Review of Bluzelle (BLZ): A Decentralised Data Ecosystem

Bluzelle is a project that is trying to decentralize data storage by providing a secure and affordable alternative on the blockchain.

Following in long line of other blockchain storage projects, they are trying to take on the likes of the large database management incumbents such as Oracle and the like. Bluzelle is also trying to build a framework that fosters private data control and data syndication.

But can they really achieve this and stand out among the competition?

In this Bluzelle review, we will take an in-depth look at the project including the technology that powers it, the team that drives it and the BLZ token that fuels it.

What is Bluzelle?

Bluzelle got off to a stunning start in 2018, with one of the most hyped initial coin offerings, an incredibly professional whitepaper, and a launch that saw it listing immediately on top exchange Binance. This incredible start made Bluzelle look like every investors once-in-a-lifetime early investment.

Bluzelle is a data storage blockchain, offering decentralized applications (dApps) a decentralized database solution. It is also creating a dual token economy, with an external token for investment and an internal token to power the network in a fee-free manner while also giving masternode owners an incentive to continue operating.

Bluzelle isn’t the only blockchain in this space, and can expect to see stiff competition from the likes of MaidSafeCoin, Siacoin, Storj and Filecoin. It’s inevitable that one of these will eventually become the top player, and investors in the BLZ token are betting that this eventual winner will be Bluzelle.

Bluzelle has positioned itself well for this eventual dominance, with offices in the west in Vancouver, and in the east in Singapore. It has also lined-up some partnerships that will help it capture market share, and help it to become the dominant decentralized database storage solution.

It’s expected that when the Bluzelle blockchain is fully implemented that it will have 10 million times greater storage capacity versus current corporate IT storage. And that storage will come at 0.001 the cost per Tb of storage when compared with current costs. Perhaps best of all, your data will be completely secure.

Bluzelle Technology & Use Cases

There are a number of different use cases for Bluzelle technology, but the core use will be as a decentralized and scalable database service for dApps. The idea was inspired by concepts introduced in sharding and NoSQL and it will allow Bluzelle to connect producers and consumers, where the consumers will be able to purchase excess computing resources (bandwidth, storage, memory and CPU processing) from the producers who create that excess.

To make it sound more blockchain, the producers are in effect miners who are lending their computing resources to the Bluzelle network in exchange for a reward. This producer economy is called a swarm of nodes in the Bluzelle economy, or a metaswarm.

Producers will be rewarded with either BLZ or BNT, which are the two tokens created for the Bluzells network. Bluzelle has also taken steps to collateralize the tokens for a more reliable and robust database economy. This helps to ensure producers will meet minimum standards for computing resources.

The consumer in the Bluzelle ecosystem will primarily consist of dApp developers who have a need for an immutable decentralized storage platform. They will be able to access Bluzelle resources and pay for them in BLZ and BNT tokens. The BLZ token is a publicly traded ERC-20 token, while the BNT token is a private token native to the Bluzelle network.

By utilizing an internal token the network is able to bypass the scalability restraints of the Ethereum network, while also giving the network greater autonomy in dictating how and where data is stored. The two tokens will be pegged to each other and exchangeable at a 1:1 ratio, ensuring that both appreciate at the same rate, and giving users a greater incentive to become producers for the network.

The network as a whole will be rated and regulated by a “Karma Index” that determines whether producers are acting appropriately. Those producers deemed to be behaving poorly will bye penalized, while those who are considered to have the best behavior can have the opportunity to become swarm leaders. This Karma Index was created to promote higher service levels without a centralized actor enforcing good behavior.

While the database solution is the primary focus of Bluzelle, there are other use cases to which Bluzelle would be appropriate. Some other interesting use cases that have been identified and explored for Bluzelle include:

1. Building mobile wallets based on Ripple and forks of Ripple
2. Insurance products using the Ethereum mainnet and testnet (Ropsten, Rinkeby)
3. Building sophisticated hardware wallets to protect crypto-assets on Ripple, Ethereum and Bitcoin.
4. Building enterprise KYC software solutions on top of Ethereum for OCBC, MUFG and HSBC banks
5. Developed a full service suite of services to power ICOs, including security-audited smart contracts to power ERC-20 tokens and sales contracts.

