How Zeepin Chain changes the dApp development landscape

Published in

ZeeBlog

9 min readAug 29, 2018

Zeepin Chain launch is approaching fast — 31st of August is just around the corner.

This is why we decided to delve deeper into the underlying architecture of it all. This article serves to explain how Zeepin Chain works for the developers and entrepreneurs out there, whether they’re searching for a new home for their decentralized applications (dApps) or are simply curious about the characteristics of our Blockchain.

It’s important that the system used to power the new distributed economy is robust, scalable, and secure. Because none of the existing solutions were flexible enough to realize our vision, we built our own Blockchain to accommodate.

We started development from the ground up: the distributed ledger and its underlying protocol.

Galaxy Consensus: Blockchain democratic autonomy

Zeepin Chain is governed by the Galaxy Byzantine Fault Tolerant (GBFT) consensus ledger. It’s a Proof of Stake mechanism that we developed on the basis of the VBFT algorithm.

This algorithm uses verifiable random function (VRF) in order to perform consensus work. Put simply, the network randomly selects candidates to verify new blocks in the chain. Proposal nodes, verification nodes, and confirmation nodes are different every time — which serves as a basis for a secure Proof of Stake Blockchain. One where the users mine/validate transactions according to how many tokens they own.

Zeepin Chain Consensus runs on Galaxy nodes — democratically autonomous participants that can «vote». Chances that a Galaxy is «elected» for new block creation are proportional to its weight compared to the total weight of the network.

Randomness is thrown into the voting process by VRF, which assures a robust and foolproof network. The Byzantine Agreement (BA) algorithm then kicks in and serves as a final arbiter to reach consensus and guarantee that the Galaxies are processing the same content even when the network is under attack. You can read more about this in our technical whitepaper

In short, Zeepin Chain combines Proof of Stake mechanisms with the Algorand «instant consensus» algorithm invented by Turing award winner Silvio Micali. That’s why the network can both process large volumes of transactions, and stay durable in times of peak traffic.

Galaxy Consensus sets a standard for scalability that few if any Blockchain projects in 2018 can achieve. This isn’t to say that all of them need near-infinite scaling to begin with — it’s only crucial for our own purposes; Zeepin Chain is built to handle massive spikes of different kinds of activities by users and businesses in the creative industries.

Our aim is to empower creators to devise their own solutions without having to worry about transaction speed, protocol security, and so on.

Developers of dApps and Blockchain solutions often have concerns related to the underlying network efficiency, so we made sure our foundation was solid first.

Next up we had to figure out how to make the system accessible and sustainable.

Zeepin Chain for Developers

In order to achieve hassle-free development on Zeepin Chain, we focused on providing versatile tools for creators.

Firstly, Zeepin Chain distributed ledger and all application programming interfaces (APIs) based off it are versatile and openly accessible. The chain also supports REST-JSON, RPC, WebSocket interactive protocols — these can be used for creating accounts, conducting transfers, making ledger queries, deploying Smart Contracts, and so on.

Secondly, Zeepin Chain runs two virtual machines — NEOVM and WASMVM. Developers can select the machine and pick their programming language of choice. Commonly used languages such as C++, Java, Python, JS, and so on can be easily used for on-chain projects.

Seamless integration of mainstream programming tools removes barriers to entry into Blockchain development and opens doors into our industry to thousands of new professionals.

This leads to all sorts of innovative solutions that combine existing practices of web-development with the Zeepin Chain application protocol.

The protocol itself provides creators access to different features of the chain and consists of:

Digital asset transaction protocol — describes transaction scenarios. Used for settlement, risk control, tracking digital assets, enabling anonymous transactions.
Transaction protocol — describes regular transactions. Used for content releases, version management and updates, copyright agreements, escrows, etc.
User registration authenticity — describes ID management. Used for cross-chain application — identification, authentication, user recognition.
Mapping protocol — describes asset validation. Provides an identity for off-chain and digital assets, therefore transforming them into on-chain assets. Used to manage rights of ownership, rules of usage, rights and obligations, etc.

Put simply, Zeepin Chain provides developers access to all tools and gives them full control over any functions they deem important. APIs and software development kits (SDKs) assist with broad things like copyright validation, as well as niche-specific issues like tracking game assets.

Speaking of game assets, decentralized games are a big point of focus for us — we went as far as creating custom application modules for the entertainment industry and even developed our own game called CryptoGalaxy to showcase some of these capabilities.

Getting back on track, though — in order for the system to provide all these flexible tools, we have to reward fairness and high performance in the Galaxy Consensus. So we provide users incentives with our dual-token economy, consisting of ZPT and Gala tokens.

ZPT holders gradually unlock Gala tokens, that are distributed over time to each node in a given Galaxy Consensus Cluster — proportionally to its contribution to the Zeepin network. More on how the Gala reward system and tokens work can be found here.

Through this economic model we make sure that the chain will always operate at maximum efficiency, and the value of the network and each dApp in it will continually grow over time.

So we had our foundation in the Galaxy Consensus. Then addressed accessibility concerns with versatile development tools and the application protocol. At the same time, we established sustainability with our economic model.

We decided to make our own dApps as an example — paving the way for all future developers.

Zeepin Chain in practice — 3 types of dApps

For simplicity, we divided all applications on Zeepin Chain into three scenarios:

Technical applications
Ecosystem applications
Creative industry applications

Technical applications are core dApps that interact directly with the Blockchain and serve as the interface between Zeepin Chain and the users. This is better explained with our first few examples:

1. ZeeWallet is, well, the Zeepin Wallet. It helps process transactions, keep track of all assets and data. In addition, more Zeepin dApps will be integrated into the wallet to make it a go-to service for managing all digital assets.

