Each of these problems is explored in more detail below, shedding light on how Radix is poised to revolutionize the world of dApps.

Let's get right into it!

1.) Poor Developer Experience

Challenges of Using Solidity for Smart Contract Development

Solidity is regarded as one of the most reliable programming languages for developing smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Like JavaScript, it allows programmers to write high-level code, making it easier to understand and use.

However, Radix highlights deep infrastructural gaps with how Solidity smart contracts and their environments treat what is arguably the most crucial element of any dApp: assets.

For example, there's no inherent notion of a 'token' in Ethereum, so tokenized assets like ATOM, ARB, or any other, except for Ethereum's native ETH, are simply separate ERC20 smart contracts that each hold a list of balances.

In the framework of code, these tokens are treated as auxiliary necessities and, in many ways, are placed on the back burner.

This setup implies that when developers set out to create dApps, they often dedicate 80% of their time building out asset behavior and other basic functionality parameters instead of focusing on business logic and user interface.

As a result, building the most user-centric components of a dApp often takes a backseat. This makes building less intuitive and delivers less than optimal results.

In the current framework, building dApps is so complex, lengthy, and convoluted that security gaps are bound to occur.

Considering the frequent high-profile hacks leading to millions in losses, as highlighted by numerous headline news every other week, the current state of DeFi security is simply unacceptable.

Solidity's Learning Curve is... Pretty Steep

Of an estimated 26 million developers worldwide, around 30,000 are full-time solidity developers. Of that 30,000, a large portion do not possess expertise in the language. In fact, the number of proficient Solidity developers capable of building market-ready dApps is slim.

This means Web3's growth depends solely on a limited pool of Solidity devs actually capable of building robust dApps, smart contracts, and on-chain functionalities.

Furthermore, Solidity's steep learning curve obstructs Web2 developers looking to transition into the Web3 space. This limits the available pool of competent developers and makes it virtually impossible for Web3 to reach global mass adoption.

To eliminate the steep learning curves needed to build in Web3, Radix has created a specialized smart contract environment that slashes the time it takes devs to launch their dApps. This environment is a product of the Radix Engine and programming language, Scrypto.

Let's talk about the Radix engine.

The Radix Engine: An Intuitive Smart Contract Environment

You can think of the Radix engine as an alternative to the Ethereum Virtual Machine. 

Like its native programming language, Scrypto, the Radix engine is asset-oriented but in the framework of its higher-level smart contract execution environment. This means that an asset is treated as the core of its environment by design. 

For example, in the Radix engine, tokens are perceived and treated as 'tangible' objects being transferred from one user account to another. These accounts, in turn, function like secure vaults safeguarding tokens under a user's control.

This presents a radical departure from today's conventional approach, where any transaction in DeFi is simply a message being dispatched to separate smart contracts that, while siloed, must communicate with countless other smart contracts to update your token balance within their internal registers.

In other words, the digital assets in your crypto wallet aren't really 'sitting' in your wallet. In fact, they're nothing more than balances within a smart contract.

To allow for the treatment of tokens as physical entities on a smart contract environment level, Radix employs a model known as the finite state machine for their tokens or assets.

This approach sets the Radix Engine apart from traditional smart contract methodology.

Exchanging Assets with the Radix Engine

So, what does the transfer of assets between users look like?

Much like everything else in the Radix stack, all transactions are asset-oriented. For clarity, let's define key terms in the Radix framework.

We'll start with buckets and vaults.

Vaults are where your assets permanently live, while Buckets are temporary containers where assets are sent when they are in transition.

In other words, when assets are in the process of changing ownership, they reside temporarily inside buckets during the period of the transaction before being sent to their new owner's vault.

When two users initiate an exchange, the desired tokens are transferred from each user's vault and placed into a 'bucket,' which, again, is a temporary container designed to facilitate any movement of digital assets.

The bucket immediately dispatches your tokens to the specified location, such as another user's bucket, and after completion of the exchange, to their vault for long-term storage.

Complex DeFi Trades: The Radix Engine's Transaction Manifest

The example above involves two traders engaging in a very simple exchange of tokens. However, in the real world, DeFi trades often involve several token swaps, exchanges, and actions in a single transaction.

To handle these transactions, Radix developed a built-in feature for Scrypto called the 'transaction manifest.'

Simply put, this feature meticulously outlines every step required to complete any particular transaction, no matter how complex. It promptly chains each step of the transaction in a single action.

If any step of the transaction encounters a failure, the entire transaction is promptly reverted, ensuring the integrity of the process.

This all-or-nothing trade execution mechanism is the crux of Radix's solution for achieving and maintaining atomic composability even as a dApp scales and transactions become increasingly complex, requiring additional steps to complete.

Atomic composability refers to the idea that every step in a transaction can be combined and validated in a single command.

Composability empowers developers to create dApps capable of managing multi-step transactions with ease and efficiency as they scale.

This results in a much safer and simpler way of handling digital assets, involving fewer smart contracts, fewer calls, and less room for error.

Let's now look at the programming language developers will use to create smart contracts within the Radix Engine environment.

Meet Scrypto: Radix's Asset-Oriented Programming Language

Scrypto is the programming language developers can use to take advantage of the Radix engine's unique features. By relying on the Radix Engine for all asset handling, Scrypto streamlines the process of creating and managing digital assets, allowing developers to focus on dApp functionality and business logic.

