Solana

Solana is a rather new open source project, launching officially in March 2020 by the Solana Foundation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The project competes to provide decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions contending against platforms like Ethereum. 

Solana (SOL) uses a unique hybrid consensus model. Proof-of-history (PoH) is combined with the proof-of-stake (PoS) to reach consensus on the blockchain. Proof-of-stake has been used by many other projects, but proof-of-history is a bit more noteworthy. PoH uses a verifiable delay function (VDF) to assign timestamps on the blockchain in a decentralized manner. Ethereum, by contrast, uses outside programs to assign a timestamp so transactions can be validated in the order they were received. On Solana, this forces block producers to go through the VDF to get to their assigned slot and produce a block. On the Solana chain, data is inserted into the sequence by appending the hash of the data of the previously generated states. The state, input data, and count are all published. This creates an upper bound on time and since PoH can reference a previous hash, the lower bound time is also known. Therefore the VDF will indicate the exact time of any transaction. This entire process is important because it allows the Solana chain to speed up transaction speed. Since everyone knows the exact time, validation can be completed much quicker. Solana now has the capability to process up to 50,000 transactions per second. 

Solana’s future looks bright with their Proof-of-history innovation. They also boast low fees and a growing marketplace for NFTs. 

Bitcoin Cash 

Bitcoin Cash was created in 2017 as a result of concerns about the scalability of Bitcoin. Developers and Bitcoin influencers could not come to terms on the best way to scale the blockchain. Some supporters pushed for the Segregated Witness update while others called for scaling onchain by increasing the block size. A hard fork occurred and two blockchains emerged, one called Bitcoin and one called Bitcoin Cash. 

Bitcoin Cash is the project that chose to scale onchain, and is considered by many to be the continuation of the original Bitcoin project as peer-to-peer electronic cash. Bitcoin moved on with SegWit which has been described as inelegant and complicated, creating two parallel sets of rules for evaluating transactions, but ignoring one of them. SegWit technically breaks Bitcoin’s security by empowering miners and anyone who can coerce them to steal balances. according to the Bitcoin protocol, all segwit transactions can be spent by anybody with no proof of authorization. That means that literally anyone can make a transaction that spends the bitcoins in a SegWit address. The “witness data” (which is the rules for who’s allowed to claim the outputs, and the proof that the rules were followed on the inputs that claim the outputs) is moved out of the main block and replaced with a simple “anyone can spend me, there are no rules and no proofs,” and it’s up to miners to know what the rules really are, ignore the “anyone can spend me” instruction, and instead apply the rules from the witness data. Even so, Bitcoin has continued to gain popularity and value, dominating the cryptocurrency space. 

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has not experienced the same rise as Bitcoin, but has been innovating nonetheless. The principal goal of Bitcoin Cash is to provide more economic freedom to those who need it in the world. In this regard they have been making strides. These include advancements to the blockchain such as introducing Schnorr Signatures, the implementation of a token standard called SLP, and a new difficulty algorithm. Bitcoin Cash has also been successful assisting communities in countries like Argentina, Venezuela, and South Sudan. Flipstarter is another exciting project for Bitcoin Cash. The project is a noncustodial crowdfunding tool that uses BCH. This tool empowers the community to use its own means to fund valuable projects for the BCH environment. Bitcoin Cash is also making moves with regard to institutional investment. Greyscale is now offering shares of the Bitcoin Cash Trust to institutions allowing institutions to disregard custody concerns. A new fungibility protocol directed at obscuring transactions on the BCH chain called Cashfusion was implemented, which is a big step forward for privacy. A whopping $3.2 billion has been anonymized via Cashfusion. Lastly, Bitcoin Cash is now a competitor in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. General Protocols launched Anyhedge and Detoken, which are two new DeFi tools designed to operate on top of the BCH protocol.

