What is CyberMiles?

Founded in 2017 by 5xlab, CyberMiles (CMT) positions itself as the next generation blockchain for smart contracts. Cybermiles is optimized for e-commerce applications and claims to be better than Ethereum. It refers to its smart contracts as Smart Business Contracts, which it claims have been designed to be more powerful than Ethereum smart contracts. 

In this detailed article on what is CyberMiles, we’ll learn all about this blockchain, including its use-cases, founders, strengths, weaknesses, partnerships, tokenomics and how does CyberMiles work. 

CyberMiles comes equipped with customizable solutions for e-commerce businesses, enabling them to deploy their operations on-chain with great ease. For instance, businesses can use CyberMiles’ payment gateway to accept seamless crypto payments from their customers. They can also raise operating capital with the help of security tokens issued on the CyberMiles blockchain. In addition, the CyberMiles blockchain is optimized for the issuance of stablecoins as well as the processing of stablecoin transactions. This greatly benefits e-commerce businesses as stablecoins are ideal means of accepting payments for goods and services.

Source: CyberMiles.io

Besides the above-mentioned financial solutions, CyberMiles also provides e-commerce businesses with tools to help them with their marketing initiatives. E-commerce companies can use the CyberMiles smart contract template library to build and run token-based loyalty and bounty campaigns quickly. The same resources can also be used for developing and deploying effective referral programs for customers.

Our understanding of what is CyberMiles will be incomplete if we don’t delve into its main purpose. The CyberMiles project was launched with the aspiration to replace e-commerce giants like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and others. It aims to accomplish that by creating a decentralized ecosystem of efficient smart business contracts that any e-commerce provider can easily use.

The CyberMiles token, CMT, is the native token of the CyberMiles blockchain. Often referred to as the ‘master token’ for e-commerce, it has multiple use cases. It is employed to reward network validators, settle network transactions, and incentivize community members and network governance.

CyberMiles is a highly performant and scalable blockchain, with support for over 10,000 transactions per second. A volunteer-run organization coordinates the technical operation and software development of CyberMiles, Hong Kong based non-profit organization called The CyberMiles Foundation. The CyberMiles Foundation is simply a part of a larger ecosystem of various companies, individuals and organizations that support the CyberMiles concept.

What is CyberMiles - Key points

• Public blockchain for e-commerce
• Owns and runs CyberWorld NFT trading platform in partnership with Nasdaq-listed Sino-Global
• Capable of processing 10,000 transactions per minute
• Block generation time of under 10 seconds
• Employs Tendermint BFT DPoS consensus mechanism 
• Backed by the same company that owns the 5miles e-commerce app

How CyberMiles works

Now that we’ve learned what is CyberMiles, let’s get under the hood and discover how does CyberMiles work. CyberMiles works quite like the Ethereum blockchain, minus the latter’s Proof of Work consensus mechanism (as of writing), plus some additional features. In case of CyberMiles, besides the virtual machine, every node also supports a powerful business middleware software stack. This stack is an extensive library of reusable software components, which do away with the need to write every application from scratch. As a result, new Smart Business Contracts can be developed and deployed relatively easily and quickly. Software encapsulation and reuse have always been the best practices in enterprise-grade software development. CyberMiles has successfully applied that best practice in blockchain tech.

Smart Business Contracts can be made reusable, having been built atop reusable software components. Businesses can create Smart Business Contract templates and reuse them multiple times by altering only the key parameters like amounts, dates, party names etc. This brings a lot of cost-efficiency in creating and deploying business dApps.

CyberMiles blockchain employs a Tendermint DPoS consensus mechanism for securing its network. It features the Tendermint Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine, with a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) set-up of validator nodes. This technology allows CyberMiles to be highly scalable, and capable of serving consumer grade e-commerce apps with millions of users. It can reliably support 10,000 TPS with a block generation time of under 10 seconds. 

