5 Blockchain Protocols For A Decentralized World

By Author: Sigma Solve
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Background:

When data blocks are chained together in a particular database, it becomes a blockchain. The mechanism that chains these data blocks together in a predefined consistent chronology is known as cryptography. This explains the blockchain technology in a nutshell.

Those with in-depth knowledge of blockchain technology consider it the most secure technology due to two reasons: one, blockchains are unmodifiable without consensus, and two, their decentralized nature. Since blockchain eliminates middlemen, be it the government or any regulatory agency, it has become controversial.

What are Blockchain Protocols?

There are many relatable questions regarding blockchain protocols. A few of them are, “What protocol is used in Bitcoin?” “Is blockchain a communication protocol?” or “What are the newest blockchain protocols?”
Answering each would be daunting, so we can summarize that a protocol is a set of rules based on which a particular blockchain network of computers or nodes functions. For blockchain development services, protocols are guiding principles that determine how a particular ...
... node will share data with other nodes and external networks.

Blockchain Decentralization

There is a lot of commotion and brouhaha around the decentralized nature of blockchain. Let’s understand this with an example. In the US, the Federal Reserve decides all financial policies. The Fed determines the valuation of dollar-to-interest rates and treasury bond yield. The Federal Reserve is a centralized US government agency that manages the country’s finances, inadvertently affecting its citizens.

In a blockchain scenario, no boss or central authority can decide for everyone. In blockchain solutions, each member of the network or node determines if new data should be allowed or old data should be modified. If one node is against the proposal, it will not be accepted. The authority to modify the data and enter the new data lies with every member of the blockchain network. This is what decentralization is all about.

Importance of blockchain protocols in fostering innovation

Preconceived rules of blockchain networks have been a catalyst in creating innovation. In every industry, be it finance, government, or non-profit, blockchain innovations are disrupting the old norms and setting more transparent and secure systems in place. For businesses, blockchain solutions help record and track transactions, enable quicker, cheaper, and more accessible online payments, bring interoperability, and create decentralized marketplaces for peer-to-peer trade.

Ethereum: The Decentralized Application Powerhouse

The Decentralized Applications (dApps) are at the core of Ethereum, the 2nd most extensive network for digital cryptocurrency interaction. The platform boasts intelligent contract technology for transparent, authentic, secure, and automated business transactions. Thus, it enables transformative innovations in the blockchain ecosystem. Ethereum 2.0 upgrade has put scalability and security at the top of the priority list, ensuring low energy consumption and sustainable usage. These features allow the task process to be distributed across nodes, augmenting capabilities, and increasing process speed.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi):

Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, uses Ethereum infrastructure’s Decentralized Applications (dApps) feature to provide financial services without mediators. By leveraging smart contracts, DeFi ensures financial markets are accessible for peer-to-peer lending and trading. It makes the financial market more transparent and inclusive without governmental interference.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs):

Non-fungible tokens are digital assets of Ethereum that reflect on and determine the authenticity of digital creations and establish ownership of them. NFTs are designed to protect the rights of digital artists and ensure they monetize their art legally and meaningfully using Apps.

Supply Chain Management:

The vital benefit of blockchain in supply chain management is traceability with utmost transparency. Ethereum’s dApps feature lets users track each load on an immutable ledger. This enables businesses to enhance visibility, optimize logistics, establish authenticity, and identify hurdles to improve the overall efficiency of the ecosystem.

Hyperledger: Permissioned Blockchain for Enterprises

Hyperledger is recognized for its permissioned blockchains, which allow limited and controlled access of blockchain networks to its registered nodes or members to deliver a secure and transparent business environment where businesses can collaborate with verified businesses without external interventions. Top blockchain developers leverage this basket of open-source frameworks to customize blockchain solutions based on the unique needs of businesses to improve security, scalability, and workflow efficiency. Hyperledger, despite being a unique blockchain protocol, enables businesses to leverage blockchain technology at the enterprise level in a controlled environment to strengthen the entire blockchain ecosystem.

Privacy and Confidentiality:

With the highest level of security, Hyperledger ensures that susceptible and private data remain private and can only be utilized for business purposes. Therefore, Hyperledger is more trustworthy and builds confidence among businesses. Permissioned blockchain ensures transactions are seen by members only.

Modular Design:

Modular design is not rocket science but the ability to customize. Hyperledger Fabric offers a modular structure to facilitate customization per business requirements. This popular framework has adopted a plug-and-play approach to ensure businesses can keep certain features while neglecting others.

