LONDON (Bywire News) - Blockchain has been on quite a journey since its initial introduction to decentralisation with Bitcoin in 2009. Since then, many developers have faced multiple issues as they try to transform the blockchain into the high-power technology of the future its proponents believe it can be.
13 years, in terms of new technological development, is quite a short time. By comparison, electric cars were first invented in the 1800s, but are still struggling to attain widespread adoption. Blockchain, therefore, is only in its infancy.
Millions of individuals around the world are already eying up the blockchain to simplify their lives and governments and entities are eyeing blockchain to improve and adjust infrastructure.
There is no doubt that blockchain technology itself will have a major impact on the future of many industries. However, in order for it to reach that stage, it needs to prove itself as having the ability to provide a secure and reliable framework for banking, commerce and communication.
What Could Potentially Hold Blockchain Back?
Similar to any disruptive technology, there are certain obstacles blockchain will face that could hold it back from mainstream adoption. According to Coinmarketcap, there are currently around 21,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation which mean there are 21,000 projects competing with each other to “be the industry-leading blockchain project”.
While this may be great for investors, as it plays a part in the industry's rapid growth, it also could be accredited as the reason for delayed adoption. Having that many developers working on that many projects are less effective but also a major cause for concern. The idea is that if all these developers contributed to making one network the “main-chain” mainstream adoption could’ve been achieved some time ago.
Ethereum, as an example, was invented to counter important issues and fulfil the needs of the market that many felt Bitcoin couldn’t deliver on. This led to thousands of cryptocurrencies building on the Ethereum network, but now Ethereum faces the same challenges as Bitcoin in terms of limited scalability.
Ethereum has high hopes for the merge which saw them move from proof of work to proof of stake to solve their scalability. As with all updates, though, time will be the final judge. History shows that scalability is still a problem even more decentralised networks.
Is There A Solution Out There?
At this current time with the promise blockchain has shown, some of the smartest people in the world are building their products in the blockchain space and a select number have all been committing to finding scalability solutions.
- Network Capacity
- Speed
- Costs
In 2018, a new innovative project with a different consensus mechanism was launched which aimed at delivering greater scalability, faster finality of transactions and much lower transaction costs. At its peak, EOS was doing well over 100 million transactions in a day, eight times more than all the other blockchains. However, EOS faced a decrease in usage for a number of reasons.
It has been surpassed by WAX, which is a blockchain designed for gaming and the trading of NFTs. Launching in 2019, WAX uses the same consensus mechanism as EOS – DPoS and four years on, this mechanism remains as the most decentralized consensus mechanism in the industry.
IBC Between EOS, WAX, Telos & UX Network
Earlier this year a coalition formed between EOS, UX Network, WAX and Telos which forms the Antelope Protocol which was once known as EOSIO. The contributors of the coalition committed a total of $8 million towards its development and outreach efforts.
CEO of the ENF, Yves La Rose commented the following regarding the coalition:
“This coalition represents a monumental shift in direction for the future of the EOSIO protocol and is a huge milestone for all of the businesses leveraging its technology. The network effect of multiple EOSIO blockchains working together to secure the growth and sustainability of our common codebase and related open source innovations is a force multiplier that will be paying dividends for years to come.”
Four months on, the EOSIO protocol has been forked with the EOS network celebrating what it termed EOS Independence Day. It’s a great moment for EOS, but it’s also a big one for the wider blockchain environment.
The biggest hidden key to unlocking blockchain scalability issues could indeed be inter-blockchain communication. Inter-blockchain communication enables two or more chains to communicate with each other meaning ultimate interoperability between multiple chains.
With IBC, all of the interconnected networks become part of a larger network which in this case is the Antelope ecosystem. The implementation of IBC means that dApps built on either chain are compatible with one another resulting in less network traffic and faster speed with lower latency and costs.
Eventually, all blockchains are aiming to be interoperable with one another and EOS, Telos, WAX and UX Network will be the first to do so at such a scale. The introduction of IBC means that the possibility of being the only network capable of hosting any mainstream application is greater.
As different chains have different interfaces but similar experiences, choosing a chain will almost be like choosing which server you prefer playing the exact same game on with different players. This is the most idealistic but realistic way blockchain usage looks in the mainstream world.
This would be the USP for EOS that can’t be ignored by anyone trying to build a highly successful app for business on the blockchain. It would also create an environment where it’s easier to pool marketing efforts together as all chains are incentivised to promote the network.
(Writing by Samba Jallow, editing by Tom Cropper and Klaudia Fior)