DEV Community: Andrey_A

How to Reach 1 000 000 TPS on Blockchain Platform

Andrey_A — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 07:27:46 +0000

Intro

The blockchain technology has been gaining a lot of traction and popularity nowadays. It’s not news that each blockchain is unique, yet most of them experience similar technical issues. The main reason why blockchain hasn’t been on top of its game is due to its scalability issue.

Yet why can the CREDITS blockchain process hundreds and thousands of times more transactions per second than other popular systems like EOS, Tron, Ethereum? In order to answer this question, a few important aspects such as CREDITS Consensus, reduction of data packet size and ledger structure are going to be further discussed.

CREDITS Consensus

In order to provide high transaction capacity, Credits implemented its unique Consensus Protocol - PoA (Proof-of-Agreement) which is a decision-making algorithm based on multiple validation and data processing with secure implementation solution. The algorithm based on dPoS (Delegated-Proof-of-Stake) and BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) protocol. This algorithm goes as following:

1) All nodes receive round information.

2) Next, the collected transactions are sent to trusted nodes for verification.

3) Trusted nodes check the transactions and choose the writing node, which forms a block and sends it to all nodes.

4) After a block is generated and recorded in the blockchain, nodes send a participation request to the TNs for the next round to include them in the list of candidates for becoming a TN. The request is sent in the form of a hash-block, embedded in the blockchain.

The nodes involved in pool processing do not participate in building the next round.

Reduction of data packet size

Another component that causes high transaction capacity is the optimization of transaction sizes. Any transaction has a dynamically varying size depending on balance, address size, transaction currency, the use of digital signature, and other factors . If a transaction or a pool of transactions has large data volumes, a transmission packet is broken down into smaller (65,535 bytes) datagrams used by the UDP protocol subject to the upper limit size, which allows reaching high transaction capacity.

CREDITS ledger structure

Last but not least, the use of the transaction ledger in the CREDITS system increases the transaction processing capacity. Each entry consists of a hash code of the transaction block which is added to the list of candidates in addition to the ledger. Also, the entry has the node identifier and the timestamp when it was generated. The ledger entry contains:

the transaction direction
its initial and final accounts
the type of write-off
the number of write-off units
the type of depositing
the number of depositing units.

This principle increases the transaction capacity and excludes possible changes in the ledger entry with hindsight. Transaction capacity is also raised through a computing algorithm optimization, core memory access, and data redistribution.

Conclusion

For the time being, there is increased activity in the blockchain ecosystem working on solutions and methods to overcome scalability issues. There are not so many blockchain platforms which are capable of processing at least 3000 transactions per second. However, our platform has come up with its unique solutions by introducing its own CREDITS consensus mechanism, that not only increases transaction processing speed but also transaction processing time. Also, the single technological decentralized platform is capable of safe and quick executions of all transactions using the principles of a distributed ledger and UDP protocol. Thus, the CREDITS blockchain platform with a throughput of up to 1 million transactions per second, has the title of the fastest blockchain platform on the market.

$500 000 Bug Bounty Campaign

Andrey_A — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 10:59:26 +0000

Introduction

Credits improves its technology day after day and makes head with a credible faith in decentralized future. The only way to succeed in the modern IT market is to work side-by-side with technology-savvy researchers in order to remedy any weaknesses. It is for that reason Credits team launches the first stage of Bug Bounty Campaign. Credits invites all interested developers and security experts to participate in the program. The first stage is aimed to optimize source code, eliminate vulnerabilities and improve the platform’s security.
The overall prize fund of the first stage is 500 000$. All payments will be made in USD or BTC/ETH/CS coins accounting for developer’s taste.

Steps to participate:

1) Fill out the registration form — https://forms.gle/nEP7HhyFS8XSfpy4A
2) ATTENTION! Search bugs in platform modules that are included in Bug Bounty Program (more information in section “Assets in Scope”)
3) Provide information about bugs through the ISSUE request in the repository where you found a bug. Credits official Github — https://github.com/CREDITSCOM (Read more in the section “Reporting and investigating bugs”)
4) The Credits team will review all bugs and will provide you with feedback as quickly as possible via the comments on the page with a specific bug.
5) Distribution of rewards will be carried out in USD or cryptocurrency that you select in the form of registration (BTC, ETH, CS)

Software Assets in Scope

The following components of Credits Platform are included in 1 Stage of Bug Bounty Campaign:

Network Node — blockchain software — https://github.com/CREDITSCOM/node
Contract Executor — application for deployment and execution of smart contract methods — https://github.com/CREDITSCOM/contract-executor
Wallet Desktop — desktop wallet application — https://github.com/CREDITSCOM/wallet-desktop
CScrypto — library submodule for node repository — https://github.com/CREDITSCOM/cscrypto

Investigating and reporting bugs

If you have found a bug, please submit a report through creating a new issue on Credits Github. Note that you are able to submit reports only regarding components of the platform included in “Software in Scope”.