The DPoS works as a crucial economic mechanism for the CyberMiles blockchain. It allows for rewarding holders of the blockchain's native CMT token who choose to maintain the integrity and security of the network. These token holders participate in this process by assuming either of the following two roles:

Delegators

These are CMT token holders who stake their CMT tokens to other network participants, who validate and process CyberMiles blockchain transactions. These validators use resources like self-staked CMT tokens, technical infrastructure and technical knowledge to do this job. The staked tokens are held by the network and can’t be transferred or traded during the staking period. In return, they receive a percentage of CMT tokens minted via systematic inflation (up to 8% per annum) and the transaction fees collected on the network.

Validators

These CMT token holders run computer servers and have the technical know-how to process and validate blockchain transactions. Delegators pick up validators based on their experience, technical infrastructure and default compensation rate. They add new blocks to the network and earn a share of block generation rewards from delegators (as compensation). 

Validators also take part in CyberMiles’ network governance on behalf of delegators. All validators are required to stake CMT tokens with the network to qualify for the job. Of the total amount of CMT staked by them, a minimum of 10% should be their self-staked tokens. If the self-stake exceeds 12%, the network automatically starts slashing their and the delegators’ block rewards. 

Of all the validators in the network, it’s the top 19 that are picked up for the job, based on their total stake. Five more validators from the top 20th to the 24th are kept as backup validators. They step in, in sequential order when needed.

Where is CyberMiles used

About CyberMiles blockchain’s use-cases

As a next-gen smart contract blockchain network, CyberMiles can be used for creating all kinds of innovative decentralized applications. As discussed about CyberMiles earlier, it provides a rich middleware software stack, which enables the creation of Smart Business Contracts and dApps. This ability allows for creating applications and features that weren’t possible in centralized e-commerce operations earlier. Some of its use-cases in this regard are:

• A decentralized identity management platform
• A Peer to Peer (P2P) marketplace for small business loans
• Improved supply chain cash flow with the help of the CMT token
• Product certifications through Smart Business Contracts, to check counterfeit products
• Community-based dispute resolution 

About CyberMiles token’s use-cases

The CyberMiles token, CMT, forms the backbone of the CyberMiles blockchain. It has multiple use-cases in the network’s ecosystem, including:

As a means of compensation

Delegators stake their tokens on validators and forego the right to trade them during the staking period. Validators too are required to self-stake at least 10% of their total CMT stake. In addition, they should also have the technical resources and knowledge to validate and process the network transactions. In return, both delegators and validators are rewarded with a share from new CMT tokens minted on the network. These are generated as per CyberMiles annual inflation rate decided through a vote by validators. Nonetheless, this rate can never exceed 8%. Delegators and validators also receive a percentage share of the total transaction fees collected on the network (as additional CMT tokens).

For transaction settlement

The CMT token is actively used as a means for settling transactions conducted on the CyberMiles network. The dApps deployed on the blockchain can accept payments in the form of CMT tokens, from the end-users.

To pay transaction fees

All transaction fees collected on the CyberMiles blockchain are in CMT tokens. These fees are collected for using the blockchain’s resources, by executing Smart Business Contracts or making token transfers.

For network governance

The CyberMiles network is collectively governed by its delegators and validators. These governance rights are obtained by staking CMT tokens. The voting weight is in accordance with the amount staked. While delegators are indirect participants in network governance, validators take an active part on behalf of delegators and themselves.

CyberMiles Founders / History

The CyberMiles project was founded in 2017 with the idea of creating a blockchain specifically meant for decentralized e-commerce applications. It is the brainchild of Lucas Lu, founder of 5miles, a Consumer-to-Consumer e-commerce marketplace app created by 5miles LLC. CyberMiles’ blockchain technology emerged from 5xlab, the official blockchain development laboratory of 5miles. 

Lucas Lu is a Ph.D. holder in Particle Physics from Southern Methodist University. He was the CTO and co-founder of NYSE-listed, ‘Light in the Box’, a Chinese marketplace app, and also served as Alibaba’s Taobao mobile platform’s first GM. Lucas also contributed to the Higgs particle research at CERN. He, along with astrophysicist Michael Yuan, founded CyberMiles in 2017. 

Source: CyberMiles.io

CyberMiles enjoyed the unique advantage of integration with the 5 miles' ecosystem right after its launch, which gave it the much-needed initial network effect. 5miles’ e-commerce network comprised 10+ million US-based registered users and $3+ billion in annual transactions at that time. Such a vast user base allowed CyberMiles to instantly position itself as the largest blockchain based e-commerce network in the world.

