Solving Blockchain Scalability with Constellation Labs
In late 2017, we saw Bitcoin struggle to keep up with transactions, even to the point of surpassing several hundred thousands of outstanding transactions during the climb to $20,000. Similarly the Ethereum network became clogged with CryptoKitties. In order for the industry to advance, we need scaling solutions. Today, we are taking a look at the scaling solutions being developed by Constellation Labs.
What is Constellation?
Constellation is a DAG (directed acyclic graph) protocol similar to IOTA, Hashgraph, and Nano (formerly Raiblocks), however, Constellation is also a horizontally scalable distributed operating system with smart contracts as microservices. For those who aren’t familiar with DAGs, they are different than blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum etc. Blockchains require PoW (Proof of Work) from miners on each transaction, but DAGs use difference consensus mechanisms and transactions are linked from one to another, meaning one transaction confirms the next and so on. As more users join the network, throughput increases. Constellation has a throughput 10x that of Ethereum and can process 4,000–5,000 transactions per second with only 1,200 nodes. The bigger the network, the stronger it gets.
“Companies with a microservice architecture such as Twitter, Netflix, Uber, etc. will be able to integrate with Constellation to add speed to their network and automate various aspects with the smart contracts we’ve developed.”
-ALTIF BROWN, Constellation Labs CCO | Blockchain Ambassador
Background
Like many great ideas, Constellation was started when the team was trying to solve a problem while working on a different project. In 2017, the team behind Constellation worked on Rakugo — a vision to build a decentralized influence and content marketing platform on the Ethereum protocol. They quickly realized such a platform’s transactional bandwidth requirement would far exceed the capability of ETH protocol. In their own words, “On a fated trip to Colorado Wyatt envisioned the Constellation protocol, and we realized there were far more important things to work on. They quickly refunded the Rakugo ICO and devoted all of their attention and resources to what is now known as Constellation.
How does it work?
This is how Constellation describes the process:
Each node (phone, computer, vending machine, etc) operates as an account, maintains the history of its own chain, and relies upon transaction order for validity (similar to HashGraph).
Transactions are signed by the initiator and counterparty and then broadcasted to the network (via gossip).
Delegates perform consensus on the transactions within a checkpoint block, they are chosen based on their reputation.
The consensus result is broadcasted again and added as a normal transaction to the next block.
Coins are minted and given as block rewards to the delegates performing consensus.
While many blockchains rely of Proof of Work (PoW) for consensus, Constellation utilizes Proof of Meme (PoM). This is reputation based consensus, where each node/user is given a meme score, which can improve as the node established good behavior on the network. This improves the chance of the node being selected as a delegate, and earning a block reward. Which then incentivizes further good behavior on the network, establishing a sort of meritocracy.
Core Features:
Horizontally Scalable: Throughput increases linearly with the number of nodes.
Fast Transactions: Transactions are faster than Bitcoin or Ethereum by a factor of 1,000.
No Transaction Fees: Reputation based incentives eliminate transaction fees.
Truly Decentralized: Every participant can contribute to consensus.
Mobile Compatible: Run a full node on you mobile device.
Smart Contracts as Microservices: Easily integrate Constellation into existing applications.
What are the tokens used for?
The Constellation token functions as a utility and yields access to the network and the membership resources for developers and users. It is also used to reward validators on the network for participating in consensus.
Roadmap
Constellation hasn’t publicly released a roadmap at this point. However, from what they’ve mentioned in their telegram, we know this:
Q1 2018:
- They are currently finishing a private funding round, which has had a lot of interest.
- Undergoing a rebranding.
- They haven’t announced yet if there will be a public sale.
- They will release an ERC-20 token at the TGE in March/April, which will be swapped out for their own tokens once the MainNet launches.
Q2 2018:
- The TestNet is expected to launch in June 2018.
Q4 2018:
- MainNet is expected to launch in Q4 2018/Q1 2019.
Constellation is definitely a project to keep an eye on for 2018/2019. Blockchain scalability problems are becoming more apparent every day. As outlined above, Constellation is developing a solution that can address these problems, help continue the momentum, and drive widespread adoption in the years to come.
TL,DR:
- 3rd generation DAG protocol (similar to Hashgraph, IOTA, and Nano/Raiblocks)
- No transaction fees
- Solves blockchain scalability problems
- TestNet to be released in June 2018. ERC-20 token released at TGE, swapped at MainNet with new tokens.
To learn more about Constellation, visit their website at https://constellationlabs.io/
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