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On April 25th, we held the 1st 'LOCUS CHAIN Technology Meetup’ seminar event that had a theme of Locus Chain Technology with selected participants who were registered in advance. JAKE JOO, the Technical Director, carried out the presentation and the Development Team presented a technical demonstration. Also, there was a Q&A session regarding the development and business to answer the participants’ questions. 

The following contents are detailed Q&A which were covered during this Meetup:

Q. Please elaborate more on the Verifiable Pruning technology.

A. Before explaining about Verifiable Pruning, I would like to first explain to you why the existing blockchain teams were not recognized as a practically usable technology despite the fact that they implemented high speed.  

In order for the cryptocurrency to reach the level of practical use, it has to be able to implement at least 4K TPS(similar to the level of credit card transaction speed) of transaction speed. However, blockchain saves the data on ledgers, and all of the nodes utilize the method of saving the same data on them.

The nodes that maintain the network have to save the same data, so if the blockchain implements 4K TPS of transaction speed, all of the nodes have to secure an immense amount of data storage space.

This leads to an increase in the mining cost, so if the reward compared to the mining cost is low, none of the nodes will want to maintain the network. 

(The size of the ledger that the nodes have to secure based on 4K TPS is greater or equal to around 150GB. 

- 0.5kB/Tx * 4kTx/sec * 3.6ksec/hour * 24hour/day = 172.8GB/day)

Due to this reason, even if a blockchain can reach 4K TPS in the public environment, it will only get recognized as a practically usable technology if it resolves the problem of the immensely increasing data storage space.

Now, we can discuss the concept of Verifiable Pruning.

(Verfiable Pruning represents a different concept compared to the general pruning. Generally speaking, pruning simply refers to deleting the outdated data that is no longer needed. On the other hand, Verifiable Pruning is a function that allows blockchain functions to be utilized even if the data becomes deleted.) 

To briefly explain the Verifiable Pruning that is applied on Locus Chain, it is a technology that keeps the data on the ledger for one day, and then deleting the data after one day has passed.

Then you might wonder if it would become a problem since deleting the data would make it difficult to distinguish if the previous data has been forged and/or manipulated. 

Locus Chain has previously presented that it succeeded in implementing the DAG-BFT consensus algorithm. 

▶News Link : http://bit.ly/2ZK84cj
▶Related Article : http://bit.ly/2Sx8BJG

When all of the nodes become verified as accurate data on the status of the ledger through the DAG-BFT consensus algorithm, sufficient information needed for validating the authenticity of the data gets written without depending on the previous chain. For this reason, it is possible to check if the data has been forged and/or manipulated even if the data of the previous chain becomes deleted. 

When applying verifiable pruning, the data that can prove the value of forging and manipulation gets kept separately instead of deleting all of the data. This only requires a two-digit value of KB for the storage space per day. Only needing to cover a storage space similar to that of the floppy disk per day for verifying data integrity will certainly become a technological advancement in the entirety of the blockchain industry beyond Locus Chain in this Terabyte era that we live in.  

This is possible because Locus Chain has the ledger structure that can be calculated by Merkle Proof(Merkle Patricia Tire, Account-wise Skewed Merkle Tree, Account-wise Merkle DAG), and thus this technology is called Verifiable Pruning.

At this point, you may wonder if it is impossible to utilize the data itself instead of just verifying the data integrity for the deleted data.

Locus Chain has adopted the AWTC(Account-wise-transaction-chain) ledger structure which constructs the chains based on each account.

In other words, only the nodes that need the data can keep the data in concern instead of all of the nodes keeping the data. 

Team Locus Chain was able to carry out this approach because it viewed that the essence of blockchain is within the verification of data forging and manipulation instead of retaining the data.

Q. Has Dynamic Sharding technology been developed already?

A. We are in the process of developing Dynamic Sharding.

Dynamic Sharding was our initial approach to resolve the problem of continuously increasing size of the ledger and the increasing traffic. 

However, the deterministic consensus had to be carried out in order to apply sharding.

As we have explained earlier, we have developed the DAG-BFT finalized consensus algorithm, and found the method to resolve most of the problem when it comes to the increasing size of the ledger through Verifiable Pruning in the process of developing sharding. Therefore, the issue of having to resolve the size of the ledger through dynamic sharding has been greatly reduced.

Consequently, the major purpose of Sharding became reducing the usage of the network, and not only the network but it will also play the role of reducing the size of the ledger which will have already been reduced through Verifiable Pruning. 

Moreover, as an example, when most of the companies develop the technology, they first develop the parts with low level of difficulty and leave the parts with high level of difficulty so that they can newly develop the parts they have already developed when problems arise. This contributes to the problem including the extension of the development schedule. The development team of Locus Chain has over decades of knowledge and expertise, and has been working on developing the consensus algorithm with the highest level of difficulty, so it is expected that the team will comparatively proceed with developing the other parts more easily. 

