Frequently Asked Questions

A blockchain is an electronic ledger made up of blocks (containing groups of transactions or data) which are appended sequentially.

The primary economic value of a blockchain is to provide a dependable data set that is acceptable to all parties who wish to coordinate on some, but not all, dimensions with each other and do not wish to trust a third party.

Interested in learning more? Check out Geeq’s Glossary entry for Blockchain.

There are five key criteria that make it likely that blockchain is a better approach to addressing a problem than conventional distributed data systems or a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution:

1. The problem requires secure transfer of value, possibly in very small increments; for example, micropayments for content or web services and machine to machine markets, and person to person payments such as small charitable contributions or sharing the cost of a meal among a group of friends.
   
2. The problem involves agents who do not know or do not trust each other; for example, peer to peer markets for goods and services, escrows, and providing proof that all parties are what they say and behaved honestly.
   
3. The problem involves many different actors from different organizations whose interests do not align; for example, logistics or chain of custody applications that transfer responsibilities from party to party.
   
4. The problem requires objective provability of facts or data; for example, audit trails and telemetry collected from connected industrial, medical, and infrastructure devices.
   
5. The problem involves agents who might wish to censor, alter, or hide data; for example, securities, land title, and financial transactions where theft and fraud are real possibilities.

For blockchain to offer a viable solution to these problems it must be secure, inexpensive and scalable. For Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) to become a realistic alternative to private databases, it needs to be flexible, upgradable, environmentally sustainable, and protect users from unreasonable volatility in token value.

Blockchain technology describes a class of technologies that constructs a sequentially linked database (a blockchain) that is stored, after each block is appended, as a distributed database. A distributed database means the database exists redundantly on a network of computers.

Each blockchain technology specifies its own set of protocols. Protocols define the set of rules that agents are supposed to follow when they update and store the database on their own computers. Depending on the protocol, these agents may be called nodes, validators, or miners.

Geeq does not include mining. Why not? We explain below.

Traditionally, blockchain protocols make security assumptions that are, at best, unverifiable, such as assuming less than 1/3 of the network will be malicious. These security assumptions introduce tremendous uncertainty about the future. At worst, the many assumptions required for the security of a blockchain platform are unrealistic. In order to mitigate those risks and improve function, most subsequent work has inadvertently introduced new attack surfaces by adding complexity, rather than addressing the root problems inherent in the way they define consensus.

Geeq’s mission is simple: we put the well-being of end users first. Achieving such an idealistic goal required preparing for the worst case. Here is the breakthrough: Geeq’s technology works even when we have no idea who is in a network and what they may or may not choose to do. We know we can’t control others’ choices in a decentralized world – nor would we want to. The bottom line is this: the only thing that matters about blockchain is whether it is able to provide us a better way to organize economic activity compared to using a centralized database.

By re-examining the data that honest users will need to make decisions, rather than what network participants may want them to believe, we found a way to solve the information game by re-engineering the idea of consensus.

Simply put, Geeq’s protocol requires each node to work independently. Honest nodes are able to deliver Proof of Honesty only if they’ve arrived at the singularly honest conclusion. As a result, all honest nodes arrive at the same, provably honest blockchain on their own, and the information coordination problem is solved when users interact only with honest nodes.

Consensus, at Geeq, is the product of honesty.

Blockchains based on Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, or Proof of Authority work on the assumption that power – in terms of hash rate, financial muscle, or institutional standing – produces truth. At Geeq, we believe that only those who are truthful should be powerful.

Bitcoin and Ethereum (among others) famously use mining in their Proof of Work (PoW) protocols, why doesn’t Geeq?

The short answer is: mining creates problematic incentives from the point of view of the user of a blockchain-based application.

Who Benefits from Mining? Miners.

Mining can be profitable for miners, who are in charge of the construction and maintenance of Proof of Work-based blockchains. That is why they do it.

An interesting feature of the mining market is that profits can be uncertain. The rewards change and sources of income are also fairly dynamic. In fact, the “block rewards” portion of their earnings are explicitly based on a mechanism that is a bit like playing a lottery. In a competitive market for mining, miners are incentivized to adopt strategies that give them an advantage.

We have already seen miners’ strategies adapt over time to maximize their profits. One response to the bitcoin blockchain, in particular, has been to set up mining “farms” comprised of many high powered computers. As the owner of many computers, a mining farm increases the odds it will make profits. This should not be surprising: it is like someone who buys many tickets to a lottery in order to increase their chances of winning.