Bluzelle Team

The Bluzelle team has gotten off to a strong start, having attracted a team of engineers with extensive backgrounds in creating and scaling technology projects.

Bluzelle is based in Singapore, but also has a development team in Vancouver, Canada. The team consists of 10 members, with a brief bio of the key team members below:

Pavel Bains - CEO: Over 18 years experience in venture capital, as well as entrepreneurial experience as a co-founder of the children’s stories startup Panda Stories.

Neeraj Murarka - CTO: Also over 18 years experience, but in this case in software engineering for multi-national technology firms such as Hewlett Packard, IBM and Google.

Nitin Cunha - Senior Developer: 12 years experience doing program analysis, most recently with TEEMA consulting, as a Talent Manager.

Scott Burch - Senior Developer: 8 years experience as a web developer, with additional experience in app architecturing, most recently with Credit1 Credit Union.

Leandro Bark - Head of Sales: 16 years experience in business operations, most recently in venture capital and private equity.

Bluzelle is clearly in good hands technically with the leadership of Murarka and an equally strong development team behind him. This technical expertise has helped Bluzelle in developing partnerships, with several foreign exchange companies, insurance companies, and banks all agreeing to work with Bluzelle as customers. HSBC and AIA are just two of the multi-national financial firms trusting in Bluzelle and their technological leadership.

CEO Pavel Bains is also critical to the success of Bluzelle, with his years of experience in operational management helping to steer the project. Most recently in his role at Story Panda his talents were critical in helping to close license deals with companies such as Warner Bros., Dreamworks and Disney.

As you can see, the team has a good track record, both in technical execution and in operational execution. With the Bluzelle project getting off to a strong start it’s would be up to them to drop the ball and not excel, otherwise there’s no reason for the project to fail to succeed.

Bluzelle Key Partnerships

I’ve already mentioned that Bluzelle is working with both HSBC and with AIA, but they have additional strategic partnerships. Several of those are with other blockchain projects, such as 0x, Zilliqa and Bee Token. It’s been suggested that Bluzelle targeted these three projects for their strong social media presence.

Bluzelle will be offering database services to each of the projects noted, but in slightly different ways. Currently, the collaborations are expected to look like this:

• Bluzelle is building on top of 0x to offer relayers a standard and consistent database service.
• Bluzelle and Zilliqa are working together to provide an integrated solution so users building dApps with Zilliqa as the underlying blockchain can use Bluzelle for decentralized data storage.
• Bluzelle will work with Bee Token to be the underlying database solution for Bee Token customers.

In addition to the partnerships already mentioned, Bluzelle has also built database services for Zagbank, BT Group and Microsoft. While there haven’t been any firm commitments from any of these companies, it has created a working relationship that Bluzelle may be able to take advantage of in the future.

And considering how rapidly Bluzelle was able to attract major corporations to work with them it’s not hard to imagine many more strategic partnerships being formed in coming months.

The BLZ Token

The BLZ token ICO was held on January 20, 2018 and quickly raised $19.5 million as 500 million tokens were sold at a price of $0.12. The price surged higher over the next two weeks, reaching a high just above $0.77 before dropping back as the entire cryptocurrency market came under pressure.

By early April it was down to $0.257 and then it rebounded and nearly reached $0.77 again by the end of April. Unfortunately it’s been falling since May and as of late October 2018 it’s back near its ICO price, trading at $0.131045.

Register at Binance and Buy BLZ Tokens

Binance picked the coin up right from its ICO and it’s still the exchange with the greatest BLZ trading volume. You can also purchase BLZ from Huobi, Fcoin, and Gate.io as well as from some smaller exchanges.

Because BLZ is an ERC-20 token it can be stored in any ERC-20 compatible wallet, such as Coinomi, MetaMask or MyEtherWallet / MyCrypto.

Conclusion

We’ve come to accept that our data doesn’t belong to us any longer, and that it is freely traded by major corporations and advertisers, but Bluzelle is looking to change that with its decentralized data storage solution. This could take our data back and put it in the users hands, as well as allowing dApp development to move into its next generation.

The strong development team in pale, and the impressive partnerships that have been quickly formed are both positive signs for the future of Bluzelle. If the team can maintain its early momentum and continue to both improve on its platform, and create new and stronger partnerships, it could be the decentralized database and data storage solution to win in the race to deliver blockchain file storage.