Qualifying Vulnerabilities

For all “Software in Scope” there are several degrees of bugs which will have a different amount of rewards.
For multiple bugs with one underlying root cause, where one fix can be applied to remediate, we will consider this as one vulnerability and only award once.
The only first developer who has found bugs will get a reward
Developers are able to submit fixes for found bug using “Pull Request” on Credits Github. In case that developers’ correction will be considered like a viable the amount of reward will be increased in 3 times.

For scenarios that do not fall within one of the above categories, Credits team still appreciates reports that help us to make the platform more secure and stable. In general, developers will be rewarded on the basis of table above. Please note these are general guidelines, and that final reward decisions are up to the discretion Credits technical team.

The full description of Bug Bounty Campaign is available here - https://medium.com/@credits/credits-bug-bounty-campaign-stage-1-30020dc3884b

What are the Smart contracts?

Andrey_A — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 06:31:07 +0000

Nowadays, smart contracts are considered to be the most utilized application of blockchain technology. A smart contract acts as an agreement which consists of computer code and runs on the blockchain technology based on the conditions that were specified by their creator. Smart contract platforms have emerged as one of the most popular and valuable types of blockchain networks due to enabling the decentralized digital economy of tomorrow with the help of smart contract technology. As for the CREDITS smart contracts, our developers have successfully implemented a range of innovative improvements in existing smart contracts. In this article, we are going to explore the components of CREDITS smart contracts, its unique features on our blockchain platform, and real-world use cases where they can be implemented.

CREDITS Smart Contracts

In regards to smart contract functionality and components, the programming code of smart contracts is written in JAVA, runs in a decentralized network of Credits blockchain and implements a sequence of functions and methods of program code inside the network. Another component that smart contracts require is the Virtual Java Machine (JVM), which is used to run smart contracts and is provided under a freely distributed license along with the software platform. Isolated execution of the smart contract code in the virtual machine is carried out without access to the file system and other node resources.

Smart Contract Development

Briefly, let’s walk through some basics to understand the process of smart contract development. As it was mentioned above, on the Credits platform, the development of a smart contract represents the process of writing code in the Java programming language. No installation of the special development environment is needed. The development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive tools for developing software. Here are the most popular development environments for JAVA applications: Notepad++, IntelliJ Idea, NetBeans, and Eclipse Java.

Unique Features

The brand-new CREDITS blockchain platform offers a full-scale extended smart contracts and an autonomous system with its unique features. Various innovative improvements in existing smart contracts such as decentralized environment, low commissions, high speed, and some more, have been successfully implemented by the CREDITS developers. Let’s go over some of them to find out how those features make them stand out on the blockchain market.

Decentralized environment

Decentralized execution of smart contracts is one of the optimized features where one particular smart contract is performed simultaneously on all trusted nodes of the round. The network, in which the smart contract operates, is decentralized. There is no owner or administrator of the network. The program code is executed in the network of nodes which means that if it is launched, then only the owner can stop it as long as this functionality was previously specified in the smart contract code. A single decision is reached due to the platform’s consensus algorithm.

Low Commissions

Another unique feature of smart contracts on the CREDITS blockchain platform is its attractive low commissions. Payment for the smart contract execution is done in the internal cryptocurrency, Credits (CS). The system automatically charges a small fee for the execution of each function from the account. Smart contract commission depends on the number of changes made to the blockchain, where the minimum cost of the operation is dynamic and starts from 0.0004 CS.

Speed

Last but not least, CREDITS is known as the first fully autonomous system in the smart contract sector. There is no other platform that has been able to boast such an impressive high transaction processing time starting from 0.1 seconds per operation. It allows processing a huge number of contracts per second, that gives an opportunity to meet the needs of even the most demanding business industries.

Features to expect

Schedules and Cycles. Also, CREDITS aims for a service that will allow a smart contract to call internal functions with a specified time and algorithm according to a predetermined schedule. The following key element will allow users to create a request to execute a smart contract at a certain date and time. Once the execution of the specified method is complete and the specified method is calculated dynamically, the payment occurs depending on the amount of data stored. Stay tuned for this upcoming feature which is currently under the development process and will be implemented by the end of this year.

Use Cases

Due to high-level security, transparency, scalability and performance at a lower cost, CREDITS smart contracts can incredibly impact on how industries like insurance, banking, financial services, and gambling work.

Insurance Industry

One of the greatest use cases of where CREDITS smart contracts can be applied in the real life world is the insurance industry. For example, airports and airlines are sometimes unable to cope with pressure, possibly resulting in flight delays and also causing passengers to cancel their trips. Thus, CREDITS proposes to create a service which accepts trip cancellation insurance requests, delivers criteria check, and transfers the amount of compensation based on findings from the check to the insurer’s wallet.

Banking industry

Also, CREDITS smart contracts can be successfully implemented in the banking industry where not only long processing time for payments (especially international ones) turns out to be a concern but also high transaction costs between banks have been an ongoing issue for customers. The use of smart contracts in transactions could speed up and simplify processes, where the possibility of errors in financial transactions is significantly reduced due to the specified terms which are fully visible to all parties.

