aelf is a high-performance, cloud-native, layer-1 blockchain network with its Mainnet nodes running on different cloud-computing data centers. It provides a high-speed running environment for smart contracts and enables the execution of contracts in parallel and smart contract microservitization running on server clusters.
The MainChain and multi-SideChains architecture supports efficient indexing within the network and guarantees almost unlimited scalability. And the built-in cross-chain design facilitates ultra-fast interaction of data. The innovative hybrid of shared SideChain and exclusive SideChain greatly lowers the cost for developers and users and further enhances the overall network performance.
Enhancement of the network’s performance
The performance optimization of aelf can be mainly classified into two, single chain and multi-chain.
1. Performance of single chain
- High-speed running environment for smart contracts. The execution speed of aelf’s smart contracts, as has been tested, is 1,000x that of EVM. Test codes can be found in their report on GitHub or in a previous article.
- Execution of smart contracts in parallel. As set in the contract definition and pre-execution phase, aelf categorizes the smart contracts by tags so that contracts in one block can be executed in parallel;
- Smart contract microservitization can run on server clusters. Based on the gRPC protocol, aelf defines the remote call protocol of smart contracts, realizes aelf contracts as microservice, and realizes the automatic scalability of single chain smart contract operation environment by combining with the strategy of cloud computing.
2. Performance of multi-chain
- MainChain and multi-SideChains architecture: This architecture enables the blockchain network to be both efficiently indexed and unlimitedly scaled. Suppose that it indexes 8 SideChains on each layer, then on a three-layer network, aelf can index a total of 8*8*8 SideChains. That means 512 SideChains, and if it’s on a four-layer, the total number of indexed SideChains will be 4096. It can help aelf and its developers build one Web3 application on each SideChain;
- Shared SideChain and exclusive SideChain
- Shared SideChains are used by developers for verifying their projects. While for exclusive SideChains, the verification process is eliminated and users will not be charged, hence the performance is greatly improved. The exclusive SideChains adopt a charging mode similar to Amazon servers’ monthly charging;
- Built-in cross-chain functionality: To ensure data interaction within all systems of blockchains (inner), aelf realizes the built-in interaction of cross-chain data. This is achieved by production nodes interacting with each other in the data center.
DAO governance system
aelf’s governance design supports the blockchain to be highly decentralized and guarantees the security and scalability of the network. The Mainnet nodes are currently run by different organizations on various cloud data centers. aelf has a mature online DAO governance system. Users can participate in network maintenance through the voting system using their ELF tokens and by voting, they can receive staking rewards.
Use cases of its native ELF tokens
Users can stake&vote using ELF to participate in governance. Besides this, the token is also used to pay transaction fees or purchase resource tokens.
Transactions on aelf network are settled in ELF, and this includes transaction fees and SideChain index fees. It takes only about 0.3 ELF to complete a transaction which is so much cheaper than Ethereum.
The resource tokens are used by developers. These are tokens needed for projects to be developed and running on aelf, and there are altogether 8 types of them. Depending on their own needs, developers can choose which resources/ resource tokens to use and purchase the tokens with ELF. ELF is also used to pay method fees for calling smart contracts.
It’s worth noting that ELF here refers to the Mainnet ELF instead of ERC-20 or BEP-20 tokens. Though aelf supports four types of ELF tokens, it’s the Mainnet ELF running on aelf blockchain that can act as the ticket to aelf’s ecosystem and governance.
Optimization of developer experience
aelf has been consistently optimizing its own infrastructures, products as well as services to make the developer experience more user-friendly and smooth.
To better support ecosystem growth and cater to different development needs, aelf has built and open-sourced a complete set of frameworks and DApp development tools, including the blockchain explorer, extension wallet, App wallet, multi-language SDKs, aelf CLI, event handler, aelf Boilerplate, on-chain data querying system like The Graph, contract template & code generator, etc. These projects are open for everyone to build upon and you can learn more on GitHub.
aelf’s vision of Web3
aelf has great faith in the development of the Web3 industry and is trying its best to keep pace with it. It has the ambition to lead the development of the industry. aelf will play an important role and will provide an accessible entrance to the metaverse for everyone.
Since C# is used to build smart contracts on aelf, it will attract developers from the Unity community to write smart contracts here, leading aelf one step forward towards the goal. To achieve this, the team is more than dedicated to the construction of Web3 and other infrastructures, such as privacy computing, decentralized storage, and decentralized identity (DID).
Roadmap
With the goal set to support the development of Web3 and its explosion in the next 5 to 10 years, aelf promises it will keep upgrading its own tech and products while promoting ecosystem growth. Recently, the team has been busy negotiating with their communities, and so far, they have disclosed that some fascinating proposals were submitted, all contributing to aelf ecosystem. Names like cross-chain bridge, wallet, and DAO were mentioned. Seems like their community should be prepared for a year of booming.
For more information on aelf, please check out their official website and follow them on Medium or Twitter.
Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be treated as news/advice.