Avalanche

Avalanche (AVAX) launched it’s mainnet in 2020 and has grown leaps and bounds in 2021. The project  is a layer one blockchain that focuses on decentralized applications and custom blockchain networks. Avalanche is competing directly with Ethereum in the smart contract space and hopes their higher transaction output will give them competitive advantage. (TPS is upwards of 6500 currently) 

What makes Avalanche special is their use of three interoperable blockchains to achieve true decentralization at scale. The three chains are the Exchange Chain (X-Chain), the Contract Chain (C-Chain), and the Platform Chain (P-Chain). The X-Chain serves as an exchange for the AVAX tokens and other assets on the chain. This blockchain is run by the Avalanche consensus mechanism. This mechanism works to allow all nodes to process and validate transactions by enlisting a directed acyclic graph (DAG) protocol. By doing this, transactions are processed simultaneously, and validators can be statistically certain transactions are correct via their random polling. The C-Chain exists to run smart contracts and dApps. This chain includes the Avalanche Virtual Machine giving devs the ability to fork Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible dApps. The C-Chain is operated by the Snowman consensus mechanism, which is the implementation of the Avalanche consensus protocol for linear chains. The final blockchain in the trifecta is the P-Chain. This chain coordinates the network validators and controls subnets. Subnets are sets of validators. The P-Chain also runs on the Snowman consensus mechanism. 

We commend Avalanche for their continued development of blockchain bridges, which allows the transfer of data between two different blockchain projects.

This completes our blockchain highlights post for 2021.

DISCLAIMER: We do not endorse these projects; we are simply recognizing that these groups have made significant innovations in the blockchain space. Use our contact form if any info about these projects needs updating and/or if there are any new innovations in the blockchain or open source fields Follow My Vote should be made aware of.

The post 2021 Blockchain Highlights appeared first on Follow My Vote.

From CB Insights:

“Elections require authentication of voters’ identity, secure record keeping to track votes, and trusted tallies to determine the winner. In the future, blockchain tools could serve as a foundational infrastructure for casting, tracking, and counting votes — potentially eliminating the need for recounts by taking voter fraud and foul play off the table.

By capturing votes as transactions through blockchain, governments and voters would have a verifiable audit trail, ensuring no votes are changed or removed and no illegitimate votes are added. One blockchain voting startup, Follow My Vote, has released the alpha version of its stake-weighted end-to-end blockchain voting solution.”

About CB Insights:

CB Insights aggregates and analyzes large amounts of data using machine learning, algorithms and data visualization to help customers answer strategic questions using probability and data.

In order, the 30 big industries blockchain could transform according to CB Insights:

1. BANKING
2. PAYMENTS AND MONEY TRANSFERS
3. CYBERSECURITY
4. EDUCATION AND ACADEMIA
5. VOTING
6. CAR LEASING AND SALES
7. NETWORKING AND IOT
8. FORECASTING
9. MUSIC/ENTERTAINMENT RIGHTS AND IP
10. RIDE SHARING
11. STOCK TRADING
12. REAL ESTATE
13. INSURANCE
14. HEALTHCARE
15. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
16. CLOUD STORAGE
17. ENERGY MANAGEMENT
18. SPORTS MANAGEMENT
19. GIFT CARDS AND LOYALTY PROGRAMS
20. GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC RECORDS
21. GUN TRACKING
22. WILLS AND INHERITANCES
23. RETAIL
24. CHARITY
25. LAW ENFORCEMENT
26. HUMAN RESOURCES
27. BUSINESS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
28. CREDIT HISTORIES
29. 3D PRINTING/MANUFACTURING
30. CROWDFUNDING

Check out the CB Insights research brief for examples of companies transforming their industry with blockchain technology.

CB Insights Research Brief

Source: cbinsights.com

About the Author: Will Long is the Co-Founder & Marketing Manager of Folow My Vote.

The post Follow My Vote Named In CB Insights “30 Big Industries Blockchain Could Transform” appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Did you know that public ledgers have been used for centuries? Blockchain is essentially a more advanced digital version.

Image Source

Stephen Kendal is an advocate of blockchain technology & the applications the tech has for global financial markets and in particular the effects on derivatives & global trade.

Kendal recently wrote an article on Steemit.com detailing a great explanation for blockchain using old fashioned public ledgers:

IT’S JUST A DATABASE

Once you have managed to fix someone’s attention on a Database being nothing more than a digital list of records it is easily then to explain that this digital list of records is no different than the old fashioned written/typed ledger that were around before computers.

By simply breaking it down into bite sized chucks most people will be able to keep up.