Like the Radix engine, Scrypto's coding framework treats assets, accounts, and permissions as critical players.

Instead of having them repeatedly built from scratch for every smart contract, they're a permanent, global feature of the platform, avoiding the need for isolated implementations over and over again as smart contracts.

Understanding Scrypto's Moving Parts

Smart contracts in Scrypto are called 'components' because of their unique functionality within the Radix ecosystem.

Unlike other frameworks where smart contracts merely hold data, Scrypto's components also hold vaults containing resources. In the context of Radix, resources refer to all assets such as tokens, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies.

Each vault is owned by a component, and a single component can possess multiple vaults.

A component's code outlines its vault, the data it contains, and the methods other components can utilize to interact with it.

The bare bone structure of a component is called a blueprint. Groups of blueprints are packages.

The Radix ledger, which is public and permissionless, serves as the deployment platform for blueprints. This setup allows developers to conveniently utilize the features of any existing blueprint if they so desire.

Furthermore, a well-structured Developer Royalty System is integrated into Scrypto. This system rewards developers with royalties whenever their blueprints are utilized by others.

Creating Tokens with Scrypto

Creating a token involves using Scrypto's built-in function and simply defining your desired parameters.

For example, if you were to create a token named 'MyCoin' with a quantity of a million, you would pass the name and the quantity into the resource creation function. The output would be a million 'MyCoin' tokens with your specified parameters.

This simple token-creation process can be accomplished with just a few lines of code and is an example of how asset creation with Scrypto is much simpler than an otherwise complex and lengthy process.

Let's now take a look at the problems facing consensus protocols today and how Radix’s proposed consensus solution, Cerberus, tackles them.

We'll start with the scalability trilemma.

2.) The Scalability Trilemma and Flawed Consensus Protocols

The scalability trilemma proposes that a blockchain cannot offer all three of these key features: scalability, security, and decentralization. 

If one of these elements is improved, it comes at the expense of the other two.

• Scalability is the ability of the system to handle a growing number of transactions without affecting its performance.
• Security is the ability to ensure users are safe from malicious actors. 
• Decentralization is the system's ability to run without a central authority or single point of control. 

It is significant to grasp the scalability trilemma in order to comprehend the trade-offs of building blockchain technology.

Thus, finding a perfect balance between decentralization, security, and scalability is a significant hurdle blockchain technology must overcome to enable broader use and acceptance.

Various solutions, such as Layer 2s, claim to resolve the trilemma, but realistically, they introduce new challenges. For example, while L2s indeed boost scalability and reduce gas fees, they do so while sacrificing atomic composability.

This happens because L2s offshore transactions from L1 networks and process them in batches to boost throughput. And since L2s can have different protocols, environments, and execution layers, atomic composability breaks. 

Atomic composability is the ability for multiple, often complex, transaction steps to be fulfilled for the overall transaction to happen.

Meet Cerberus, Radix's Consensus Solution

Cerberus is a consensus protocol testament to a decade of extensive research and trial & error by Radix founder Dan Hughes.

Cerberus has been peer-reviewed by esteemed members of the University of California to verify its soundness as a multi-shard consensus protocol. It is among the few public ledgers to be tested to the highest academic standards.

Ultimately, the review demonstrated that Cerberus is the most efficient consensus protocol, with the fastest throughput and lowest latency metrics compared to any other multi-shard consensus protocol like Chainspace.

Previously acquired by Facebook, Chainspace is a scalable decentralized infrastructure that executes smart contracts on a distributed ledger.

But how does Cerberus accomplish this?

To understand what Cerberus does differently, let's compare how 'traditional' consensus protocols process transactions and compare it to Cerberus' approach.

Traditional Consensus Protocols

Traditional consensus protocols compile ledgers of transactions and fully replicate them among all participants. These consensus protocols work in such a way that all participants, often referred to as "nodes," each maintain a complete copy of the ledger.

This ensures high transparency and security since nodes must agree on the transactions' validity. It also means that the ledger's integrity remains uncompromised even if one node fails or acts maliciously since other nodes retain the authentic records.

Furthermore, most existing consensus protocols leverage what is known as global ordering. This method of achieving consensus demands that all participants agree on the order of a series of events. This is done one event at a time, in a specific order, which has proven inefficient when considering throughput.

Unfortunately, by design, these protocols severely limit the transaction processing thresholds needed to address DeFi's goals of achieving mass adoption.

If billions of people are to depend on DeFi for their financial needs, an entirely different approach to achieving consensus is required.

Cerberus' Approach to Consensus

Cerberus allows blockchains to scale by leveraging a technique known as state sharding. The main objective of state sharding is to parallelize consensus agreement to boost throughput.

This is accomplished in two main steps:

1. Pre-sharding the ledger into 2^256 to provide limitless capacity for concurrent dApps and users, allowing Cerberus to achieve virtually endless parallelization.
2. Separating unrelated transaction commands from one another to allow separate shards of blockchain transaction data to be processed in parallel simultaneously, ensuring that the performance of the blockchain doesn't decrease as the network grows.

See the graphic below.

