1 Level
6 Review
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Review on Aeternity by Lanelle Journey
When there’s a disagreement in a state channel contract, the contract turns to…
When there’s a disagreement in a state channel contract, the contract turns to the blockchain for adjudication. The contract remains private through a zero-knowledge proof setup that allows the blockchain to render a judgment without needing to know the contents of the contract. In this way, the blockchain acts as a blind judicial system for smart contracts.
Interestingly, since the blockchain’s behavior is predictable, there’s no benefit to disputing the results of a state channel contract. The blockchain is likely to confirm the outcome.
Final settlement of accounts in the contract then takes place on the blockchain and the contract closes. The result of off-chain computation is an increase in throughput by several orders of magnitude for the network since only the final settlement needs to be handled on-chain.
Pros
- Aeternity (AE) Platform & Cryptocurrency: An In-Depth Look Aeternity is a new platform for decentralized apps (dapps) launched in testnet in 2017. It also held a successful token offering in 2017 for its Aeon (AE) token. The project focuses on increasing the scalability of smart contracts and dapps. It accomplishes scaling by moving smart contracts off-chain. Instead of running on the blockchain, smart contracts on Aeternity run in private state channels between the parties involved in the contracts.
Cons
- Ethereum is also looking into this option, possibly doing a combination of sharding and off-chain settlement of contracts. This is where Aeternity is currently innovating. They’ve focused on increasing scalability by implementing smart contracts off-chain. Scaling smart contracts is the main goal of Aeternity. They’re poised to make waves with their state channel solution.