The CyberMiles mainnet was launched in 2018. The project garnered industry-wide support, with the native CyberMiles token getting listed on all leading exchanges, including OKX. It also received the backing of well-known dApp developers, staking operators, volunteers and blockchain activists. A volunteer-managed non-profit organization called The CyberMiles Foundation was set up later for facilitating CyberMiles’ continuous development.

Source: 5miles.com

CyberMiles tokenomics

The CyberMiles token (CMT) has a total supply of 1 billion tokens. The maximum possible supply has been capped at 10 billion CMT.

• 280 million CMT were sold and allocated to private investors through a pre-ICO private sale held in October 2017. 
• 420 million CMT were sold to public investors during CyberMiles’ Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in November 2017. 
• Another 200 million tokens were pre-allocated to the 5miles marketplace, for jumpstarting the CyberMiles blockchain right after its launch. 
• The remaining 100 million CMT (of total supply) were allocated to the CyberMiles team and its partners. 

Both the 5miles and CyberMiles CMT allocations (200 million + 100 million CMT) were placed in a two-and-a-half year vesting period, followed by a gradual quarterly release.

The CMT price has always remained under a dollar since the token was launched in November 2017. The token reached its all-time high on Jan. 7, 2018, with the CyberMiles price reaching nearly $0.6 per token for the first time. It couldn’t sustain the $0.5+ price level for long and soon retraced to around $0.07 by April 2018. A rebound catapulted the CyberMiles price back into the $0.4+ territory in late May 2018. The token gave in to bearish pressure thereafter and receded to $0.02 by the end of that year. The CMT price hasn’t managed to recover ever since and has been consistently losing value over the years. It was trading in the vicinity of $0.002 in Q3, 2022, amid bearish market conditions.

How are CMT tokens created/mined?

New CMT tokens are created and distributed among the CyberMiles’ delegators and validators, through a process called ‘minting’. This is quite different from the ‘mining’ process of Proof of Work blockchains, wherein extensive computing power is needed for creating new tokens. 

As explained earlier while talking about CyberMiles workings, the CyberMiles blockchain uses a DPoS consensus mechanism to secure its network. In this mechanism, both delegators and validators are required to stake their CMT tokens. The latter performs the task of processing and validating the network transactions and adding new blocks to the chain. In return, new CMT tokens are minted through systematic inflation and network transaction fees and are awarded to them as block awards. CyberMiles has an inflation rate of up to 8% per annum.

CyberMiles competition and how it fares

Any blockchain network that comes enabled with smart contract functionality is a valid competitor of CyberMiles. However, it’s Ethereum, the largest smart contract platform in the world as of writing, which remains CyberMiles’ biggest rival. That said, CyberMiles has quite some ground to cover before it comes even remotely close to the success and market penetration achieved by Ethereum. 

Theoretically, CyberMiles scores on multiple fronts. Its transactional throughput of 10,000 TPS is way higher than 10-15 TPS of Ethereum. It also offers a software middleware stack to e-commerce dApp developers, which is missing in Ethereum. Additionally, CyberMiles’ DPoS consensus mechanism makes it far more scalable and energy-efficient as compared to Ethereum, as of writing. That said, Ethereum is currently transitioning from a Proof of Work to a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. Once the Ethereum Merge is complete, it too will stand at par with other PoS blockchains like CyberMiles. Thereafter, Ethereum will undergo another major upgrade in the form of sharding (to be completed in 2023-24). This upgrade will introduce 64 shard chains to the Ethereum network, and make it significantly more scalable than before.

While there are 71+ million wallets that hold an ETH balance, there are only 150107 accounts associated with CyberMiles' CMT token. Ethereum’s ecosystem comprises 2970 projects and 50.5 million smart contracts. These figures entirely eclipse CyberMiles’ ecosystem which features very few projects as of writing. With a TVL of nearly $35 billion, Ethereum has 57.7% share of the global DeFi market. CyberMiles holds no relevance in the DeFi space, as compared to Ethereum.