In addition, the wallet introduces Radix Personas. This feature offers decentralized logins, allowing users to log into any Radix dApp or service without needing a password. It protects privacy by allowing users to expose precisely the data needed by the dApp to log them in.

Last, and perhaps the most important upgrade introduced in the Radix Wallet is the transaction manifest.

In today's DeFi, when completing a transaction, you're presented with a jumble of letters and numbers called a 'hash' and underneath it a button that reads 'sign.' 

When you click on that 'sign' button, you're essentially submitting your wallet, its balance, and its entire fate to the hands of a program. With every transaction, you're risking that your assets become irretrievably lost. 

Instead of signing an unreadable hash and hoping for the best, the Radix Wallet's transaction manifest feature provides you with a human-readable interface.

In other words, as a user, you can see exactly how much is coming out of your wallet, where it's going, and what you're getting in return. From there, you can either accept or refuse the transaction.

With the Radix wallet, you are in full control of your transactions, just as if you're dealing with a traditional banking app.

Let's shift gears and take a look at some projects running on Radix, starting with AlphaDEX.

Projects Building on Radix

AlphaDEX: A Backend for Enhanced Liquidity and Optimal Trading

A problem we often see in DeFi exchanges is fragmented liquidity pools with low-volume trades. Among many problems, this makes it challenging for traders to execute larger trades without significantly impacting the market price.

How does AlphaDEX tackle this?

AlphaDEX is a decentralized order-book-exchange platform that takes advantage of Radix's unique infrastructure. AlphaDEX inherits Radix's excellent composability, allowing an endless variety of dApps to seamlessly integrate on top of it.

With said composability, AlphaDEX addresses the liquidity problem by connecting dApps running on its platform. This allows liquidity and trading volume from these dApps to be pooled together to create a thriving DEX environment for users. As such, AlphaDEX acts as the central hub for liquidity that all dApps can utilize to their advantage.

This not only enables traders to execute larger trades without causing drastic market price fluctuations but also greatly enhances the overall trading experience by reducing slippage.

Furthermore, integrating various dApps onto AlphaDEX's platform increases the diversity of assets available for trading, thereby attracting a larger user base and leading to even greater liquidity.

AlphaDEX has a fee structure in place that incentivizes strategic market-making orders to enhance the overall liquidity of the platform. It also encourages devs to build frontend dApps onto their platform.

The fee structure is implemented as follows:

• AlphaDEX encourages market makers to take calculated risks by offering them up to 0.35% in fees should they successfully fulfill orders that are reasonably distant from existing market prices.
• They also offer all frontends 0.1% in platform fees to encourage devs to plugin their dApps.

A noteworthy feature of AlphaDEX is that every trading pair is a separate Scrypto component (the smart contract version of Radix.) This allows pairs to trade independently, allowing trade throughput processing speed to be incredibly high.

Developers building dApps on AlphaDEX can benefit from its native asset-oriented framework on a linearly scalable network designed for mass adoption of DeFi.

Let's take a look at one such dApp, DeXter.

DeXter: A Community-Driven dApp on Radix

DeXter is the first order book exchange dApp on the Radix network built entirely by a self-governed group of passionate volunteers from the Radix community.

DeXter is built on top of AlphaDEX and functions as one of its front-end applications and user interface. Its primary source of revenue comes from the 1% platform fees paid out by AlphaDEX.

DeXter is expected to launch in the near future after Radix's Babylon went mainnet last month. It will offer basic spot market and limit order functionalities and is expected to undergo beta testing on Stokenet under the stewardship of its community before going mainnet.

As a project built entirely by a diverse group of talented volunteers, DeXter has a unique cultural commitment to fostering an inclusive and dynamic DeFi ecosystem.

DeXter strongly emphasizes community collaboration, offering attractive participation incentives through its native $DEXTR tokens.

In an asset-oriented environment, projects like DeXter issuing tokens provide numerous advantages. Predominantly, they serve as a tool for value transfer within the ecosystem, facilitating transactions and exchanges between participants.

By issuing their native $DEXTR tokens, DeXter fosters a sense of ownership among its community members, aligning their interests with the project's growth and instilling greater stakeholder commitment.

Overall, its token mechanism not only strengthens the internal economy of the project but also aids in promoting transparency, enhancing trust, and encouraging long-term participation.

As DeXter continues to evolve, it is set to demonstrate how building on the Radix stack raises the standards for decentralized trading and reshapes the DeFi landscape.

Conclusion

In summary, the Radix platform emerges as a comprehensive solution that addresses the fundamental challenges of the Web3 space, including poor user and developer experiences and flawed consensus algorithms. It is designed to provide a unified infrastructure that enables developers to build more robust, efficient, and superior dApps with a user-friendly interface.

Radix achieves this through its unique Radix engine, Scripto language, Cerberus consensus algorithm, and intuitive user interface, the Radix Wallet.

The platform addresses critical issues in the industry, such as poor security for DeFi users and a limited pool of proficient Solidity developers.

Its wallet offers a user-friendly experience with advanced features, secure logins, and seamless interaction across devices, providing an unparalleled digital ownership experience.

By addressing the complexities and vulnerabilities inherent in current blockchain technologies, Radix has the potential to revolutionize how developers create and how users interact with decentralized applications.

