Overview of xDai Stable chain [DPOS]
The idea of creating a stable xDai chain was born in September 2018 on ETHBerlin during a discussion of stablecoins and their growing popularity. Moreover, their usefulness was reduced by unstable gas prices and high transaction costs.
Legend has it that beer, kebab and currywurst open the techies with a special chakra for generating “ah ideas”. So, insight came to Igor Barinov’s POA tech, and on a napkin he wrote down his idea of a side network in which the stablecoin ERC-20, or rather its bridge copy, becomes a native transactional coin.
The first experimental stable was selected DAI. By the end of October, the network was already launched and integrated into the BlockScout block explorer.
Initially, xDai was fully centralized and validated by the POA Network alone. After almost a year, their number grew to 10.
Decentralization of xDai. POSDAO
It is planned to make the network decentralized (10 validators — not OK) by implementing the new DPoS consensus algorithm — POSDAO, which works using a series of Ethereum smart contracts to generate and manage an unlimited number of side chains. At the heart of POSDAO is the BFT Authority Round (AuRa) protocol with the applicant node and probabilistic finalization (13 blocks in the reference implementation). In the future, it is planned to switch to Honey Badger BFT (HBBFT), without a leader and with instant finalization.
Unlike EOS and other DPoS projects, in POSDAO validators are selected to service the network for a certain period of time (usually one week), called the era of staking.
The maximum number of validators in the pool allowed on the network is set when the network starts (by default, MAX_VALIDATORS = 19). When the pool is defined, the algorithm takes a snapshot of the steaks (which includes their share, as well as the share of delegates) and uses this snapshot to calculate the distribution of rewards in the era.
When the era is completed, the rewards are distributed proportionally among the members of the pool. The probability of being selected as one of the validators in the pool in the next era depends not only on the size of the steak, but also on some random value, which makes the distribution more honest, unlike EOS, where the top 21 includes only the BP with the largest stack (own and degenerated). A low barrier to entry significantly increases the level of decentralization in the protocol.
The reward between validators and delegates is distributed 70/30.
Bridges to Ethereum
Two bridges connect the xDai stable chain to the Ethereum network, supporting two-way asset transfer.
Tokens are purchased on the mainnet network and then connected to the xDai sidechain using either the Dai-xDai bridge for transactional tokens or the DPOS bridge for token staking.
Token $ DPOS
$ DPOS is an ERC20 staking token. Initially, it will be used for the stable xDai chain, but other chains may also use DPOS for multistaking.
Two tokens exist simultaneously, and each has a specific goal — either as a transaction token or as a token for staking. This provides model flexibility and the ability to customize the reward structure.
This flexibility is important for a stable xDai chain, where xDai is used as a transaction token. xDai is tied directly to DAI, so the price is predictable and stable. It is intended for users who want to make purchases or send a currency that retains its price, without time delays and high fees.
Road map
The roadmap is not indicated by specific dates. Priority stages of development will be the introduction of xDai zero-
knowledge of protocols and private transactions, as well as upgrading the xDai bridge to MCD (multi-provisioned DAI).
To implement privacy, an xDai Privacy Fund has been created — this is a development grant provided by the xDai team to introduce zero-knowledge evidence into xDai-based applications.
Wallets
The first project to receive a grant was the Pokketto Wallet, a wallet integrating the AZTEC protocol for private transactions.
“In order for Poketto to truly become a replacement for the traditional wallet for everyday transactions, we need to provide the opportunity for transactions to remain anonymous. That’s why integrating the AZTEC protocol into xDai is critical to achieving this. ” — Thiago Alves, founder of Poketto
Burned wallet
For any chain, a killer application is required to succeed. Burner Wallet 3 by Austin Griffth, the wallet that introduced the xDai Stable Chain to the general public. The Burned wallet was first “battle tested” at ETHDenver, where nearly 3,000 visitors used it throughout the weekend to pay for food and drink. The total transaction fee of $ 38,432.56 spent on food was $ 0,201!
All wallets that support xDai are presented in the picture below, each icon is clickable on the main page of the site. You can also see other supported wallets here:
https://forum.poa.network/t/xdai-supporting-wallets/2880 These wallets can allow the use of xDai in various applications, as well as Defi, the scope of which is growing every day
The project team almost completely duplicates the POA Network team
Summarizing
Stablechains are an interesting undertaking supported by a competent team and a large DeFi project (Maker DAO).
Fast p2p transactions, stable and low gas prices, as well as convenient and easy UX. In the future, as I develop, there will be (hopefully) more stable chains with various native stablecoins. Using such sidechains gives the user speed and stability of commissions for all interactions with smart contracts.
Despite the fact that the team often mentions the convenient and easy UX to use xDai, which undoubtedly takes place to be (BurnerWallet — gun-race), but the site structure is simply awful. It simply is not there or it is saturated with chaos, it is difficult to navigate, and you can miss quite important information, which is scattered everywhere, but not concentrated in a separate section.
The disadvantages include the use of the Aura protocol in the xDai reference version due to the presence of a leader and probabilistic finalization. That, in general, will subsequently be decided by the transition to HBBFT.
Of the benefits — a good and savvy team, almost a finished product, which is constantly being developed. After the Berlin blockchain week, the team had plans to make the project more global and something will change. The pluses also include the fact that xDAI was the first project that B-tech invested in, it is such an analogue of Binance Labs from the Bitmax and Focus Labs exchanges.
Useful links
explorer, whitepaper, telegram ann, telegram chat, twitter
Author: https://t.me/Alesrtu