2. GalaxyEX — Zeepin built-in exchange, which allows to exchange Gala tokens for crypto assets in the entertainment industry. Stores all transactions on Blockchain and provides real-time market feedback, enabling a smooth purchasing and trading experience.

3. GalaCloud is a distributed cloud storage system. It’s comprised of GalaBox and GalaHub nodes. GalaBoxes store encrypted files and receive upload/download requests from GalaHub nodes that coordinate them. In essence, this is a storage system that gives full, unprecedented control over data to its rightful owners.

Ecosystem Applications, while interacting with the chain, these applications exist to power the ecosystem and enable additional functionality that most users will be taking advantage of. Examples include:

1. ZeeRights — creative copyright dApp that digitizes and records assets. The aim is to drive down the costs of copyright certification — it is essentially done automatically through the app and Zeepin Smart Contracts.

2. ZeeCrew — aimed to simplify management. This dApp helps leverage Smart Contracts for outsourcing tasks, managing teams, establishing revenue sharing, etc.

3. CryptoGalaxy — mentioned above, this is our Blockchain Galaxy exploration game. It maps out in-game assets on the basis of the GCP-20 protocol. API is provided for other game developers to leverage the asset mapping protocol for their own projects.

Creative industry applications — these will likely be the most ubiquitous, as they aim to solve specific problems in the industry and exist to power the new economy. Our examples include:

1. ZeeCreate — made to enable millions of designers worldwide to provide creative services for their customers. It comes with a matchmaking mechanism that connects designers with potential customers; leverages Smart Contract to make peer-to-peer transactions.

2. ZeeFund — crowdfunding application for fundraising campaigns. All projects have to pass evaluation by Zeepin Foundation, its affiliates or authorized third parties. Afterwards they can gather support for projects in ZPT and other cryptocurrencies.

3. ZeeSure — application to insure assets and facilitate legal consulting. This is especially important for projects that involve production and require additional layers of protection.

4. ZeeTalent — manages Zeepin IDs obtained through the KYC process. Proves competence and creates a worldwide talent pool for hassle-free recruitment.

These dApps are only illustrations of what’s possible with Zeepin Chain. All of them will have their own API for easy integration into projects by different developers. Combinations of applications can help bring into existence solutions we can’t even conceive of today.

It’s important for us to make the process of creative experimentation as simple as possible. Mixing and matching Zeepin dApps is purposefully easy — we expect and encourage other developers to pick up the flag and realize truly unique ideas.

Now we’ve prepared the Blockchain foundation, established accessibility and sustainability, as well as provided practical examples of what can be done with Zeepin Chain.

With real world use cases, we are safely moving past the proof of concept stage.

The near future of Zeepin development landscape

We heavily focused on the Galaxy Consensus protocol for a reason — none of this would be possible without the degree of scalability that it provides. Thousands of future dApps can coexist thanks to the Galaxy Consensus Cluster model — a network composed of 51 Galaxy consensus nodes, to be voted in stages by 2100 planets.

Blockchain democratic autonomy is our solution to scaling challenges. This is how we get to bring a unique service to the market. Zeepin Chain is a high performance, scalable platform with direct economic incentive mechanisms, simple development tools, and existing use cases.

We engineered a landscape where entrepreneurs, business owners, and developers don’t have to spend countless hours and pour untold amounts of money into Blockchain research. No more failed experiments.

Let’s move past this stage and focus on the process of creating instead.

Any team or individual from the creative industries such as gaming, graphic design, entertainment, and so on — anyone can build real world solutions, start and manage businesses with the help of Zeepin Chain.

There’s no need to be a highly skilled expert in order to leverage asset mapping, Smart Contracts, on-chain transactions, etc. Any developer can work with APIs, interactive protocols, and mainstream programming languages. Moreover, existing Zeepin dApps already show various applications of the technology and assist in creating new solutions.

Additionally, an upcoming cross-chain synergy protocol will allow all developers to get the best of both worlds and leverage solutions and assets from other platforms.

We see Zeepin Chain as a hub for Blockchain development in the creative niches — the new distributed economy for all participants to benefit from.

Conclusion

Zeepin Chain is built to be robust, scalable, and secure. It’s governed by the GBFT Proof of Stake mechanism that runs on Galaxy Nodes — democratically autonomous participants that cast votes by using a verifiable random function. The Byzantine Agreement «instant consensus» algorithm is added to guarantee security.

With GBFT as our foundation, versatile APIs, SDKs, and two virtual machines provide accessibility. Developers can use mainstream programming languages like C++, Python, C# JS, etc, as well as take advantage of interactive protocols such as REST-JSON, RPC, and WebSocet.

The application protocol enables access to key Zeepin Chain functions like digital asset transactions, mapping, ID management, and more. At the same time, the dual token economic model ensures sustainability; raises the overall value of the network and dApps within.

Based off this proven concept Zeepin created a variety of dApps with real world use cases. Among these are CryptoGalaxy with specialized tools for game developers, as well as GalaCloud distributed cloud storage system. All dApps have their own APIs and are intended for further integration with new solutions.

We envision Zeepin Chain as an environment where creators of different backgrounds come together in a single hub and make great products for users to take advantage of. Network scaling challenges and expensive trial and error should be left behind.

Hopefully this article sparks interest among developers in our community and beyond — we’re working hard to prepare for the launch of Zeepin Chain Mainnet on the 31st of August.

Thanks for making beautiful things happen — join us on launch, let’s keep creating.

We appreciate your support and look forward to your feedback,

Zeepin Team

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