The following is part of an ongoing series by Elastos community leaders sharing key trends and takeaways from Token2049 and crypto events in and around Singapore. Check out the last post by Jonathan Hargreaves, Global Head of Business Development at Elastos. In this edition we hear from Sasha Mitchell, Founder of Elacity.
From the get-go, as soon as I landed at the Changi airport in Singapore, I had little time to spare before heading straight to the Bitcoin Layer 2 event hosted by Elastos. Over the week, I came to learn extensively about the Web3 space at Token2049. This collective knowledge helped paint a picture of a future where data management is far more user-centric, secure, and efficient, and where governance can be transparent and accountable. For five key takeouts of Token 2049, you can read my article here, in this piece, let’s discuss a little about Bitcoin Layer 2 and Elastos. Blockchain at its core is about bringing trust back into the system and creating trust in a trust-less environment, and I believe Elastos can deliver this alongside Bitcoin’s security, so let’s dive in!
Bitcoin remains the market leader with a $500 billion market cap, doubling its closest rival, Ethereum. Bitcoin’s hash rate measures the network’s computational power, serving as an indicator of its security and efficiency. It’s rising hash rate over the years signifies increased mining activity, making the network more resilient against potential attacks, despite price volatility.
This year, Bitcoin Ordinals has revolutionised non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by using Bitcoin’s architecture to transform “Satoshis” into unique assets through “inscriptions”. These shifts signal a future where Bitcoin’s role extends beyond a simple financial asset to become a versatile platform for various applications. This transformation is enabled by smart contracts and decentralized data management systems, which are components of scalable Layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network and Elastos, which can settle back into the secure mainchain.
Something new I learnt about was Ricardian Contracts, which integrate legality and cryptographic verification, providing a digitally secure and legally binding agreement. By hashing the contract and providing a unique identifier, we can ensure that all parties can easily verify the most current and authentic version of the agreement. This approach addresses issues of document versioning and legality, thereby revolutionising the digital contract landscape. Ricardian Contracts blend smart contract features with traditional legal agreements, allowing for preset, executable actions across multiple blockchain architectures, including Bitcoin.
It became clear to me that Elastos can redefine Bitcoin’s ecosystem with its DID, Hive, and Carrier technologies, serving as the foundation for “Personal Knowledge Containers.” This next-gen Layer 2 storage solution surpasses traditional methods like NAS and Dropbox, using a robust tech stack including Istio, Docker, IPFS, Tor, and libp2p to enable peer-to-peer trading using Bitcoin Layer 2 protocols and decentralised web nodes. The objective is to categorise data assets hierarchically into files, pages, and services, thereby enabling peer-to-peer trading alongside Bitcoin Layer 2 payment protocols.
Elastos can help facilitate this environment through its decentralised identifier sidechain which acts as a control hub, and support storage solutions through Hive, and Carrier for peer-to-peer networking. With Elacity DRM enabling data packaging and Runtime innovation for secure playback, Elabox’s plug-and-play OS service, and Essentials SuperWallet’s toolsets that incorporate Elastos and already support the Lightning Network, it becomes evident our ecosystem and innovations are all capable of converging to a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution.
To further explore Bitcoin Layer 2, it’s worth noting that Elastos’ mainchain is secured by Bitcoin miners’ hash power. This architecture enables a secure, decentralized ecosystem in which ELA, Elastos’ native currency, plays a pivotal role. ELA serves not only as gas to pay for transactions across the ecosystem but also as collateral and voting power to annually elect 12 DAO council members for governance. These council members vote on wide-ranging proposals, from funding to infrastructure, and also become supernodes that power Elastos’ sidechains. ELA-elected council nodes enhance the platform’s security beyond the mainchain and facilitate infinitely horizontally scalable solutions, such as its EVM sidechain for smart contracts.
Being directly connected to Bitcoin, our main chain offers additional avenues for innovations like Ordinal NFTs. These could alleviate congestion in Bitcoin’s NFT network through the potential use of sELA inscriptions. With a limited coin supply of 28.22 million and built-in halving mechanisms, ELA shares strong similarities with BTC. It leverages its role as a ‘Queen’ in security, complemented by a suite of innovative supporting services, DAO governance and sidechains.
Amidst past upheavals like FTX and Three Arrows Capital, the prospect of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs injects the tech space with much-needed liquidity and optimism. As traditional systems falter, the emerging Web3 landscape offers a parallel economy rooted in freedom. The excitement in Singapore showcases fresh thought leadership, transformative tech, and new economic models. I had the chance to meet many interesting people from many different fields. With continuous innovations, the sector inches closer to realizing Web3’s promise of a digitally interconnected world. And for Bitcoin and Elastos, don’t underestimate the power these two technologies and communities can bring as a merged mined solution.
All signs indicate that 2024 will be a pivotal year for the space!
