Introduction
In the beginning Satoshi created the blockchain and the ledger. And Satoshi said “let there be Bitcoin” and there was Bitcoin. Satoshi saw that Bitcoin was good.
However, Satoshi didn’t fully realise that once more people than Adam and Eve were using Bitcoin, the network would become congested, leading to not only high transaction fees, but longer and longer waiting times for those transactions to be verified. Satoshi also didn’t consider the exponential increase in resources that would be required to mine Bitcoin, bespoiling the blockchain and the ledger that he had created (and the actual earth, because as everybody over the age of 4 knows, electricity doesn’t just grow on trees).
And so, after Ethereum’s much-vaunted smart contracts ushered in the era of blockchain 2.0, and NEO then tried to ‘kill’ Ethereum – before its entire network became paralysed because one single node disconnected (more on that later) – as part of blockchain 3.0, we come to Multiversum: a “4th Generation Relational Blockchain”.
Multiversum aims to eliminate Bitcoin’s congestion issues, negate NEO’s paralysis issues, reduce Bitcoin’s impact on the environment and then collate these elements into a blockchain solution that enables individuals, businesses and governments (again, more on this later) to reduce their back-end costs through stark and empirical improvements in efficiency, transparency and accountability.
No other blockchain project has conceived of introducing these innovations and implementing them on the same blockchain. Simply put, Multiversum is blockchain 4.0 made manifest.
No pressure then.
Multiversum’s Vision
As mentioned above, Multiversum has four major, distinct aims: to ease congestion [via horizontal scalability], to ensure network reliability [via data sharding], to reduce the blockchain’s carbon footprint [using Proof of Integrity], and to facilitate business functions [through Relational Databases].
Let us consider each in turn.
Horizontal scalability
This is the mechanism through which Multiversum will prevent network congestion.
Prior to 2006, a computer had one single processor. From the beginning of home computers until this point a computer had one processor, the power of which increased from, say, 800Mhz to 1.2Ghz, and then from 1.6Ghz to 1.8Ghz and beyond as time went on. However, after this point it became apparent that it was more efficient to, instead of having one 1.8Ghz processor, have two – and now even three, or four, or even more – processors that were each less powerful on their own, but combined would manage to process the exact same information in a much quicker time. Multiversum have applied the same principle.
The Multiversum blockchain will, instead of speedily processing 10,000 transactions on a single blockchain, split autonomously into, say, 1,000 separate chains - each of which will conduct 10 transactions simultaneously before converging once again into a single blockchain.
This is much like Bitcoin’s purported Lightning Network, except that the blockchain will be distributed across all nodes, rather than becoming momentarily dependent on the two nodes conducting the off-chain transaction (as with the Lightning Network). Every transaction will remain on-chain.
Data sharding
Key to keeping every horizontally-scalable transaction on-chain will be Multiversum’s innovative ‘data sharding’ technology – an innovation that Ethereum’s Founder, Vitalik Buterin is himself attempting to add to the Ethereum infrastructure. Note that Ethereum doesn’t have this capability yet, they just hope to have it in the future.
Process that: Multiversum has a solution to the problem that Ethereum is trying to fix.
So, now that we’ve established the legitimacy of the concept, what actually is it?
Simply put, data sharding will break every single transaction into partial fragments and replicate them numerous times in every block of data sent to every node. This means that, should a node, or even multiple nodes become disconnected (I told you the NEO incident would be back) there will be zero impact on the network, as the affected shards of information in the disconnected node(s) will simply be collected from other, active nodes and so the flow of information will be assured and no data will be paralysed or lost.
The tech behind this is that, for example, an SQL query ‘explodes’ into sub-sets of simpler queries. The Multiversum team have managed (the specifics of which are far beyond my understanding) to find a way to quantify and distribute these sub-sets across their network in a manner that allows the query to be collated and resolved from a number of disparate sources (read: nodes). For more information regarding this, please read the report on the Multiversum Q&A, conducted with their Founder and his team in Multiversum’s Official Telegram Channel.
Let me reiterate this quickly: Multiversum have developed a technology that Vitalik Buterin actively wishes Ethereum had and is striving to achieve. That is huge.
Proof of Integrity
And now to Proof of Integrity (‘PoI’).
Multiversum’s plan to save the world (or, at least, to lessen the burden placed upon, through reducing the resources necessary to power their network).
We all know about Proof of Work: the transaction is sent, the miners mine. The transaction is validated and the miners are rewarded with coins. It’s an effective and secure solution.
It’s also a labour (read: electricity) intensive process. Indeed, mining a single Bitcoin can cost upwards of $14,000.
Multiversum’s whitepaper states PoI as a protocol that “performs cryptographic validation by checking the authenticity of the software that resolves every persistence of the transaction.”
(don’t worry, we don’t quite understand that either).
However, in practice it’s quite simple. Multiversum’s blockchain will, rather than requiring the mining of blocks to validate a transaction, instead analyse each piece – or as Multiversum refer to them, each ‘Enki’ – of information sent to a node. If that node can respond correctly (because the data sharding has provided it with the other necessary Enkis of data) and using the inherent hash transactions then the transaction is validated.
This process requires only that each node has the necessary information (Enkis). The encryption protocols inherent in each Enki of data will ensure the security and validity of the ledger, and therefore the expenditure of electricity to mine the transaction will not be necessary.
Who knew it could be that simple?
