TrueBit: Secure Decentralized Scalable Blockchain Verification?
You might not have heard about it, but there’s a novel, but stealthy effort to give Ethereum smart contracts a computational boost. Dubbed TrueBit, the practice is gradually gaining momentum in a genuinely incredible fashion. And it actually delivers the results in a fast, reliable, and affordable way.
Introducing TrueBit
Ethereum is undoubtedly a fantastic platform, save for the ‘gas limit' that puts a limit on the speed of computation per block. TrueBit has an objective of supporting faster, more robust smart contract computations on a distributed application platform. The most sophisticated, but an ambitious bit of this goal will be on the platforms that would be required for such applications such as AI and Machine Learning or rendering images.
Problems relating to scaling in public blockchain architecture aren’t new, and Ethereum blockchain isn’t an exception, despite being the widely used blockchain today. Concerns with its computational power might eventually prove detrimental to this “world computer” in the future given the sheer number of projects is Smart Contracts feature supports. Previously, miners had to momentarily lower the “gas limit” following repeated attacks on the network, a decision that had devastating effects on Ethereum apps.
We have ambitious projects in the Proof-of-Stake, Sharding, the Raiden Network and State Channels, all striving to bring forth more scalability on Ethereum blockchain. And with TrueBit joining in, indeed, there’s a lot to be expected.
Developers of TrueBit hopes that by using another distributed network whose purpose will be to fasten the process of verifying computations, they’ll have boosted Ethereum's computational power. But it will not be a walk in the park.
How TrueBit Decentralized Scalable Blockchain Verification Works
TrueBit works by outsourcing the verification, just like how other future-generation blockchain projects. Basically, it adds a layer on top of the architecture, and the extra layer will do heavy-lifting. This mean, instead of an individual node doing the computation, those who participate in the market (called solvers) get to do it and “validators” get to approve their work.
The platform is set to reward participants so that they act in a trustworthy way. Any participant who disputes means the result is returned to the blockchain and the cheating solver punished. And that is the main reason TrueBit is described as a ‘verification game' on the Whitepaper.
Components And Benefits Of TrueBit
- A trustworthy community cloud responsible for the rewards for computations completed.
- Dogether – Special, smart contract functionality added to a cryptocurrency or token.
- On-chain storage to store data on the external blockchain.
- At this platform, one can:
- Stream videos via Livepeer – almost similar to YouTube.
- Interact with other miners
- Data marketplace.
- Machine learning.
The Future Of Truebit
But as much as it might appear like this TrueBit endeavor is a work-in-progress sort of project, its developers are persons of repute and give us the confidence to trust in it. Christian Reitwiessner is its lead developer and is responsible for this network's Solidity smart contracting language. He works alongside Jason Teutsch, a notable math guru.
The potential this project has is quite remarkable. If indeed it becomes a success turning Ethereum into a decentralized computational hub, it will be revolutionary. Meanwhile, it is about being optimistic and the wait-and-see game.
Add comment