LOOM is the digital token that is used to pay for services on the Loom Network and it is built on Ethereum in accordance with the [ERC-20](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/erc20/) standard. Keep in mind that the LOOM token is not mined and instead it is earned by users who engage with DApps on the Loom Network. The maximum supply of LOOM tokens is fixed at 1 billion.

The Loom Network is secured through a zkLoom protocol for efficient blockchains. The Ethereum network is one of the most popular open-source blockchains for smart contracts and it is backed by the second largest cryptocurrency. Through zkLoom blockchain, you no longer have to trust validators, and can rely on security guarantees provided by Ethereum. Through leveraging Ethereum for security, zkLoom blockchains operate in a secure manner with few validators and as such, it is much easier to bootstrap new blockchains and to operate them at a lower cost.

Loom Network is a platform as a service that allows Ethereum Solidity applications to be run through side chains. This means that the applications can have consensus mechanisms specific for their needs and potential threat model. Loom makes scaling decentralized applications faster and easier on the Ethereum network and uses the DPoS sidechains for scalability with [DApps](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps) through the security of Ethereum mainnet. The LOOM token acts as a membership token that each member receives in order to get access to all of the apps that run on the Loom Network itself. This token functions on all of the DAppChains that run on the Loom Network and lets you transfer digital assets and data between Ethereum and Loom DAppChains.

The Loom Network was founded by Matthew Campbell, James Martin Duffy and Luke Zhang in 2017. Matthew Campbell is one of the co-founders and principal of the Loom Network. He is also the principal of Hyperwork Inc, and was also a lead software engineer at Digital Ocean, an instant messaging server architect at Thomson Reuters, an engine mechanic and co-founder of Errplane, a Scala Dude at Tapad, an architect at Bloomberg, a technical architect at Thomson Reuters, a senior R&D engineer at Bertelsmann, he rewrote the Gucci website into Ruby on Rails, he was the lead technical engineer at Superdeluxe and a software analyst at Bellsouth with a background in programming at Listman Home Technologies and Insurance House. James Martin Duffy is the CMO at Loom Network, and he is also the CEO at Epictetus Ventures as well as the founder of Auragin. Before that, he worked as a developer at Cryptocurrency Trading Bot, and founded KoreaJobFinder. He was also a lead developer at Casual Steps Inc, and a freelance web developer and online marketer before that. Luke Zhang is the co-founder of Loom Network, and before that he was a lead developer at BlockMason, a developer at Elemica, a developer at Workopolis and a prototyping expert at Shifthub.

Loom Network is a platform as a service that is built on top of [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) and allows developers to run large-scale decentralized applications. This platform was released on October 1st, 2017. The goal of this is to allow application developers to have [smart contracts](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract) that can access much more computing power when it is required, or maintain the same power at lower costs for tasks such as trials for onboarding new users or applications that simply do not need the full security of blockchain to begin with. In this system you have the ability to interact with APIs developed by third parties which are not on chain. Loom attempts to be the ultimate platform that allows smart contract developers to create applications without the need to switch to another programming language. As such, they can easily integrate their applications with the outside world. The Loom Network runs on Plasma, which is a scaling solution that allows for faster transactions throughout the network.