1 Level
6 Review
4 Karma
Review on Aeternity by Georgia Davies
Aeternity has built State Channels into it’s platform by default. This is an…
Aeternity has built State Channels into it’s platform by default. This is an advantage since Aepp (Aeterenity’s version of Dapps) builders can easily leverage the design to build scalable Aepps as soon as the protocol launches. Having built in state channels also means Aeternity is scaleable since regular transactions can be done through state channels (if you expect to make > 2 transactions with a particular party) rather than taking up resources on the main chain. For example a user may want to open a state channel with an exchange to make transactions fast & cheap (Binance was recently responsible for >60% of Ethereum daily transactions, this would have been reduced to near 0% if all users were using state channels thus clearing the main chain for other regular transactions)
Pros
- Aeternity is using a hybrid Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) approach. Only miners will receive inflation rewards while PoS is being used exclusively for governance (I’d argue it’s not PoS at all in this case and Aeternity should not state it is). Aeternity are using a novel ASIC resistant mining algorithm called the Cuckoo Cycle. In theory it’s likely this will reduce mining centralisation given that the Cuckoo Cycle is designed in a way that even mobile phones will be able to mine “without orders of magnitude loss in efficiency”. Another project that will be using the Cuckoo Cycle is Grin, it’s an interesting project, I suggest you take a look
Cons
- AE distribution may be highly skewed leading to a small number of people having significant control over the blockchain. It’s notoriously hard to get large numbers of people to vote even if it’s in their interest (see the DAO). This is somewhat alleviated in Aeternity due to the fact holders can delegate their vote.