Its robust Cerberus consensus algorithm and flexible Scripto language offer a significant advantage over existing platforms, promising a future where Web3 is accessible and beneficial to all.

DeXter and AlphaDEX are shining examples of innovative projects that embody the transformative potential of Radix. They leverage the power of the Radix stack to deliver a linearly scalable, composable, and community-driven decentralized exchange, shaping the future of digital asset trading.

Launching DeXter's native $DEXTR tokens is a pivotal step towards promoting value transfer and instilling a sense of shared ownership among its members.

As it embarks on beta testing and prepares for mainnet release, DeXter remains committed to breaking new ground in DeFi and in doing so, empowers the Radix DLT to become the stack solution behind the mass adoption of Web3.

You've likely seen that 2022 has proven to be an extremely challenging year for the blockchain space and its reputation, with crypto-friendly banks falling bankrupt like dominos, major exchanges collapsing into rubble, and scandalous headlines fuelling speculation.

So how has the blockchain world fared in light of these events? Let's dive into the report.

DeFi and NFT Utility are on the Rise

According to the report, DeFi and NFT spaces are regaining some momentum after experiencing a considerable decline from their explosive heights of 2021.

Users are moving past the smokescreen of speculation and embracing the unique use cases in areas such as on-chain gaming, art, and collectibles.

Indeed, NFT activity is making a comeback, with a 90% increase in unique buyers who purchased at least one new NFT per month since the end of 2022.

Equally, decentralized exchanges have doubled their volume and are trading over $100B monthly in April 2023, compared to $50B around the end of 2022. 

So what seems to be behind this new trend?

The recent shift towards decentralized networks is driven by investors' growing confidence in the potential of these networks to overhaul the macroeconomic system.

Having witnessed the collapse of centralized entities within the legacy banking system, investors are seeking alternatives that offer greater transparency, resilience, and control over their financial assets.

One notable example is the rise of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap, which have gained significant traction in the market.

In a remarkable turn of events, Uniswap has outperformed CoinBase, the largest centralized exchange in the US, for three consecutive months from March to May 2023.

This shift in performance underscores the rising popularity of decentralized platforms and the trust investors place in them.

So, what's driving this new trend? Several factors contribute to the appeal of decentralized networks.

Firstly, they embody the principles of decentralization, ensuring that power is distributed among participants rather than concentrated in the hands of a few centralized authorities.

This feature resonates with investors who value autonomy and a fairer economic landscape.

Secondly, decentralized networks offer enhanced transparency, enabling users to track transactions and verify the integrity of the system.

This transparency is in stark contrast to the opaqueness of traditional financial systems, where centralized intermediaries often control and manipulate information.

Furthermore, decentralized networks leverage blockchain technology, which provides robust security measures and immutability.

These features offer investors peace of mind, knowing that their assets are protected against hacking, fraud, and arbitrary changes.

Lastly, the potential for greater financial inclusivity is a significant driving force behind the shift toward decentralized networks.

By eliminating intermediaries and lowering entry barriers, decentralized platforms open up opportunities for individuals historically excluded from traditional financial systems.

As this trend continues, decentralized networks are poised to reshape the financial industry, ushering in a new era of democratization, transparency, and financial empowerment. 

Monetization on Web3 Vs Web2

The report goes on to highlight how monetization on Web3 and Web2 couldn't be more different.

In the world of Web2, monetization often revolves around traditional advertising models, data silos, and centralized platforms extracting value from user interactions.

However, Web3 flips the script entirely. It empowers individuals to directly monetize their contributions and creations through decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized applications (dApps), and more.

With Web3, the power to control and profit from your own digital assets and engagements is in your hands, revolutionizing the way we perceive and participate in the digital economy. 

Unfortunately, the benefits of decentralization continue to elude many people yet unfamiliar with the concept or find the information surrounding it intimidating or unclear.

In this following report breakdown, we'll crystallize a core benefit that decentralization offers users and creators aiming to monetize.

According to the report, users have vastly more power and earn a more significant share of revenue on Web3 platforms compared to Web2.

For instance, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram take home 100% of the revenue generated by user activity, while decentralized networks like Uniswap and Ethereum take no more than 0.30%!

But why is this the case?

Decentralized networks like Uniswap and Ethereum allow users to take home significantly more revenue by removing intermediaries and enabling direct peer-to-peer transactions.

This decentralized model allows users to earn rewards for participating in the network and contributes to the overall community governance and democratization of the Web3 ecosystem.

But how does Web2 compare?

In Web2, the revenue model relies heavily on advertising, and data monetization, leaving users with a smaller share of the value they generate.

The centralized nature of these platforms allows them to exercise control over transactions, content, and user data, resulting in a substantial disparity between the platform's revenue and the earnings received by its users.

Consider this stunning statistic. 

With its almost 4 billion users, Facebook funneled creator revenues of over $1 Billion back into their platform while NFT marketplaces with just 10's of millions of users paid out over $2 Billion in royalties to creators.

Now, let's delve into the next section of the report, which sheds light on the future of blockchain technology. 

This crucial analysis will provide insights into blockchain scaling strategies to attract a larger user base, expand infrastructure, and accommodate significantly higher transactional volumes. 

