Intervalue is addressing the technical pain points of existing blockchain infrastructure to truly actualize a global value internet where value can be exchanged with the same ease and efficiency with which information is exchanged on the internet.
Blockchain technology has undergone a significant evolution since its conception. Initially, blockchain technology was primarily used in providing fast and secure financial payments through cryptocurrencies. Since then the underlying technology of blockchains has gained numerous industry applications by enabling democratized access to data and resources through peer to peer exchange of digital value. This forms the foundation for the emerging internet of value in addition to catalyzing its growth.
The internet of value enables the exchange of assets or value between entities with the same ease and efficiency with which information is exchanged on the internet. Backed by blockchain technology, the realization of the internet of value will have immense social and economic impact on the liquidity of markets, inclusive finance, speed and efficiency of money transfer, the development of small businesses and other applications some of which are not yet conceived. However, such noble ambitions are crippled by the inherent weaknesses of the existing blockchain technology which impede mainstream adoption.
There are multiple pain points that deter the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology. Some people cite the complicated way of acquiring cryptocurrency through exchanges to be a major boon. Others opine that the price volatility of major cryptocurrencies makes them an inefficient means of measuring and transferring value. In fact, that is the major reason Stripe, a major online payment platform, dropped bitcoin as a means of payment. The problem is compounded by governments which are struggling to fit blockchain technology within their regulatory framework. Yet all these reasons pale in comparison to slow speeds and high costs of transactions on blockchain networks; the core points that undermine scalability. If users can achieve fast, affordable and convenient payments through conventional centralized platforms, the allure to move to slow and complicated blockchain platform significantly diminishes.
VISA has become the benchmark upon which cryptocurrency platforms are measured in terms of scalability. VISA can process thousands of transaction per second, with a peak value projected to be at 24, 000 TPS under ideal conditions, with actual daily operation averaging 1700 TPS. In comparison, the most commonly used blockchain platform, the handles about 15 transactions per second. How can VISA be matched in transaction speed without compromising on decentralization?
Currently there is no solid example of a blockchain project scaling significantly in wide scale usage. Bitcoin, the single most popular and valuable cryptocurrency may have achieved its status solely on its front-runner advantage and has since digressed into a store of value rather than a means of transferring value. Bitcoin is a slow and resource intensive digital currency, far from the efficient and affordable peer to peer payment network its founder/s envisioned it to be.
Protocol scalability is often measured in terms of throughput (transactions per second) and latency (confirmation times)
So what is scalability? Simply, scalability is the capacity to handle the demands of a growing user base while maintaining efficiency. The blockchain trilemma dictates that current blockchains systems can only achieve two of the following; scalability, decentralization and security while compromising on the third. Despite claims that range from thousands to millions of transactions per second during their launch, current projects fall flat on their face when real world implementation begins. It is within this context that InterValue was conceived.
THE INTERVALUE PROPOSITION
We aim to implement a real practical support mechanism for all levels of value transfer network, provide the infrastructure for all kinds of value transfer applications.” InterValue on twitter
The Project
Ticker: INVE
Token type: ERC20
Total Tokens: 10,000,000,000
Country: CHINA
InterValue is a highly ambitious project which combines the positive technical attributes of existing blockchain 3.0 with its own innovations into a blockchain 4.0 infrastructure which addresses the technical limitations of existing blockchain technology.
1️⃣ PROVIDING SCALABILITY
The existing blockchain platforms use consensus mechanisms that provide security and decentralization while compromising on scalability.
Although the Proof of Work consensus mechanism is excellent in providing security and maintaining decentralization, it is slow and resource intensive. Proof of Stake relies on staking coins, whereas certain applications of the blockchain do not need tokens. Additionally, Delegated Proof of Stake improves efficiency while compromising on decentralization. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance is highly efficient but it only works well with small consensus groups limiting its suitable to private and permissioned blockchains.
In response to the challenges of the existing consensus mechanisms, InterValue developed its own Hashnet Consensus Mechanism in a bid to leave the confines of scalability triangle.
Intervalues Hashnet Consensus Mechanism
InterValue independently developed and implemented HashNet consensus mechanism to address the bottlenecks that face the current blockchain technology. As shown in the figure, the HashNet uses a two layer topology.
The first layer is made of full nodes which are responsible for creating lower level shards, new local full node joints and partial full node joints. First layer full nodes do not record transactions or participate in reaching a consensus.
In the second layer, full nodes are divided into shards. Consensus is reached within the shard. Double spending is avoided through the use of suffix matching which ensures that each transaction is processed by only one shard.
The onchip consensus is simultaneously synchronized between the chips through an asynchronous mechanism to ensure that each local full node has the global ledger. The Hashnet consensus mechanism offers the following advantages.