Relational Databases
This is where the real-world applicability of Multiversum is most apparent. To explain this fully, we shall now briefly concede the floor to Multiversum’s Founder, Andrea Taini and what he had to say to us when we asked him:
“There is a key difference between information and data. Information is a crumb of knowledge stored and not yet readily (or at least not easily) accessible in order to be extracted and combined and cross-referenced with other information to make it useful in a business context.
A useful analogy is that of a newspaper: an article from that newspaper may be stored in a desk or a file or on a hard drive, but in that state it is difficult to relate it to or link it to other articles - that is information.
However, data is information properly stored in a way in which it is possible to find and search for it easily, and to correlate the information within to other data (in this case databases).
Therefore, we allow these disparate fragments of information to be stored separately, but to be interlinked – and easily accessed and cross-referenced - in our Relational Databases and therefore easily accessed by businesses as per their particular needs.
We aim to allow businesses to query the data and to create their own databases using the data they have stored within our blockchain.
To complete the analogy, we store every article from every newspaper ever published in a manner that allows them to be cross-referenced, stored and accessed in the form of an immutable ledger: the blockchain - that is data.”
In other words, Multiversum will allow a companies to store multiple, entirely separate databases on one single blockchain, whilst still allowing them to maintain, search within and reorganise that data as their business needs require.
Which bring us tidily onto Multiversum’s use case.
Value of Project – Use Case
The data needing to be stored by each individual, company or government entity will be thus stored. This will not simply be one type or format of data, but every single piece of data across all of their necessary functions. This removes the need for multiple, distinct storage facilities such as data servers or specialist programs, as every piece of information will be irrevocably stored on the blockchain in a manner that cannot be altered or deleted without the time and date of the alteration being logged.
This has myriad benefits: whenever a company wishes to audit the information it stores, there will be an empirical log of what was changed, if it has been changed since, who or what changed it and from where the alteration originated. This will remove the possibility of any data being fraudulently or covertly altered, therefore providing transparency to the business’ process and making those who alter the data accountable for their actions.
A real-world application of Multiversum’s blockchain can be seen in their proposal to the Italian government, which has accepted Andrea [the Founder]’s proposed technical solution (the link to which is at the bottom of this review) to have the Multiversum blockchain manage the Italian electoral system from June 2018 onwards, when it is scheduled to be voted into law by the Italian Parliament.
This would be massive for Multiversum and a sure-fire sign of its potential for mass adoption. Multiversum are also (as a member of the team divulged to us in conversation) in discussions with the Hungarian government with the same aim in mind.
The above could be seen as fanciful, but Andrea has experience as the Director of the Hungarian Research & Development Department for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Token Metrics
We have previously devoted an entire article to a substantive analysis of the token metrics, which can be found here. The points of that article are summarised below.
There are 141,000,000 MTV tokens. Of which 76% are to be released to contributors (read: investors such as you and I). The full breakdown is as follows:
Pie charts showing the distribution of MTV's tokens
Air-drop
Multiversum will be running a weekly air-drop exclusively for ICO investors, beginning two weeks after the ICO ends and running for eighteen months.
Through this, every wallet still containing 100% of tokens purchased during the ICO will be air-dropped free tokens proportionate to its holding. The aim is to encourage people to HODL their MTV tokens rather than dump them, thus keeping the price up.
Bonus
With fifteen days of the ICO remaining, the following bonuses are available:
27 May: 15% bonus
28 May – 10 June: 10% bonus
Team
Again, we have previously devoted an entire article to a substantive analysis of the team behind Multiversum and can be found here. The points of this article are summarised below.
Multiversum’s team, whilst not packed with what may be termed ‘superstars’, consists of 27 members, with a healthy mix of experience and youth. The Founder, Andrea Taini has experience of working in government (which has no doubt aided Multiversum with the Italian electoral project) and others, such as Matteo Peterlini, have extensive experience of working within and for multinational institutions.
The depth – and the role-specialisation such depth facilitates – is the real strength of Multiversum. Team members will be free to give sustained periods of attention on one single aspect, rather than having to constantly put different hats and switch skill-sets. I can tell you from my own career that the ability to focus fully on one area can make such a difference in terms of productivity and producing high-quality work at speed.
Multiversum also have a strong advisory team. Please see the article (referred to above) for more details.
Summary
Multiversum is aiming high, very high. By incorporating horizontal scalability, data sharding, Proof of Integrity and relational databases, Multiversum will be the very first blockchain to have such a wide-range of capabilities.
The fact that Multiversum is designed specifically for businesses also means that it will be a functional, useful tool almost immediately out of ICO. One example is the Italian electoral system, mentioned in the article linked just above. It is worth noting that Multiversum was approached and asked to develop a solution: Multiversum did not pitch for it.
This highlights the benefit of the connections the team have in governments, and the progress that they have made elsewhere.
Multiversum is certain to be useful, and if they manage to fulfil even half of the Founder’s vision of being bigger than Ethereum then it will be an absolute behemoth.
On a personal note, I have now written four articles – as well as compiling the report on the Q&A session Multiversum’s Founder and his team conducted in their official Telegram channel – totalling over 5,000 words and the more I read and learn about this project, the more certain I am that it is destined to be a success.
This is – obviously – not financial advice, but get on board.
If you would like to read the Q&A please follow this link. Alternatively, should questions you have not been answered in that Q&A, the team will be conducting another on 5 June, again in their Telegram channel.
For more information and to invest please head to Multiversum's official links below:
LINKS
Website: https://www.multiversum.io/
Telegram: https://t.me/MultiversumOfficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MultiversumBlockchain/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MultiversumBC
Announcements: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2955830.new#new