For the user of PoW-based blockchains, these two features of the mining market introduce risks to the users that are out of their own control: a) miners have incentives that diverge from the users’ and b) mining sets up an uneven playing field. A more concentrated market for mining also concentrates power over the construction and maintenance of the Proof of Work-based blockchain. This means a PoW-based blockchain database is vulnerable to attack.

The most well-known vulnerability is the 51% attack, which has happened several times. There are other threats that are more complicated and also relatively unknown, so we will not include them here. Suffice to say that every potential threat introduces risk of disruptions in service and controversy, especially when attacks within protocol yield unexpected results. Some of the outcomes may result in transactions that are rolled back or censored, which is exactly what blockchain-based DApps are supposed to disallow.

Geeq is focused on providing value to the end user of any Geeq-enabled service.

As you use the Geeq platform, you have the security of knowing Geeq’s blockchain-based payment system is at the leading edge of blockchain technology. All Distributed Applications (DApps) built on the Geeq platform are based on underlying blockchain databases that have the integrity and dependability blockchains are supposed to have. As a result, DApp providers and consumers are able to focus on the quality of services DApps provide, with an emphasis on making them useful and easy to use.

Conclusion

Geeq’s Proof of Honesty^TM (PoH) is a next generation, proprietary blockchain technology that enables a new hybrid platform. The platform itself is truly decentralized.

Geeq was built with the end goals of a blockchain-based, decentralized economy in mind. In order to arrive at that destination, we had to re-think all the layers of the blockchain “stack”, from the market for nodes and validators up through the final markets for new DApp-based goods and services.

Simply put, Geeq doesn’t have miners because their incentives are not aligned with our vision of a decentralized economy. In Geeq’s ecosystem, all incentives are aligned with those of the honest user, including the nodes and validators who construct and maintain the blockchains. At Geeq, market power doesn’t matter. Honesty does.

Dear Geeq Community Members,

Soon we will release a new round of Geeq’s Web-Based Staking. After the success of the last round we have decided to open up 2 new pools. We are happy to announce we will continue to bring you a webstaking option!

We will offer a new Geeq Staking 9 pool and a Geeq LP Staking pool.

The new Geeq Staking 9 pool will have the following changes:

• Pool cap increased from 1.5 million to 2.5 million.
• A contribution period of 14 days.
• Increased maximum contribution per wallet from 100k to 200k Geeq.

The new LP staking pool will have the following change:

• A contribution period of 14 days.

Please notice the new pools open at exactly the same time that our previous round of web-staking reaches full maturity.

General Overview

Geeq Staking can be likened to a savings account — it offers constant time-based returns based on the duration of your staking commitment. In other words, the longer you stake, the higher the rewards.

First, it is pool based. Meaning it is a group activity with multiple contributors for each staking contract.

Second, it is flexible. Meaning you have the option to withdraw early, stake until full maturity, or withdraw somewhere in between. But be warned: leaving early comes at a cost.

Third, it is all about liquidity. Meaning you have the option to stake your UNI-LP tokens for the Geeq/ETH pair, thus earning both uniswap fees + a great APY.

There will be 2 staking pools: Geeq Staking 9 and Geeq LP Staking. The terms of each staking pool (rewards, lengths, minimum contribution, etc.) are detailed below.

On Saturday, July 9th at 4 pm UTC, Geeq will update its Staking page. All information regarding the Token, including staking, is in the top navigation of the website.

Simply click on the contract that interests you to see its details. Then connect your ERC-20 Web 3 wallet to the contract, deposit your $GEEQ into the pool, and stake until you wish to withdraw. When you wish to withdraw, have your principal and rewards sent back to your wallet. Easy!

Requirements for Staking

Here are the requirements:

Metamask: GEEQ Staking requires an ERC-20 wallet extension such as Metamask, or a compatible Web 3 wallet which will automatically link to our staking contracts. This is the wallet address you will contribute from and where your earned rewards will be distributed upon withdrawal.

Once the staking pools are opened, a progress bar will be updated when the contract is filled. If you wish to know the exact percentage that is still available, please click through to the contract.

Full Maturity

Stake until full maturity to receive maximum rewards. Maturity will have a date and time assigned at which time full rewards will be available for withdrawal, so you will know exactly when you can withdraw to receive the maximum rewards.

Early Withdrawal

GEEQ Staking offers an early withdrawal option for flexibility. Early withdrawal will have a date and time assigned so you will know exactly when you can withdraw early.

Although rewards are lower for early withdrawal, they increase linearly every day — past the early withdrawal date right up until full maturity.

In other words, if you withdraw after the early withdrawal date and closer to full maturity, rewards will be higher, but still less than full maturity.

Here are the details of the next round of Geeq Staking, which opens Saturday July 9th at 4:00 pm UTC.