Now that they are thinking of a written/typed ledger explain to them that in some occasions these ledgers were made public for everyone to see.

By simply referring back to the old fashioned Public Ledger that have been around for Centuries for the ones that struggle to understand what Blockchain is this is where you have to take them.

Now that they are focused on this old fashioned Public Ledger you are getting close to seal the deal and finally explain what Blockchain is.

PUT THE TWO TOGETHER

Having now explained and focusing their mind on Databases and Public Ledgers simply tell them to put the two together.

At this point you simply say that Blockhain is nothing more than a generic name for a Digital Distributed Public Ledger and is in essence a Database that is shared identically across a network of computers.

Read the full post on Steemit.com

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Public Ledgers Are Not New – Blockchain Technology Is Just a Digital Version appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Large corporations tend to store lots of contracts and legal documents in Microsoft Office. Now with the new blockchain features, users can certify and sign documents, to verify they have not been tampered with.

The new feature in Office allows validation on both the Bitcoin blockchain and Ethereum blockchain.

See the diagram below:

These new features are possible because of an Office add-on from Stampery.

Stampery is a company leading the blockchain industry with data certification.

“Both the Bitcoin and the Ethereum blockchains are fully distributed, permissionless and transparent: anyone can access them from anywhere in the world. While the content is not stored in the blockchains, the proofs of the integrity, existence and ownership of such content can be independently verified by anyone, whether it be a sysadmin, a judge in court, a digital forensic or a lawyer. Also, these proofs will remain stored in the blockchain forever, even if Stampery disappears.”

The legality of storing information on a blockchain.

“In United States Federal Courts, blockchain-based hashing and time stamping can make for exceedingly strong evidence of the authenticity of a document. Computer file hashes are widely-accepted by technology experts and the federal courts as reliable indicators of document identity. Scaled blockchains are widely-accepted by technology experts and academics as reliable data sources. Taken together and applied to the recordation of important documents using Stampery, these technologies can make for a persuasive showing that a disputed document is identical (or not identical) to an original document.”

The Follow My Vote Team applauds Microsoft for taking advantage of blockchain technology and being innovative. We are hardcore believers in the tech and strongly advise all people to learn and study these distributed ledgers.

Learn about blockchain technology.

Source: Steemit.com/@kingscrown

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Microsoft Takes Advantage Of Blockchain Tech, Adds New Features To Office. appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Follow My Vote CTO, Nathan Hourt, is responsible for owning a critical role in the design and development of the Graphene Toolkit, which was first built for BitShares, a leading crypto-currency that has been credited with several industry innovations.

The Graphene blockchain framework also powers the Steem blockchain, PeerPlays blockchain and Golos blockchain.

@pnc on Steemit.com shared this Graphene blockchain ecosystem mapping. Follow My Vote is featured in the registry section.

It is really cool to see all the projects and apps utilizing Graphene technology in one graphic.

Definition of Blockchain

A blockchain is an audit trail for a database which is managed by a network of computers where no single computer is responsible for storing or maintaining the database, and any computer may enter or leave this network at any time without jeopardizing the integrity or availability of the database. Any computer can rebuild the database from scratch by downloading the blockchain and processing the audit trail.

Simplified Blockchain Definition

“The blockchain is actually a way to structure data, and the foundation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. This coding breakthrough—which consists of concatenated blocks of transactions—allows competitors to share a digital ledger across a network of computers without need for a central authority. No single party has the power to tamper with the records: the math keeps everyone honest. Forty of the world’s top financial firms are experimenting with the tech.”

Fortune.com

Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPOS)

The Graphene toolkit utilizes a Delegated Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. This means that the difficulty of producing a block should be proportional to the stake (percent ownership) in the network.

Instead of mining (like Bitcoin and other Proof-of-Work systems) delegates are chosen by the stakeholders of the crypto tokens. Those delegates proceed to run the network with less competition and energy than a Proof-of-Work system. DPOS systems are more efficient and allow for extremely high transaction volumes, as demonstrated by BitShares and Steem.

Other blockchains to use DPOS:  Peercoin and Nxt

More on Delegated Proof-of-Stake

Learn about Follow My Vote’s blockchain voting software.

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Understanding The Graphene Blockchain Ecosystem appeared first on Follow My Vote.