What is Ontology (ONT)?
Ontology (ONT) is a blockchain that shifts control of digital identity from platforms to users. When you sign up for most online services, you hand over your identity data to the provider. Ontology takes a different route: your credentials stay on your device, and you only prove what's necessary to the other party. This is built on ONT ID, a decentralized identity framework that follows W3C standards, meaning it can work across different platforms.
Why does Ontology use two tokens?
The network runs on a dual-token model. ONT is the governance and staking token—it gives holders a say in network decisions and lets them earn rewards by staking. ONG is the gas token that pays for transactions. The reasoning behind this split is practical: on single-token networks, a rising coin price makes transactions more expensive for everyone. Ontology separates the value of the governance asset from the cost of using the network. Anyone holding ONT gradually earns ONG, which links the two assets economically.
How does VBFT keep the network secure?
Ontology uses a consensus mechanism called VBFT, which blends three approaches: a verifiable random function (VRF) that picks block producers unpredictably, Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) for resilience against faulty nodes, and proof of stake (PoS). The randomness makes it harder to target specific nodes for attack. The network has run without interruption since 2018 and gained EVM compatibility, so applications built with Ethereum tooling can also run on Ontology.
A tokenomics reform in 2025 permanently capped ONG at 800 million tokens and burned 200 million. In January 2026, community governance slashed transaction fees by 80%. The ONTO Wallet brings identity, assets, and dApp interactions under one roof, reflecting the project's shift toward packaging its infrastructure into everyday tools.
