Scaling is an issue for all new technologies; if something adds value, we always want more of it, faster.
The internet has “failed to scale, gracefully for 25 years” as Andreas Antonopoulos pointed out in this seminal Bitcoin talk (https://www.weusecoins.com/video-bitcoin-scaling/). Blockchains are simply experiencing the same growing pains. Currently the bandwidth of Ethereum is so limited, that products cannot effectively tap into its power.
“Simple” applications such as on-chain payments and exchanges cannot compete with centralised solutions. This lack of scale holds back innovation, until suddenly it doesn’t. All that is required to break the impasse is a sufficiently talented team with the desire and motivation to build something suitable for their project. That team is our team.
Time to think out of the box: striim by hubii
We are demonstrating that the Ethereum network can scale right now, because it is necessary for our content products. striim will be trustless and will achieve our scaling promises by an appropriate separation of concerns. All aspects of the security model protecting striim users will be decentralised and enforced on-chain. Processing of transactions of any type will be processed off-chain by hubii, however, any attempt at fraudulent activity by hubii will be prevented by the design of the protocol.
In taking this approach, all striim transactions will be moved off-chain (except deposits and withdrawals, which will necessarily be on-chain). This means these internal striim transactions will avoid the Ethereum network entirely. This hybrid approach offers a number of advantages for striim transactions, which are known as driips:
- Minimal transaction latency
- “Instant” transaction finality
- 15+ transactions per second per user address
- Essentially unlimited total transaction throughput
- Low, predictable and transparent fees
- Can shield the users from the complexity of the Ethereum UX
A lot of proposed second-layer solutions to scale blockchains have mechanisms to move transactions off-chain. What is particularly novel about striim is our patent pending security model. Any Ethereum user can validate transactions and send fraud proofs to our suite of smart contracts, preventing any fraud from taking place. However, this introduces one of the most complex problems with such off-chain constructions: The Data Availability Problem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=OJT_fR7wexw&ab_channel=DecypherMedia).
Our solution to prove data availability is currently in private testing and striim tokens will be an essential part of this. More details on this solution will be revealed with the release of a striim whitepaper which outlines our design. It is based on another hubii product: hubii mind, our distributed intelligence product (https://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/fosdem-video/2018/UA2.118%20(Henriot)/mozilla_bugmark.mp4 minute 13).
Soon, testing of our data availability solution will move to the public domain and at this point striim token airdrops can begin. Luckily, you don’t have to wait for the airdrop to actually use striim, at first data availability will be “assumed” and striim will be effectively operating as “proof-of-authority”.
Striim will be deployed to the Ethereum public testnet in the coming week
Further details will be provided about the airdrop in the coming weeks. For now, we can say that once striim is deployed, revenue will begin to be generated. This “backdated” revenue will be proportionally claimable as soon as striim tokens are released publicly. Once striim tokens are released, token holders will have a real and tangible responsibility to ensure data availability is monitored. If a data withholding attack by a “compromised hubii” is observed then token holders will be able to wrest control of the exchange and prevent hubii from causing any damage.
Striim foundation
striim will be a hybrid model and as such, some decisions will be centralised. A simple example would be the fee schedule for transactions. Governance of such systems is a complex topic and this has rightly been a hot topic in the blockchain ecosystem.
We have decided that striim will be governed by a foundation, made up of companies and projects who are aligned with our principles of transparency, innovation, active participation and fairness. These contributors will be provided with tokens and are partly responsible for monitoring, validating and ultimately providing security within striim.
hubii will be just one member of the foundation, treated as any other. The foundation will have the responsibility to ensure striim token holdings are sufficiently decentralised. In addition, once granted, the foundation will be gifted, in perpetuity, the patent pertaining to the striim construction.
If you are interesting in exploring integration in your business, please get in touch at info@hubii.com.
