In brief
many in the blockchain world are trying to wean themselves off Bitcoin ’ s proof of exploit system, in which energy-intensive miners use their computing power to verify each new block of transactions in substitute for new coins .
In the Ethereum universe, much of the development has turned to the alternative proof of impale consensus mechanism, which relies on a distribute age group of stakeholders. To earn the right to validate transactions and generate raw coins, these “ validators ” don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate use computing ability but rather deposition, or interest, their own money on the network .
however, efforts to build a proof of stake organization frequently run into a problem : It ’ mho all besides easy for one stakeholder, or multiple stakeholders working in conspiracy, to amass funds and co-opt the network. That compromises security and decentralization, two of the three cornerstones of an effective blockchain, for the sake of scalability. Harmony has attempted to build a fair system that keeps validators in line .
What is Harmony ?
Harmony is a layer-1 blockchain built in 2018 and launched in 2019 by Stephen Tse with the goal of resolving the persistent “ blockchain trilemma ” of balancing scalability with security and decentralization.
It launched via Binance Launchpad and netted 23 million in May 2019, and nowadays has a total market capitalization of $ 1.5 billion. It is compatible with the Ethereum network and includes a token called ONE which validators can mint for themselves and draw in the form of transaction fees. Its developers boast that the net can handle 2,000 transactions a second, each of which takes on average 2 seconds to settle—the average transaction on Ethereum proper, by contrast, takes about ten-spot minutes. Fees are similarly reduced—by 1,000 times .
Harmony besides incorporates a cross-chain feature called Horizon, which allows holders to move between ONE and the Ethereum net, meaning they can avail themselves of both the layer-1 net ’ mho security and the layer-2 net ’ randomness efficiency. It is presently building out a chopine for lending non-fungible tokens ( NFTs ) .
How does Harmony work ?
Harmony ’ second blockchain is divided into four networks known as “ shards, ” which run in parallel but are validated by disjoined groups of stakeholders—a kind of division of blockchain department of labor that makes the blockchain more efficient and reduces reaction time. Harmony calls this approach Effective Proof of Stake .
Harmony stakeholders deposit Harmony ’ s native ONE token and are assigned to one of the four shards ( merely one of which, Shard 0, is presently in function ). Validators have to maintain a full copy of the transactions of a given shard, but—critically—not a full copy of the entire network, as is typical. As a wages they receive newly minted coins and a fortune of the transaction fees generated. They are rotated among shards after a period known as an “ Epoch ” to stop them getting besides comfortable. Each shard presently has 250 spots for validators but scaling may introduce more .
Harmony ’ s cagey theme is to assign stakeholders randomly to each shard so as to avoid coordinated attempts to take over the network. Harmony besides discourages the billboard of tokens by fining those who stake above a certain limit and rewarding those who invest less. The ( supposed ) consequence ? Faster transactions and lower fees, without sabotage security .
Who ‘s working with Harmony ?
What is Harmony ‘s ONE token ?
Harmony ’ s native token, ONE, can be staked, earned and mined and besides confers administration rights on holders, allowing them to participate in decisions pertaining to the future of the network .
Like Bitcoin, it has a limited supply—of a mere 12.6 billion tokens, 9.4 billion of which have already been minted, per CoinMarketCap. Around 15 % of ONE tokens went to the establish team .
Where to buy ONE keepsake
Harmony ’ s ONE token is available to buy at a crop of exchanges including Binance, Crypto.com and Huobi Global .
Did you know?
The future of Harmony
Harmony is building out a feature allowing NFT lend, and is migrating its token from a Chrome elongation to MetaMask as it builds its own proprietorship wallet.
It has besides created a $ 300 million fund called Harmony Grants which aims to finance far research in the proof of stake battlefield. It has, for example, rolled out a decentralized autonomous administration, or DAO, whose finish is to fund research into zk-proofs, a way to communicate sensitive data across blockchains anonymously .
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