Conclusion

Smart contracts have a various list of advantages which involve quick contract execution, low cost, and improved privacy. Yet CREDITS combines not only those mentioned characteristics but also highlights its outstanding and unique features of smart contracts. This allows real-time interaction with users along with an exclusive high transaction speed. After exploring what CREDITS smart contracts are, we can summarize that the platform makes it possible to use the advantages of blockchain technology in different industries in which smart contracts are an absolute solution for business needs. There is no doubt that in the nearest future, smart contracts of Credits will uncover its full potential of becoming a standard industry solution.

How to Reach Fast Transaction Processing Time

Andrey_A — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 12:55:27 +0000

Introduction

The long wait times caused by payment validations or transactions have been a prime issue for some blockchain platforms. In general, blockchain transactions are being processed within seconds, minutes, or a few hours at most, which in this case can be a reason for high transaction fees. Speed and efficiency are becoming the main factors that save time for users. There are various use cases where transaction speed demonstrates its importance like in such industries as online gambling, banking, financial services and many more. Thus, providing high transaction speed becomes the top priority for blockchain systems. In this article, we are going to explain why Credits Blockchain Platform’s transaction speed is higher and what are the underlying reasons for its outstanding performance. Let us take a look at such platforms as EOS, Ethereum, and Tron in order to find out why Credits is an absolute competitor in the blockchain market.

Recently, EOS has gained the reputation of being one of the quickest crypto platforms for its agility. The transactions take on average 1.5 seconds to process. Ethereum performs a little slower in terms of its average transaction speed which varies from 14-17 seconds and the maximum capacity ranges from 10 to 30 transactions per second. Tron transaction speed is 3 seconds on average. Nevertheless, that becomes a disturbing factor for the widespread use of popular blockchain platforms for the execution of continuous transactions.Yet the Credits platform offers the transaction processing speed from 0.1 of a second combined with the commission rates of as low as $0.001. So what is behind Credits high transaction speed time? Let’s find out!

Why Credits wins

The Credits Blockchain Platform is a decentralized peer-to-peer network. It operates through the Internet and uses the TCP/IP network model as the principal model for intra-network data and command transfer. Network participants interact with each other based on peer-to-peer models. All data transfers over the network are performed by means of the UDP transport layer protocol of the network model, and high-performance NoSQL system which is the storage concept employed for key-value data storage (LevelDB).

In order to understand the process of transaction speed time, a few important aspects such as consensus algorithm, Credits Data Transmission Protocol (CDTP), and platform optimization are going to be further discussed.

Unique Consensus Protocol (CDCA)

Credits Blockchain Platform can combine all participants of financial services and other industries by executing all transactions safely and quickly. To provide high speed and stability, Credits implemented its unique Consensus Protocol - CDCA (Credits Decision Consensus Algorithm) which is a decision-making algorithm based on multiple validation and data processing with secure implementation solution. The algorithm based on dPoS (Delegated-Proof-of-Stake) and BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) protocol. This algorithm goes as following:

All nodes receive round information.
Next, the collected transactions are sent to trusted nodes for verification.
Trusted nodes check the transactions and choose the writing node, which forms a block and sends it to all nodes.
After a block is generated and recorded in the blockchain, nodes send a participation request to the TNs for the next round to include them in the list of candidates for becoming a TN. The request is sent in the form of a hash-block, embedded in the blockchain.

The nodes involved in pool processing do not participate in building the next round.

There is a node participating in consensus with the balance of 50K+ CS. The DPoS’s functionality is based on checking if 50K CS is available on a user’s wallet balance. If it is, then the node is passed to consensus. Thereby, the generation of the list of nodes participating in a particular round is done, according to DPoS technology.

Credits Data Transmission Protocol (CDTP)

Also, another module that the Credits platform uses - its own CDTP combined protocol to increase the speed of transaction processing and to provide complete security of data storage.

The general concept of Credits Data Transmission Protocol (CDTP) goes as following: the TCP/IP network model is represented by the UDP (User Datagram Protocol) transmission protocol. Computer applications can send messages (in this case referred to as datagrams) using UDP to other hosts over an IP-network without obligatory preliminary messages for selection of a special data transmission protocol.

Platform optimization for transaction processing speed

The source code of the platform is optimized for extremely specific tasks, i.e. high data transfer and processing speed. This is primarily achieved through direct device processor operation. The operational efficiency of hardware is ensured by low-level programming languages. They subsequently take the shape of subprograms and are combined with the code written in a high-level language.

Transaction speed is also raised through a computing algorithm optimization, core memory access, and data redistribution.

Conclusion

Raising transaction processing speed is one of the top priority lists for the blockchain technology development. Faster transaction speed is essential not only due to its convenience for crypto and dApps users but also because it is in a position to challenge traditional payment methods. After exploring the most competitive blockchain platforms, we can summarize that Credits stands out in the blockchain market due to its unique functionality and ability to provide both outstanding high speed and stability. To sum up, the Credits transaction processing speed is achieved through the Credits Consensus Protocol (using BFT principles), CDTP protocol, and platform optimization. The blockchain system with the processing speed from 0.1 of a second combined with the commission rates of as low as $0.001, appears to be an absolute competitor in the blockchain market.