#515 Elias Simos: Rated Network – Reputation for Machines = Transparent Blockchain Infrastructure

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Elias Simos: Rated Network - Reputation for Machines = Transparent Blockchain Infrastructure. Ep 515

The initial scaling roadmap for Ethereum featured execution layer sharding. However, the rapid advancements of layer 2 scaling solutions in general, and zero knowledge proofs in particular, caused a restructuring of the original plan. The reason was that rollups would have required less changes made to Ethereum’s base layer, hence lower risks. On the other hand, Near Protocol was designed from the ground up as a sharded system, capable of withstanding billions of transactions simultaneously, without sacrificing decentralisation or security.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Illia’s & Alex’s backgrounds
- Sharding and blockchain scalability
- Challenges of building a sharded blockchain
- Near namespace
- Shard security & validator sampling
- Stateless validation and data availability
- State witnesses and chunk producers
- Block production
- Shards vs. Rollups
- How Near could further improve
- Leaderless chunk production
- Chain abstraction

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Illia Polosukhin on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3S7lz2P
- Alex Skidanov on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3wsIcXt
- Near on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3tFpYAR

Sponsors: 
- Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at gnosis.io - 
- Chorus1: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at chorus.one -

This episode is hosted by Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: https://epicenter.tv/546

#546 Alex Skidanov & Illia Polosukhin: Near Protocol – Blockchains Cannot Scale Without Sharding!

In 2017, Vitalik Buterin defined the ‘Scalability Trilemma’ which consisted of 3 attributes that every blockchain had to balance depending on its intended use cases: decentralisation, scalability and security. While Ethereum sacrificed scalability in favour of security and decentralisation, others prioritised throughput over the other two. However, a solution was proposed, inspired from Web2 computer science - sharding. Despite the fact that Ethereum’s ossification and significant progress in zero knowledge research led to a shift in Ethereum’s roadmap away from execution sharding towards L2 rollups, there were other L1s that were designed from the get-go as sharded blockchains. One such example was Elrond, who implemented the beacon chain PoS consensus alongside a sharded execution layer. Their recent rebranding to MultiversX alludes to a multi-chain, interoperable ecosystem, in which sovereign chains can communicate in a similar manner to cross-shard transaction routing.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Lucian’s background and founding Elrond (MultiversX)
- Elrond’s validator & shard architecture
- Cross-shard composability
- VMs, smart contracts and transaction routing
- Self sovereignty and modularity
- MultiversX vision
- Roadmap

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Lucian Mincu on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3LQwCK0
- MultiversX on Twitter: https://bit.ly/4fwJkuQ
- xPortal on Twitter: https://bit.ly/4dpqBj8

Sponsors: 
- Chorus1: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at chorus.one - 
- Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at gnosis.io -

This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: https://epicenter.tv/559

#559 Lucian Mincu: MultiversX – Blockchain Sharding 101

Bootstrapping and maintaining a validator set can be a challenging endeavour, especially for projects that are in search of a product market fit. However, this does not mean one should abandon the ethos of decentralisation in favour of a more streamlined centralised approach. The notion of shared security had been previously explored in the Cosmos ecosystem, but Symbiotic takes it a step further, making it readily available for any project, regardless of its native blockchain, through restaking. Symbiotic is a modular coordination layer that sources node operators and economic security in a maximally capital-efficient manner.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Misha’s background
- Symbiotic’s origin story
- How Symbiotic tackles decentralisation
- The role of restaking in proof-of-stake models
- The economics of restaking
- The architecture of Symbiotic
- Liquid restaking tokens (LRT)
- Expanding restaking beyond Ethereum
- Slashing
- Symbiotic smart contract immutability and future updates
- Ecosystem development

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Misha Putiatin on Twitter: https://bit.ly/4eQXW6K
- Symbiotic on Twitter: https://bit.ly/4fLRRtE

Sponsors: 
- Chorus1: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at chorus.one - 
- Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at gnosis.io -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: https://epicenter.tv/575

#575 Misha Putiatin: Symbiotic – Scaling Shared Security Through Restaking

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