Japanese technology accelerator TECHFUND has launched support for the NEO blockchain in Accel BaaS. Accel BaaS (Blockchain as a Service) is a cloud-based service designed to assist the adoption of blockchain technology for enterprises by providing simplified access to nodes, APIs, and the contract deployment process.

TECHFUND and Accel BaaS

TECHFUND was launched in 2014 and aims to provide startups with technical support. The fund raised a total of 100 million JPY from corporate investors including Nomura Holdings, the largest investment banking group in Asia.

The NEO blockchain is the second platform to be supported by Accel BaaS, following the implementation of its Ethereum toolkit. The service aims to support multiple blockchains and cross-platform functions, allowing its clients to experiment and quickly deploy Proof of Concept contracts.

Accel BaaS provides contract templates that can be customized using the provided GUI, enabling entities unfamiliar with blockchain technology and smart contracts to be more easily onboarded. The team also hopes the addition of NEO support will result in an inflow of potential adopters to the NEO ecosystem from Ethereum and those that are not currently exploring the use of blockchain for their technical solutions.

Technical Feature Demos

In a conversation with NEO News Today, TECHFUND provided information on the functionality currently offered by Accel BaaS, including video demos. These features are outlined below:

SDK

TECHFUND noted that developers may import the Accel SDK to gain easy access to the Ethereum and NEO blockchains via the provided API. This removes the need for the developer to operate their own nodes or create wallets. Through the API, data may be sent to and received from the blockchain.

Wallets/Transactions

The Accel BaaS wallet page provides a GUI where developers can manage the wallets or transactions related to their projects.

NEO Contract Marketplace

The contract marketplace allows developers to upload NEO contracts written in several languages including C#, Python, and Java. These contracts are automatically compiled and can be made public for other developers to access. Contract users pay fees to Accel BaaS, which are shared with developers that create public contracts.

The contract marketplace also offers a comment and rating system, which is hoped to increase the security and usability of each contract via peer review.

Deployment

Developers may create contracts or select a template to use, and then customize the contracts with their required parameters. Following configuration, contracts are compiled and deployed to the blockchain where they can be interacted with using the provided API.

OAuth

Accel BaaS also provides support for OAuth, allowing end users to access the service using Twitter or Github accounts. Developers may also permit their accounts to be accessed by any authorized application, designed to simplify the integration process.

Future Goals

Moving forward, TECHFUND reports that it will further update templates and provide additional modularity. Long-term, the service is hoped to enabled non-developers to create their own templated blockchain services, as part of its ambition to scale blockchain services to ordinary users.

More information on Accel BaaS may be found here.

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