Shyft test net officially launches in private alpha
Protocol Improvements, Smart Contracts, Developer Focus, and What’s Next
Hi Everyone :) Chris here. I’m the Chief Technical Officer at Shyft; I designed the network architecture and infrastructure, as well as the product roadmap, in collaboration with other smart people working on Shyft’s trust protocol. We’ve been busy and building for months and months to get here. Today, we proudly step back from the code to say: Good news everyone! Shyft test net officially enters private alpha.
What we’re building
In layman’s terms, Shyft is a protocol that leverages blockchain technology to enable users to obtain, store, and work with data and identity quickly and securely. The Shyft Network Whitepaper elaborates on this context.
In application, we’re going to release a dedicated blockchain of our own, aptly named the Shyft Blockchain. Our published partnerships have so far focused on one of our major use cases — the usage of Shyft to satisfy KYC and AML requirements in order to proper fit a blockchain transactional asset model into the world at large. What we’re planning, and are actually building, has considerably broader implications and a wider variety of potential use cases we’re exploring. Read more on the Shyft Core Principles; Users and Their Data + Shyft System Design; Resolution, Redundancy, and CAP Formation.
Our project can be best thought of as three different layers.
1. Protocol improvements
a) Focusing on last-mile connections within the blockchain layer: Think connections to mobile wallets, anti-censorship features, redundancy for connectivity of consumers and end-users.
b) Computational Accelerators. We take the Ethereum Virtual Machine Specification and enhance it with specific custom-purpose op-codes that can reduce the computational burden of often-used algorithms. On-chain Merkle Tree proofs for example, will have their own op-code, to accelerate the bridging processes.
2. Smart contracts
a) KYC/AML Channels, completely cross-compatible with any Ethereum Virtual Machine based blockchain (Rootstock, Ethereum, etc.)
b) Cross-blockchain bridging to move assets and data quickly and efficiently across multiple blockchains, allowing a cross-anchoring strategy for data transmission.
3. Developer focus
a) Working with the open-source community to remove restrictions and reduce friction for any developers wishing to work with the Ethereum Virtual Machine language. This includes Solidity, Truffle, and Remix.
b) Enterprise connectivity. Enabling traditional companies to quickly and efficiently set up private instances of the Shyft codebase, connect through traditional apis while having multiple methods of PKI access, all the while using the Shyft bridging technology platforms to connect private to public blockchains.
What comes next?
We’ll be letting privileged partners “peek under the hood” within the next week, with a fully transparent open testnet in the weeks that follow. We’ll give you regular updates on this process.
Also, thank you everyone for your interest and participation in this project. As a trusted execution platform, we’re just getting started with our first vertical integration, and we’ve got bounties already happening and hackathons in the works!
Please follow us for updates on:
Telegram: https://t.me/shyftnetwork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shyftnetwork
GitHub (https://github.com/ShyftNetwork)
Visit our website to subscribe to our newsletter for updates on partnerships, test net progress, and Shyft tech: https://www.shyft.network/