Scalability:

Hyperledger is designed for security, privacy, and volume. Scalability is one of its mainstays because it supports large transactions and transactions in large volumes. Hyperledger’s scalability ensures businesses can leverage blockchain technology by integrating it into their existing solutions.

Solana: High-Speed Transactions for Scalable Solutions

blockchain technology is revolutionary, no doubt, but it has cost issues. It consumes more energy comparatively and increases transaction costs. Solana protocol has solved the cost issue by scalability in blockchain. Solana is fast and vast enough to process thousands of transactions incredibly. Due to its unique consensus mechanism, Solana delivers high throughput, reducing transaction costs significantly. The proof of History (PoH) mechanism ensures on-the-spot settlement of smart contracts in a particular sequence to reduce time consumption.

Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs):

Trading digital assets digitally were risky until Solana was introduced. With Solana’s speed, volume, and security, digital assets were traded using blockchain technologies. DEXs are growing due to Solana’s cost-effective, real-time, and speedy transactions on Raydium and Serum. It improves DeFi’s efficiency through yield farming and liquidity pool.

Supply Chain Management:

Solana enables businesses to track and monitor every manufacturing and logistics activity, from production to delivery, on a blockchain ledger to boost cost-effectiveness, scalability in blockchain, transparency, and efficiency. It also helps authenticate transactions to streamline supply chain management and processes.

Internet of Things (IoT):

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are champions of generating massive data. Solana helps manage and process these data efficiently and at a fast speed so that these devices can act in real-time. Consequently, Blockchain development companies can develop innovative Decentralized Applications (dApps).

Polkadot: Interoperability for a Fragmented Blockchain Landscape

One of the major bottlenecks with blockchain technology is siloed functioning. Since various blockchain networks work in isolation, this creates hurdles in data exchange and communication. With fragmentation, Polkadot brings an architectural innovation to solve the siloed workflow. Isolated blockchain can connect with parachain or relay chains to exchange data among themselves or to transfer smart contracts from one network to another in a secure blockchain environment for greater interoperability in Blockchain.

Cross-chain Transactions:

Polkadot network is a pioneer in developing a central relay chain that connects various independent blockchain networks. This ensures that blockchain networks can communicate to exchange data or smart contracts. Cross-consensus messaging transfers values across networks.

Multichain Applications:

Top blockchain developers have developed a knack for building decentralized applications within Polkadot to ensure networks can leverage multichain applications and interaction within the ecosystem with interoperability in blockchain. Polkadot ensures that members of various blockchain networks can use and manage multiple blockchain protocols.

Scalability:

Scalability is obvious to Polkadot since it connects various blockchain networks through an independent parachains ecosystem. Since parachains divide processing burdens among various networks, the mainchain cannot manage high-volume transactions effectively.

Corda: Streamlining Business Processes in a Trusted Environment

Corda is designed to streamline business workflows and straighten business processes to ensure that processes do not entangle. Compliance can be prioritized to build trust among members of the blockchain networks. Corda is a blockchain for business network with unique and independent consensus-building mechanisms. Corda ensures that only those parties in the transactions can be intact and that their transactions are validated. Corda is an excellent way of ensuring the security and privacy of transactions, which is core to blockchain technology.

Smart Contracts for Business:

“Constrained contracts” is how Corda recognizes smart contracts for businesses because of their applicability between parties involved in the transaction. The aim is to maintain the transparency and clarity of agreement among the business parties involved in the transaction. Moreover, it helps automate repetitive contracts and inter-business workflows.

Regulatory Compliance:

One significant benefit of the Corda blockchain protocol is that it makes it easy for businesses to comply with regulations. Corda empowers businesses to configure and automate compliance adherence, reducing legal interventions to zero and building a trusted and secure environment.

Focus on Identity:

The identity of the business is critical for blockchain networks, and Corda facilitates such identification and authentication convincingly. Corda allows businesses to integrate their digital identity with Corda protocol effortlessly to generate a sense of accountability and trust. Moreover, modular architecture ensures businesses can customize their identity to their needs.

Conclusion:

We humans are attuned to disliking the involvement of third parties or intermediaries, and therefore, blockchain technology is recognized as the future, especially for businesses and wherever finance is involved.
Blockchain technology improves workflow and streamlines business processes, bringing transparency, trust, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency. Moreover, each protocol defines blockchain technology’s unique capabilities to ensure individuals and businesses can leverage this revolutionary technological shift and be ready for the future.

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