Blockchain Scaling For The Future

As discussed in my previous article, the blockchain trilemma involves sacrificing scalability to achieve unprecedented levels of decentralization and security.

Several solutions have emerged to address the trilemma, including Layer 2, sharding, and zk rollups, each offering varying levels of success.

As developers strive to tackle the blockchain trilemma, they are increasingly turning to Layer 2 (L2) chains as a promising solution.

L2 chains provide a means to boost scalability while inheriting the robust security properties of Layer 1 (L1) chains like Ethereum.

This approach allows for offloading a significant portion of transactions and computations to L2, alleviating the strain on the main chain and enabling faster, more cost-effective transactions.

Additionally, the implementation of sharding and zk rollups further enhances scalability and privacy, presenting a multi-faceted approach to addressing the trilemma.

By leveraging these innovative solutions, developers are paving the way for a more scalable and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

According to the report, Layer 2 solutions are experiencing substantial growth, with L2s accounting for 7% of ETH gas fees in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 1.5% only a few months prior.

However, L2s aren't the only solutions that are expanding. Different blockchains are leveraging different scaling paths. 

For example, Avalanche, NEAR, and Solana have built and continue to improve upon their own Layer 1 chains optimized for scalability.

Meanwhile, other networks like Arbitrum leverage zero knowledge rollups that bundle multiple transactions to submit a compressed data set to the main blockchain to boost throughput.

These diverse scaling approaches demonstrate the innovation and progress made across the blockchain ecosystem while underscoring the industry's commitment to addressing the scalability challenges and expanding the capabilities of blockchain technology.

The Ethereum Blockchain's Great Environmental Shift

The report outlines that one of the most significant shifts in open-source blockchain history was the Ethereum network's transition from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

This major shift resulted from long-standing objections to the network's highly corrosive environmental footprint caused by the energy-intensive requirements of a proof-of-work protocol. 

This environmental backlash considerably stifled Ethereum's growth, so an overhaul was required.

According to the report, Ethereum's shift to proof-of-stake has silenced critics' environmental backlashes and made it one of the most eco-friendly blockchains today.

In fact, Ethereum's energy consumption now stands at a mere 0.001% of what YouTube consumes annually, showcasing the remarkable strides made in reducing its environmental impact.

By proactively addressing these concerns, Ethereum has enhanced its sustainability and removed a significant barrier to its growth and widespread adoption.

Web3's Pattern of Growth Happens in Cycles

Let's now discuss Web3's short-term volatility and zoom out to identify the predictable patterns that define the bigger picture.

Those of us observing the crypto space over the last few years have likely noticed that the space continues evolving in continuous cycles of explosive growth, usually followed by 'crypto winters.' 

These cycles are often triggered by price fluctuations of Bitcoin and other prominent cryptocurrencies that act as benchmarks guiding speculation. 

They typically unfold as follows:

1. The price of Bitcoin goes up
2. Hype and growth speculation flare across social media
3. More players, including devs & projects, dive in quickly, hoping for a slice of the profit pie
4. New projects, innovations, and contributions to blockchains are created
5. New projects mean more jobs, more activity in the space
6. Explosive growth and further swelling of cryptocurrency and altcoin value
7. Inflationary value bubbles begin to form, leading to investors withdrawing funds
8. Negative speculation swells, and the downward slump commences

The report outlines how despite the short-term market movements, each cycle drives long-term technological progress and innovation in blockchain infrastructure, generating new projects and more job opportunities. 

Focusing exclusively on short-term market movements can obscure the underlying trends of the Web3 world. 

Ultimately, the growth in developer activity, new projects, and social media awareness will continue to push the Web3 space forward and fuel its evolution in the years to come.

I hope you gained some value from my State of Crypto 2023 breakdown article! Make sure to share the article and comment below if you have any thoughts or questions.

Talk soon!

We'll also explore key pain points that currently hinder the emergence of Web3 and how Cere's portfolio of solutions addresses them.

Let's examine how big tech's chokehold on big data hurts you as a consumer and prevents blockchain's full potential from unfolding.

Why Is Data Centralization A Serious Problem?

Centralization allows big tech to concentrate control of vital consumer data and key technological infrastructure to tie users to their platform.

This has dire consequences for you as a consumer and for society as a whole.

Here are some of them:

• Your data is siloed, inaccessible and therefore can't be leveraged in an efficient and decentralized manner
• Meaningful data interoperability between different platforms is impossible in this tightly centralized environment
• Your data isn't YOUR data, as it's held hostage by apps you use; leading to serious privacy and security concerns
• In fact, these platforms have the luxury to analyze, share, sell or do whatever they please with your details
• Your most private information, including online behavioural patterns, purchase history, and advanced algorithmic deductions of your entire personality, are actively being sold to the highest bidder without your knowledge or consent
• Your ability to truly own digital assets, data and content on the internet is limited due to complete server dependence

To combat this, Cere aims to bring an internet where consumer data can become interoperable across different platforms. Where privacy and security are built in from the get-go. Where artists and creators don't have to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to unlock the algorithm to gain recognition or profit from their work.

Let's look at how Cere's tech can disrupt the market as we examine critical components of their protocol, including their data cloud, delivery network, consumer platform, universal wallet, and more.

