What Value does Ox (ZRX) have?

Daniel G. Jennings
5 min readNov 7, 2018

The Ox (ZRX) cryptocurrency has been attracting a lot of attention lately. For example, Ox (ZRX) is now available through Coinbase.

Thus, Ox has achieved a goal that has eluded the far more popular and impressive Ripple (XRP). Notably, Coinbase currently offers only six cryptocurrencies; Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC).

This is a big deal for Ox because Coinbase is the best-known cryptocurrency wallet and exchange in the United States. In addition, Coinbase is a popular unicorn pre-initial public offering (IPO) company. For example, Seeking Alpha lists a ticker symbol for Coinbase (COINB) even though it issues no stock.

Is Coinbase boosting Ox (ZRX)?

Getting listed by Coinbase is giving Ox (ZRX) some value. For instance, CoinMarketCap gave ZRX a Coin Price of 75.5¢ on 7 November 2018.

Beyond that Ox (ZRX) had a Market Capitalization of $411.949 million and a 24-hour Market Volume of $12.921 million on the same day. Moreover, there was a Circulating supply of 545.616 million ZRX and Total Supply of one billion ZRX on November 3, 2018.

However, Ox did make CoinMarketCap’s Top 20 cryptocurrency ranking on November 7, 2018. For the record, CoinMarketCap placed Ox as the 25th most valuable cryptocurrency, lower than DogeCoin (DOGE).

What is Ox (ZRX) anyway?

Thus Ox (ZRX) is attracting attention from speculators but does it have any real value?

The Ox protocol is an extra layer of infrastructure to the Ethereum blockchain. To clarify, Ox’s protocol adds a layer to Ethereum that makes its blockchain more versatile.

For example, Ox protocol makes it easier for exchanges to convert ERC20 and ERC721 tokens. In detail, ERC20 and ERC71 are Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies used in the tokenization of ecommerce, games, and other platforms. Notably, most of the commercial Ethereum platforms unveiled over the past year utilize ERC20 tokens.

The Many uses of the Ox (ZRX) protocol

Hence, the Ox protocol is a blockchain layer designed to ease tokenization of any asset, product, or commodity. Ox’s developers even claim it can add networked liquidity to any asset or product.

For example, they could add an Ox protocol layer to stablecoins so lenders can use them as collateral for loans. In fact, Ox’s website claims decentralized loans created with the protocol are being tested.

Moreover, Ox is being tested with prediction markets. A prediction market allows participants to purchase futures pegged to the outcome of an event or transactions. Thus, gamblers and speculators love prediction markets.

A huge potential market for Ox is order books for digital assets such as apps. Order books are big because they can form the basis for markets or exchanges for digital assets. Such markets are already big business as the Apple App Store and Google Play have proven.

How Ox (ZRX) could Cash in on Non-fungible tokens

Another huge market Ox could tap is gaming where participants need a permanent record of their play. Ox could provide such a record in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). An NFT is a tamper resistant blockchain construct designed to provide a permanent record.

Consequently, NFTs have many other uses; including keeping track of collectibles, stocks, bonds, and bank transactions. A huge use for NFTs will be in retailers’ loyalty points.

Giant retailers like Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Target (NYSE: TGT) use loyalty points to track customers’ preferences. The Ox protocol could create permanent loyalty points based on NFTs.

Beyond gaming and loyalty points, they could use NFTs to track banking transactions like withdrawals. Moreover, NFTs can generate permanent records of legal documents like insurance policies and contracts.

Ox (ZRX) and Stablecoins

Moreover, Ox is being tested with stablecoins or Stable Tokens. In detail, a stablecoin is a cryptocurrency pegged to a fiat currency such as the pound. Theoretically a pound stable coin will be worth £1, for example.

Obviously, stablecoins will have enormous appeal because fiat currency supposedly guarantees the price. Strangely, stablecoins will be most popular in countries with lousy fiat currencies. For example, Venezuelans could use a stable token to accumulate and spend US dollars.

Ox (ZRX) is an Impressive Cryptocurrency

I think Ox (ZRX) is a very impressive cryptocurrency with many potentially lucrative uses.

Unfortunately, there are apparently no documented real world uses of Ox. For instance, there appear to be no Ox games in existence.

Moreover, there is no evidence Ox offers a solution for the blockchain scalability problem. The problem is the speed and capacity limit that prevents cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH) from being used for large-scale commercial applications.

Without a solution for the blockchain scalability problem, the Ox protocol will be useless in the real world. For instance, Ethereum can only process 20 transactions a second (TPS). Therefore, an Ethereum-based game could crash if 25 people tried to play it at once.

However, Ox (ZRX) could be compatible with Ethereum-based solutions for the scalability problem. Those solutions include Vitalik Buterin’s Plasma protocol and the Raiden Network.

Conversely, neither Raiden nor Plasma has gone beyond the testing stage. Speculators should pay attention to Raiden and Plasma because the success of either protocol could boost Ox (ZRX).

Therefore, Ox’s value is speculative and theoretical. However, if you are looking a speculative play in cryptocurrency Ox is a good choice. I think Ox is a cryptocurrency to watch closely because it has a lot of potential.

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Daniel G. Jennings

Daniel G. Jennings is a writer who lives and works in Colorado. He is a lifelong history buff who is fascinated by stocks, politics, and cryptocurrency.