• XTZ's Newsletter
  • Posts
  • The Blockchain Group Starts Up A Tezos Node And Becomes A Corporate Baker

The Blockchain Group Starts Up A Tezos Node And Becomes A Corporate Baker

What Is A Corporate Baker?

Tezos uses Proof of Stake (PoS) as a consensus mechanism to validate and confirm transactions on the blockchain network. Anyone can become part of the decentralized PoS network and start up a “node”, which is known as a “baker” in Tezos’ terms.

To be able to start producing blocks, a baker needs 8,000 XTZ. A minimum 800 XTZ should be put up as a bond by the baker and 7,200 XTZ can be delegated by others). But most Bakers start with a full 8,000 XTZ of their own XTZ (to make sure they have a full Baker running from the start.)

When companies and corporations start a Baker, this has been playfully labeled as a “Corporate Baker”. In essence however, corporate Bakers do not differ from other Bakers.

A Corporate baker is not a special type of baker with any special position within the Tezos ecosystem.

The fact that this baker will be run by a corporation simply emphasizes the amount of trust and involvement big corporations show in the Tezos blockchain.The blockchain does not notice any difference between a baker that is run by a single person from his mom’s basement or by a big corporation.

All rules apply to all bakers. In the past months we’ve seen two launches of Corporate Bakers. And today a third Corporate Baker was announced. It shows a growing interest of companies that have interest in a strong commitment to both build on Tezos and become a part of the decentralized network.

The Blockchain Group

The Blockchain Group has just announced to start a Tezos Baker.

“We are already familiar with the Tezos protocol and believe in the project, which is why we’ve decided to expand our involvement by becoming a corporate baker.

This protocol combines technical excellence with high security standards. Although it is still young, it has already proven the strength of its model and the relevance of its governance mechanism, and we’re excited to further our involvement” – Xavier Latil, CEO of The Blockchain Group.

Previously, The Blockchain Group has launched a tokenization platform on Tezos called The Blockchain Xdev.  The platform is designed as an end-to-end infrastructure, which will enable clients to create and manage digital assets in an intuitive and secure way.

“This project is the cornerstone of our tokenization. Our ambition is to become a benchmark player in France and in Europe, in a market with very strong potential in the years to come.” – Xavier Latil, CEO of The Blockchain Group

An interesting fact is that they partnered with BNP Paribas (The 8th largest bank in the world), who facilitates the onboarding process of investors for the platform.

The first STO to be launched on the platform is a $ 121 million STO on Tezos by Logical Pictures : “21 Content Ventures”.

The Sword Group

The first Corporate Baker that was announced in October last year, was the Sword Group.

The Sword Group is a French, international, software, consulting and services company, created in 2000 and present in 19 countries. Sword Group has built “DigiSign”, which is a new standard for timestamping and electronic signatures, developed on the Tezos on blockchain.

Digitally authenticating documents is a $3 billion dollar market and growing. Tezos DigiSign makes digital authentication more efficient and a whopping 15 to 70 times cheaper.

One of their first clients is “Avis Clients Blockchain”, which provides authentication of customer reviews. Avis will provide this service to “Plus Que Pro” with 15 million unique visitors per year.

Exaion EDF Group

The second corporation that became a Corporate Baker is Exaion EDF Group.

Exaion EDF Group is a subsidiary of EDF, the second largest electric utility company in Europe with a yearly revenue of $70 billion, over 152,000 employees and partly owned by the French state.

Exaion EDF Group specializes in high performance computing and is a cloud provider for blockchain solutions.

“The French electricity giant wants to develop a whole ecosystem of “smart” applications. And not just in the energy sector.”

This was announced in combination with the news that they will also become a block validator in the Tezos LPoS system.