Most people are aware of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Few, however, are aware of Web 3.0, the infrastructure that makes Blockchain technology tick. Even fewer have heard about the Blockchain Operating System, the essential component of the new internet; Web 3.0. This narrative will introduce the concept but in a nutshell, the Blockchain Operating System is the conduit that eases the communication process between mankind and the blockchain.

What is a Blockchain Operating System?

Consider normal operating systems such as MacOS, Linus or Windows. All of them simply are huge programs that interconnect everything else. Essentially, they are the link between the hardware and the software. To use Google Chrome, for instance, you need to provide it with a conduit that interacts with the hardware.

Now, think of the blockchain as a global supercomputer. The blockchain operating system, as such, is a tool that introduces a layer underneath the software that makes it possible for streamlined interaction with the blockchain.

Every action that you want to undertake, from buying crypto, tumbling Bitcoins to feeding your info in the world’s best Bitcoin mixer requires an interface of sorts.

In a nutshell, a blockchain operating system offers a platform where users can build and utilize applications that eliminate the complexities associated with integrating and interacting with all the blockchains. The OS also assists with interpreting the various operation codes in use as well as the messaging apps and any such APIs that connect the blockchains with non-blockchain networks.

A blockchain operating system facilitates interoperability between blockchains as well as between a blockchain and a non-blockchain network.

The Essence of a Blockchain Operating System

Over the past decade since the Bitcoin blockchain debuted, a lot many networks have surfaced, especially in the last four years or so. These systems are helpful in production, as stores, in transiting merchandise, and as cryptocurrency ledgers among other things.

Going by the kind of solutions that blockchains offer, it is predictable that a lot many networks will join the fray in the future.

Because there already are numerous software and all manner of operating systems in place, inconsistency between these systems is unavoidable. Blockchain Operating Systems solve the inconsistencies.

To effectively streamline interoperability, ideal Blockchain Operating Systems should be virtual; meaning, they should be anchored on the cloud and not on the computer hardware. Such a position enables the OS to direct your blockchain on whichever device; PC, Mac, or even from a mobile device.

Also, the Blockchain Operating System helps to enhance the productivity of each blockchain. Say, you put some money in a cryptocurrency. The OS will make it possible for you to see this investment in your wallet. Now, say you choose to spread out this investment across several cryptocurrency blockchains, you will need a tool that keeps tabs of all the transactions. That is where the blockchain operating system comes in.

Assume you even go further and surf the OS marketplace, and there is a console on sale that has grabbed your attention. Or, you decide to tumble bitcoins and have settled on a particular coin mixer to do this.

You can purchase the console and pay using a cryptocurrency. The same way you need to move coins from your wallet and into the coin mixer. These actions require an operating system. To connect to your wallet to withdraw funds, log into the marketplace blockchain, move the funds there and complete a purchase, and move coins from the wallet to the tumbler.

The purchase, for instance, can be completed by a graphical user interface (GUI). This is the key essence of a blockchain operating system; managing several blockchain-driven applications their cross-compatibility notwithstanding.

Blockchain Operating Systems in Existence

EOS

The Epic (Blockchain) Operating System describes itself as a consensus blockchain OS that offers account permission, databases, scheduling, authentication, and internet application communication meant to improve smart business development. The aim is to ease blockchain scalability and to improve the overall performance of blockchain to attain millions of transactions in a second.

ConsenSys Codefi

This blockchain OS specializes in global commerce as well as finance. It was created by Joseph Lubin, Ethereum’s co-founder. Codefi, the OS’s product suite has the modular capability of converting financial instruments to digital documents. It is a tokenization system that is appropriate for data analytics, payment systems, enterprise cryptocurrency subscription payments, and real estate dealings.

Overledger

According to an introduction on Medium, this blockchain OS connects blockchains as well as existing enterprise platforms. Overledger also connects applications and networks to the blockchain and helps create internet-sized multi-chain applications (mApps). It provides interoperability services that come with comprehensive distributed ledger technologies from the industry’s top Enterprise Permissioned blockchains as well as Public Permissionless networks.

LibertyOS

Unlike the other operating systems mentioned here above, LibertyOS still is in the beta version phase. What this team is building mimics an operating system as most people know it. It has an incorporated TOR component, which means that users who quest for anonymity and the lot that prioritize Bitcoin tumblers and the whole process of tumbling Bitcoins will find this blockchain OS adorable.

LibertyOS has a blockchain component that has a native token called LIB. Advertisers can use LIB to purchase ad space while OS users will get paid through the same token for viewing the said ads. The idea of tokenizing the space is to make LibertyOS a financial-elf-sustaining network.

GemOS

This project is being developed as an enterprise blockchain operating system that focuses on making stored data more useful. The project is creating global identifiers that link all data from one person or asset into a single pile thus eliminating the need for continuous reconciliation. The result is real-time transparency.

These blockchain operating systems mentioned here are part of a growing segment of Web 3.0. Many more will surface with different features and targeting different users. The blockchain space is indeed geared for even greater innovations guessing by the blockchain OS projects already launched and those that are underway.

In Summary

Blockchain technology is a novel innovation that is providing numerous solutions to real-life problems. The technology, however, is plagued by several challenges such as scalability. Most blockchain operating systems seem to have found a way to go about this by enhancing interoperability. It is prudent to watch and see how blockchain operating systems will redefine blockchains and their productivity.