Description of the Elastos (ELA) project
Elastos aims to create a new Internet based on blockchain technology. As we already know, an important point in this new network will be various digital assets. The goal is for people to have access to everything they need, such as articles, music, books, movies, games and everything without having to go to intermediaries such as media players, stores, etc. Elastos will use the technology blockchain for issuing ID to digital content, making it possible to establish ownership. On the Elastos Internet, the director knows how many times his film has been viewed.
Elastos will be a platform for decentralized applications (DApps) running on peer-to-peer networks without anyone's control. People can access these DApps through their mobile phone without having to change OS.
Elastos is open source software, developed by a team and community, and sponsored by giants in various industries. There are currently more than ten million lines of code, including four million originals.
Technological background
We all know what Bitcoin is. We all know what Ethereum and its Smart Contracts have brought, and how many useful uses of the latter have already been implemented, and will continue to be. We appreciate it all.
Ethereum Smart contracts are very useful for financial and similar projects, such as online voting. But can this system be extended to larger businesses? Can we use similar technologies to run an e-book store or shopping platforms for video games and movies?
Elastos believes that DApps on Ethereum have the following limitations:
- Storage and speed. Capacity is limited by the blockchain itself, which can store a limited amount of data that is processed at low speed. The popularity of the CryptoKitties game exposed the problem of running Smart Contract on the main chain.
- Bugs. Smart contracts cannot be stopped or renegotiated once they are started. This is correct and protects both parties to the contract. But what if there is an error or bug in the contract, like in an attack on the DAO? Be that as it may, there is no way to prove that the program is free of bugs.
- Price. At the moment, contracts and their execution, data recording, etc. pass through the main blockchain. It follows that most nodes do the same thing tirelessly. And each process must be paid for. So a contract on Ethereum can get expensive.
- Trash. Created contracts and transactions are stored on the chain forever. Useless transactions and all kinds of information garbage accumulate, clogging the single Ethereum network.
- Flexibility. The inseparably linked blockchain and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) entail difficulties in updating, because when one is affected, the other is affected.
- Security. Smart contracts running on Ethereum or similar systems are susceptible to attacks by third parties through interaction with systems not included in the blockchain, such as websites.
Due to all these problems, using different content or communicating over It is difficult for secure channels on Ethereum network contracts. In addition, people are accustomed to using their applications wherever it is convenient for them. Elastos wants people to be able to enjoy all the advances of blockchain using their own phone.
At the moment, as shown above, blockchain systems and telephones are developing in parallel. No matter how powerful a phone you have, you wouldn’t be able to use the Ethereum network. Today's smart contracts operate only on the blockchain. Elastos will allow you to run applications created using blockchain technology, but without the need to connect to the chain itself. Also, the system will allow you to run DApps using your current OS. DApps will run on Elastos Runtime, which is installed on top of Android, iOS or Windows.
In general, Ethereum is good for smart contracts. But Elastos highlights two main reasons why the Ethereum EVM is not suitable for DApps: Blockchain is designed for consensus-based record keeping, but has a gap in computational speed and flexibility. li>Current blockchains are designed to record transactions, not to store data. There is simply not enough space to store, for example, movies on the blockchain.
To solve the first problem, Elastos uses a blockchain structure based on the main chain and branches of auxiliary chains. ;(sidechains). The main chain will be responsible only for basic transactions and payment transactions, while all applications and services will function on auxiliary branches.
To solve the second problem, Elastos serves applications on Elastos Runtime instead of overloading the main chain. Moreover, this method is safer. On Elastos, all network data passes through a trusted and identity-verifiable channel. The functioning of this channel comes from the Blockchain ID. In this way, network security can be ensured by Elastos Runtime.
Elastos Runtime comes in various forms: independent OS, Virtual machine, etc. software development tools (SDK), which can be integrated into original applications on popular operating systems.
Elastos: Blockchain-Based Internet
The idea for Elastos originates from Rong Chen, a former senior software engineer at Microsoft. Based on his experience, he wanted to create a platform that did not allow applications and services to have direct access to the Network. In the absence of such access, various types of malware will not be able to steal data or carry out attacks. Chen's vision resulted in the idea of a lightweight, open-source OS for virtual machines. In 2017, blockchain technologies integrated into Chen's ideas, stimulating the development of Elastos Smart Web.