Cere's Technology Suite Brings True Decentralization Like Never Before

Cere's protocol is the world's first to enable serverless and trustless applications at scale. It empowers developers, brands, and creators to build and utilize decentralized dApps.

For example, Cere's Decentralized Data Cloud (DDC) offers an alternative to current centralized data cloud solutions.

Cere's DDC empowers you to:

• Reclaim ownership of your data
• Enjoy protection from any form of censorship
• Benefit from a trustless cloud that is fully encrypted and secure
• Experience data interoperability across different platforms

The second key component of Cere's protocol is its Decentralized Content Delivery Network (dCDN).

This acts as a web server that provides content and serves assets while dramatically reducing the sluggishness and vulnerability of today's decentralized storage capabilities.

Cere's dCDN allows you to:

• Tie content to your NFT ownership to eliminate your dependency on any server
• Sell your content directly to the market via serverless apps instead of relying on big tech app stores and their exorbitant platform fees
• Enjoy unprecedented speed and cost-effective delivery of content as dCDN mobilizes huge amounts of unused computing power and bandwidth to their full potential

To get a full picture of Cere's vast technology ecosystem, let's explore their groundbreaking self-service tool, Cere Freeport, and compare it to so-called decentralized alternatives.

Cere Freeport functions as a fully decentralized digital vault for NFT-backed assets. It allows creators to easily mint NFTs on popular chains like Ethereum, Polygon and Solana.

Here are the key benefits Freeport offers that simply aren't available with alternative solutions like OpenSea, Filecoin and Arweave:

• NFTs with advanced cross-chain capabilities can be used to create products and experiences
• Protection from outages and technical issues
• Protection from hacks and malicious price-fixing attempts
• NFTs can be tethered to content and distributed as tokens in a trustless way

As you can see, current solutions are barely scratching the surface of the true potential decentralized NFT solutions offer.

Let's examine what leveraging this technology looks like on the ground for both creators and their audiences.

Cere's Freeport Applied in The Real World

On the ground, Cere's Freeport removes middlemen and gives back publishers direct control of their product and its distribution. It allows brands to create hyper personalized offerings to their audiences while keeping all of their profits.

NFTs will deliver perpetual royalties and offer artists protection from copyright and censorship. Fans and enthusiasts will enjoy exclusive access to content through subscriptions or pay-per-view payments; available for purchase through Cere's universal wallet.

Most importantly, Freeport tears down barriers to entry into the market, allowing aspiring creators vast opportunities to monetize their work as they sell unique experiences and content in the form of secure and customizable NFT tokens.

Conclusion

Since inception, Cere's goal has been to provide sophisticated data solutions that enable brands and users to capitalize on the web's vast opportunities.

When we look at Cere today, we can see that they are on track to deliver.

Cere has successfully built a censorship-resistant and fully distributed network where important application and consumer data is encrypted, secured and stored.

They have taken large strides towards cracking the blockchain trilemma by creating a scalable, high throughput, highly secured network that can serve everyone.

Best of all, there's much more to come, including more customizable NFTs that allow brands to offer exclusive products, content streams, events memberships and loyalty programs.

On the other hand, if scalability is prioritized and block capacity is boosted, the network becomes less decentralized and possibly less secure.

This, however, is seen as an unsatisfactory compromise by a community that demands all three elements remain robust.

And so, developers have been working tirelessly, seeking a solution that combines all elements as best as possible.

Today's Scalability Solutions

Several approaches have emerged to address the scalability trilemma, such as sidechains, Layer 2 solutions, and an entirely new Layer 1 chain engineered to handle high throughput.

Layer 1 Solutions

An example of a Layer 1 chain built primarily to process greater transactions per second and boost scalability potential is Bitcoin's fork chain, Bitcoin Cash. 

Bitcoin Cash is a layer 1 derivative based on the Bitcoin blockchain. It was created after the infamous Bitcoin fork of August 2017 and emerged due to a great dispute between key developers around Bitcoin's future.

Enthusiasts supported a network where scalability was prioritized, while loyalists insisted that Bitcoin remain true to Satoshi Nakamoto's vision of a fully decentralized network.

And so, instead of altering Bitcoin, an entirely new blockchain called Bitcoin Cash was created. Bitcoin Cash has far greater transaction processing and higher throughput capabilities than its notorious cousin.

However, while Bitcoin Cash is built on the same blockchain and inherited its consensus protocol from Bitcoin, there is a greater risk of hacks and security breaches due to high transaction speeds and less mining power to overlook and validate the network.

This is a serious problem because a Blockchain's key appeal is its decentralization and security capabilities, rather than its scalability. 

As a result, Bitcoin Cash failed to meet expectations with low adoption reaching a market cap of only 2.8 Billion USD; a mere fraction of Bitcoin's 366 Billion USD.

And so, this Layer 1 solution experiment is regarded as an inadequate long-term fix. 

Now let's examine sidechain solutions and where they currently stand. 

Sidechain Solutions 

Sidechains are entirely separate blockchains linked to a parent blockchain through a two-way bridge. This makes the chains highly interoperable; capable of transferring assets back and forth.

Sidechains work parallel to the main chain and are built to offload a large portion of their parent blockchain's workload to free up block space; allowing it to process more transactions per second.