The Staking Pools, Terms and Conditions:

There are two staking pools: Geeq Staking 9 and Geeq LP Staking, each with different terms and rewards.

Geeq Staking 9

• Full Rewards: 25% annualized
• Full maturity: 90 days
• Early withdrawal: 60 days early withdrawal
• Early withdrawal: 10% annualized
• No Minimum, MAX stake allowed 200,000 $GEEQ
• Pool size: 2.5 million GEEQ
• Contribution window opens on Saturday July 9th at 4 pm UTC
• Contribution window closes on Saturday July 23rd at 4 pm UTC if pool is not filled by then.

Geeq LP Staking

• Stake your Uniswap v2 LP tokens here
• Rewards: Uniswap Trading Fees + 100% APY
• Full maturity: 90 days
• Early withdrawal after: 60 days
• Early withdrawal: 10% annualized
• Pool Size: 200k GEEQ/ETH each side
• Contribution window opens on Saturday July 9th at 4 pm UTC
• Contribution window closes on Saturday July 23rd at 4 pm UTC if pool is not filled by then.

For your convenience, we keep track of all the pools’ dates and times here.

If you have any questions about staking and how to stake, please check out our guides in Geeq’s Staking FAQs.

What’s Next

When we update the GEEQ Staking website, it will have a countdown until the staking pools open on Saturday July 9th at 4 pm UTC. Once the countdown is complete, staking will be open!

AscendEX Staking

We have been running a Staking pool with great success on AscendEX since the launch of the Geeq token, offering a 18% compounded APY. Should you wish to use this staking option as an alternative.

Thank you!

Traditionally, in order to prove something to someone who might not trust you, you’d need to find a witness (such as a notary public or government official) to corroborate your claim and certify you are who you say you are. You’d need to bring your identification and take the time to meet someone physically. The entire process could be stressful, time-consuming and expensive. If you find out afterwards that you need a new piece of information, you would have to go through the entire process again.

When a business goes through an audit, has to comply with regulations, or enters legal discovery, the disruption to the business can be even more time-consuming and costly. It is always better to have your official documents organized so the integrity of your data is easy to establish and clear lines of responsibility are already in place. Geeq Data is a new tool that helps enterprises to organize or automate supporting documentation in real time, easily, in a way that gives you the ability to find and prove your claims at any time in the future.

Then, there are the problems that have gone unresolved because this entire process has been too difficult to incorporate into our daily routines. How many times have you let things go because it was too hard to produce credible proof for your point of view? For example, have you ever let a client underpay you even though you knew she was wrong, because it’s her word against yours and you didn’t want to lose her business? Have you ever watched a boss or colleague make a plan destined for failure, but you knew your enterprise did not collect the evidence that could convince them to change course?

We’ve all had times when we’ve had to make compromises because we didn’t think there was a way to turn those situations around. Well, help has arrived in the form of the Geeq Data app.

Geeq Data reduces the costs of discovering and sharing contemporaneous attestations and it is possible precisely because of the security features of Geeq’s extraordinary blockchain technology. In addition, the app itself is simple to use and easy to access. We hope you will share with us all the ways you might use Geeq Data to improve your life, so we can work to make all of it happen. For everyone.

Geeq Data is bringing you the power to certify your own documents and data. It is an attestation service that shows how Geeq’s blockchain technology provides solutions to problems that arise when responsibility for data integrity falls through the cracks or there aren’t enough resources to authenticate and verify every piece of data manually.

Data integrity is an issue that can cost businesses as much as 25% of revenue. As cybersecurity attacks worsen, even redundant backups may become useless if you do not have confidence the data are unchanged. With Geeq Data’s provable security, it is possible to identify which backups have been contaminated, which ones have data integrity, and how to narrow the scope of any necessary recovery efforts.

Lines of responsibility for data ownership also are becoming harder to maintain as the volume of data increases and interactions grow exponentially. Miscommunications or mishandling of data responsibilities can be the sources of rifts at work, breaches of privacy, liability, and worse. Geeq Data introduces clarity to those situations in a highly efficient and non-intrusive way.

As an individual, trying to trace data integrity and track down who is responsible for which data can be overwhelming. Too often it feels like you are lost and on your own, not knowing who to contact, how to find them, or when they might help you.

Geeq Data harnesses elements of blockchain to introduce a more comprehensive, cost-effective, reliable, and neutral set of assurances than has ever been possible. It does so, in essence, by cutting through the red tape and creating a permanent, easily searchable record of attestations for data.

In doing so, Geeq Data reduces the need for coordination, creates a record for provenance, divides the work of record-keeping, and creates a resource that is readily available to anyone with permission to access it.