Overview
GoNetwork is building a platform that aims to sort out the scalability issues on Ethereum. Scaling up Ethereum is a significant concern in the blockchain space because at the moment the network can easily be clogged, like it recently happened with Cryptokitties. Such a situation means that other decentralized applications built on the system, that may need to process hundreds of transaction every second, need longer times for processing these transactions. GoNetwork will solve this problem by allowing users to undertake multiple transactions off-chain which the system will aggregate before taking them back to the blockchain for verification and mining.
With an already established foothold of the mobile app and gaming industry, GoNetwork hopes that their platform, a facility that unifies the app economies on mobile, web and even desktop environments, will enable users to buy in-app virtual games from across various gaming platforms. If wide adoption is achieved, it could disrupt mobile commerce in more ways than can be conceived at the moment.
Solutions
The GoNetwork wants to build a jam-free superhighway for the Ethereum network. A highway solves the perceived scalability problem on the Ethereum network by deploying state channels. A state channel is a tool that permits two people undertaking a transaction to start the transaction on the blockchain and then migrate it off-chain. While off-chain, the involved parties can undertake numerous deals until they are ready to settle up. At the point of settling up, state channels allow the transacting pair to return the deal to the blockchain for verification and mining.
The nature of blockchain doesn’t demand verification and mining of transactions before they are ready to be added to the chain. GoNetwork is taking advantage of this feature to allow for many deals off-chain until such trades are about to settle up. This innovation unclogs the network, hastens the process of undertaking deals and reduces the cost of transactions.
The solution that the development team at GoNetwork put forth is a lot similar to what the Raiden and Lightning Network teams are working on for their respective networks. Raiden is a network of payments built on Ethereum while Lightning Network is the scalability solution for the Bitcoin blockchain.
Target Market
GoNetwork conceptualized GoExchange to bring the gaming ecosystem into the blockchain realm. However, during the process, the team realized that both the latency and transaction throughput features of the existing blockchain networks weren’t going to handle the microtransaction demands of InfiniDy Corp and its over 15 million registered users. As a result, the team embarked on a research journey of scaling solutions.
The inputs from the research made GoExchange a little more than just a gaming platform of heightened convenience. Instead, the network benefited from features that will help scale up the entire Ethereum network and poise the Platform for mass adoption by developing tools and infrastructure that are specific to the mobile user. Eventually, this will bring GoNetwork’s closer to its target of facilitating universal backing of cryptocurrencies.
GoNetwork plans to reduce congestion using state channels, which are relay tools that allow two people who begin a transaction on the blockchain to take it off-chain and conduct other additional deals. The two can then bring the arrangement back to the blockchain for completion, verification, and mining.
The direct transaction lines created by the state channels transform into one massive network of channels that can then connect everyone on mobile via one or multiple indirect connections.
Market Competition
Scalability is a recognized problem in the cryptocurrency space, and a few solutions have already been proposed. Here is a detailed look at other solutions competing with GoNetwork.
While all these solutions have proposed quite innovative pathways to scalability, they are specific to desktop with only limited attention to mobile. GoNetwork, therefore, is unique because of its specialization on the mobile infrastructure.
Aside from the various scalability infrastructure highlighted above, some tokens seek to offer solutions that are similar to what GoNetwork provides. Some of these tokens are:
While all the tokens highlighted above work towards achieving financial connectivity, none is addressing the scalability problem of the Ethereum network. GoNetwork, as such, distinguishes itself as the decentralized platform that is taking several bulls head on, and massive bulls at that.
Conclusion
At the moment, scaling the Ethereum network is one of the most significant issues in the blockchain ecosystem. It will therefore be interesting to watch how GoNetwork approaches the different layers of complexity while also incorporating solutions for the mobile ecosystem, which differentiates Gonetwork from other competitors.