While these benefits boost scalability and throughput, sidechains pose significant drawbacks to security and decentralization. 

This is because sidechains are independent chains with their own protocols and development roadmaps.

They do not inherit their parent blockchain's consensus mechanisms and thus can't benefit from their security guarantees.

For example, a parallel side chain to the Ethereum network will not leverage Ethereum's notoriously robust security properties.

And so, once again, security is sacrificed to achieve scalability. Having said that, it's important to note that sidechains are still very much an evolving technology with great potential to improve. 

However, for now, it's simply not good enough. 

Enter Hyperchains, An Emerging Layer 2 Solution

Layer 2 solutions work similarly to sidechains, offloading work from a mainchain to make it more scalable. 

However, unlike sidechains, Layer 2 solutions are not separate blockchains but instead secondary frameworks that operate right on top of Layer 1 chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

This means they inherit the security robustness of the main chain without reducing decentralization. And so, when leveraging Layer 2, decentralization and security are not sacrificed for scalability.

While there exist quite a few Layer 2 solutions, we'll spend the rest of this article focusing on hyperchains and their ability as a Layer 2 solution to preserve all three elements of a successful blockchain.

So what are Hyperchains?

Developed by the Hiro team, hyperchains are a scaling solution for Stacks, the largest open-source network of dApps and smart contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Hyperchains operate as a scalability layer designed for flexibility. It offers developers room to experiment as they strive towards maximizing processing power for the Stacks network. 

Unlike most scalability solutions we discussed, several hyperchains with varying levels of decentralization and throughput can coexist simultaneously on a chain.

This means that each hyperchain can execute different consensus rules to suit different use cases. 

This allows users the freedom to transact through a hyperchain that best suits their needs.

For example, a user making a large purchase for say, a vehicle or a home, may opt for a hyperchain with greater security and low processing speed.  

Meanwhile, a user purchasing a Mars bar will likely opt for a hyperchain that prioritizes greater processing speeds at the cost of reduced security.

Best of all, hyperchains are plug-ins that users may or may not opt into. Leveraging them is entirely up to the end user at the point of transaction.

Conclusion

As we discussed, current solutions to the scalability trilemma are inadequate because they continue to trade off decentralization and security for scalability.

Hyperchains eliminate the scalability trilemma by allowing users to transact through a hyperchain that best suits their needs. 

Through hyperchain technology, each transaction is funneled through a protocol-specific hyperchain best suited to handle a particular transaction.

And so, from a user's perspective, as long as each transaction is optimally executed through a hyperchain, that is to say, greater decentralization and security for high-value transactions and greater throughput for lower-value ones, the trilemma becomes a non-issue.

Hyperchains are currently only compatible with the Stacks blockchain. 

However, as the technology evolves and achieves its technical objectives, there's no doubt that it will become a mainstream solution for most blockchains to adopt.

The Blockchain Problem

Blockchain ecosystems are often created to resolve a unique set of needs. They, therefore, tend to operate in complete isolation from one another.

This limitation has made it impossible for us to witness the full benefits of blockchain technology.

To put the issue in perspective, imagine struggling to send emails from your Outlook account to a friend who uses Gmail because the two services can't communicate with one another.

Similarly, users of one blockchain struggle to communicate with users on other blockchains unless they create separate accounts on each.

The problem, put simply, is that blockchains are individually smart but collectively dumb.

The Cosmos Solution

Launched only in March 2019, Cosmos is a project with cross-chain solutions currently hosting over $137 billion of digital assets in its umbrella portfolio.

And with over 260 blockchains operating within the Cosmos Network, including powerhouse projects like Binance Chain, Crypto.org, and Terra, Cosmos is quickly becoming the backbone for interoperability between all blockchains.

So before we hop into the top 3 benefits of Cosmos' cross-chain De Fi solutions, let's first examine De-Fi in its current state, along with its key benefits and of course, limitations. 

This will help us understand Cosmos' cross-chain solutions in the contexts they're meant to serve.

So Let's Talk De-Fi

De-Fi is often regarded as the greatest innovation in finance. 

Since its rise to fame in the summer of 2020, De-Fi continues to experience explosive growth with over $100 Billion of total value locked in its De-Fi Protocols.

With its godly potential to completely strip the almighty legacy banking system of its airtight control on money, financial products, and services, De-Fi is hailed by many as the next evolution in finance.

Let's take a look at some of De-Fi's defining features.

De-Fi is Permissionless

With no regulatory hoops to jump, the world of De-Fi is accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a crypto wallet.

You don't need a VIP credit score. You don't need to chase after your bank rep. And you don't need any forms to fill.

De-Fi is Customizable

De-Fi's open peer-to-peer network supports trade with smart contracts. These contracts are highly programmable and can be customized to best suit any transaction. 

Once programmed, these smart contracts take certain actions as soon as certain requirements are met with minimal human maintenance.

De-Fi is Transparent

With 90% of De-Fi being built on Ethereum's open-source blockchain, every transaction is visible to the public.

Undisguised and fully accessible, all transactions can be viewed and audited by anyone on the network.

But Is De-Fi Perfect?

No.

With all the revolutionary benefits De-Fi offers, the technology is still in its early stages of development. As such, it has limitations.

