TL; DR
Scalability is a problem that blockchain has to face, and this problem has become one of the biggest obstacles to the large-scale development of blockchain. The current mainstream approach to scalability issues is based on Layer 1 improvements or Layer 2 extensions. This article introduces some of the mainstream solutions, as well as a different solution from Layer 1 and Layer 2 — Trias’ Layer -1 network.
Layer 1
The main chain
Mainstream public chains, such as the Bitcoin network and Ethereum main chain that we are familiar with, all belong to the category of Layer 1. The main role of Layer 1 networks is to ensure network security, decentralization, and final state verification.
Avalanche and BSC are Layer 1. They adopt an EVM compatibility strategy and can do everything Ethereum does. The difference is that their systems are designed to achieve higher throughput thus costing less, but usually at the expense of decentralization.
Sidechain
Sidechains also fall under the category of Layer 1, and sidechains are very similar to EVM-compatible Layer 1 networks, except that sidechains are specifically designed to handle Ethereum’s excess capacity rather than compete with it. The sidechain ecosystem is tightly integrated with the Ethereum community, hosting Ethereum applications in complementary ways, like Axie Infinity’s Ronin sidechain.
Layer 2
Layer 2 is a separate ecosystem that is deployed on the main chain, and its security depends on the main chain. The Layer 2 network separates transactions from the main chain, reduces the burden on the Layer 1 network, improves the service processing efficiency, and expanses capacity.
In the case of Ethereum, Ethereum Layer 2 is commonly referred to as Rollup, which bundles updated transaction data together and executes it in the new environment before sending it back to Ethereum, and then sends the results of the calculations to Ethereum. This approach is much more economical than having Ethereum process each transaction individually.
Trias Layer -1
Unlike other layers that improve consensus efficiency at or above the consensus Layer, Trias solves performance problems by mining layer -1 below the consensus layer and layer -1 focuses on building trust relationships between voting nodes.
As the credibility of voting nodes is modeled and calculated, the consensus layer will no longer require all nodes to check any particular transaction, but only nodes whose credibility is recognized by most of the other nodes. Because there are fewer nodes to vote on, consensus will be reached more quickly, and because all voting nodes are endorsed by other nodes, it will be very difficult to violate consensus.
One way to implement Layer -1 is to use remote proof technology among voting nodes. The remote proof is implemented by trusted Execution Environment (TEE), which uses embedded security chips such as TPM, Intel CPU’s SGX extension, or ARM’s TrustZone extension to report the status of the application loaded on the target node.
With remote proof, any voting node checks that its connections to other nodes are running correctly. So any node that intentionally “lies” will be immediately identified because remote proof will discover its changed application or configuration.
However, remote proof can only ensure the behavior of the target node before the proof. In order to ensure the security of the network, a target voting node needs to be proved in real-time.
Layer -1 addresses this problem by introducing a relationship of passing on trust, which allows a node to infer the credibility of a remote node without initiating direct remote proof by validating the proof path of the target node. Therefore, in a network of partially mutual proof nodes, a node with the largest number of proof paths to it is considered to be the most difficult node to “lie”.
Layer -1 only needs to select a few nodes that are most difficult to “lie” as voting nodes to execute consensus procedures on target transactions, significantly improving consensus efficiency.
Layer -1 is a trusted consensus layer based on trusted hardware to implement the trusted computing mechanism. Layer -1 can further implement the trusted node selection mechanism to support the upper layer services, such as the consensus Layer services of the third party public chain. In this way, for the whole public chain, there is a layer of trust mechanism to enhance the credibility of nodes. Therefore, layer -1 has strong scalability and can carry other forms of public chains. As the base layer, layer -1 can build an Ethereum, a Hyperledger, or other public chains.
Trias provides basic blockchain design modules that developers can use to create their own blockchains. In the middle tier, Trias will provide some R&D tools for blockchain development, enabling applications and services to be combined; Based on the service layer in the middle, developers can develop applications directly.
Official website: https://www.trias.one
Whitepaper: https://www.trias.one/whitepaper
Telegram: https://t.me/triaslab
Twitter: https://twitter.com/triaslab
Discord: https://discord.gg/uSHpezwKWZ
Trade on Pancake: https://triaslab.medium.com/how-to-buy-trias-on-pancakeswap-d9bd1628e69f
