LINK to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrvw-zFD_rU&t=1sBloXroute (BLXR)
Problem
There are many efforts to address the scalability challenges of blockchains. The Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash and other blockchain communities all have their own ideas on how to scale the transactional capacity of decentralized peer-to-peer networks. Some proposals require protocol changes and miner approval which Other proposals require significant compromises on centralization or security to be made. The BloXroute team are proposing an alternative that allows existing blockchains to scale without protocol changes or compromises on centralization or security.
Solution
Before I explain how, lets take a step back in time. Twenty years ago when the Internet was still in its infancy, Akamai came along to create the first Content Distribution Network (CDN). This technology breakthrough helped data propagate more quickly across the Internet, making the Internet more usable in the process. Bloxroute works similarly to a content distribution network but for blockchains.
Hence:
bloXroute is the first Blockchain Distribution Network (BDN)
So What is a content Distribution Network and how does it work?
websites nowadays are optimized by Content Distrubtion Networks (CDN), we know specific content is re-used time and time again, so we put them on a CDN, which distributes them across the world in specific locations so that we can optimize getting data from there. They increase delivery by four mechanisms,
1, They keep data in memory because memory is much faster than disk. 2, they keep strong network infrastructure, like gigabyte infrastructures.
3, they have locations all around the world to facilitate faster lookup.
4, they have fast routing tables to quickly find the fastest and closest location and provide the data.
This is what bloXroute is doing, they are providing a Content Distribution Network (or BDN) for blockchains.
Why does a Content Distrubtion Network (CDN) work?
It works Because the data is static. This means it doesnt change often and when people access it, it feeds the same data. This changes considerably when the data is no longer static, like live streaming transactions. But the argument could be made that this data is still shared across many locations.
So lets put it all together, This is How bloXroute functions as a content distrution network for blockchains.
Okay, First you install a piece of software called a magic gateway on your server. This magic gateway is configured to talk to the bloXroute routing infrastructure. This gateway has the following jobs.
1. Communicate p2p with other magic gateways
2. Communicate directly with the bloXroute infrastructure
3. Keep in memory a list of all known transactions that are not yet archived with a 4 bit lookup index
4. Share lookup index contained in a block with other magic gateways.
BloXroute was Inspired by preceding Bitcoin Relay Networks like Falcon (which was designed by the bloXroute team out of Cornells IC3 initiative) and Fibre. BloXroute propagates blocks more quickly across existing peer-to-peer networks, which increases throughput on-chain. Theyve improved upon the early Bitcoin Relay Networks by creating a Blockchain Distribution Network (BDN) that is provably neutral which means the nodes or blocks cannot be censored. They have a sustainable business model that enables a powerful public utility from which all blockchains can benefit.
BloXroute was designed taking in account the following principles.
Your favorite blockchain can implement bloXroute and significantly increase on-chain throughput by doing so. bloXroute is designed to allow existing blockchains to maintain their decentralization and security properties while significantly increasing scalability on-chain. bloXroute can be implemented without any protocol changes or approval from developers and miners. It can be implemented by individual node operators on a purely bottom-up, grassroots basis. Nodes that adopt bloXroute will start seeing benefits immediately and the more nodes implement bloXroute, the faster blocks will propagate for the entire network.
Partnerships/ Investors
1confirmation
portfolio They have built since launch Q4 2017:
Stablecoins: @MakerDAO, @basisprotocol
Dececentralized exchange: @dydxprotocol
Scalability: @bloXrouteLabs
Work marketplace: @1protocolinc
Regulatory infrastructure: @harbor
NFT infrastructure: TBA
Verdict
This is truly an infrastructure project by the very definition of the word, these guys will create the first interconnected blockchain mesh and CDN (or a BDN, blockchain delivery network).
These guys have also already proved themselves with Falcon.
https://www.falcon-net.org/.
Falcon is a new relay network for Bitcoin blocks.
It speeds up block transmission, reduces orphans, and improves blockchain security.
Some Info adapted from @crypto_briefing