The Multiversum project raises a question of how well the current blockchain architecture suits those complex organizational problems, it claims, it is capable of solving. Since the inception of this tech, there are endless talks, how it's going to redefine and reshape everything: Governmental procedures and businesses logistics, delivery of goods and payment systems. In a sense, those claims are not unsubstantiated. The blockchain tech combines several existing technological concepts, namely cryptography, open-closed key pair principle, and decentralized data structures, particularly distributed ledger technology (DLT) that can vastly improve the current bleak situation with trustworthiness of existing architectures.
The first question though that pops up in my mind, (from the point of view of a person who spent a decade automating business processes through databases) like, how those complex organizational and business data structures can be organized in the linear structure of blockchain ledger. Naturally, business processes are much better reflected in complex database structures, having multiple entity types, tied together with connections. (In other words, what we call a classical model of the relational database) Or to put it differently, all those organizations and processes that will allegedly be targeted by blockchain tech already effectively use the relational database paradigm to optimize and automate their work for a couple of decades. If the blockchain is a new word in process optimization, it still has this huge downside in the form of its simplicity. Like, if I have a database supporting logistics in my company, and it includes like, a couple of dozen tables and relations between them. And then somebody tells me that I need to redesign it, so it could be presented as a single linear set of records without losing its functionality. I'd say it's ridiculous, and there is no way to do that.
Really, blockchain, while addressing certain problems related to data integrity and immutability, as well as security and robustness of the system, totally overlooks the other aspects of the environment that it's intended to improve: Namely, the complexity and interconnectedness of business processes, containing multiple entities connected to each other in multiple ways: In other words, the complexities that are currently perfectly tackled by relational databases.
So the question that naturally comes to mind is why not just to crossbreed blockchain tech and RDBMS tech and benefit from the advantages of both. This is what Multiversum project actually does. Essentially, it approaches the matter practically. The truth is, blockchain has its limitations, even more so, it's designed to solve a limited set of very specific problems. To address a broader problem of process automation we would need architecture, combining features of classical databases with elements of blockchain design that would increase the level of security, reliability, and trustworthiness of such system. Similarly, there's a need to address intrinsic ailments of blockchain, including low processing speed and scalability, a huge amount of energy and computational resources it uses to process and confirm transactions, and a certain rigidity, showing for example in its inability to rollback transactions.
So, Multiversum builds a new data architecture, somewhat combining the elements of blockchain and relational databases. Enumeration of key project features gives us the following:
The platform uses sharding to distribute its operations among node clusters, adding an element of parallelism to transaction execution.
As opposed to standard blockchain architecture Multiversum makes possible to rollback transactions, a capability vitally important for the real-world payment processing protocols. Also, it allows to freeze users' wallets if necessary, which is a mandatory security element of any half-decent banking system.
The Multiversum project developed its own original "proof-of-integrity" protocol for transaction confirmation, which solves the problem of transaction delays and resource heaviness of the traditional "proof-of-work" protocol.
The project uses biometric data to increase the level of user security. This is a good approach to the ubiquitous problem of private keys safe-keeping. In fact, private keys are the "weak link in the chain," regarding the whole model of blockchain security. Meaning, that it's not that difficult to steal private keys, or coax the user to give them away. (All it takes is to get access to the user's laptop, which is not that difficult)
The platform includes special security protocols "Double Access Lock" and "Reverse Access Denial" that additionally increase the safety of the nodes.
The platform implements ACID transaction paradigm, which stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability. It means that transactions are not divisible. Each separate transaction brings the database from one valid state to another. All the transactions are isolated from each other, and failure of one transaction doesn't affect the others. And finally, all the changes made in the database stay there permanently and cannot be lost for any reason.
To sum it up, Multiversum is an interesting technological concept that was borne out of practical considerations and understanding of problems related to real-world blockchain applications. It's well worth considering.
Starting from April 16, 2018, Multiversum will conduct an ICO, aiming to distribute 141,000,000 MTV tokens. The hard cap of the sale is 65,000,000 USD
Useful links
Website | ANN | Whitepaper | Telegram | Twitter | Facebook | Medium | Reddit
Implementation is key to seeing these great projects come to full fruition. I'm excited to see how this year plays out and which projects can really grow their base and explode in growth. Upvoted, Followed and Resteemed by @cryptoryno33
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by popeye from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
This is my @originalworks
good post ..