partner trading company. Support will also require big outlays, since a fulltime technical support team is needed. With us, companies can open an account and build a commission system in just a couple of hours without spending any money at all. All that’s necessary is to put up a deposit so that there is something to pay partners. The company will be able to top up this deposit at any time.

We make it easy to enter the trading business through smart contracts, which also make the system transparent, since all sales and related charges can be seen in them.

—The OTON token has been temporarily released on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain. Why was this platform chosen, and how will the blockchain you are planning to launch yourselves be better?

— BSC was chosen simply because transactions on it are cheap. Having a token on this blockchain is necessary simply in order to show a market price.

However, BSC will not allow us to distribute partner rewards in the same way as our own blockchain will, that is, through smart contracts that ensure the transparency of payments.

— OTON has its own software shell called TASQ with which system participants can interact and analyze their activities. Tell us about TASQ – what is the function of this system interface now, and what are the prospects for its development?

— Many companies use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, but this cannot be said about partner programs. I don’t know why this is, but they still write things down in a notebook. We decided that we need our own CRM system, so we created one that takes into account all the stages of the business process.

This is a system for working with clients. Sellers work with customers from memory. You can keep two to three business contacts in your head, plus three to four personal ones. And they want to earn tens of thousands of dollars! To earn that much, they need to be effective. To be effective, you need a more advanced tool than human memory. And we have created that tool.

Why didn’t we just take a ready-made system? The business processes for classic sales and sales in referral programs are very different, and the cost of customizing a ready-made CRM system to handle our business process was comparable to that of developing own.

— Do I understand correctly that, despite the fact that affiliate marketing has been actively developing all over the world for several decades, there is still no CRM system for it?

— Not before ours. This just goes to show why there are so many prospective lines of development for OTON to pursue.

“We just solve the problems we encounter that no one has solved yet.”

— And what does the TASQ CRM system do?

— It reminds you to make calls, tells you what you talked about with a person at previous meetings, and what you need to tell him now. It tracks all interactions and reminds you who you need to contact.

For example, a client bought some cream or toothpaste from our partner. We know that he has been using it for a month or two. Our CRM is aware of this sale and will automatically remind the sales manager that their client is running out of toothpaste, and it would be good if they bought some more. Will the manager remember to do this if they have 50 clients? No, they won’t! Will they be able to manage 50 clients from memory? Of course not. Therefore, we’ve developed a system that works as a planner and a secretary all in one.

In addition, we have integrated training into TASQ. We realized that we needed to lay out the business process in a clear, understandable way, and write scripts describing when and what to say. But we have to say the same thing all the time, so we have a well-developed script.

Referral sales have a tree-like form, where each new lower branch warps the transmitted information, so we recorded a video course on sales and put it in TASQ. This course is designed so that the person taking it gradually immerses themselves in the business process and makes their first sales.

One of the main problems for novice sellers is that they do not have customers. They don’t know who to sell to. They’ve already told all their friends and relatives about the products and have exhausted themselves. Therefore, those who have taken the training course and passed the final exam in TASQ are offered potential customers (leads) that we generate ourselves. That is, we create cold traffic to our products and distribute the leads we receive among TASQ participants who have been trained and who we are confident can effectively work with customers.

The cold traffic system itself is well-established and formalized in the form of a step-by-step process. As a result, a person can learn to independently configure a sales funnel that converts a visitor to our site into a purchase request through scripts, software, advertisements, landing pages and telegram bots. They can also use ready-made funnels that have already been created inside our service and expand their own customer base with minimal effort.

This is what TASQ makes it possible to do.

— What are the prospects for the OTON project from your point of view? How ambitious are your plans?

— We work in the sales segment and this segment is constantly being replenished with new people. Meanwhile, more and more jobs are becoming obsolete as they are replaced by automated machines and systems. The partner sales market is not digitalized at all. It’s like the Stone Age. The first one who systematizes and digitizes it will, first of all, create explosive growth in the market, and, secondly, receive 80% of this market. And this is 80% of the direct sales market we’re talking about – billions of dollars annually. Therefore, we have ambitious plans.

We want to create a new environment for human life and development. And we base it on the ability to satisfy our needs, in accordance with Maslow’s pyramid. We give a person a simple job that can be done from home, sitting at a computer. We create a new environment for developing people. There’s never been anything like it.

We don’t look like a classic sales company. Classic affiliate marketing is all about word-of-mouth promotion, but we try to provide a set of tools that reduces personal communications between people to a minimum. If the need for communication is minimized and product promotion is automated, it means sales will be realized in exact accordance with a predetermined algorithm, and nothing can break. And that algorithm is set to lead to success.