Source: Defillama

CyberMiles Partnerships & investors

The CyberMiles token, CMT, was launched through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) held on Nov 21, 2017. Investors from 111 countries participated in this ICO and collectively raised $30 million for the platform. An additional 280 million CMT were allocated to private investors during a pre-sale event held earlier in October 2017. Some of the well-known investors of CyberMiles project are Kosmos Capital, Susquehanna Asia Investments, Asymmetry Asset Management, Lunam Capital, The Cabin Capital, Decentrust Capital, YouBi Capital, and Bigcoin Capital.

CyberMiles has partnered with multiple brands and organizations since its launch to strengthen its market presence and expand its ecosystem. Some of its noteworthy collaborations are:

• With a Nasdaq-traded company called Sino-Global Shipping America, to jointly work on CyberWorld, a highly secure NFT Exchange. 
• With OKEx Pool, one of the leading mining pools in the world, to expand its validator network.
• With TISS (TokenInsight Staking Service), for community governance, data collaboration, and ecosystem development.
• With a global online retail company called LightInTheBox, to help the latter with a crypto-based rebate promotional campaign

CyberMiles strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

Strengths

Some of the biggest strengths of the CyberMiles blockchain are:

• The blockchain was initiated by a team that already had a successful billion-dollar product in the form of the 5miles e-commerce app, under its belt.
• Its high transactional throughput of 10,000 TPS allows for the creation of highly-scalable dApps, catering to millions of users.
• It comes with an in-built library of smart contract templates that can be readily used by any e-commerce app developer.
• The network waives off transaction fees for most of the common operations, without compromising its security.
• The blockchain offers a mobile app, widely used for interacting with it and to benefit from its features.
• CyberMiles has been able to create the perfect balance between safety, decentralization and scalability, thus resolving the blockchain trilemma to a great extent.
• Blockchains are less prone to network failures, implying that e-commerce apps deployed on them are unlikely to witness frequent downtimes. This is quite contrary to the workings of conventional e-commerce apps.
• The community at the helm of the CyberMiles project has been flexible about its focus. It gauged the rapidly catching up trend of NFTs and partnered with Sino-Global well in time, to launch the CyberWorld NFT exchange.

Source: CyberMiles.io

Weaknesses

All transactions made on the blockchain are irreversible in nature. This can prove to be a major issue in the e-commerce space where it’s common for people to make errors while shopping online. The project seems to have lost its focus along the way. While it was heavily concentrated on e-commerce operations at one point in time, the focus has gradually shifted away to NFTs, as of writing. The CyberMiles team was apparently not able to bank upon the 5miles’ strong user base, as efficiently as it was expected to. Outside of the 5miles ecosystem, the CyberMiles team couldn’t find partners and use cases for either the CyberMiles blockchain or the CMT token. 

Opportunities

The global non-fungible token market is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 33.9% from 2022 to 2030. It is anticipated to reach a total market value of $211.72 billion by 2030. This presents a great opportunity for CyberMiles’ powered CyberWorld platform. It can really make its presence felt in the global NFT trading marketplace and drive future growth of the CyberMiles blockchain.

Threats

Despite having been around for more than a decade, the crypto and the wider blockchain industry are still in their nascent stages. There’s plenty of ambiguity regarding the regulatory framework around cryptocurrencies and the technology that powers them. This is a big threat for not just the CyberMiles project, but the industry that it’s a part of, as a whole.

About CyberMiles NFT Platform - CyberWorld

As of writing, CyberMiles is gradually pivoting to NFTs as its main focus area, for developing its core ecosystem. The blockchain started actively promoting and supporting NFT creation and circulation around 2018. It also claims to be the first-ever public blockchain to implement NFTization and auction of digital artists’ works.

CyberMiles teamed up with Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd., a NASDAQ-listed company with ticker SINO, towards this end. It created and launched CyberWorld version 1.0, an NFT trading platform along with Sino-Global, in May 2021. The launch also coincided with the release of CyberWorld Genesis NFTs.

