Aleph Zero
Aleph Zero is a peer-reviewed DAG-based (Directed Acyclic Graph) consensus protocol that is scalable, super-fast, and developer friendly. It aims to solve the key issues of security, scalability, and decentralization (The Blockchain Trilemma) and plans to enable privacy-enhancing features based on SMPC (Secure Multi-Party Computation) research and ZKPs (Zero-Knowledge Proofs). Aleph Zero was built for enterprise, Web 3.0 and will be suitable for a broad range of DeFi (Decentralised Finance) use cases.
The difference between a DAG and a blockchain lies inside the blocks. With Aleph Zero, there’s a DAG-based Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol. In blockchain, it’s called Nakamoto consensus, and it’s based on PoW (Proof of Work) which adds latency to the network in order to ensure it is synchronized and resilient to most attacks. However, in a DAG-based protocol this energy-consumption and heavy computing is completely unnecessary. The new transactions are validated by the previous ones. No mining is required.
A DAG protocol like Aleph Zero has many advantages over traditional, PoW blockchains. It produces the consensus much faster than a blockchain and as a result, it’s able to maintain fast transaction speeds even when operating on a high scale, something that Bitcoin’s blockchain could not achieve for example.
Key features of the Aleph Zero protocol include:
- Proof-of-Stake.
- Private smart contracts.
- Near-free transactions ($.0003) with up to 100,000 transactions per second and a 1 second block confirmation time.
- Application syncing to Aleph Zero through Hub & Spoke Operations model.
- Privacy enhanced features via SMPC and ZKPs (building in-house and known as Liminal).
- Decentralized, cloud file storage (integration with the Interplanetary File Storage – IPFS).
- AZERO wallet
- A DEX & Decentralized Dark Pool (building in-house and known as Common).
- Oracle.
- Native stablecoin to power the DEX.
- Cross-chain bridge (building in-house).
Since Aleph Zero’s Launch
Aleph Zero is a comprehensive blockchain project comprising multiple elements, making it one of the most ambitious projects in crypto. The broader elements of the network come from Parity’s Substrate stack and the mainnet was launched on November 10, 2021.
Development on the network is beginning to take shape with the launch of ‘Smartnet’ on January 28, 2022. This is an experimental smart contract network which allows dApp developers to begin deploying smart contracts on top of Aleph Zero. The testnet gives teams the opportunity to battle-test their smart contracts before they go live on the network.
Aleph Zero has already inked a partnership with Nigerian based Flidy Technologies which is a local start-up incubator with plans to fund up to twenty Web 3.0 start-ups using Aleph Zero infrastructure over the next 2 years.
Gatenox, a new-generation identity wallet, will also be building on Aleph Zero. Gatenox aims to become a go-to decentralized identity wallet for exchanges, fintech companies and banks.
The Aleph Zero Team & Backers
The team is mainly based in Switzerland and comprises of approximately 30 personnel, many of whom have brilliant academic success stories. For eg. Matthew Niemerg (Co-Founder) is a Simons-Berkeley Fellow, and an IBM Center of Excellence Fellow in High Performance…
