We have reviewed many projects in the past that propose new ways to face the challenge of scalability in the current blockchain environments, an issue that can get exponentially worse as time goes by and makes the need for a solution even direr.
We have seen how sharding and partial ledger distribution makes for interesting solutions, but many are worried about how these proposals might hurt the secure landscape offered by blockchain technologies. This is where Locus Chain comes in, a team of engineers from different countries led by Sangyoon Lee that is working in implementing state-of-the-art dynamic sharding technologies to contribute in reducing node workload in PoS protocols without sacrificing security.
Changing for the Better
Their first step towards true scalability is the adoption of an Account-Wise Transaction Chain (AWTC) architecture, a type of Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) that has a different blockchain ledger for each account, making it easier for the ecosystem to grow without increases in transaction time, especially when the number of nodes is increased.
A similar model is known as Nano Block Lattice, but Locus stands out from it because of their consensus protocol. Instead of a traditional PBFT structure, in which each node must communicate with each other to confirm transaction data and verify the signatures before adding the transaction to the block, Locus adds a VRF step to select a number of random nodes (which is enough to confirm the transaction) to reduce communication time and keeping free nodes for simultaneous verification.
Both of these solutions allow for the implementation of sharding, which Locus aims to use in dynamic situations instead of a fixed sharding algorithm. Locus’ plan is to only begin the sharding process once a block reaches a certain size limit, and it can be split subsequently if any shard reaches a different size limit, and these shards are later joint by the use of an Inter-Shard Protocol.
The combination of the consensus algorithm and the sharding mechanics allow for easy scalability without giving up on safety, and they have also teamed up with top university labs and research groups specialized in cryptography and security to make the network safe, even against the looming threat of abusers using quantum computing technologies.
Real-Life Implementation
Locus has made a name for themselves outside the purely digital environment, as they have partnered with the governments of different African countries to work on solutions for blockchain integration into real life.
The first example is the Democratic Republic of Congo, third most populated country in Africa, where Locus Chain is being used to manage the booming industry of production and sales of mineral resources like cobalt and diamonds (40% and 20% of world’s production, respectively). Locus Chain has also partnered with Tunisia for them to be the blockchain used in the Tunisia Economic City, a large-scale project owned by Tunisia and Saudi Arabia to build a city that can work as an economic and technological hub that can bring Europe, Asia and Africa together.
The sheer number of projects that aim to solve blockchain’s current issues makes it difficult for each one of those to shine on their own, but Locus has the edge of partnering with large-scale government projects to shine above the rest.