It is based on four pillars:
- Elastos Blockchain. Elastos wants to build a decentralized Smart Web, where every device, people, website and digital asset is trusted ;ID.
- Elastos Runtime. Lightweight OS that prevents applications and services from accessing the Internet. Can be used on mobile devices and PCs of users.
- Elastos Carrier. A fully decentralized peer-to-peer platform that handles all network traffic between the Virtual machine and applications.
- Elastos Software Development Kit (SDK). Applications need the Elastos SDK to access their ID and the Elastos Carrier service in the Smart Web.
Elastos has the following features:
- Its public blockchain is simple and straightforward , and hidden from third party applications.
- Elastos protects the primary circuit from overload by having pre-installed secondary circuits on the Elastos Carrier platform.
- Elastos promotes ownership of digital content.
- Elastos promotes ownership of digital content.
- Elastos promotes ownership of digital content.
- Elastos promotes ownership of digital content. li>
- Elastos Runtime runs on the OS of the user’s devices. DApps can easily be launched on current devices. Traditional programming languages are supported, allowing you to create without unnecessary barriers.
- Separating applications from the main network prevents content leakage.
- Even when running applications from other devices, such as iOS or Android, The OS will not be able to sabotage or somehow influence digital assets.
- Non-Elastos applications, for example, from your phone can have access to the Smart Web via the Elastos SDK. The data of such applications can be stored in the Elastos cloud.
- Both Elastos smart contracts and its DApps run on the Elastos Smart Web. This creates a closed platform with its own ecosystem.
Decentralized Smart Web platform
The interaction of key network components can be represented as follows:
Elastos Blockchain
As already mentioned, each application or smart contract is created on a separate sidechain. The Elastos blockchain provides a ready-made and easy-to-use solution for creating such projects.
Anyone on a separate chain can create their own token, and all of them can participate in a two-way exchange between secondary and main networks via a cross-chain protocol. At the same time, each sidechain can use any consensus protocol if it wishes.
Elastos blockchain uses joint mining with Bitcoin, a process in which consensus is reached on both chains simultaneously. In this system, Bitcoin is a kind of parent blockchain for Elastos, while the latter’s chain acts as an auxiliary blockchain. Pools will find a proof of work solution on both chains at the same time. The cost of energy and computing power will not increase compared to mining one thing. It is noteworthy that Elastos sidechains can also participate in mining if they use PoW consensus, forming stronger trust ties in the network.
Elastos Carrier: Decentralized p2p network
Elastos Carrier is a decentralized Internet service provided by Elastos systems. Its nodes can operate in any environment connected to the network. Using transparency techniques UDP-based NAT (User Data Protocol, Network Address Translator), all pairs of nodes can form connections with each other, even directional ones. This will allow you to make full use of all the capabilities of each node to increase the efficiency of the entire network. All core services of the network itself, such as domain names, computing, storage, etc., will be decentralized.
Elastos OS
Elasos OS is a lightweight, versatile operating system that is very security-conscious. Such a network is necessary to meet the needs of IoT (Internet of Things), devices such as Raspberry Pi, etc. mobile devices.
For security reasons, Elastos OS prohibits direct process creation and does not allow direct interaction with TCP/IP, but instead automatically calls and recognizes local, near and remote (or cloud) micro-services. The system automatically generates remote procedure calls (RPC-Remote Procedure Calls) and provides event-based response, thus avoiding harm and interference from applications, services or viruses.
The system uses C/C++, Java, HTML5/JS as the main development languages.
Elastos Runtime environment for DApps
Although Elastos OS is available at any time, there are nevertheless situations where the user would prefer to develop DApps on the OS already available to him. In this case, he can use Elastos Runtime, which can be built on top of currently popular systems such as iOS, Android and others.
Elastos Foundation & Community
The project has a long history, started back in 2000. Elastos has become a global free and open source software driven by an entire community full of enthusiasts, developers, opinion leaders, etc. ELA token holders from all over the globe. All this is supported by the Elastos Foundation.
Elastos is working to create a technology that will enable a smart economy, is investing in the creation and development of decentralized applications, and also wants to create a new World Wide Web that will be better and safer, and which we would like believe will someday be known as the Internet of Wealth.
