We have started developing our business social network for a while. I recently showed our MVP to some business connections. After my introduction, a friend asked, “Is it another project running on Ethereum?”. “Definitely not.”, I answered. Instead, Forbole is developed with Cosmos SDK. Here are the reasons.
A Decentralized Ecosystem
Forbole Network is a business social network. There will be a lot user generated contents and user engagements. We aim to create a decentralized ecosystem which quantifies user engagements. Although Ethereum is the most popular platform for building ÐApps, the limited functionalities of Solidity and slow transaction speed on EVM cannot fulfill our requirements. So we decided to build our own blockchain with better performance while users can join and become parts of the governance.
Among various blockchain technologies, we chose Cosmos SDK. Cosmos SDK provides a set tools for developers to build their own blockchains. With these tools, we can build whatever applications we like without the limitation of the current Ethereum network. It allows us to create our own tokens and governance modules which can truly make Forbole a decentralized community.
Proof-of-Stake Consensus Engine
Cosmos SDK is built on Tendermint as the backbone consensus engine. In the traditional blockchain communities like Bitcoin and Ethereum, they use Proof-of-Work (“PoW”) as the consensus mechanism. PoW has been criticized from time to time . As the communities grow, its energy consumption skyrockets while the transaction time is getting slower.
It takes minutes or even hours to record a social network engagement on Ethereum, and it is not acceptable for a social network like Forbole. Tendermint is using a classic BFT and Proof-of-Stake algorithms which can handle up to thousands of transactions per second.
Internet of Blockchains
Cosmos is a network of blockchains. It allows different blockchains talk in the IBC protocol to be connected together to form an Internet of Blockchains. Zones can be created to plug any blockchain systems to the Cosmos Hub and exchange tokens among different blockchains. In that sense, we no longer need a centralized exchange to trade tokens, which is subject to hacks and theft. By using Cosmos SDK, we can develop a blockchain to be connected to different zones and the Cosmos Hub to create a truly decentralized token exchange.
Developer Friendly Design
On Ethereum, we have to develop ÐApp with Smart Contracts written in Solidity. With Cosmos SDK, we don’t have to consider those complicated P2P network protocol, consensus algorithms or cyber security issues. These are all done by the Tendermint backbone. We can focus on the user experience and the business logic of the application. Module based design also allows us to deploy updates and new features easily.
Tendermint and Cosmos SDK are originally developed with Go, which is a simple and efficient programming language created by Google. Developers can adapt for Cosmos SDK easily and build a blockchain in a short time.
Tendermint and Cosmos SDK communicated via Application-Blockchain Interface (“ABCI”). With this interface, developers can build blockchain applications with any programming languages. If you don’t use Cosmos SDK with Go, you can still connect your application to the Cosmos Network via IBC. For example, you can build a blockchain application with Lotion, a JavaScript framework which communicates with Tendermint via ABCI. With this architecture, it opens up unlimited possibilities for blockchain applications development. Developers with different skill sets can contribute to the Cosmos Network and hence the community can grow.
Forbole is now under rapid development. With the continuous growth of Cosmos Network, Forbole will be a successful blockchain application which helps everybody does business in a more reliable and efficient way.