HyperChains Alpha Testnet
We are approaching the launch of our HyperChains Alpha TestNet, and want to describe in some detail what to expect.
HyperChains Alpha
The HyperChains concept aims to secure smaller chains by anchoring them to a larger, demonstrably secure chain. The services derived from the parent chain are mainly:
- Entropy, via the parent chain block hashes
- Checkpointing, where the current state of the child chain can be ‘anchored’ to the parent chain.
On the child chain, some form of Proof-of-Stake consensus would typically be used.
The work so far on Aeternity has involved refactoring of the consensus logic subsystem to support a modular approach to consensus. This allows us to plug in a specialized consensus module at a given height.
A particular consensus plugin for HyperChains utilizes Sophia Smart Contracts: one for leader election, and one for administration of stake delegation and reward payouts. In the HyperChains Alpha version, the implementation simply relies on the entropy in previous blocks as a source of randomness. While this is not as hard to manipulate as entropy derived from a parent chain, it is still quite robust.
At a later stage, we will release one or more parent chain connectors.
The HyperChains Alpha implementation will be launched on a separate testnet. We encourage extensive testing of it, but please be advised that we will reset the contracts and contract states at each new test release.
TestNet User Interface
We are also developing a simple user interface for observing and interacting with the HyperChains Alpha network. We plan to deliver this in stages:
- Show the current and upcoming leaders, as elected by the contract
- Allow staking and show the current stake distribution
- Allow unstaking
Discussion
As we continue working towards full HyperChains, we also want to highlight the potential for using the contract-based consensus for e.g. a permissioned enterprise chain, or potentially for experimentation around different PoS solutions. Given Aeternity’s support for Governance, it will be possible to launch a chain with a very simple PoA contract, then mature into more sophisticated consensus models as the chain grows.
We also want to point out that this should not require expertise in the Erlang implementation of Aeternity: a theoretical understanding of the underlying consensus framework and knowledge of Sophia contract programming should suffice. As the relevant evolution occurs in the contracts, this should also help make the Governance process more inclusive.