Let's take a look at some of these restraints and how Cosmos' cross-chain solutions directly address them.

De-Fi has Scalability Limitations

As more and more users join the world of De-Fi, one of the major concerns with De-Fi's blockchains is that they only process one transaction at a time.

This means that if there are several transactions that need to be processed simultaneously, they will all have to wait until one transaction finishes processing.

For example, De-Fi's primary blockchain, Ethereum, can only process 13 transactions per second at its peak.

 Compare that to VISA's processing power of 20K transactions in the same period and you'll begin to see De-Fi's urgent need for a scalability solution.

Benefit #1: Cosmos' Scalability Solution

Cosmos' cross-chain solution immensely boosts transactional processing power by facilitating the execution of multiple transactions across a network of interconnected blockchains. 

This means that all transactions are not confined to one blockchain, and as such, they do not have to wait on one blockchain to finish before they can be processed.

In addition, the Cosmos Network uses its own token, called ATOM, to incentivize network participants to perform necessary tasks that ensure transactions are processed efficiently.

De-Fi Charges High Transaction Fees

Given De-Fi's transactional processing limitations, those who wish to trade may be subject to high trading fees or as they're commonly known, gas fees.

Gas fees are the costs of transacting on a congested blockchain.

The higher the congestion, the higher the gas fees, which is why timing transactions has become an important strategy in De-Fi.

Benefit #2: Cosmos Dramatically Reduces Gas Fees

Cosmos' Cross-chain solutions reduce gas fees significantly.

Using cross-chain communication, Cosmos enables the transfer of value between different blockchains, sometimes, removing the need for fees almost entirely.

This means that instead of paying gas fees when transacting with De-Fi, you may now make a transaction with negligible trading costs.

De-Fi Trading Can Be Cumbersome

For a long time, crypto traders have struggled with storing their digital assets in a common wallet.

Due to the lack of interoperability between blockchains, traders have had to store their assets in different wallets for each blockchain network they use.

This has been one of the main reasons why traders have been reluctant to enter the De-Fi space.

But what if there was a way to make crypto trading easier? 

Benefit #3: Cosmos Eliminates Frustrating Bottlenecks 

Cosmos' cross-chain solution eliminates frustrating bottlenecks experienced in crypto trading.

It makes it possible for traders to store all their digital assets in a single wallet and avoid the chaos of managing several at once.

This is because cross-chain allows different blockchains to communicate and exchange information, all while speeding up transactions and reducing liquidity risk.

Conclusion

De-Fi is experiencing explosive growth, but unless it can effectively adopt cross-chain solutions, its growth will stagnate and it will remain in its infancy.

Interoperability is a crucial necessity for mainstream De-Fi adoption.

Cosmos' cross-chain solution promises to solve the lack of communication between blockchains so traders like you can seamlessly exchange value between different blockchains, directly from a decentralized exchange.

Want to take part in cross-chain De-Fi today? Simply open the Emeris app to transfer and trade assets, earn competitive yield, and discover the benefits of expanding across blockchain ecosystems.

How Are Smart Contracts Being Leveraged Today?

While we're still far from fully adopting smart contracts as the new standard, several bodies have already started leveraging their power.

Governments: 

Remember the U.S. presidential election of 2016?

Many voters suspected Russia of hacking the polls to push the result in favor of Donald Trump. 

This wouldn't have happened if the U.S. government used blockchain technology to count votes.

Why?

Because blockchain technology would make voting much more secure!

Because once a vote is registered on the blockchain, it cannot be modified.

For example, in its simplest form, the election's smart contract would have the following rules coded in:

• If candidate A receives more votes than candidate B in state XYZ, then Candidate A wins the electoral votes belonging to that state.
• If candidate A receives more electoral votes than candidate B, then candidate A wins the election.

This would protect the election from:

• Human error of miscounting votes.
• Any conceivable threat of hacks or cyber-attacks.
• Criticism and distrust of the election being rigged or unfair.
• Voter fraud.

Businesses:

Businesses stand to make significant savings by harnessing the power of smart contracts. Take, for instance, the expensive operations of running payroll departments, which involve considerable management, compensation, and maintenance costs.

Now, picture a scenario where a business deploys smart contracts for each employee. These automated contracts can accurately track the number of hours an employee has worked, calculate the due remuneration, and establish the right timeframe for its disbursement.

Implementing smart contracts would result in substantial savings for businesses, both in terms of money and time, making them an economically viable solution to traditional payroll departments.

Conclusion: What Is a blockchain smart contract?

Are you starting to see how smart contracts can revolutionize how we do things?

I sure do.

Smart contracts have the potential to eliminate middlemen from our world.

And a world without middlemen is a more efficient and affordable one. One where we can save much more money and get things done faster. 

A world with less fraud, delay, and complexity.

However, there's a downside.

You guessed it. Middlemen are people like you and me.

When smart contracts eventually take over, many people will lose their jobs, and several industries will suffer before they can adjust.

After learning about what is a blockchain smart contract, do you agree smart contracts are the future? 

Do you believe they are phenomenal breakthroughs for businesses, governments, and individuals?

Or are they just another automation tool that'll kill jobs and hurt the economy?

Let me know in the comments!

Talk soon.