The NFT platform allows investors, artists, collectors, musicians and others to create, buy and sell digital content encapsulated as NFTs. With CyberWorld, CyberMiles aims to create a crucial link between the physical and the virtual blockchain world. It can be used for collecting and trading some truly rare works of digital art. All digital artworks are created by recognized artists and are NFTized using the CyberMiles blockchain. CyberWorld will be accessible both on mobile as well in a web version.

CyberMiles roadmap

If we refer to the CyberMiles official website’s roadmap page, it mostly talks about the development of the CyberWorld NFT Platform. As mentioned earlier about CyberMiles, there’s an apparent clear shift in the team’s focus and strategy. 

Source: CyberMiles.io

As can be seen in the image above, the CyberMiles team in collaboration with Sino-Global, has covered quite some ground in developing CyberWorld. Their partnership was announced in April 2021, followed by the CyberWorld v1.0 beta launch in May 2021. CyberWorld v2.0 is under development as we write. The platform is simultaneously forging partnerships with multiple entities to further its market adoption efforts. 

CyberMiles updates, News, Highlights

In an important CyberMiles news, in May 2020, it partnered with OKX Pool, a leading mining pool created upon OKX, a globally-recognized crypto exchange. With this collaboration OKX Pool became one of the validators for the CyberMiles project, thus making a significant contribution to its security and operations. At the time of assuming the validator role, the mining pool was ranked third with 27+ million votes and an attractive compensation rate of 30%.

In November 2021, the blockchain project announced a collaboration between CyberWorld and a designer company named ADAMASH LAB. The NFT platform teamed up with the latter to help them with the launch of their inaugural NFTs. Their first NFT series was named ‘ELEMENTS’ and was based on toy characters. It was launched on Sep. 21, 2021, and sold out immediately.

Where to buy CyberMiles? 

While it’s possible to buy CMT from many crypto exchanges, OKX seems to be a popular choice because of its ease of use. On OKX, you can buy the CyberMiles token in a few simple steps, within a matter of minutes. Simply,

• Log into your OKX account 
• Fund it with USDT
• Place a ‘buy CMT’ market order through the form available under the CMT/USDT price chart

The purchased CMT tokens will reflect as ‘available balance’ in your OKX account.

How to store CyberMiles?

Our native OKX wallet is widely-perceived as the best place to store and use your CMT tokens. It comes armed with a wide range of industry-leading security features. Alternatively, you can also use the CyberMiles app for CMT storage. Some of the other third-party wallets that can be used to store CyberMiles tokens are: Ledger, Freewallet, iToken wallet and Assure Wallet.

How to stake CyberMiles

CyberMiles offers an efficient app for both Android and iOS devices, to help CMT investors stake their tokens for block rewards. You can stake your CMT on any validator of your choice and earn block awards directly through this app. The annual return may vary from validator to validator, and fluctuate based on market conditions. However, according to the CyberMiles official website, it’s usually up to 20% per annum. To be able to stake CMT through this app, you need to install it on your mobile device and deposit a minimum of 1,000 CMT first.

OKX platform too has a that allows crypto investors to stake their assets to earn regular yield. However, the available assets may change from time to time. 

FAQ about CyberMiles

What is CMT Cube?

CMT Cube is a hardware device that was launched alongside CyberMiles blockchain. It allows for easy staking of CMT tokens in a safe environment. The device features a user-friendly interface and low power consumption.

Which are some of the popular dApps created on the CyberMiles blockchain?

Some of the well-known dApps deployed on the CyberMiles blockchain include 5miles Data dApp, Fair Play, OpenBay, Declare Your Love, WeBet and Community Vote.

What is the CyberMiles app?

Available for both iOS and Android devices, the CyberMiles app functions as a mobile client of the CyberMiles public blockchain network. It allows for secure storage of CyberMiles tokens and a medium to enjoy CyberMiles blockchain’s benefits from your mobile device. 

Is there any block explorer available for the CyberMiles blockchain?

Yes. CyberMiles blockchain has a block explorer named CMT Tracking. You can access it here. 

Is the CyberMiles community active on social media?

Yes. The CyberMiles community is quite active on the project’s social media channels including Medium, Twitter, Telegram, Weibo, Kakao, Github, and Facebook.