Like any technology, pioneering platforms often give way to new, more efficient processes. Bitcoin solved the double spending problem, creating the first viable digital currency. However, Bitcoin now suffers from some serious growing pains – high fees, slow transactions and increasing centralization as a result. Nano (XRB) is the latest iteration of peer-to-peer digital currency, and offers many advantages over the legacy blockchain. They’ve seen the issues that are preventing Bitcoin from seeing greater adoption, and built a system that mitigates them.
First released as RaiBlocks in 2015, the currency was rebranded to Nano in early 2018 along with a new marketing push. Coinciding with the rebrand, Nano’s XRB token was listed on industry leading exchange Binance. This brought the platform into the true mainstream of the cryptocurrency world, but tragedy struck soon after. Bitgrail, a smaller exchange, suffered a massive wallet hack that resulted in a loss of $150 million USD worth of XRB tokens. The mismanagement of the affair by Bitgrail’s operator worsened the situation. Nano is now on the path to recovery from this disaster, and their technology still speaks for itself.
How the Block-Lattice Solves Legacy Problems
Nano introduces the block lattice system for transaction validation, also known as a Directed Acyclic Graph. Rather than a single blockchain that updates all transactions in the system, a block lattice is a system of multiple blockchains. Each user has their own private blockchain that records their transactions. A send transaction is generated at the start point of a transaction, on their blockchain. Then, a receive transaction is created on the ending blockchain. This process avoids the traffic issues that plague legacy blockchains.
Decreased Friction and Increased Scalability
As each system in the block lattice provides its own computational power, there is almost no transaction friction – fees are exceptionally low. Theoretically infinite scalability is possible, as the system itself is not taxed by additional users and transactions. There is a Proof of Stake node system in place, used for voting rights within the platform. These nodes mostly serve as a means of generating send and receive transactions – they are of great benefit to businesses looking to use Nano to resolve purchases. For the average user, they won’t affect much unless a transaction is in dispute. Their representative node will then vote on the correct transaction.
Nano is one of the leading competitors for the title of fastest, cheapest transactions in a cryptocurrency. Their project is still in the very early stages of public introduction. Their success is dependent on a continued dedication to technological advancement and convincing the public that they are the solution to Bitcoin’s inevitable slow down.
Article By: Adam Stone
