That one person in your friend group can’t stop talking about it. It’s all over social media, but you don’t understand what the hype is all about.
Our digital world, changed by blockchain. It’s true, blockchain has been around for decades. But, today blockchain is being used in new novel ways and can be complicated, but it’s also accessible. It can be understood and used by anyone, regardless of your background.
What is blockchain? Blockchain technology is most simply defined as a decentralized, distributed ledger that records the provenance of a digital asset.
Why is there such excitement surrounding blockchain technology? Simply because the blockchain allows the creation of smart contracts that auto execute when certain conditions are met, eliminating the need for all intermediaries that would normally be necessary to validate and execute transactions.
Blockchain At Your Fingertips…
Our philosophy is that blockchain should be at your fingertips - Ready at hand, immediately available for everyone…
In this article we’ll give you an insight of what makes up the Rapids blockchain and how we aim to bring the power of blockchain to everyone.
What makes up the Rapids Blockchain?
A decentralized Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Blockchain consisting of two layers.
Layer-1, the main blockchain architecture;
- A Proof-of-Stake (PoS) protocol for the creation of new blocks and the security.
- Masternodes to enhance its stability.
Layer-2, an overlaying protocol that lies on top of the underlying blockchain.
- RPDx protocol, a fully decentralized asset platform.
Confused?! There’s no need to be, its simple… Let’s explain further in more detail and how you the user can benefit from each layer.
What is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Blockchain?
Proof of stake is a consensus mechanism, a way for a blockchain to validate transactions. Nodes in a blockchain must be in agreement on the present state of the blockchain and which transactions are valid. Proof of stake encourages scalability and security of the network while also enhancing its decentralization.
Proof of stake is one of the most popular blockchains for its efficiency and because users can earn rewards… The Rapids blockchain has a set amount of rewards per each new block created (average every 60 seconds). Whether you stake or hold a full node and you’re chosen to validate transactions, you will receive block rewards.
- Node reward = 1.0701 RPD (60% of block reward)
- Staking reward = 0.3567 RPD (20% of block reward)
What is RPDx?!
RPDx is software layer built on top of the Rapids blockchain enabling users to create tokens to represent custom assets or currencies, and to transact these via the Rapids blockchain in a decentralized manner. Being a platform that is built on top of the RPD blockchain, the transactions pertaining to RPDx are all recorded and assessed by the Rapids network, and will be viewable on the Rapids explorer.
The RPDx Layer protocol additionally includes a crowdsourcing mechanism similar to platforms like Kickstarter. Ideas and innovations on the platform can crowdsource their needed funds by collecting in a secure, trustless, decentralized, p2p manner with no intermediary involved at any time during the transaction.
What to expect?!
A huge interest from new users who want security for their assets but without compromising on their royalties or marketing with the intuitive platform Rapids has to offer. Apart from the inspirational NFT collections that are currently trending we are working towards NFT ticketing, other event promotions and blockchain gaming with third parties already awaiting the release of RPDx.
What is an NFT? A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger. NFTs can be used to represent easily-reproducible items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files as unique items, and use blockchain technology to establish a verified and public proof of ownership. With Rapids no asset leaves the security of your own wallet until a smart contract is initiated (p2p) built on the basis of distributed trust and decentralized trading unlike some platforms we see today whereby you release your asset to a third party platform for them to carry out the execution of the smart contract.
Wait there’s more… Something that isn’t new to blockchain but it comes with huge excitement and potential. Rapids’ users are able to register a name “name.rpd” extension. For those who may not be aware how this works its simple, the idea in this is that instead of typing long addresses, you can just type “name.rpd” and this can be used for sending funds, interacting with smart contracts. Additionally, an interesting way to try and create some profits as you can register “name.rpd” addresses and then later sell it for more depending on the rarity of the name.
Conclusion
Rapids innovative approach to the blockchain promotes it above most other altcoins, which have little actual use most of the time. As a Rapids application, RPDx substantially improves the Rapids blockchain and gives all users various capabilities including truly decentralized smart contracts with no need for a middle man and only a front end (marketplace or dex) to catalog available trades, making it more attractive to a wide range of individuals and companies.
I'm currently under contract with Rapids Network, which gives me the right to publish, republish, on their behalf, articles first published on Rapids Network/Medium.