- The full nodes and local full nodes provide stability and computational power which realizes shorter latency periods.
- The full nodes do not participate in transaction consensus, therefore, transaction are faster. The throughput increases proportionately with the number of lower level segments.
- Hashnet uses a distributed asynchronous fragmentation reorganization which improves security during organization, unlike the centralized fragmentation reorganization mechanism which might provide a single point of failure.
- The peer to peer relationship of on-chip and inter-chip nodes prevents potential centralization or bottlenecks in performance.
InterValue adopts a double layer consensus mechanism combining its own Hashnet with VA-BARF consensus mechanism to achieve high performance, security and decentralization.
2️⃣ PROVIDING INTEROPERABILITY, USABILITY AND SECURITY
InterValue has implemented other key feature within its multilevel architecture to optimize the interoperability, usability and security of its platform.
👉Hashnet Data Architecture
Using a Hashnet data structure significantly reduces the storage requirements for nodes while improving data storage efficiency and security. This will raise the platform throughput.
👉P2P based anonymous communication
InterValue have designed an innovative peer to peer overlay network by combining the features of Blockchain-based distributed VPN and tor IP anonymizer which makes it difficult to track a single node on the network and compromise communications on the network.
👉 Anti quantum attack
The high computational power of quantum computers poses a significant risk to the security of current public key cryptography which relies on computational difficulty to provide security. The current blockchains were built on algorithms such as ECDSA which can be breached by a SHOR algorithm attack through quantum computing. A quantum attack could potentially disintegrate the security system of existing blockchains. InterValue will adopt NTRUsign signature algorithm and Keccak-512 hash algorithm to subvert the emerging threats from quantum computing.
👉 Transaction Anonymity
InterValue borrows the privacy features of private coins like Monero and Zcash to satisfy the privacy requirements of different applications. These features include the use of zero knowledge proof and one time ring signatures. In addition, InterValue will use one time secret keys which makes transactions untraceable.
👉 Smart Contracts
InterValue designed Moses Virtual Machine (MVM) which provides secure access to off-chain data. MVM supports both Declarative Turing-incomplete smart contract and the Advanced Turing-complete smart contract. This feature allows users to design smart contracts based on their needs and level of experience.
👉 Crossing and merging chains
The disconnect between different blockchain platforms creates isolated value network which undermines true decentralization. To truly realize the global sharing of value, InterValue will use a chain-relaying technology which maintains the independence of cross-chain operations safeguards the integrity of cross chain communication.
In this technology roadmap, we not only keep the independence of cross-chain interoperability but also reuse all kinds of functions offered by the basic chain of InterValue
👉 Industrial application
InteValue uses JSON-RPC to design its interfaces. The simplicity and high performance of the protocol supports the development of DApps for various uses cases such as data transmission, payment and contract invocation.
👉Ecological motivation
InterValue adopts a dynamic token allocation mechanism which incentivises double layer mining and the development of its platform.
USE CASES
From its key features, InterValue fits a broad spectrum of applications. The infrastructure provides an interface that supports the development and application of various DApps which can be scaled to serve millions of users.
CONCLUSION
InterValue is joining a broad range of blockchain startups some of which are primarily conceived to solve the scalability problem with blockchains. Example of similar projects include SEELE, TOLAR and IOTA . In a dynamic and fast developing sphere, there is always the risk that present innovations may be superseded by newer and more efficient technology. In this regard, InterValue’s value proposition is spread across a wide range of use cases which minimizes the risk of being superseded.
It is important to note that InterValue has preempted future technological needs and risks of its ecosystem and has taken measures to obviate them. An example is the use of algorithms that are resistant to potential attacks from quantum computers.
From the figure above, InterValue’s testnet has taken the lead at over 1000 K TPS, which is way over VISA’s ideal benchmark throughput at 24 K TPS. Accounting for high performance in ideal lab conditions, these results provide proof that InterValue can achieve scalability.
For many blockchain aficionados, being able to pay for a cup of coffee is the yardstick by which the true arrival of cryptocurrency is measured. This scenario measures the properties that define scalability such as fast transaction speed, low latency and ultimately ease of use. The successful development and implementation of the InterValue infrastructure will expedite to a great degree the adoption of blockchain technology and its integration into the daily lives of ordinary citizens.
In line with the road-map below and backed by the testnet results, world citizens can expect to tap into the vast resources on the Internet of Value through InterValue’s platform by as early as Quarter 1 of 2019. I sure do look forward to paying for my cup of coffee through my smartphone using INVE tokens in 2019.
InterValue Community Links
To find out more about the great project you can join InterValue’s community. Below are the relevant links;