æternity’s blockchain leverages state channels which makes smart contracts faster, more secure and more private.
First, two users open up a state channel via depositing some AE tokens into it.
They can agree to arbitrary smart contracts. This allows for transactions to be conducted as fast as information can be
transmitted and processed by the parties, instead of them having to wait until the transaction has been validated—and potentially
finalized— by the blockchain’s consensus mechanism.
This æternity blockchain is used to settle the final outcome or to resolve conflicts that arise.