Metabase is a scalable and modular blockchain platform for developing decentralised applications and next-generation businesses. It features an advanced virtual machine at its core, expanded blockchain programming capabilities, and is designed with security and usability in mind.
Below are some important aspects that explain what Metabase does differently to other well-known blockchains as well as our reasoning for taking a divergent approach in a number of critical areas.
Scaling Blockchain Technology
Bitcoin is fascinating. A completely decentralized system where financial actions that require a high level of trust, can be executed without trusting anybody. However, ‘trustless-ness’ comes with a price: hard limits on the number of transactions that can be processed in a specified time interval. Almost all of the well-known first generation blockchain systems have hard limits on the number of transactions.
Bitcoin limits the maximum block size, Ethereum limits the total amount of gas in a block, as examples. Due to the increased adoption of cryptocurrencies in recent years, the number of users and transactions have skyrocketed, testing the limits of first-generation blockchain systems.
‘Scaling,’ as it’s called, is the capability to serve the users of the system with similar quality even when the number of users increases. With Metabase, when its limits get reached, we aim to create a system that makes the necessary changes to increase its transaction throughput automatically.
By splitting the blockchain into multiple sub-chains and facilitating a parallel mining mechanism (i.e., the creation of multiple blocks at the same time), Metabase will adapt and scale its transaction processing capacity as adoption increases.
Store-of-Value vs Medium-of-Exchange Tokens
The meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies has had some unwanted and unexpected side effects for users such as rising rates and increased transaction fees. Using cryptocurrencies has become expensive as their popularity has grown. What’s more, many individuals buy and HODL cryptocurrencies with the expectation of future financial gains, using it as a store-of-value. However, what makes a currency lucrative as a store-of-value makes it less lucrative as a medium-of-exchange.
Metabase will overcome this problem by having two currencies in the system: a store-of-value coin and medium-of-exchange coin. Store-of-value coins are limited in supply, and mining rewards decrease in time similar to Bitcoin. The total amount of medium-of-exchange coins, however, increase respective to store-of-value coins and are therefore inflationary. This approach will keep the transaction costs low due to the circulation of medium-of-exchange coins.
Evolution of Smart Contracts
Ethereum is a widely known cryptocurrency system which advanced blockchains beyond Bitcoin by introducing the concept of ‘smart contracts’ and thus instantly creating the first blockchain-based decentralized application platform. Simply put, smart contracts are programs that run on a blockchain platform. Like all other computer programs, they are made of instructions or ’opcodes,’ waiting to be interpreted by the actual machine.
Nowadays, smart contracts are encountered mostly in the form of a ‘token’ which is about to be sold in an ICO. As expected, smart contracts become the primary target for malicious actors, due to their control over funds. Exploiting smart contract flaws has become very lucrative financially.
With Metabase, we introduce the concept of Smart OpCodes, the ability to define an extended instruction that encapsulates a complex operation. Smart OpCodes can be used for enhancing security, like introducing a single instruction to validate a cryptographic signature. However, a more critical application of this concept is the creation of a marketplace for developers.
Developers will be able to create libraries or small utility applications, define it as a Smart OpCode and submit it to the Metabase marketplace. By taking this approach, we expect to see the first glimpses of highly sophisticated decentralized applications due to the ability to use packaged and verified Smart OpCodes from the marketplace.
Come change the game with us
At Intrepid Ventures, we are determined to build next-generation products and services that are accessible and easy to use.
From the beginning, our team understood that first generation blockchains have several limitations that are preventing their widespread use and adoption. So, instead of only focusing on scalability, like most other projects, Metabase takes a multidimensional approach. It is this multifaceted approach “scalability + real-world inspired monetary policy + smart OpCodes” that makes Metabase a next-generation blockchain platform and sets it apart from other projects.
Metabase introduces a dual-currency model which overcomes the high transaction fee problem and opens up a marketplace for developers, ultimately, by facilitating a financial incentive for developers.
Metabase has the potential to become the go-to platform for creating powerful applications that use multiple building blocks from the marketplace.
Find out more about the Metabase project and join our ICO pre-sale.
Find out about our motivations and approach. Read — Introduction to Metabase
For all the tech, check out our Technical Whitepaper
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Originally published at Metabase — A Scalable Blockchain Technology Platform.