It is somewhat contradictory for cryptocurrency to champion ideals of decentralization, whereas much of operations involved so far have to be channeled through centralized organizations. Furthermore, the long-standing Achilles heel of public blockchains, is closely intertwined with its most outstanding quality, transparency. To some extent, one can argue that this mirrors the current situation of the Internet 2.0 era in which our privacy is sacrificed through current workflows that have to pass through centralized bottlenecks. Ideally, a more fitting solution to the deployment of decentralized networks would be a hybrid of public and private blockchain, one that retains Bitcoin’s ideals but preserves the core element of truly peer-to-peer interaction, privacy.
Monet is a project that seeks to create a blockchain of blockchains, enabling value transfer to happen peer-to-peer in a localized manner. Monet borrows from existing concepts of localized connectivity implementation in devices such as Bluetooth and Wi-fi, which enable devices within a certain localized range to communicate in a trustless manner. Monet builds on some of these existing functionalities to create a network of blockchains.
MONET
Monet is an open network that replaces the consensus model on public chains with local ‘ad-hoc’ blockchains. Through its innovative Babble consensus system, in which temporal blockchains are created between a number of network of participants determined on demand for the duration of the activity. Each node records a copy of the blockchain locally which can be used for verification within the group’s transactions and externally when verifying regional cross-blockchain transaction. In addition, participants are absolved from the requirement of staying online for the duration of the interaction. The regional blockchain can update later when they come online.
Babble SDK, is a product of Mosaic networks that produces open-source blockchain modules.
How does these local blockchains infer with one another to create a single, open network, the MONET Hub?
The Babble blockchain architecture borrows from existing Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocols, which allow to cross-check in a trustless manner, verification on an adjacent blockchain in a blockchain ecosystem. Through this, verified transactions can be broadcast across the whole nodes on the network. The IBCP enables the transmission of verified transactions in a digital format across the entire network.
This consensus model mirrors DAG protocols, which use a ‘gossip by gossip’ protocol, achieving consensus in a non-linear manner but enabling quicker, more decentralized and more secure performance compared to a traditional blockchain.
End-to-end argument
Monet enables developers with a tool of software libraries to create local solutions that fit their dApps. Developers are integral to the functionality of the Monet ecosystem since they pre-code parameters that define local blockchains, and the functionality of their dApps, and how devices synchronously find each other. This is known as end-to-end argument; involves a ‘dumb’ network with ‘smart’ systems connected to it. The current ‘TCP/IP’ protocol used in internet connectivity is a good example of end-to-end argument in action.
The MONET Hub
The MONET Hub is the master blockchain in the Monet ecosystem containing universal requirements for dApps, to enable a functional easy-to-work with base layer. These are libraries of commonly used application components that recur. To mention a few: identity authentication, peer discovery and cross-chain commuication. These three are most important because they form the most critical elements of mobile interactions in P2P manner. How to discover new peers? How to update the peers in the ecosystem as the nodes move and the range changes etc? And how to communicate to devices acting as nodes. This is not as direct since some devices are meshed in layers of Network Address Port Translation.
Smart contracts run the functions of the MONET Hub, allowing any developers to deploy programs that can harness the decentralized computational network easily.
Unlike the localized blockchains, the MONET Hub is always running. Consensus on the MONET Hub is achieved through Proof-of-Stake.
NODES
In the case of MONET, nodes connect to nearby peers and perform the localized consensus.
MONET is designed to run on simple devices such as smartphones. Babble is designed with the most popular mobile platforms in mind: Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. To be part of the network, these devices need to run applications that have a MONET-compatible consensus module such as the Babble SDK.
Global validators on the MONET Hub, are rewarded for securing the network by earning transaction fees in Tenom (Monet ticker). Each validator runs an instance of a lightweight Ethereum Virtual Machine couple with the Babble blockchain. This hybrid framework is fueled by Tenom, the native token on MONET blockchain which serves purposes such as fueling smart contracts.
SECURITY
Security on the MONET network is multi-layered because of the tiered blockchain structure implemented. On the MONET Hub a limit of a third malicious nodes of the network total of nodes can be tolerated. Due to the larger number of nodes on the MONET Hub, this layer is fairly more secure. The collateral coins held for the proof-of-stake model are frozen in case of repeated malpractice by a node.
The ‘ad-hoc’ blockchains are more difficult to deal with due to the small number of nodes. To make sure that they are secure, the network implements a careful selection criteria for the initial participants and a rigorous vetting process for any join requests. This vetting can be effected through the ID mapping on the Monet Hub, where Monet addresses are tied to real world data. It is important to note that the user reveals this information at their own discretion.
APPLICATION
Monet can be applied to offer an alternative to costly management of centralized infrastructure. For example, the high cost of maintaining gaming servers forces developers to create alternatives. Monet can stand in as a free framework that ca be used in such a case.
To join the Monet community today, follow the following important links:
Telegram: https://t.me/MonetNetwork
Website: https://monet.network/