Top Blockchains for Enterprises. Part 1: Hyperledger vs genEOS
In our previous post we put up the checklist to help you decide whether to ditch your current database in favor of blockchain. If you made up your mind to switch to a decentralized solution, your next step is to choose an ecosystem for your Dapp development.
This post will compare two platforms, Hyperledger and genEOS, against the major criteria.
Positioning and Frameworks
Hyperledger
This is an open-source blockchain platform developed as a Linux Foundation project. Being business-focused, it provides a powerful toolkit for developers designing blockchain-led enterprise solutions. The tools include distributed ledgers, permission models, membership services, smart contracts, benchmarking tools, deployment models, and payment protocols. Totally, Hyperledger consists of five separate frameworks: Sawtooth, Iroha, Fabric, Burrow, and Indy.
genEOS
genEOS is an open-source business-oriented blockchain ecosystem. Its goal is to facilitate the development process for teams crafting blockchain-backed solutions for both their internal use and the development of software as a service.
genEOS delivers its inherent decentralization, permission schemas, smart contracts, the witnessing and payment functionality, and easy scalability. There are no separate frameworks here. All the pre-designed tools can be easily modified and adapted for particular enterprise-grade software.
The Bottom Line
Whereas both ecosystems target developers of enterprise software and provide them with an ample range of tools, genEOS is easier to grasp. Hyperledger delivers a variety of frameworks and ready-to-use tools, so it takes time to understand what exact block suits your goals most. In its turn, genEOS supplies developers with a basic pre-configured toolkit that can be either encoded as it is or customized.
Team and Community
Hyperledger
Hosted by Linux Foundation, Hyperledger benefits from the Linux community. Apart from the possibility to get the community’s assistance, developers of Hyperledger-backed solutions are able to plug into the Hyperledger website and blog, with about 50,000 monthly unique visitors, and visit Hyperledger events. However, the platform comes with no assistance for your project specifically and requires you to look for such assistance elsewhere.
genEOS
The ecosystem is only on its way to develop its own community. However, genEOS goes together with professional assistance from the platform’s founding team. It features more than 60 developers who can not only help with some elements but craft a ready-to-use Dapp by themselves.
The Bottom Line
Whereas Hyperledger has a wider community, genEOS is more ready to assist teams that need help. If you don’t have developers on your team and are responsible only for the business side of your project, genEOS will be an awesome option for you. It will reduce your time spent on seeking the right developers.
Consensus Algorithm
Hyperledger
Hyperledger offers the Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) consensus algorithm. It works in the following way. Nodes that are required to mine the next block of the chain are chosen on the lottery basis. While a node that has won the lotto works, other nodes are assigned to wait. This way, the blockchain isn’t overloaded with unnecessary mining, which makes it highly energy-efficient.
genEOS
The ecosystem approaches this with a more traditional Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. Its idea is based on the pre-selection of the limited amount of witness nodes that are responsible for validating new blocks of the chain. This path allows making blockchain easily scalable and cost-efficient.
The Bottom Line
Both algorithms are energy-efficient. Hyperledger’s approach is such because it allows untapped nodes having time for ‘rest’. genEOS, regardless of the chain size, spend no time on the selection of witness nodes as they are pre-chosen in advance. Due to this, it’s not only cost-efficient but easily scalable as well.
Programming Language
Hyperledger
Hyperledger is flexible when it comes to programming languages. Its out-of-the-box frameworks support such languages as Go and JavaScript. However, with the help of extra modules that can be additionally installed, Hyperledger becomes compatible with a variety of other programming languages.
genEOS
Although C++ is the programming language used for crafting genEOS, the platform also allows Dapp developers to use Python and JavaScript to code on top of it.
The Bottom Line
Maintaining a variety of programming languages, both ecosystems provide ample opportunities for developers. However, if you are more inclined to code in Go, you are welcome to use Hyperledger, whereas for C++ developers we’d advise the genEOS platform.
Conclusion
Both ecosystems perfectly suit developers of blockchain-backed enterprise solutions as they deliver ready-to-use toolkits for these needs. The difference of the platforms is in their approach to the consensus algorithm, programming languages, and the detailing level of their tools. In addition, for those focusing on the business side of their software, genEOS can fit better because this ecosystem can supply the developing forces as well, while Hyperledger provides only community support.