Q. Has Verifiable Pruning been applied on the testnet that is currently being recruited?

A. The development of Verifiable Pruning has mostly been completed and is being tested internally. We are expecting that it will be developed on a level of practical application in the real environment in the midst of May. 

Q. We are aware that Locus Chain is developing Locus Chain to aim for the practical use of the cryptocurrency. Then around when can we expect the commercialization of the technology that gets completed with the level of practical use?

A. Even if we do not develop it, we see it as that someone will create the cryptocurrency that can reach the level of practical use within 2-3 years. Of course Locus Chain strives to be the world’s first team to reach this goal, and we believe that we are at least 1 year ahead of other teams. If possible, we are aiming to complete the version that applies even Dynamic Sharding by the end of this year and publicly launch it. 

Q. Is the enterprise version the one without Sharding?

A. The enterprise version creates a separate private network through the use of technology instead of the Locus coin, so it does not need Sharding that divides the network in concern. However, the problem of the increasing size of the ledger is a common issue, so the Verfiable Pruning becomes applied.

Q. Has there been any companies that signed an agreement for the application of the enterprise version that has been developed?

A. As we were proceeding with the business development, many corporations and institutions asked if Locus Chain is at a practically usable level. It was difficult for us to sign contracts beyond the MOU because our technology development was not completed in the process of our business development. Nonetheless, if we can prove our technology regarding the questions we have received along with the completion of our technology, we are positive that the businesses will proceed beyond the MOU. 

Q. In what ways will the value of Locus Chain rise?

A. Locus Chain is a platform blockchain of the public environment.

Generally speaking, in the case of blockchains, if corporations and institutions are to utilize them, they will have to newly construct the DB to fit the blockchain network in concern. Although they can receive benefits by adopting the blockchain technology, the barrier to entry is extremely high for most corporations/institutions because the initial adoption cost is very high.

Currently the blockchain market is highly competitive, and none of the teams have been able to complete the perfect technology. This means that even if a corporation/institution adopts a blockchain technology by paying the high expenses, they are in an environment where better technology can appear in a matter of time, so it can be said that the barrier to entry is even higher.

However, when corporations/institutions and other organizations want to adopt Locus Chain, they can construct their own private blockchain(enterprise version), but they can also have the option to select the method of verifying the data integrity by connecting to the Locus Chain mainnet through the API when it comes to the external network.

When an external network uses Locus Chain to verify the data integrity, the transaction fee that becomes used for verification gets paid through Locus coin. This means that when corporations/institutions and other organizations try to adopt the blockchain technology, they can experience the benefits of the blockchain without having to pay the initial fees. 

The usage has to exist in order for the value of the cryptocurrency to increase.

As we have previously explained, the cost of initial entry for adopting the blockchain technology of Locus Chain is inexpensive. Thus, we are looking forward to the participation of many corporations/institutions after the verification of technology, and the transaction fees that these organizations will use will be the primary source that contributes to the increase in the value of Locus Chain.

Also, Locus Chain pays the incentives through the PoS method, so users will be rewarded with coins according to the amount of Locus Chain they hold.

If the corporations/institutions that used to use Locus Chain by paying the transaction fees want to continuously use the platform, they will have to hold a higher amount of Locus coins to receive the amount of incentives based on the amount of transaction fees that they have to pay.

We expect that this will act as a similar disruptive force to the influence that arose from the adoption of free-to-play in the flat rate market of the previous game industry.

We perceive that this will be possible with the underlying background of technological completion that can implement the function which will not slow down the mainnet even when a high number of transactions occur from the external network for the verification of data integrity. 

We predict that the value of Locus Chain will rise during this process.

Q. For the ‘external network’ that was mentioned during the explanation, does it mean that it can continue to use the existing DB and also check if the data has been forged and/or manipulated?

A. Yes. For example, an e-Government on a national level can validate the data integrity by connecting its DB to Locus Chain’s API without constructing a new network. 

Q. Around when will the large scale testnet(source code open, Github upload, etc.) be available?

A. As of now, it is difficult for us to officially announce the expected time for it.

The distinct characteristics of the blockchain project contributes to this.

Mostly blockchain projects proceed in the form of open source projects. There is high competition in the market, but the future value is extremely large when the project dominates a competitive advantage, so heavily detailed strategies have to be established regarding the open source license policy.   

If the license policy gets adopted openly, others will benefit from it. And if the license policy becomes adopted in a closed manner, a situation may arise where nobody uses it.

The large scale test that proceeds by opening the source code will only be carried out when these problems become resolved by sensibly adopting the license policy.

Currently we are in the process of preparing for these contents in concern separately from the development of technology.