BLOX, a decentralized public chain registered as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) in the US, recently completed a seed round of $12.5 million. Launched in 2020 and led in part by Filipino co-founder Jay Anonuevo, BLOX has made significant traction on its product roadmap, all of which is aimed at achieving true decentralization.
BLOX current capabilities include banking functionalities such as peer-to-peer instant global transfers, fiat and crypto exchanges, card issuance, point-of-sale transactions, and extends to decentralized finance projects, as well as NFTs and smart contracts, which can be executed at a fraction of the gas fees of other blockchains.
Such transactions are facilitated by five global nodes across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America and by proof-of-stake miners who have collectively mined more than 33 million out of the total supply of 84 million BLX coins (its native token) set to be distributed by 2088. The BLX coin has also been approved on COEX STAR, a virtual assets exchange in the Philippines, set for listing sometime later this 2022.
Anonuevo, who is originally from Manila but is now based in Silicon Valley, is proud of the organization’s progress to date, especially for what it means for the Philippines.
“Filipinos have been at the forefront of many technological revolutions. It’s high time that we also start leading in blockchain. I hope BLOX shows other Filipino developers how blockchain can help the country and our Filipinos all over the world: Together we can create solutions that are more transparent, efficient, and affordable than legacy systems,” said Anonuevo.
As an example of what blockchain can do for Filipinos, Anonuevo pointed to the recently launched BLOXWeb, a decentralized, blockchain-based Internet. BLOXWeb enables users to freely surf the net, free from any censorship or state suppression. This unfiltered access to information, he said, is important right in the current world climate, where many states are controlling what information their citizens can consume.
Anonuevo further added that BLOX’s current functionalities can enable a central bank’s digital currency (CBDC) and that BLOX is pursuing US licensing that would make it the first blockchain bank in the world, capable of storing and transacting with both fiat and crypto.
BLOX’s seed round itself showcased some of the blockchain’s capabilities. The consortium of angel investors bought into the organization via DAO stakes that came in either BTC and ETH (totaling close to $12.5 million as of current exchange rates), and gave them ownership and voting power over the DAO’s direction. The round was oversubscribed, but would-be investors are encouraged to consider BLOX’s series A, set for completion by year’s end.
The new funds will be used to support BLOX’s operations, development, marketing, and most of all, globalization.
“The technology underpinning BLOX is made through developers located all over the world, with Filipino technologists playing a major role. As a team, we’re eager to show that BLOX can be a foundational technology for use cases across the globe. I’ll also take pride in what this means for Filipino innovation: It’ll show we can be pioneers for blockchain development and adoption,” said Anonuevo.
