Is there a need for yet another blockchain project? What problems does a 4th generation blockchain solve that the previous generations cannot? What makes AERGO a 4th generation blockchain? In this article I will try to answer these three questions. So without further ado, lets dive deeper into the Aergo project.
The four generations of blockchain technology
All previous blockchain generations suffer from the Scalability, Security and Efficiency trilemma, meaning that it is difficult to improve upon either scalability, security or efficiency; without compromising on the other ones. For instance, Bitcoin (generation 1.0) can only achieve several transactions per second (TPS), making it really slow and unpractical as a mainstream blockchain solution. Ethereum (generation 2.0), has improved upon Bitcoin by adding smart contract functionality and allows for 10 to 30 TPS, which is still too slow compared to other ways of payment (e.g Visa, which can handle around 45,000 TPS). Projects such as EOS/Quarkchain (generation 3.0), aim to solve the scalability issue by building a blockchain solution that could potentially reach one million TPS; however, in the process of doing so, they compromise either on efficiency or security.
Aergo is trying to build a 4th generation blockchain that could potentially solve the abovementioned blockchain trilemma. Building a 4th generation blockchain will take a lot of time for developers. The benefit of AERGO is that they have already built a 3rd generation blockchain product in their parent company, Blocko’s subsidiary COINSTACK.
What makes Aergo a 4th generation blockchain?
The final question: “What makes Aergo a 4th generation blockchain?” will be answered with the help of Phil Zamani, CEO of the AERGO Foundation. I took the liberty of capturing a screenshot of his response to a community member’s question in AERGO’s Telegram channel. He told the community that the AERGO chain is based on combining 4 specific approaches to create a full platform. These 4 features are: 1. A hybrid blockchain, 2. Unique software development techniques, 3. Open-sourcing its platform, methodology and approach, 4. ‘Deployment blueprints’ as a result of many years of deployment expertise.
AERGO
Building upon its widely used 3rd generation blockchain COINSTACK, AERGO is aiming to upgrade to a 4th generation blockchain that is ready for the adoption and mainstream use by enterprises.
AERGO will be based on 3 key elements:
- AERGO Chain, is the company’s public blockchain which includes a SQL-based smart contract platform and offers sidechains for scalability purposes.
- AERGO Hub, will be the hosting service where companies that are incorporated into the platform can test, manage and deploy independent blockchains.
- AERGO Marketplace, will be the location where supply and demand come together for peer-to-peer transference of computing assets.
Blocko
AERGO’s parent company Blocko is one of the leading blockchain enterprise solution providers in South Korea. They were founded in 2014 and already have a user base of over 25 million customers. Their enterprise partners include Samsung, Cisco, Kia Motors and Hyundai. According to business insights platform Crunchbase, Blocko has so far received a funding of 13.8 million U.S. dollars and earns a revenue of 10 million U.S. dollars on a yearly basis.
Concluding remarks
While AERGO’s roadmap takes a pretty long time to complete, with their mainnet projected to launch at the end of 2019, it might actually be a realistic roadmap. Projects like Trinity Network and Zilliqa recently announced that they are postponing their roadmap, because the initial time set for their respective releases have been unrealistic.
The company behind AERGO, Blocko, has had a successful run already. If they follow the same business strategy for AERGO they can achieve great things. I will be keeping a close eye on this project and would like to see them launch their 4th generation blockchain.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended as investment advice. It is just my personal opinion about the AERGO project. You should always do your own research.
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